velodrome track race - kissena queens new york

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Success!

.... has it's ups and downs.

Ups

Two days ago (Monday) I rode as if imbued with superhuman strength at the velodrome, although I felt a bit unsure how to wield this unexpected power.


Scored two wins and a second place for first place on the omnium.

What's changed? Looking over my road racing data, I was hitting 140-150 cadence in almost every road race. I wanted to start using more muscle strength. This is the reason for changes #1 and #2.

1> 49x15 instead of 47x15.
2> Moved the cleats back a bit for greater leverage (same as moving toes forward) .
3> Raised the saddle a bit.
4> Rode hard at Unionvale (the day before).
5> Rested for two days prior to Unionvale.
6> Felt relaxed.

The last thing, #6 is also important, riding relaxed helps efficiency. I was also mentally concentrating on efficiency. And steak tartare from les enfants terribles the night before.

Downs
Today (Wednesday) I was still feeling a little spent and only got one or two points at the velodrome. Meaning that I had only one sprint (matches to burn) per race, and then spent the rest of each race holding on for dear life. It was also harder to relax in a bigger field.

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