Friday is always a good day - the week is closing out and the weekend draws near.  Friday is an even better day when it’s a lead up to going track racing.  Like a teenager looking forward to seeing the girl he’s trying to get it on with, I spent most of the day with butterflies of anticipation fluttering in my stomach every time I thought about where I was heading tonight - the Dunc Gray Velodrome.

Me at the track - Photo (c) Bruce Cooke

Tonight was my third outing to the track for the Race All Winter track series.  If you’re interested, previous instalments of my adventures track racing can be found here and here.  The first time I raced I was in the beginners division - division 5.  For my second outing I boldly went where many men and women had gone before - up into division 4.  I had a great week and won two of the four races so when I went to sign up tonight I moved into division 3.

Race One - Warm Up Scratch / Schooling in Track-Craft

Race one was a warm up scratch race.  The pace in division 3 and tightness of the bunch were noticeably different to division 4 and it took me a while to get into the rhythm.  Once in the rhythm the next challenge was to do something other than float in the last two or three riders in the pace line.  I moved up through the field, but before long found myself boxed in about halfway through the bunch.  I kept looking for outs, but with a couple of laps to go it was clear that there are a few crafty buggers racing div 3 and it’s time for me to start learning some track craft.  The sprint for the line went off the front and I was nowhere, rolling in about half way through the field.

Race Two - Win and Out

The win and out is a pretty simple race - roll around for five laps and then sprint for the line on lap 6.  Whoever makes it there first wins the race and exits.  Everyone else keeps racing and the subsequent placings (down to fourth) are determined by the winners of each lap thereafter.  Simple in concept, but a little tactical nous is required.  If you go balls-out for the win but just miss it, you may well find you’ve got nothing to give in trying to secure a 2nd, 3rd or 4th placing.

The bunch rolled out and the pace was moderate.  As we neared the last lap I started to move to the front - not wanting to end up boxed in like I was in the first race.  I jumped off the front with about a lap to go and got a bit of a gap.  I busted myself over the course of the lap and rolled into the home straight.  With the finish line in sight I kept cranking the pedals over, only to be pipped at the line… Aaaargggghhh…

The winner swung up the track and I thought, “bugger that, second it will have to be”… I dug deep and kept driving on - only to experience deja vu as second place went the same way as first, pipped at the line yet again!

I’m a stubborn sort of bastard and with a relatively good pain threshold I just determined to bury myself.  Third, come on baby - you’re mine!  Nope, it wasn’t to be third place, but rather third time getting beaten at the line by a tyres width.

The field was rapidly diminishing by this stage and I just kept torturing myself.  I very nearly got caught as I raced towards the line, lungs on fire and a rider hot on my heels.  In Robbie McEwen style I pushed my bars forward and for a change managed to beat my competition by a tyres width to take fourth place.  With a wry smile on my face (part happiness, part pain) I rolled around and off the track.

You know you’ve gone hard when you can taste blood in your mouth.  I swear my lungs were bleeding afterwards even though there was no evidence of it.  I learnt two things from this race:

• I need to actually learn to sprint - all the riding was done in the saddle, if I thought about getting up out of the saddle on any one of the three opportunities before I took a placing, I may well have been able to exit the race earlier.
• Secondly, and more importantly, Paul Craft is a sadistic bastard.  Chatting to Paul afterwards he seemed genuinely disappointed that I’d actually succeeded in placing in the race.  According to Paul, there’s nothing better than someone burying themselves and just missing out.  It’s that sort of dry and somewhat sadistic sense of humour that makes Paul so entertaining.

Race Three - Mystery Lap

The third race was the mystery lap race.  This race starts with 10 laps and a randomly selected (but not disclosed) number of additional laps - from 1 to 11.  On any lap past 10, a bell may be rung to signal that the race finishes at the end of the next lap.  As a result, the race can last for anywhere between 11 and 21 laps and so poses interesting tactical options - for example, do you smash yourself at the end of lap 10, taking a punt that the race will end soon after, or do you hold back but risk the chance of missing the action when the bell finally rings.

