Provincials - Day 3 -- Log

Woohoo! I've survived two days, and one left to go!

Felt quite crunchy getting out of bed, and more slow-moving than usual...but i had a nice big breakie, and rode out to the track!

Got a nice warm-up on the way there, and felt pretty good, once i started rolling. Only two events for the day:

Keirin - i enjoy this race, tho i don't really have the legs to get myself to the front... This is the only event i changed my gears for...went up to a 92 (48x14.) Otherwise i rode the weekend in a 47x14.

In the first heat, Stephen Alfred, Matt Chader and Keith Bruneau carried through...all very strong riders/sprinters. I came in 5th behind Scott Allen. I got on a good wheel (the Keirin winner actually), but Keith started butting with me, and i didn't really want to compete for it, so i gave it to him and sat on his wheel.

In the repechage, five minutes later(!!), Scott also carried through, and i came in 6th..not too bad since i pulled an 8 (out of 9) and ended up a vegan caboose on this train during the motorpaced section.

30km Points - ahh..the last race, and my favorite race on the track. I knew i didn't have much of a chance of beating many of these guys for points, so my #1 goal was to simply finish the race, and conserve as much energy as possible.

13 guys started, with a decent number of Dr. Walker riders.. I mainly worked in the race to try and defend these guys (Clarkie and Vinko)...slowing down attacks, and blocking when they were in a break-away, including helping Clarkie lap the pack.

Other than the two groups who lapped the pack, i only got lapped by the pack once about halfway through, which is quite an accomplishment for me! Most of the guys are gold-medal champs, incredibly strong and fast, and the pace was very high (almost entirely above 45kph, and much of it above 50kph.) Quite grueling over 30km, let me tell ya...

No real highlights for me...there was one sprint where i just about had enough juice in me to nab a point, but i decided to play conservatively and just finish the race...being a lap down, and risking taking points from Clarkie and Vinko wasn't worth it.

It was an total honour to ride with these guys, and next year, i hope to be much closer to the front. =)

Final event of the day was a Flying Lap attempt..i had next to nothing left in my legs, and came in a little slower than my last attempt..no surprise there. ;)

That's my 2005 Provincial Track Championships experience in a nutshell! I think in future i'll drop the 200m and Kilo, and opt for Pursuits. (Considering after a year of training, my 200m time has only dropped 0.2 seconds, i think that says something about my pure sprinting ability..and the Kilo is absolutely brutal....took me considerably longer to recover from than than anything else..)

Sarah Kirby did absolutely AMAZING. She completely dominated, including getting a gold in the Women's Sprints, Keirin, Points, and Scratch races (along with two silvers), and simply cleaning up in the Omnium. Great work Sarah!!!! (Sarah and i go way back...we both grew up in the Owen Sound area, went to the same high school, started road riding together, and started on the track at the same time as well..! We've always competed for events, having close 200m times, and until i started piling on the miles, we'd always have to battle it out in the distance races. You rock Sarah, hope you stay in Victoria!!)

I believe my next big competition will be at the beginning of December, there's a 6 Day event planned in Burnaby i believe, and i'll probably try and make it over for that. Until then, i'll continue to train hard, and get some more points in the local league...maybe i can get closer to the #2 position....!

A couple more pics:


I selected '42' as my number.
As some of you might know, it's the answer..
...but of course we don't know what the question is. ;)


My trusty Kona track bike,
thanks for carrying me over these races!!