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Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:28 pm
by foo on patrol
Going well Cameron. 8)

Foo

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:17 pm
by dalai47
Raced my Clubs Track Championships yesterday.

First up was the 3000m IP. Won this convincingly though was the only Masters rider with aero helmet etc.

Image

Second up was the Scratch race. Broke away 5 laps to go taking two others. We rolled turns and it came to a match sprint on the final lap with me on the front. Went hard and ended with a rider making it to my shoulder coming round the final bend but held him and the third fast finishing rider on the line.

Final race was a 60 lap Points race. Had a couple of races within the race (we raced with the few Elites who were there yesterday) and it was hard to keep tabs of the points with the other Masters. I'd won the 3 of the 6 sprints and the next closest Masters with 2 wins and second to my 3 wins and I'd been 2nd to his leading to the final sprint. Here another Masters took out the final sprint with me in third. Score initial had the other guy even on points and as he finished second to my third so was initially given the win. Till they rechecked the scores and realised they had given me one point and not 2 as I should receive for my third in the final sprint so ended with the win by one point!

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:48 pm
by foo on patrol
Woohoo! 8)

Foo

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 9:55 pm
by mikesbytes
Your position on the bike looks good

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:00 am
by dalai47
Thanks. Focused hard on keeping my head down!

Considering I have only just started racing again in January and these weekly races have been the only efforts being done since my crash last April, happy with the 3:57 outdoors... Still a long way to go - peak Watts are still around 20% down on pre-metal.

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:29 pm
by KGB
3:57 outdoors is not bad at all! Good effort.

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:16 pm
by mikesbytes
KGB wrote:3:57 outdoors is not bad at all! Good effort.
+1

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:32 am
by Gunlock
So i had my first track races at DISC last night. First time riding on an indoor track, was very different to Blackburn's outdoor track i've done all my other riding on. First few warm up laps were done with high levels of concentration!

Made one mistake coming around the bend on the last lap of the second scratch race (Stood up to sprint and didnt sit down before hitting the corner, the track threw me up the banking) that made the rider behind me have to make some pretty quick moves to avoid me but apart from that everything went well.

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:43 pm
by foo on patrol
[emoji41]

Foo

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 4:24 pm
by xcamx
Is anyone entering round 3 of the CV Winter Track Series next weekend? I'm thinking of having a crack, it will be my first race meet and only 3rd time riding at DISC.

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 5:27 pm
by dalai47
Enjoy.

I won't be there. I haven't been back to DISC since 15 April 2014...

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 12:55 pm
by Top_Bhoy
dalai47 wrote:Enjoy.

I won't be there. I haven't been back to DISC since 15 April 2014...
Any particular reason why not?

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 3:10 pm
by dalai47
From the 15th April

Image

Then had post surgery complications with a frozen shoulder - So took longer till allowed to ride again and finally only got back racing track 8 months afterwards at my clubs outdoor track!

Currently focusing on the National CX Series this Winter. Will look at getting back at DISC next summer in preparations for the State Masters and potentially National Masters...

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 4:23 pm
by Top_Bhoy
I realised you had the broken shoulder but the pics you posted on here looked as though you were flying again. :wink:

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:13 pm
by dalai47
Took quite a bit of work mentally to race again - starting back at Blackburn's Saturday afternoons was ideal as I knew all the riders and fields were small. It will still take a bit more work to be riding at DISC again... It will happen though. :wink:

It wasn't the crashing part so much but more the dread of not being able to exercise. Really did my head in being inactive for such a long time! I was on the trainer with my arm in the sling every night within days of the crash and then after surgery. Gave it in after 7 weeks when the surgeon said it would be another 6+ weeks before i could potentially ride outdoors again.

