First up: a poll! (A poll!)
Overall, it's been a good post-Trackfest week!
Monday, went out to the track to help organize the sprints..rain.
Tuesday, considered the TT, but the weather was crap, so didn't ride.
Took an extra rest-day on Wednesday. I also considered the VCL Crit, but had a GVVA meeting in the evening.
Thursday, was back at the track. First event was a Chariot, as there were only three A's (two others came out, but had a tumble in the initial Madison. They're healing up and fine!) As could be predicted, Simon and Cooper stomped me in the 1-lap sprint. I managed to stay on their wheels tho, not bad considering i was in an 82" gear. ;)
Next up was a Miss'n'Out, combined A's, B's and C's. I stuck to the 82" gear, knowing my strategy off the top.. The race started, and a sprint goes by, and i slide up at the front, and i get up there and pin it at 40kph, and hold it. For about 15 laps. =)
There was one odd attack from Simon, who sprinted by me, but i got up on his wheel in a few moments, and let him draft me for a lap, then he fell back, and i just carried the speed through. Cooper was still on my wheel (i think he was the whole time) - and so we traded pulls for a couple laps, and to my surprise Roland (track photographer extraordinare!) guns past Simon, to join us in the Final Three (in a Miss'n'Out, once there's three riders left, an extra lap is added, and it's basically a Matched Sprint between the finalists.)
Crap -- Cooper pretty much has this in the bag...ahh well, i've got to try something! We're going into corner 3, and the bell will be rung as we come out of corner 4.... We're not moving very fast, but i see he's slowing down, and is a good 10m behind me....so i drop the hammer! I dash away as fast as my little legs can carry me, the bell's ringing, and i'm flying by! I glance back, and i've got some decent distance! I keep spinning away, but sadly, but the time we hit the line again, he's caught me and edged ahead...ahh well. I couldn't have played my cards much better...will have to keep trying strategies on that guy. ;)
Friday i chilled. Saturday was the
Oak Bay group ride, and due to MORE RAIN, only about 10 peeps turned out (as opposed to ~50 that we've been seeing!) We got a decent ride in, despite the foul weather.
Sunday was more of the same, tho lighter rain. I couldn't bear to ride in it, so i decided to spend an hour on the trainer instead, which was actually a really good idea. I've got to start logging tons of miles in the aero bars, and so hooked 'em up, and did a few long intervals in them, to start acclimatizing myself to them again.
Monday was an awesome day for me - Pursuits at the track. My goal for the night was to get ~5:40, and hold ~43kph. I was a bit nervous, as it was getting cooler (which means everything slows down! You can go 10-30 seconds faster depending on the weather..!)
I went out fairly hard, got myself up to 49kph, then spent a couple laps coasting down..and accidently went too low - i got down to 41kph - oops! I was feeling really good, and picked it up to 43-44kph, and basically held that. I got a bunch of the other guys to start on the other side, so i wasn't riding all by myself...and i was getting pretty close. I was happy with how i was riding, so i eased up a bit with a few laps to go, and then gunned it for the last lap. Before i was even finished, i knew it was a success! I was holding 43-44kph, and it was relatively effortless!! Not only could i have easily smashed my own PB on the track that night, but i would have done it on a cool night. That felt really good. This means that i might be on track for hitting my goal of getting under 5:20 at the Provincials in August...fingers crossed!
Anyway, here are the splits, there's one lap 'missing', and we actually finished one lap short (i inserted the 11th lap with 28", that would have been a fair guess.)
29.94, 26.98, 28.85, 28.59, 27.64, 27.40, (27.60), 27.76, 28.01, 28.08, (28.00), 26.91 =
5'35"76Sweet!! That's my fastest time in Victoria. (
Or it would have been, again, this is a lap short, i'm just filling in the blank, but it's unlikely i would have lost 2 seconds, which was needed to get a new PB, the old being 5'37 here in Victoria.)
That feels really awesome. To think,
a year ago i got a 5'48, and i actually remember the night, with my buddy Kevin on my wheel! Funny, i got the exact time he got during that effort! (
This blogging thing is way too cool to track past events!)
In other news, i've decided on my next bike! The good men over at OBB helped me pick out my future Cyclocross / winter bike! I'll be picking up a
Salsa Chili Con Cross, a scandium race frame, that, of all things, comes in GREEN! It'll be light and comfortable - music to my ears.
Also, by the luck of the universe, i'll be scoring an orange fork from Scott, that comes from a
Salsa Las Cruces. It's gonna be one SWEET looking bike!!! I'll be building it up with Campy Centaur, and my Powertap and Kysiruim Elite will get moved over as well, and should come in under 20lbs - the frame is 2.94lbs, and the fork is 1.6lbs. A winter bike i'll be excited to ride - how do you like them apples? There won't be much of a rush to build this up tho, i'll keep the Norco as my wet ride bike for now, and race this through the 'Cross season here, and then put on fenders, and retired the Norco to permanent commuter duty. =)
Before i start dumping cash into this, i still need to get an aero helmet.. Any suggestions on where to find a good price on the Bell models?
Labels: log, pursuit, trackfest
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