Bike racing, what else do you expect?

Lots of bike racing has happened since I'm back in Seattle. Friday night, I did my first track race with the cat. 4 men. The 8-lap scratch race was embarrassing, as I fell off the back at the very first acceleration. I changed my gearing (49-15 to a 50-15 for all you nerds), and magically I was able to stay with the pack for the tempo and 4-by-4 races. I didn't get any points or make any moves, but I definitely learned the importance of getting on a good wheel. I had to ride around quite a few guys when accelerations occurred, and that was much more work for me than necessary. Hopefully, in the future, I'll be much smarter in the race. There are some pictures at Wheels in Focus. Here's me on my conversation-piece bike.
Sunday was a circuit race down in Olympia. It was 24 miles of "rolling" terrain: 4 laps of 6 miles each total. I've recently come to the realization that I need to be way more aggressive in my racing, so my teammates and I schemed for me to attempt a break at the start of the last lap. I went off the front, but my teammate who was supposed to follow didn't get on my wheel. I got caught by 5 riders after a mile or two, thanks in part to aforementioned teammate who is a new racer and thus didn't know that if you don't get a wheel, you don't chase your own teammate! But that's something all of us had to learn, so it's okay. Anyway, we had a great rolling paceline to the finish. Two of the other girls took off on the final climb. I couldn't keep up at all. My other teammate (the non-chasing one) and I were vying for the third position, and I would have had it if I hadn't sprinted for the double pedestrian crossing lines instead of the thin, chalk finish line that was about 5 meters after the crossing. Oh well. It was still a good race, and it was really good to know that I was the reason the pack got splintered.
Sunday also happened to be my one-year anniversary. So we celebrated by going to Cafe Flora, which we had never been to before. I was expecting a little more upscale, though it was fairly casual, which is definitely not a problem. The food was excellent, well worth the price, though it was basically glorified vegetarian comfort food. And you can't go wrong at a restaurant that has the Belgian witbier Hoegaarden. I've never had a beer keep me amused for so long without anything having to do with alcohol content.