I don't know how he did it but Kyle managed to book me a spot in the
South Califonia/Nevada Cycling Assiociaton Juniors District Track Championship.
It was being held in San Diego at the Encino Velodrome on June 22, 2009.
Luckily my 19th birthday was in October so I just got in at the Juniors level.

The event was an Omnium race including 4 events;
Points Race, Scratch, 200m TT, and Elimination.
Not only was there a cash prize of $500 for the winner and $300 for 2nd place,
the top 2 finishers were granted a spot in the USCA National Juniors Champion taking place in Pennsylvania. Where there the top 3 finishers at Nationals
would then move on to represent the United States at the
UCI World Juniors Championship in Great Britain!

This was an incredible opportunity. But there was only one problem.
I had never ridden the track before in my life. And I was going to be doing it
in front of hundreds of scouts looking to sponsor young riders like myself.

The first race of the day was the points competition.
24 laps with points available for the first 4 riders each 4 laps,
with the majority of the points coming at that finish for those that saved energy.

My tactics going in was just get a few points because I knew my best chance
to gain points in this Omnium were in the Scratch and 200m TT events.
So anything I could gain from Points and Elimination was going to be a bonus.

Let's check out how I did.

--- *** --- *** --- *** ---

16 Riders fighting for only 2 spots to reach Nationals.
Since everybody was wearing their stars and stripes
(including myself since I picked up some new jerseys on that shopping spree),
I put an arrow over myself so you could all easily spot me.



The first sprint was a disaster. I placed myself at the back and when the group started sprinting I was totally caught off-guard leaving me in the dust.
Not the start I was looking for, but at least I quickly learned a valuable lesson.



And I quickly corrected my mistake to win the next sprint by a few lengths!
I was now tied for the lead after picking up the 5 big points.



Lining up for the third sprint I found myself pushed way out on the outside.



But that wasn't going to stop me! I shot to the front to take another 5 points.



For the 4th sprint I fail to get a good jump and was stuck in the back.



Resulting in no points. But I still remained in the lead with 10 points.



For the last sprint before the finish I was again pushed up top.



By the time I got down to the bottom of the track I just missed
getting my third win and instead grabbed 3 more points for 2nd.



Next stop was the finish. I looked good with a lap to go sitting in 3rd.



But it turned out that I jumped the gun a little bit early.



It was a close finish, too bad I wasn't apart of it.



I finished 10th and ended with my 13 points I picked up in the sprints.
How did that stack up to my competitors?

After taking a surprising win in the points race I was feeling great
heading into the scratch event a few hours later.
A 20 lap race with points awarded for the first 13 finishers.

--- *** --- *** --- *** ---

Being more comfortable as a sprinter after what happened in the points race,



I stayed in the peloton and helped chase the 2 rider breakaway.



Fast forward to 3 laps to go, the breakaway had picked up another rider
but they were still in our sights as the chase was closing in on them.



2 laps to go and I had moved up the line but was now boxed in.



The guy in front of me pulled through but then pulled off with 330 meters left.



Leaving me no choice, as I heard the bell, to start my full sprint.



I get slightly blocked in by one of the breakaway riders
causing me to lose momentum and restart my legs.



This allowed 6 riders to create a gap and left me out of the picture.



And I even got passed by another rider, so I finish 7th taking 7 points.
Not what I had hoped for but it did bring my total up to 20 points after 2 events.
A quick look at the standing shows that...