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 6:20 pm
by Top_Bhoy
dalai47 wrote:Took quite a bit of work mentally to race again - starting back at Blackburn's Saturday afternoons was ideal as I knew all the riders and fields were small. It will still take a bit more work to be riding at DISC again... It will happen though. :wink:

It wasn't the crashing part so much but more the dread of not being able to exercise. Really did my head in being inactive for such a long time! I was on the trainer with my arm in the sling every night within days of the crash and then after surgery. Gave it in after 7 weeks when the surgeon said it would be another 6+ weeks before i could potentially ride outdoors again.
I can empathise. I badly broke my elbow and then the frozen shoulder part. Sitting in Drs, hospitals and physios waiting rooms, throw in a few other medical scares (which thankfully didn't eventuate) and I was in a bit of a mental dark hole for 2 years and also piled on weight. What I have noticed after all of this is that one injury after another just seems to occur as I get older. Touch wood I can get a period of sustained health; I haven't been riding the track very long but at some point when I feel my fitness is such that I wouldn't embarrass myself, I'd perhaps like to try a local club race. The good thing improvement is happening!!

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 8:45 pm
by Chris249
Dalai, the only good news I can take from your crash is that, if "044Y" on your X ray is a reference to your age, old guys like me will have some excuse when we get beaten by you at the CX nationals round in Canberra! :D

Best of luck with the return to racing....but just slow down a bit, will you! Your bike's also looking very slick.

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 11:15 am
by dalai47
Top_Bhoy wrote:I haven't been riding the track very long but at some point when I feel my fitness is such that I wouldn't embarrass myself, I'd perhaps like to try a local club race. The good thing improvement is happening!!
I hear you about the depression and weight gain... Took a while to get out of the black hole and loose the weight - 12 day solo bikepacking trip on the Mawson trail in May helped drop the final few kg.

Good to hear you are seeing improvements! Do look into racing track with Blackburn next Summer - Saturday afternoons start usually in October. Small fields with very friendly people. Don't need to be a Blackburn member if you rather join another club.

Blackburn also run skills sessions weekday evenings once daylight savings kicks in, so also a great way to get a feel for racing and skills needed.
Chris249 wrote:Best of luck with the return to racing....but just slow down a bit, will you! Your bike's also looking very slick.
Thanks. I am racing MMAS4 this year. Did well at the first NCXS rounds in Queensland being 2nd overall 1st M4 on the Saturday and 3rd Overall and 2nd M4 Sunday, so M4 series leader going into next weekends NCXS here in Melbourne. Expecting bigger fields and more competition in the Southern states including the ACT rounds which I will be flying up for. :D

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 3:34 pm
by xcamx
Did anyone race Round 3 of CV's winter track series on the weekend? This was my first ever race meet so was pretty nervous going in.
First event/warmup was the heartstarter, was just trying to settle the nerves in this one, wasn't really paying attention and missed the jump at the end and finished middle of the pack. Next up were the 3 lap scratch race heats, managed to win my heat which I was pretty stoked on, top two into the final and the rest into a consolation. Then was the elimination, our grade got stitched up here with someone eliminated every second lap where after our race they decided to change it to every lap for all other grades so we did twice as much work! Spent the whole race at the pointy end but ran out of gas on the last lap to get pipped and finished 2nd. Scratch finals after this, finished 2nd again. Last event was the points race, was shortened from the original 16 laps down to 12. First sprint I was a bit slow and scraped into the points for 4th, second sprint came 2nd then final sprint crossed the line first sealing yet another 2nd place! All in all had a great night and far surpassed my expectations, all I wanted to do was not come last and not crash!
Speaking of crashes there was a nasty one in the first event in C grade which finished a few guys nights quite early.

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:36 pm
by Top_Bhoy
I popped along to watch it. The conditions at DISC for those sitting watching it were baltic; hopefully things were a bit warmer for all of you in the middle.

Were you riding in the E grade?

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 9:17 pm
by xcamx
Haha yeah everyone I knew who was watching were all whinging about how damn cold it was! Yeah E, I hope they don't bump me up after this round cos I'll get smoked otherwise!

