Seattle birthday trip!

Last weekend we went to Seattle, as we always do around my birthday. This year we not only had a great time by ourselves, we also hung out with Tara and Evan. A clear highpoint was going to the Teapot, and eating fake meat products. Here Evan, transfixed by fake chickenlegs. The bone part is sugarcane. This place is so good. And it smells like mustard.

We went out to Redmond to pick up disc wheel that I had been given a tip about, and while driving we realized we were right by Marymoor velodrome. This was the perfect opportunity for Amelia to extend the list of veldromes she had run on.

Finally, my actual birthday rolled around. Here I am, among my loot, eyeing a fresh chainring. Amelia made not one, but TWO freaking cakes!

My first madison

Last night I did my first madison race, after having been out to practice hand slings twice. The race is really really fun---you can keep a very high pace as you race for about two laps, and then have 30 seconds or so of rest before you are going to relieve your team mate. I got paired up with Doug Beardsley, a cat 2. fast rider. It was really nice to do exchanges with a more experienced rider as you can put more power into it. The race was 90 laps, approximatively half an hour, and we ended up lapping everyone else three times. We got 20 bucks each for prize money! When you are riding below cat 1/2 as I have been all season, you are racing for the honour only, so I was surprised when Candy put the envelope in my hand. My first race schwag!

Amelia wins the womens alleycat!

Amelia won the second S.S Pussycat women and trans alleycat, ahead of a large field of lady messengers! And to boot she got some sweet bike shoes and a rocking trophy. Genevieve and Susan came in to a respectable third in the team category, while Tara raced her first race evah. Everyone was ecstatic. Extra points was given out for collecting lawn ornaments such as garden gnomes, and for finding christmas lights (Amelia found both).

The start, at Colonel Sumners park.

End of track season

Track season has officially ended, and it went really well. We both raced, and learned a lot of things. I ended up best all around rider in my category at the track, upgraded to cat 3 near the end of the season, and managed to hold my own there too. Amelia raced both match sprints, and omnium events and discovered that she had grown guns (bulging thighs). Now there is only madison racing left this year, which we will both try our hands at even though it looks kind of scary (it involves handslinging people into action at high speed, sort of like in rollerderby). Most people are moving on to cyclocross racing (circuit races on road bikes on muddy gravelly paths where you have to run part of the time). This seems fun but is not for us. Now it is time to start perfecting the form for next year. And drink beer and eat cake of course.

And now: Lokalpatriotism

It's true: http://karlstad.istheshit.net/