Bulldogsprinter

Decided it was time for a 2016 racing thread. I'll start of with my first race for 2016, please be free to comment and add your own race stories.

We had our first Thursday track meet yesterday (I know it was Tuesday yesterday, but it's a bank holiday then so the season opener was yesterday). The program was match sprint . Most of the guys were there with just their training gear, but for me the flying 200 was a good way to test if this winter training has done what it should. I was aiming for a sub 11.5. The field was okish; a couple of hard masters (40ish) PBs sub 11 for on and sub 11.5 the other. Two track sprinters in their 20s, one sub 11.5 and the other sub 12 PB. Reigning womens champ. A couple of roadies. Some older masters, think 70 something was the most senior and a few juniors. Weather was real good considering the time of year: around 10 degrees C and 2m/s wind.
F200m
After warm up I switched to race gearing 108" Got my head into race setting and waited for my turn. The wind-up was ok, but dropped a little early and hit a bit of a bad line, but still got quite good speed and held it to the end. Fastest qualifier with 11.35, avg cad 126 and 63.5kph. Top speed 66.5kph.

Switched to 100,3" for the sprint rounds. The race was run in simple elimination, ie. you win you go through, you loose you go out.


Matches
1st match was against 8th qualifier, we used the UCI standard rock-paper-scissors to choose who led off. I rode from the front. As these races are less important and as such good training I decided to try to keep him on my hip and leave the sprint late. He rode very conservatively and stayed on my six the whole time not taking the bait. On the last lap (this is a 400m track) I took us up 3/4 height in turn 1 and kept the height going into turn 2, the idea was to give him the chance to jump me on the inside and give me a good challenge, but as he didn't want to I jumped. Rode hardish about 50m hitting 63 as max speed and started looking for him, was able to take the foot of the gas by turn 3 and cruise to the finish.

2nd match was against a woman (a first for me) she qualified 6th (last years Finnish champion). I again lost rock-paper-scissors and started from the front. I dropped to the sprinters line but she kept height so I increased the pressure on the pedals to force her down. When she dropped I pulled up coming out from turn 2, slowing the speed down. She then increased the speed a little taking the front. I kept quite close but higher. We went 35-40kph from turn 4 through turn 1 and 2 on the final lap. Exiting turn 2 I faked diving on the inside making her react. She dropped to close the gap, but didn't kick so I jumped past her on the outside before she had time to react. Jumping from 36 to 59kph was enough to get a gap and was able to get off the gas before exiting turn 4. Tactically a much funner ride than the first match, and truth be told I think she challenged me more than the bloke in the first ride.

The final was against the guy who qualified 3rd a pretty good masters rider (about 10 years older than me, 40-something). We're mates and had talk before, did the no no of talking gearing and new exactly what the other was riding; he had 2" on me. He lead of, my guess was that he'd want a long sprint with the slightly longer gearing. He rode the red line and I took some height. He kept a good pace around 40-45kph for most of it. I kept riding the stayers line, my plan was to rush the gap. I read me and baited me to close the gap a little early and coming into turn 3 I had almost no gap so I jumped to the stayers line and passed him. He was almost able to stay with me so I dropped a little height exiting turn 4 hitting 62.5 . He had a little wobble trying to match me, so I was able to get off the gas and hit the finish line again up a the stayers line.



All in all a very good evening for me. None of the rounds really challenged me, but tried to kick hard to get the maximum training. I only kept the speed up for the shortest required time to minimize fatigue. Happy with my f200 considering I haven't dropped volume in my lifting at all and I'm far from any important race with zero tapering at the moment.

Impreza_aL

Holy big gears and flying!!!


So so much politics at my local track I quit racing there...

Baby Puke

It's truly ridiculous. Some good people for sure, but I'm so happy to be on my way back to Japan.

queerpunk

I'm really sorry to hear that. At the risk of asking you to, uh, go on the record - what's going on at your track?

At ours... well... everybody really pulled together to get the track ready for the season while our track director has been out of commission. We got a bunch of boards replaced, the paint fully scraped, all lines repainted, and even the meter-markers repainted. It looks amazing right now. Best it's been in years.

VanceMac

The race season at Velo Sports Center in Carson has been pretty encouraging. Participation in track always seems to ebb and flow, and our momentum has been building the past couple years. That's relative, of course, as 60 people total for a main event Friday Night Racing (FNR) is fewer than one category (out of a dozen) for a local crit. I will never understand that.

So far, we've had 6 FNR dates, 5 Monday Night Sprints, 3 Time Trials, and 4 events in our Junior Series. We also had a Cat 5 clinic/series, and had a couple Masters and Madison races. We were a bit aggressive, doubling the number of race dates from last year; but for the most part, the people have responded.

