Track Season Has Begun!!

Woohoo - first night on the track this year, very exciting! Lotsa familiar faces, good to see 'em all, as well as a few eager, new ones! Several of my teammates weren't there, which was kinda sad...hopefully they'll be out on Thursday!

This means i finally got to ride my Kona on the track...pretty sweeet! After a few adjustments, it was starting to feel pretty good. I immediately noticed the difference in power-transfer.. I pedal harder, and it starts to fly....gotta like that. Very solid.

After about 20mins of warm-ups, we started the night with Team Sprints, a good way to begin! (Thanks to Matt for organizing as well!) I think the team i was on posted the fastest time..tee hee.. I was the 2nd guy.

I felt quite beat through the night tho. Although not a lot for many riders, the 240km or so i've done in the last three days had its toll on my legs.... It was weird - i could keep spinning pretty quickly, but i just didn't have the 'ooomph' needed for a successful sprint.

My first Flying 200m was an interesting experience.. I'm riding a 48x15, and i decided i'd actually hit it with a lot of speed (rather than go slow and 'jump'), and when i got out of the saddle coming through the corner, i had little more to give! I was practically at my top speed! Not sure if this is because i was tired (or remnants of my flu) or if my gear was too small.. Once i sat down, i felt right, and even after the line i felt pretty good....i could have kept the pace up. (Good sign for the Kilo..) Stuck to the black line very nicely as well - the upper-body conditioning i've been doing paid off well!

The time wasn't spectacular, about 14.5 seconds. I'm used to seeing 13.5's or lower...but everyone was getting at least a half-second higher than normal. It was about 8C outside, so it makes sense. Guess it's gonna be a little while before i get that under 13 seconds. =)

Also did a matched sprint with Jeremy, that was pretty fun. It was his first one, he wasn't sure what the deal was, but after some good instruction he jumped me, made a couple meters on me, and held it to the line. Good stuff!

The only issue with the bike is that the front tire is rubbing on the fork.. It's a 22cm tubular, and it's just too big for the fork despite filing down the crown. Charles gave me a couple of his old 19cm tires, and so i'm planning to set one up near the end of the night on Friday. They're Conti's too, very, very nice of him.

I also bid farewell to the old rental Purple KHS which has been my faithful companion on the track for the last three years. I hope the next rider will enjoy it as much as i did!

On Sunday, did the Burnside ride again, felt a bit better than the Sat ride. Earlier today went out for a couple hours with Andy again, he's starting to pick up some pretty good speed! All you tri racers better watch out. ;)

Not sure what the rest of my week will look like, now that my schedule is different with three nights of riding. Most likely do a 'Foundation/Endurance Miles' ride on Wed, race Thu night, ride w/Andy Friday with Observatory hill repeats, easy night at the track Fri night, and a couple rides on the weekend...seems like i'm gonna be spending a fair bit more time on the bike now - yippee!!

On a slightly different tangent, i've been pretty busy creating promo stuff for the Velodrome Association, including this poster and the race schedule (both PDF's.) I think people in the club are pretty happy with the results, which is a nice feeling. =)

Now i must sleep! G'nite y'all!