More Fast and Furious...

OK, so it looks like the last two weeks where not a fluke...

I only did two races in the A's tonight. The first was a 30 lap scratch, skipped the Elimination in the middle and then a 5x10 Points.

There was an "increase" in the fast people out this week, Bukcosky and Caves where back. Chaddock and Carleton where there again. So the consensus was that there would be some fast racing.

And yes... very fast. The 30 lap Scratch averaged 49.1 kph. The 5x10 Points slightly slower. After a slow start, the last 40 laps averaged 48.5 kph.

I didn't get a very good warm up so at the start of the scratch I just jumped to the front and gave it a little kick to see who would follow.. they didn't so I took about 6-7 laps at speed and then when they started to reel me in sat up and let them catch me... Great way to get the muscles and heart up to speed . And if they are going to let you get a nice warmup in ... no reason not to :-)

Mostly sat at the back for the next 10-12 laps... Then worked my way up through the rotation. Arriving towards the front with just about 3 to go. At that point our group was about a third of a lap behind the leaders, Chaddock, Buckosky and Sidic... I jumped and bridged to them. Chaddock jumped. I stayed with Buckosky and Sidic. With 1 lap to go I moved to the blue and fought to get over Sidic, taking a narrow 3rd at the line. Hit 800+ watts in the jump, 502 watts average for the last 572 meters, 54.1 kph...


The last race was a 5x10... I was mostly hanging on for the first 10-20 laps... Too busy to go to the front while everyone jockeying for position. I was able to get to the front group, Chaddock, Caves, Jones and Denis and follow around for the 3rd and 4th sprints... but in both cases there was just no getting over anyone to get points.. Nice solid 5th both times... Hit 58 in the 3rd sprint!


Chaddock sprinted with two others for the 4th and just kept going. Leaving four of us for the last 10 laps. I worked in the rotation and ended up nicely positioned, arriving at the front with 3 and a half laps to go. Jumped and got a very nice gap, carried it through to the finish to take 2nd in the final sprint. Unfortunately that didn't quite get me to 5th... :-(

But still I thought it was a very nice effort. And just like last week, finished both races strong and could I think easily have carried through for another 10 laps.

Whats really bizarre is that my CTL has dropped significantly. Had it up to about 85 for the Whister Fondo and now its down to about 50... Can't for the life of me get up to speed or do an effort outside... End up doing L2/L3 recovery rides when I get out on the weekends... But the track workouts and races feel easy. Perceived effort is not that high. Speed is up, power is ok.. Endurance on the track is great.

I've been doing the Wednesday Structured workout, usually followed by a 10-20 minute fast pace line workout in the Buckosky 42kph workout... This week I also did the Tuesday morning workout.

Also back to the Computrainer and the winter racing with the Computrainer Race League. Last week it was the 10k TT opener.. Was about 4 seconds faster than last year.. But the front derailleur cable snapped just before I started, so I was stuck in the small ring.. Probably could have done it about 10-15 seconds faster taking advantage of the "hills" to go fast in the 53x11.

BVC Racing - lots of fast and fun racing!

I'm really enjoying the BVC Friday racing so far this year... Last week I managed to snag a 4th in the 4x10 A Points race. No pretty pictures though as I managed to get to the track without the Ergomo...

Tonight was better. After my usual early out in the opening Elimination race I managed to finish 3rd in the 25 lap Scratch Race and 5th in the 4x10 Points. No mean feat with ten other riders, two of whom are on the National Track Team (Ben Chaddock and Gillian Carelton.)  Overall for points in all three races I was (a distant) fourth behind Ben, Gillian and Bruce Denis. Didn't think that was too shabby a result :-)

This was a fairly fast race averaging 48.8 kph for the last 28 or so laps. With about 15 laps to go I had to make a hard bridge up to Gillian and then we worked to get back up to Ben. Bruce Denis and another rider eventually got up to us but at that point Ben jumped again with Gillian and myself following. Gillian was smart enough to pull up and let me lead the way to the finish line and take the 2nd there.


Getting going in the final 4x10 points race was hard after the 25 lap scratch... was huffing and puffing and seriously thinking of pulling up for the first 5-6 laps... Luckily the group decided to take the first 8-9 laps easy and by the time we got to the sprint my heart rate was back up and the legs where feeling ok again. Again this was a another fast race averaging 47 for close to the entire race. I hung out at the back for the first few sprints and then managed to stay with the (slightly larger) group that split off the front. We eventually lapped the field (although the other group had one less rider so Jeremy scored them down a lap instead of us up a lap.)





Ben Chaddock disappeared off the front with about (I think) 6-7 laps to go... I can't remember seeing him go, just wasn't there anymore... He apparently almost lapped the field. That left Gillian, Bruce, Julian Base and myself. Gillian led out with three to go. I followed to get a (distant) third with Julian and Bruce following. Good enough to get me 5th overall.


Overall the racing is fast so far this year. And very enjoyable. Fast bike, fast wheels. skin suit... and 18 weeks of doing the WTNC's.

Doing the Tuesday nighter's got my 5sec power up about 12%. Still not that high, maybe 920 watts for 5 seconds, but that overall that is letting me get away with pushing the 53x14 99" gear and I think giving me more endurance at the more typical track wattage's (700-800 typical max). Tonight's races where among the fastest I have ever placed in, but neither race was long enough to actually make me feel like I would have to slow down. Still going strong at the finish and could have done another 10 laps at the same pace reasonably easily. So if I can maintain that endurance as we get into longer races I should continue to do well.

And as always every time I move up in gearing I go faster for less perceived effort and do better with more endurance. Hard not to like that! Anyone got a 54 tooth ring I can try?