We have another flurry of events in June, then all the state championships in July (elite, jr, masters).

SprintzNKiloz

Our season starts next Thursday with mass start races.

MrMinty

Did my first track race league night last night, didn't go too bad for a first attempt. Races are usually split between A & B riders, but there was a small field, so all the endurance races ran together. Didn't finish last in any race or get dropped straight away and lapped 5 times like I did on my first crit

8 Lap Scratch

Started off at a pace I was comfortable with, so was sat in the bunch. About 4 laps in, there was a massive split in the field, roughly about half and half. I was left in the rear group, but towards the front. 3 riders in front picked up the pace and did all I could to hold on the wheel and managed to pull it off. We kept on the pace, but didn't quite manage to bridge the gap to the front group in time. I thought it was all the A Class riders that had gone in the 1st group, but it may not have been.

Course De Primes

Nothing much to report on this one. Left it to the strong riders to battle it out for the league points and ended up finishing in the bunch.

Elimination

4th out on this one- poorly positioned at the bottom of the track when other riders went over the top.

40 lap scratch

The pace started ok, but soon picked up. The field was strung out rider after rider. I was dropping back and riders were coming over the top of me. When I ended up being popped off the back, it was time to abandon (but I wasn't the first to go!) The race hotted up and 2x A Cat riders managed to make a significant break. Another rider attacked off the bunch and seemed to be out for ages before bridging the gap. All 3 then managed to lap the field.

Lessons learnt

Positioning is 90% of the game. I was out of position on the elimination. Will try to hold a better position higher up the track next time & not take it for granted that there's a rider behind me.

Find a strong rider (preferably bigger than me) and do everything possible to hold that wheel when there is an acceleration in the field.

All in all happy with my performance. I had no expectations and have learnt a few things for future races

queerpunk

Our 2016 season has started out without the usual Rider To Watch, a master's world champ who can always be counted on to make the decisive move. As such, everything is a little bit less predictable.There's also the return of a guy who took two years off. He's a giant, rides a huge gear, can sprint it, and has enough tenacity to be a threat in enduro races. Basically it's not fair.

I decided my best chance of beating the big dude was just throwing bomb after bomb into the race and seeing what happened. After chasing a dangerous early move from the big guy's teammate that nearly got a lap, I started putting in attacks. After a few, I pulled a 6-rider group away from the pack. Two more riders bridged up to it, but we didn't really make progress on the field, and with the big guy and his teammate in that move, I stayed at the back (yeah, i know there's no collusion. But.).

And then I started attacking again, and eventually pulled a four-rider move away - me, the big dude, and two others who were less threatening to me. We took a lap in pretty short order, and even though I attacked the group to bridge to the pack solo the others made it across.

In the closing laps, one of the other riders in our lap slipped away, just a little bit, and the big dude was marking me closely - I'd tried to shake him for a few laps and he wasn't going anywhere. So with a rabbit dangling off the front, I attacked with 2.5 to go. Got a gap. Rode through the attacker. Rode into the final lap still solo. Glanced under my armpit to see the big guy closing on me. Breathing down my neck in turn 3, coming aside in turn 4, but as I came out of the lane to come around lapped riders I was able to hold him off and take the win with a bike throw.

It was the hardest win I'd ever won and I was completely schwasted after the race (still am, in fact). Racing against this fella three years ago was definitely an experience of beating my head against the wall - I'd won races that he'd been in, but never won one going toe-to-toe against him. I'm proud.

Closing meters: https://www.instagram.com/p/BF6a86iE...ken-by=_mattio

SprintzNKiloz

Awesome ride!

MrMinty

2nd Race night of the season (second track race ever)

Opening 8 lap scratch

Did well at first on this; managed to get to the front and throw in a couple of attacks off the front, but burnt my matches too early and ended up sitting up and finishing last. I don't feel anywhere near as gutted to be last in a track race as I did when I attempted my first crit!

Win and Out

Planned to give it a sprint, as that plays to my strengths, but someone attacked on the first sprint lap, about 300m out, and I wasn't able to catch (I thought about it, but he was too far ahead, so it would've been a waste of energy) Same happened on the second one really. On the final one, a group of two went and I tried to catch up, but just couldn't bridge the gap.

