Back to club racing

Raced last night at DISC in the regular Northcote races. Had a lazy day leading up to the races and really had to haul my ass there. Initially registered for B grade, but felt bad about it. Went back and got A grade. Winter A grade is not quite the slugfest that summer is, but there was still some quality there. I could not be bothered to change my chainring, so decided to ride 91.8, 51-15, which turned out better than I thought it was going to. The racing in general was better than I expected. In the scratch, it was a good bit of fun. Got stretched out and crunched up, as is usual, though one of the juniors goes a bit far in slowing down the field every time he gets on the front. It is brakes on whenever it comes round to him. I found the speed wasn't too much of an issue and the smaller gear made following the surges so much easier. There were sketchy moments when one of the other guys squeezed me out from underneath. Not a good move and I let him know it. He promptly tried to push under again next time round, but I was prepared and he had to decide between the blue and staying back. He stayed back. As to the end, I came in 4th, but was really happy that I didn't just drop back like I usually do. 

The points race was similarly gratifying. Again, my legs were far from a match for the true A graders, but I felt a lot more zip. Leg speed seemed heaps better than it usually is. I even managed to take a few points, including a second to Madison, who pretty much won everything on the night.

Onto the motor pace, and the derny took off at a brutal pace, leaving us with no illusions that this was going to be a pleasant roll. Indeed, the pace kept climbing and the guy whose wheel I was following seemed to be flagging, and popped when he rolled off the next time around. Lots of pacing in training meant that I could be pretty efficient in my changes, and as the laps passed, others popped. It got pretty hairy at one point when someone tried to get back on, but I held it together, and kept spinning away until at 5 to go, I was done. Second overall, and quite happy with it. Felt good not to be the worst in the race!

Omnium

Have just got back from the omnium, which was a beast of a day of riding. 5 events, starting with the flying 200, then the scratch, the individual pursuit over 2000m, the points race over 15km, and finally a kilo just to round it all off.

How was it? Tiring. I felt like I was going fast in the kilo at the end, but could only pull a 1.15 out of the hat. Pretty slow stuff. Gearing becomes a big issue through out the day, as you have to take account of the previous racing in your choices. Pushing a 100 or 102 just seemed a bad idea for the final event, wheras I would not think twice about it normally.

Standout performances in my grade were Lou Pascuzzi who lost to Matt Chessum on a countback. He has come a long way in a short times. Just beat me in the pursuit, which hurt a little. I think that I came in 5th or 6th. Will find out in the next couple of days- I couldn't come at hanging around longer than I had to just to find out.

One of the harder days of cycling I have done. Maybe when I have got back a bit of energy I might do a proper report!

Night before...

The masters omnium is on tomorrow. I am coming off a period of a few days of feeling really flat, but hopefully am starting to feel better. A large part of it has been psychological, with a lack of willingness to push myself as I was before. Part too had been a falling off of form that I had managed to hold pretty well for the period up to the Vics and to a lesser extent, to the Master's Nationals. A good sign is that I am feeling keen for the start tomorrow (and even that I am keen enough to write this).

Gearing... well, it will be a cold day, so not too much point pushing anything too massive. That said, my leg speed is ... well... pathetic, so on with the big gears. I am thinking 98 or 100 for the flying 200, as I seemed to spin out on the 96 the other night (only 125rpm. So sad...). For the points, maybe 93 or 94. Probably the same for the scratch, but maybe a bit more. I will ride 100 for the pursuit, and probably 96 for the TT, as it is only 500m, and is at the end of the day.