| Course: | | plank | 180 sec, 120 sec, 60 sec to each side | | other core | 2x40 clam knee lifts to each side, 40 side leg lifts to each side, 30 ball passes, 50 steam engines, 30 knee lifts, 30 twisters - 12 lb, 30 side bends to each side - 45 lb | | back extensions | 20 straight, 20 twisting - 25 lb | |
| Results: | Master A
8 lap scratch - pack
miss and out - 2nd
5x5 points race - 1st |
| Comments: | I was still only able to hold the plank for two minutes the second time round but at least it did not pain me as much as Tuesday… maybe I can try for more soon. Who am I kidding, right? I just need to do it and quit whining about it.
Last week at the track I could not help noticing that my gear (52x15) was smaller than everyone else's… and of course I forgot to change it so this week I rode the exact same thing.
According to this gear chart I'm on a 93.6 inch gear. But according the gear chart in my track bag I'm on a 91.5. So I double checked using my calculations and discovered that the chart in my track bag is busted. Whatever, it's all relative anyway. Bottom line is I was spinning faster than everyone last week and again this week.
They combined the A and B fields tonight for a total of 17 riders I think. Helping me out tonight were Corrie M and Phil S aka Bilko. Corrie has been training like never before in 2009 and Bilko is always a pleasure to race with so this was great.
And who should show up today but my old friend Robert P back from the Ti Cycles days… it was great to see him. Unfortunately he snapped a bolt on his seatpost after the first race and had to drive home early. Rats.
In the scratch race Corrie took off on the second lap! Nice. He was soon joined by two other riders and I Had my hopes up but I could soon see that they were fading. I countered once we caught them but it was shut down pronto and then at the finish I was mid pack. No worries, that was the warm up.
A miss and out is not usually my cup of tea. My (not so) mad skillz on the track mean my bag is longer scratch races and points races and maybe the point-a-lap race. Basically anything I can break away in and don't have to sprint, sprint, sprint. Because I can't sprint too hot I have found that sitting at the back is very risky for me so I tend to go to the front and 2nd or 3rd from the bottom is perfect. So that's where I went. Some guy was in the lead, Bilko was on the outside of him and I was on the outside of Bilko.
The pace was not crazy and so even though people came over the top twice and the rider in the lead changed I was able to get right back into my preferred position each time.
When it was down to about six Kele M was in the front and Bilko, who had unfortunately been pinched by Harley S earlier on, yelled at me from the infield to go around. So I did. No one forced the pace and no one came around me then there were three.
And I was screwed. With me were Jim F (the best sprinter out here) and Harley S who is no slouch either. I knew that if I lead it out hard I would hand it to Jim on a silver platter so I saved my jump until about 175 m to go.
ASIDE - for some reason no one attacked me… I was not crawling by any means but I was not going that fast either and I kept looking and expecting but nothing happened so eventually I had to go.
As predicted, Jim came around me easily but I managed to just hold off Harley. That felt food. Afterwards Bilko told me that maybe I should have gone hard as Harley has much less of a sprint if the pace is hot and it was a foregone conclusion that Jim was going to win. Lucky for me it worked out this way.
That result gave me a big boost for the points race! It started out very manageable and I figured I would just look for the right move to counter so stayed near the front.
Approaching the first sprint I almost got into trouble as the pack got strung out and gaps started to open up in front of me. This is always a danger when they combine the masters fields as the levels of fitness are pretty diverse. But I only had to go around one rider and have a little patience and then I was back with the leaders in time for the second sprint.
I saw it line out and this time I did not get boxed so was 4th wheel across the line. I think Jim won and he had to go really hard to earn this one so that was perfect for me. I looked back and did not see anyone I recognized on my wheel so when the leaders went up track I went straight ahead and gave it full gas.
15 laps to go. And I got a BIG gap right away. Within three laps I had half a lap on the field so was pretty confident I could get this next sprint. And I did no problem.
10 laps to go. At this point you just put your head down and dial in a pace you think you can hold until the end and don't worry about what is going on behind you… :) I knew that I had Corrie and Bilko back there so just got down to business as they say. The early enthusiasm of the breakaway had worn off long ago and I did slow a tad to pace myself but coming up on the next sprint I still had a solid half lap and sometimes slightly more, that always helps the motivation.
5 laps to go. I had a bad spot somewhere around here but thankfully it did not last long. And at one point the field slowed so much that I could see them on the same straight as me! For the briefest of moments I entertained the thought of lapping them but then the bell would ring and they would speed up and pull away.
With two laps to go I knew I had it in the bag. Baring a flat or some sort of all-out TTT on the part of the field I was good to go and for the first time ever I was able to sit up, raise my arms and enjoy the finish.
Thanks to Bilko and Corrie for running interference. |
| Equipment: | Raleigh Rush Hour Pro, Zipp 404 front, Zipp disk rear, 52x15 |
| Clothing: | shorts, sleeveless undershirt, short sleeve jersey, cap |