A fitting end to the season

There are always more splinters than you think. Probably about 20 this time, and two that will be in there for at least a few weeks. But I've got until next May to get that all sorted out . . .

Dan Currell Executive Director Corporate Executive Board 571 303 6946

Some Splinters and a Win to End the Season

Tonight was not the last night of racing - that's next week. But for me and Chris Mehus, it was the last night we could get up to the track.

So - splinters. Abbey Ruess went down in the womens' Keirin, fortunately not at top speed, and she was able to get up and keep racing. But she's got some good grass stains to show for it, and it would be a surprise if she didn't have at least a few splinters from the track. As for me, I went down hard in the Madison - more on that later.

Overall, a great night of racing to end the season from my perspective. I'm terrible at point-a-lap races, but managed third place in the opening point-a-lap. Then in the miss-and-out, I made it down to three riders, and the other two had a moment of looking at each other, gauging who would take the lead. We were high on the track, so I dove down underneath them both, got a gap, and as it turned out, that was that - I won. I personally think that if Andy Kruse had chased he would have caught me - I was pretty cooked - but apparently from where he sat the gap looked too big, so he sat up and took second.

So those first two races put me in pretty good stead overall on the omnium (the points system to determine who "wins" the night's racing overall) going into the Madison. Chris Mehus (also Bianchi-GP) and I have ridden one Madison together, and it went well, but we felt like we could do better. Tonight, we did - we very nearly won, but ultimately got second place. It was a good race, very close between us and a team from Speedfix Racing (Derek Virta and Rich Bergstrom). We were tied on points going into the last sprint, so the finish order there would determine who won; with six laps to go, I threw Chris into the race and told him to take a relatively long pull (which means in practice that I would ride faster on relief to extend his time in the race), then I would take the final sprint. This was a mistake - it was too far from the finish to do that, as it led to Chris staying in a tad too long, but me coming into the race with almost four full laps to go. You can't sprint for four laps. But that's what we were stuck with, and there was no coming around Rich Bergstrom at the end: he and Derek had timed their final exchange perfectly to give them fresh legs at just the right time. Live and learn.

But - as for splinters, with around 20 laps to go, I threw Chris into the race pretty hard, and I got squirrely - during the throw, I basically took my own front wheel out somehow with Chris's pedal or rear wheel. I went into the track hard - more of a direct impact (we were in the steep part of the corner) than sliding along the track, and it tore the front tire off my wheel. Since I had just thrown Chris in, it was the perfect time to crash, and I was fine - so a good Samaritan gave me his front wheel on the infield there, some others came over with tools to switch the wheel out, and I went up to the rail and got back in on relief. Chris probably rode a slightly longer time in the race than normal, but there wasn't too much attacking during that time, and he did a great job of holding our track position. Once we got riding again, we were on terms with everyone else, and, at that point, either still in the lead or tied for first.

So now it's time to clean up the open wounds and get the splinters covered with Neosporin. I'm not a fan of trying to dig them out right away; they pop out just fine about 36 hours after the crash if you cover them correctly with Neosporin. So - splinter removal, and celebrating an omnium win. The perfect, perfect end to a track season. Time to start thinking about the Birkebeiner.

dgc

Dan Currell Executive Director Corporate Executive Board - 1919 North Lynn Street - Arlington, VA - 22209 www.executiveboard.com<http://www.executiveboard.com>

Direct: 571-303-6946

Officials

Officials play a bigger role in track racing than on the road - close proximity to riders all night long, lots of races, and lots of decisions to make about points, laps and rules.

Dgc

Dan Currell Executive Director Corporate Executive Board 571 303 6946

Taking the Pista Concept Out For One Last Spin in 2011

Dan Currell Executive Director Corporate Executive Board 571 303 6946

Second-last night of racing for 2011

Dan Currell Executive Director Corporate Executive Board 571 303 6946