Back to the track - going to be a tough series

First night of the BVC Weekly Track Racing for the fall. There where about 10 riders in each of A, B and C/Novice.

Our B group has a bunch of new and fast riders. We started out with a 4 lap Chariot Race. Five up and I only managed to get 3rd. So only got to try for the consolation round and then only manged 2nd.. I think I was under geared (50x15), I was leading the sprint through the last lap and could feel that I was a max RPM (125) but not going fast enough to hold off the two younger guys on my tail.

4 Lap Chariot (3rd):

Duration: 1:05
Work: 31 kJ
TSS: 3.9 (intensity factor 1.46)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 857 m
Elevation Gain: 1 m
Elevation Loss: 2 m
Grade: -0.1 % (-1 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 8 738 470 watts
Heart rate: 125 177 163 bpm
Cadence: 57 125 112 rpm
Speed: 26.8 53.6 47.5 kph
Pace 1:07 2:14 1:16 min/km
Altitude: 129 131 130 m
Crank Torque: 0.7 98.5 41.4 N-m
Temperature: 19 19 19.0 Celsius

Second race was a 25 Lap Tempo race. Two points for first and one point for second for every lap. I swapped the big ring so I was on a 51x15, about 92inches. Managed to stay at the front and take a fair number of 2nd places and a few firsts. Average speed was high for B's, 43.5kph. For the most part everyone else was coming up and taking 1-2 firsts and then dropping back. So I managed a 2nd place.

25 Lap Temp (2nd):

Duration: 7:18
Work: 135 kJ
TSS: 12.8 (intensity factor 1.025)
Norm Power: 328
VI: 1.06
Distance: 5.295 km
Elevation Gain: 11 m
Elevation Loss: 12 m
Grade: -0.0 % (-1 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 713 309 watts
Heart rate: 0 181 170 bpm
Cadence: 40 122 101 rpm
Speed: 9.6 52.9 43.5 kph
Pace 1:08 6:15 1:23 min/km
Altitude: 128 131 130 m
Crank Torque: 0 66.1 29.1 N-m
Temperature: 19 19 19.0 Celsius

Final race was a 30 lap Scratch race. I was doing well and keeping a reasonably good position and then managed to get boxed in for the final lap sprint. So only got 5th.

30 Lap Scratch (4th):

Duration: 9:29
Work: 153 kJ
TSS: 13.5 (intensity factor 0.924)
Norm Power: 296
VI: 1.1
Distance: 6.543 km
Elevation Gain: 8 m
Elevation Loss: 9 m
Grade: -0.0 % (-1 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 694 269 watts
Heart rate: 0 184 170 bpm
Cadence: 38 127 96 rpm
Speed: 20.9 55.5 41.4 kph
Pace 1:05 2:52 1:27 min/km
Altitude: 129 131 130 m
Crank Torque: 0 67.9 26.7 N-m
Temperature: 17 18 17.8 Celsius

Typically things pick up after the first few weeks ... so it looks like this will be a very competitive series. We could end up with a very large B group. In theory 20 is the max for the size of the track. But anything over 15 for weekly races is a bit dicey. Hopefully there will be another group added (D or B+/A-?) if there are too many riders.

Assuming the weather holds (two gorgeous fall days in a row, with me taking one day off and one day on the track.. figures) the final VVV 10k tomorrow morning. That will be fun after the racing tonight...