BVC UCI Omnium

This was interesting... Five events scored as an Omnium, your placing in each event is the points you get. Overall winner is least number of points.

1. Flying 200 - 13:44
2. 2km ITT - 2:39
3. 20 Lap Scratch
4. 4x10 Points
5. 500m ITT - 43:??

I did well enough in two events, 1st in the 4x10 Points and 2nd in the 2km ITT..

But not so good (:-) ) in the others... so overall I was about mid-pack, I think 7th out of 13..

This was the 2km ITT (actually run as a pursuit, two riders starting on opposite sides of the track, but for individual times.)

At 2:39 I was second. Rob Muldur managed a 2:34. Best times at last years Canadian Nationals Masters C where about 2:38... So I'm definitely in the right area. I need to get more time on the aero bars so that I can hold my line a bit better. Measured distance I travelled was 2.077. I went almost 80m farther than a perfect ride of 2km (as measured on the black line.) Certainly it would be hard to do exactly 2.000, but probably can reduce that by 30-40m. And that would be 2-4 seconds (assuming no loss of speed etc.)

Also, I'm still trying things out with the new 170mm cranks. I did almost everything this weekend on 51x14 (except for the 500m ITT which was 50x14). But I think at least for this event I could move up to a 52x14.

I also need to fine tune the bike setup a bit. Anthony King ( TrainingFX ) is helping me with that using the Cyfac measuring system. The current suggestion is to shorten the stem to move the bars back and up. I recently did that on the road bike and it seemed to make the ride more comfortable there. I suspect it will do the same here. And for the pursuit open things up so I can generate a little more power.

This was a good day to measure up for the Canadian National Masters in August. I'll be trying for the Endurance Omnium which has three events, all of which we did.

1. 2km Pursuit
2. 5km Scracth
3. 10km Points

A lot of the competition I'll be facing this summer. E.g. local rider Andy George and from Ontario Lorne Falkenstein. Both of them are strong sprinters than I am. But I finished ahead of them in the 2km Pursuit and the Points Race. Andy won the Scratch... (And Lorne's 2k time was only a second off mine, and his time last year was 2:36 at the nationals...)

So my two goals between now and August are first to practice and improve the 2km Pursuit. It needs to be smooth and well executed. Second, I need to translate some of the endurance I have at the track into a little more power over the shorter races (e.g. 5km scratch.) Get out and get going harder faster. Getting going about lap 25 works great for a 50 lap points race, but puts you out of the money for a 25 lap scratch... This will (I think) also help with power over the two and a half minute 2km pursuit.