The pace was pretty strong from the get go, and once the 10 laps were done I started to surge towards the front to remain in contention should the bell go.  Each lap we neared the start/finish line and I came forward only to be taunted by a silent bell.  Finally, with 16 laps done the bell rang and there were five or six of us up the front.  One guy jumped (Luke?) and three guys got a small gap, with me pulling through as fourth wheel.  I just couldn’t catch them and rolled in fourth place.

There was a bit of biffo during the race - as I came into the home straight I think I swung slightly upwards on the track and another rider was (I think) swinging down off the banking and we clashed side to side.  There was a seriously nervous moment where I thought, “ohhhhhhh faaaaaaarrrrrrkkkkkkk”, but somehow managed to hold it upright and raced on.  Not sure who was actually responsible - hopefully the video taken on the night will show the clash and if there’s a learning in there I can chalk that up to a valuable and luckily painless learning experience.

Race Four - Div 2/3 Combine

Ok, 1000 words in and you’re not done yet?  Well, one more race and we’re done.  The Div 2/3 combine was a 15 lap scratch race and the pace was on from the get go - with a Div 1 rider leading us out for the first 6 laps and (did I mention he’s sadistic) Paul Craft offering the leadout man $1 for every rider he could break on his final lap. 

After the intermediate sprinting on lap 6 we had 9 laps to go.  I found myself about mid-field, but with a gap to the lead group of about 4 or 5.  I spent a couple of laps bridging and managed to pull myself through to the front group - unfortunately also bringing a couple of riders with me.

2 laps to go and I realised that I was pretty toasted and didn’t have a hope of winning.  Instead, I thought I’d have some fun and blasted off the front.  I made it through to about half a lap to go and then nearly the whole field came over the top of me - felt like I was standing still.  The good news was that fellow NSCC rider Owen Cooke managed to place and got a bit of a lead out from my surge.

Time Blaster

The final race for the night was a Div 1/2 time blaster.  This is a 30 lap (7.5km) race, the objective of which is to get through as fast as possible and hopefully beat the previous best time.  This seasons record was sitting at 8min52sec but the boys smashed it tonight, pulling through in 8min45sec.  To give a little perspective - that’s an average speed of 51.43km/h.  That’s a pretty hot pace if you’re racing just a couple of laps, but as an average for the 30 laps its pretty insane and makes for fantastic viewing from the stands!

Aftermath and a few Statistics

After a nights fun I took my busted carcass off to the car.  Sitting in the car, my body relatively still, I started to feel the after-effects of busting a lung out there tonight.  Whilst my lungs still felt like they’d been put through a paper shredder set to fine and my quads were throbbing, it was my mid to lower back that took me by surprise.  It felt like someone (for some reason Paul’s face popped into my mind) had punched me in the kidneys and then was gently prodding the bruises.  Nice…

I had a HRM on for the racing tonight and collected a few stats.  I’m 33 by the way, weigh approx 70kg and generally don’t see heart rates much above 170bpm on the bike, even when going pretty hard.

Tonights efforts saw most races with an average speed of circa 40-45km/h, max speed of around 58km/h, average cadence of approx 100-105rpm and a max cadence of about 140rpm.  I’m riding an 88-inch gear and think that a little experimentation with a 90-inch gear may be in order.

I rarely see heart rates above about 170bpm on the bike, even when pushing pretty hard.  That’s on the road - on the track tonight I hit a max of 180bpm (haven’t seen a figure like that in a couple of years) and average HR was about 165bpm for most races - right at the upper end of my aerobic zone and tipping into the wrong side of my lactate threshold.  It felt good…

PS - The photo up top was taken Week 1 by Bruce Cooke.  He’s got a flickr photostream up of a few nicely taken snaps, mostly of his son Owen, but worth a look: Bruce’s Flickr Photostream

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