Oh Penelope, Are You Full Of Air? -- Log

And so the wheels turn...i'm still putting on piles of miles, and am really enjoying spending longer amounts of time on the bike. If i ever score me one of them tiny MP3 players, you may never get me off the bike. ;)

Here's the 411:

Thu - Madison Night! Vinko and i ended up paired-up for the night...prolly not the best idea putting the #2 and #3 guys in the league together..heh.. It was a really small turnout, four teams and mostly 'B' riders, but it was still a fun race.

The first 10mins were 'neutralized', so we stuck together, keeping the pace down so we could practice our slings. At the bell, Smitz beat Vinko to the line, but we got our 3pts.. The race was timed, 20mins, with two sprints, one at 10mins, then at 20. After 10mins, we no longer had to stick together...

After the bell, the pace picked-up very quickly, and suddenly we were really racing! Vinko and i worked together well, with some pretty solid exchanges. We were exchanging every lap, so it'd be a 500m sprint, then off for 30-40 seconds, then back in...very fast pace, making for a pretty intense event!

A couple laps after the first bell, Vinko made a solid break from Smitz, and i made it a bit bigger from Bart (Smitz partner, who i ended up riding against), then we maintained that to the end, and snatched the final 5pts. Luckily, one of the other teams got the 3pts, so they got 2pts, and that left us in 1st place! Woohoo! My first gold finish of the year!!

I'm gonna try and sneak another Madison night before the end of the season...what a great race. Very intense tho..it's total intervals...sprint, rest, sprint, rest.. I feel a bit more comfortable getting into a rhythm when riding, and maintaining a solid pace, but this is a neat change.

Fri - I'm no maniac. Day off!

Sat - Did a longr ride w/Sarah, ~120km. Felt great, did the Up'n'Over, which used to be a devastating climb...but felt pretty mild now. Sarah rode quite strongly for someone who hasn't been putting on many miles!

Sun - Rode with the BSide group. Really weird day, a few guys took off the front right away...we didn't pursue.. Then a few others broke off, and we pursued them. When we caught them, they'd caught another bunch of guys, and suddenly we doubled our numbers to around 25 riders.

The speed picked up, and in the climb before the airport a number of guys were dropped... I was at the back of the pack, so did a little pursuit to catch the front. Then it was the Airport sprint, which i took...tho no one challenged me..wimps!

Took the short-cut at Land's End (i usually do, good opportunity to eat), along with Pat. We saw a half-dozen guys ride ahead, and a bunch were behind us. After the short-cut, a couple guys motored by, and we jumped on for a while...but decided to drop off and catch the main pack behind us.

Oddly, we never saw them... We rode through Sydney, and Pat had to turn off at the Red Barn. I figured the pack would catch us by then, but no dice. There was also another bunch of guys that was supposed to be behind us, but i think they took the short-short-cut, and were ahead of us. So, i ended up riding the final hour solo....which was fine, lets me ride in my ideal training zone. I do miss a bit of convo, and getting a break from the wind tho..heh..this *is* Victoria after all!

This next week isn't too exciting, Sprints on Monday, a ride or Field Test on Tuesday (might save that for next week..) Prolly take Wed off, and then Endurance Night on Thursday at the track, i'll prolly invite a bunch of friends to watch, this will prolly be one of my better race nights of the year. Prolly do another ride Fri, and more on the weekend - woohoo!

(Subject title from 'Penelope', by Pinback.)