Elimination

Much better tactics and positioning this week. I stayed on the blue line at the front as much as I could, and positioned myself as to try and not lose that position. Came 4th, but must've been by a gnats whisker, as we were side by side over the line (I actually thought I'd got it but my number was called)

Lessons learnt

Not every attack sticks, but not every attack works- pick the timing carefully

Sometimes (such as in a win & out) its better to preserve the energy and consolidate your losses if you know you can't bridge the gap

I feel like my gearing was too high, and I was struggling to keep the speed up. Will reduce the gearing next week (down from 86 to 81)


On wards and upwards. I'll be racing at a different track on Friday (but with the same dimensions) and will also have team mates to take a bit of advice from. Also then competing at an open event on Sunday, which I'm really looking forward to.

SprintzNKiloz

QP did you race the Midwest challenge at Major Taylor last week?

queerpunk

yup! half of it, anyway. i got popped out of the winning break in the scratch race (2nd time in 3 years. hrmph), had a cluster**** of a madison, and a top ten in the elimination. i was really looking forward to racing the TP and the points race on saturday, but oh well - the rain had other plans.

SprintzNKiloz

Yeah, being a sprinter I didn't race Friday but I actually announced your scratch race! Kyle Perry is a beast and that was a strong move to follow. You should have cranked out a kilo Saturday! At least we got those in.

queerpunk

yeah, Kyle's been on my radar each year at the midwest challenge... he went really early and the guy he brought with him has a master's WC in the team pursuit, so I figured it was dangerous. it was a long two or three laps solo to get up to them. Once I did, they went from full lap pulls to half lap pulls (i started it, but i needed it!) which wasn't enough for me to recover fast enough. Then, Chad (theblackbullet) bridged up with Dan Casper, who also has a grip of master's WCs (TP, Scratch) under his belt - and that was definitely the move. And we already had 2/3rdsof a lap. I figured I'd be able to get away with skipping a single pull, but when I let Kyle's initial breakaway partner in in front of me, he blew and I couldn't close the gap. Big bummer - and a mental error on my part.

yeah, glad y'all got a kilo in - but it's definitely not my wheelhouse! i'm no wattmachine.

even with the rainout, though our trip wasn't in vain - we had raced in Chicago the night before.

dickey

Dick Lane Velodrome's The Omnium this weekend. Croom and Kovalchik are heading down. Should make things pretty fast. The schedule has us doing a team-based Madison for the first time. Top 8 teams of cat A riders qualify. So far this year the Madison has been...quite the learning experience (for EPTC anyway).

tobukog

I'm not sure what to expect this weekend at Dick Lane. The only benchmark for me would be Croom -- we were pretty much equal on speed a couple of months ago. I'm guessing I'm a little quicker on the road right now, and him being a little quicker on the track after all his racing. But you just don't know -- some people are just way quicker on the track than they are on the road... Great kid by the way -- I love seeing him grow as a rider and enjoying the bike.

MrMinty

Track League Friday

Opening 6 laps Scratch
Finished in the bunch- 6th out of 12 racing

Course de Prime
Finished mid way up. Didn't manage to go with the initial surge, so me and another rider worked together doing half lap turns. We were joined by a third rider for a couple of turns, who then went off in front. I picked up the pace in the last 300m, distanced myself from the second rider and caught a couple more riders that had been shelled off the back of the main pack. 8th on the final lap of 12 riders

1km Scratch
Managed a 6th place on this. All started slow, but picked up after. I'm kicking myself as I feel i could've gone earlier and stayed out for a higher place rather than waiting for someone else to make a move. Shorter rides definitely my strength. 5th out of 11 riders

Longest Lap
Not to bad on this one either. Was trackstanding on the second row when the gun went, and I have quite a strong acceleration/ standing start, so was able to pass a few riders before the finish. 7th of 11 riders. Should've gone bit further forward before the gun

12 Lap Scratch
Another DNF in the longest race. Managed to stay in much longer than I have previously though. I have noticed a pattern in these races. There will be an initial surge and shell out weak riders (this is where I got to previously), then a slow down and bunch up (possibly with a few attacks) and then a winding up of the pace until the end (this is where I managed to hang on to this week)

All in all, happy with my progress. Roll on this week!

Hida Yanra

as I hear it from a guy in the madison final, things got.... interesting.
anyone here on the board have 1st hand info? Mine's 2nd hand, and story-teller bias is a real thing.

tobukog

From my perspective, not interesting at all. Pretty much everyone was locked into a time trial for the final. Kovalchik was obviously better than everyone else and the rest of us tried to stay on lap. No crashes, no real closely contested points battles in the Final that I could see.

MrMinty

Well can safely say I'm dissapointed with my local league- called off due to weather and was only ran twice after starting 4 weeks late. Organisers looked at extending into August (should be start of May- end of July) but they decided against it due to other commitments.