We Have a Winner, and April Totals

Friday night was the first track racing of the season. I was pretty relaxed, as I wasn't expecting much other than to be better than last year. I had ridden the new track bike on Thursday to make sure my position was good, and that the bike was functional, but was dismayed to discover that the 15 tooth cog it came with was awful. The chain would skip, bounce, and sometimes feel like it was going to lock up on me (not a good prospect with a fixed gear!). Luckily (sort of), another teammate was having similar issues with the same new bike, and when our friend John set him up with a nice Phil Wood cog, the true problem was discovered.

I cut my ride at the velodrome short and made a stop at our sponsor, Sammamish Valley Cycle. They had two 15 tooth cogs, so I scored one, and my team mate with the same problem got the other. Here is my new ride, with the road bike above and behind:
I don't have a lot of track bike experience to compare to, but the Fuji is awesome compared to any other track bike I have ridden. I pedal, and it goes.

Back to Friday night
We had three races slated - a 10 lap scratch race (10 laps, first one across the finish line wins), a 10 lap snowball (progressively increasing points, 1 pt to the winner of the first lap, 10 points for the last lap, winner is the one with most accumulated points), and a 4x4 points race (sprint every 4 laps, 4 places deep for points, winner is the one with the most accumulated points).

In the scratch race, the most basic of track races, I broke away on lap 4 and held it for a couple of
laps, after which my teammate John took off. He didn't quite realize that he had a good gap, and didn't continue the move for long (which I think he regrets - he was looking great, especially for a guy recovering from a broken elbow). I managed to sneak in for 3rd in the sprint. Those initial scratch races are hard - I always feel like I am "still warming up", and our first lap after a neutral lap was at around 28 mph. Still getting 3rd was my best result in a track event since 2000!

In the snowball, John and I had discussed making a move for the 6 point lap, and trying to keep it going as long as possible, trading off for the 6, 7 , 8, 9, and 10 points on the remaining laps. He, however, wasgetting mixed up in some of the earlier sprints (and managed to take one of them), while I bided my time in the pack. I attacked solo just after the sprint for the 5 point lap, and managed to get a solid gap by maintaining 34 mph for about a lap and a half. From then on, I just put my head down, kept the heart rate at 178 bpm and churned. I managed to get the 6, 7, and 8 point laps, and while the pack was closing on me, I eeked out the 9 point lap as well - mathematically, I could not be beat. I discretely pumped my right fist as I crossed the line, and after that I just pulled up track to watch. This was the first track race I'd won since 2000, so I was basking a little bit :-)

In the 4x4, both John and I tried to get involved in the sprints, with no long solo breakaways this time. I got the first sprint (5 points) by just keeping the pace at the front fast enough that no one came around me, and was out of the second sprint, recuperating. Then both John and I were in a break of four for the 3rd sprint, and I got 5 points, with John getting 3 (which means we went 1-2 in that sprint), and then I hung in there in the pack, but was pretty tired for the last sprint, and so looked John.

In the end, I had a 3rd, 1st, and 2nd, so I took the omnium by a substantial margin, which
sure feels good compared to last season. John also slotted into 9th for the night, which again is pretty darn good for a guy who can't even pull up on the bars for a sprint.

It feels great to win!


April Totals
April numbers are a bit lower than March, which is by design, since I am focusing on being solid on the track. That means I do more sprints and shorter length intervals, and less long steady riding. Each ride is more intense, on average, so there just aren't as many hours in, since I also increase the number of rest days to accommodate the intensity. Oh, I also bumped up the running miles in order to be fit for a soccer match:

April Total Training Log

Bicycle
Time: 33:34:00
Distance: 604.7 miles
Longest Ride: 50.0 miles, 2:47:00
Rest days: 7

Running
Time: 3:15:00
Distance: 21.0 miles
Longest Run: 9.0 miles

April/May 40 km TT test
Today, even though my legs were pretty tired from Friday, I decided to notch up another 40 km TT test on the loop around Lake Sammamish. If you recall, my best time so far was 1:08:00. Today, even though the TT ended with an uncharacteristic north headwind, I managed 1:07:00! I would have gone even faster, but I didn't decide I was doing the TT test until I was 5 miles in, and felt good enough to give it a shot. Might have been able to post a time under 1:05:00...

Point of all this is that I am going well right now. I have one more Friday night of track racing before we take a 10-day holiday in The Netherlands to visit my dad and London to visit our friends. I'll be bringing the running shoes, but it will be good to take a bit of a break.