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 11:35 pm
by ironhanglider
First Track session.

Well after some tinkering the track tandem has ventured out again for another season. I have finally managed to make it work with a right side drive, however at least with the cranks back on their proper sides I’m not expecting any pedal dramas this season.

Unfortunately this has given me the problem of having to use a 130mm BCD crankset on the back. I know it’s not a big problem, but I have a bigger selection of chainrings in 144mm.

Last year we were running a 49/14 for a 94.5” gear. It was a pig to get off from a standing start, but we ran out of leg speed at pace. For our first session our time was cut short by another commitment I had to attend to but I put a 53/15 on to see how a 95.4 would go. The bike is also rocking some insanely heavy deep section aluminium wheels, which came with their own crappy tyres. I had also put a tyre liner in these because after last season I set it up with brakes as a ‘fixie’ tandem for some bike path use.

Well it was a very instructive session. We were never able to get on top of the gear, so we were just wallowing around, and the sideways forces on the tyres from the ridiculous banking meant that the tyre liner caused a slow rear puncture. In the end the tyre was not the only thing feeling deflated after that session. Certainly as the tyre deflated the handling got worse and worse and it may have been an influence on our speed as well.



First Race night.

Well I fixed the tyre and changed the ring back to a 52 (93.6”) for the first week of racing, and the bike felt much better. We were sitting in happily enough in the scratch race, until the pace came on near the end, and we simply lacked the pedal speed to go with them. A group of 4 just rode away from us, and the others who might have been sitting on our wheel waiting for the chase simply got tailed off.

After that was a 2 lap TT. We did it but I must confess to not even checking our time.

Finally was an Italian pursuit. We didn’t mind the pedestrian start, but as pace picked up with the faster riders, we didn’t manage to make one of the accelerations, nor close the gap once we were up to speed. What was worse was that as I was shouting for more effort from John, Craig in front of us thought I was talking to him, so he kept the pressure on. We managed to do our two laps in the wind ok, but it wasn’t the best.

So now I find myself in a quandry for next week. Do we use the bigger gear and work on our strength to muscle it up to speed, or do we leave the gear as is and work on leg speed? Whilst on a single bike there is no way I’d be able to use a gear that big, but on the tandem we seem to be neither strong, nor fast, which is not a useful position to be in.

Cheers,

Cameron

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 9:23 am
by Derny Driver
ironhanglider wrote: .....So now I find myself in a quandry for next week. Do we use the bigger gear and work on our strength to muscle it up to speed, or do we leave the gear as is and work on leg speed? Whilst on a single bike there is no way I’d be able to use a gear that big, but on the tandem we seem to be neither strong, nor fast, which is not a useful position to be in.
93.6 is my son's choice of gear for outdoor track carnivals / racing so I would imagine that it would be too small on a tandem. We train on 88 for leg speed behind the derny but you always have to race big. The 95.4 (53-15) is a favourite gear which I get my ladies and some of the not so strong masters guys to use for pursuiting. If I was you I would have another session or 2 using the 95.4 and see if you can get on top of it. If you are getting pedalled off on 93 and 94 well the answer is obvious.

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 11:33 pm
by ironhanglider
Aww Gee DD, your getting awfully close to suggesting that I don't have the pedalling 'suplesse' in my late 40's that I used to have in my early 20's. :cry:

I was always terrible off a standing start, but did have enough leg speed to be useful. Oddly enough my acceleration was ok once I was moving. At that time my big gear was a 91.8 which only got used for big races and motor paces. Most of my club racing (mostly C grade, so a whole different level to Aces) was done on an 88 or a 90.

I might slip the big gear on and not tell John, and see if there is a difference. Certainly the slow puncture the previous week was throwing us off. Apparently our tail was wagging like a dog's.

Cheers,

Cameron

Re: Track Race Report Thread

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2015 9:30 pm
by foo on patrol
Easy fix.............Do plenty of starts, problem solved! :idea: :wink:

Foo