I'm still a fish out of water against seasoned tracikes, but as long as the borrowed bike held up, I knew the effort I could do would be competitive. Everything went to plan, two 2010 Masters 1 State Championship titles in the bag!Saturday, Time Trial. aka 'the kilo', 1000m, 4 laps. Its just a little too long for that 40-45 seconds of energy we've all got stored up to give it 100% without fading badly on the final lap. My start was slow, so I was told, but I held pace once the speed was up. 1:10.23. I was aiming for under 1:10. A few things to learn and more time on the track and that time will come down. Still, it was good enough for gold!
Sunday, Pursuit. 3000m, 12 laps. This was the event I was targeting, if you could call 10 days preparation that. I'd set some baseline lap times last Sunday but after watching Masters 2 and 3 rip up the boards I started to think my target was a little ambitious. Matilda Vaughan (the force behind the two time world-champ pursuiter, Stuart Vaughan) was on the sideline helping me out with lap pacing. She knew what I was targeting and kept me on target perfectly. 3:34.34. I didn't believe it at first. The guys who were posting anything below 3:40's looked damn quick. Turns out I had a very good ride. Fastest 3000m time of the weekend too.
Finals were a while off so I had a chance to sit with Michael Goldie who was watching from the stands. It was good to catchup with Mike after having a few chats on Facebook about track with him. Still plenty of time to spare there was lots of sitting around, trash talking, and warm ups to be done - again.
The final - With three laps to go I had my opponent in my sights, so I got to peg my effort and enjoy the last few laps. (no tactics given away, everyone is still my opponent!) 3:37.something. I was happy to backup my first effort with a time that would have been similar had I pushed hard for the final three laps. State M1 title #2 for the weekend!
So the experiment was good. My training on the road adapts quickly to the track and I've got a number of things to improve on. Now onto the Australian Masters Track Championships next month. Time to get faster legs, a faster bike, and see how far I can take this!
First on the shopping list, a super-fast track frame. Anyone know someone selling a BT or Cervelo!? I'll take it off their hands today if it fits.
My Thank-You list:
Stuart Vaughan - Frame, gears, advice.
Matilda Vaughan - Timing, advice.
Andy at BikePro - For my Zipp disc axle and bits.
Nick Chadderton - Gears on Day 1.
Aaron Christiansen - Gears on Day 2.
Von - Everything!
Day 1: CSV Time Trial Results
Day 2: CSV Pursuit Results (qualifying and finals).
Photos from day 2 up on my Facebook page.
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