Kissena Velodrome Opening Weekend 2009

A fun filled two days of racing. Made some tactical errors, lost some races, placed in others. It was a busy event, with nearly 100 registered racers across all fields. Raced the Makino, with 32h box-section clinchers.

The kilometer is a 2.5 lap timetrial, and I would describe it as the most dreadful minute and half one can spend on a bike. The only thought going through my head at lap 1.5 is, "why am I doing this?". I think the same thought went through my head last year, at the same spot. Next year I need better mental preparation for this.

Some of Gary Berger's photos capture the determination and pain of Racing the Kilo.

The team sprint goes fine, I am our lead man riding the first lap and we have a good lead when I pull off.

In the points race, I have flashbacks of racing against Colin in a keirin race from last Fall and I follow his attack coming into the 3rd lap. I work hard to get in front of him instead of staying in his draft which would have been smarter. I work so hard doing this that I lose track and sprint at the wrong lap, unable to respond to the counter attack on the bell lap and miss a 5 man break - so I get no points at all.

Sunday is a little more consistent. It is my first time doing match sprints. The first matches are not difficult, but in the semi-final I am a little under-geared racing against Luke in a 49x15. He races smart, jumps first on the flat between turns 2 and 3, forces me to the outside before coming down into the sprinters lane and taking the win by a bike length.

The miss-and-out and the scratch races are fine, we were all feeling tired for the last race of the day (miss-and-out). I promise to try and help Al get on the podium if he can survive through the bell lap. When the bell lap rings he is already out of the race so I roll into 4th place.

Everyone showed their legs and form, and we got a lot of sun. A load of photos from the weekend.

Eloy's photostream

Gabe's Picasa set

A New York Times "Cityroom" story about us

2009 opening weekend results file (pdf)

Gary's photo sets include this one of everyone checking the results. one two.

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.