Track fun

Got my new track bike a couple of weeks ago. Its a KHS Flite 100 with custom built wheels (Miche hubs, two sided, and some sturdy rims, not sure the kind), Tufo S3 Pro tubular extra sticky tires, FSA carbon track hubs with a 49 tooth ring, Deda Pista track bars, Ritchey stem, Terry saddle, and Speedplay pedals. Soon, I will be getting the Speedplay track specific pedals, that is providing I am good enough on the track to justify the expense. I have been fitted to the degree that the seat height is pretty good but I am heading out to the track to have the final fit done while being watched while actually riding versus doing it on the trainer. Not only are these tires extra sticky (my opinion, not something they advertise) but they are pretty spendy too so I would rather not do the fit on the trainer anyway.

I have spent approximately 2.5 hours on the track so far. The first ride on it was a Friday night, the first "Fast Twitch Friday" of the season and we did flying 200m sprints....2 laps, then the third lap was timed for 200m. I thought I was going much quicker than my time showed,16:19, the fastest was 13:26, novice my ass ;) Oh well, I beat the fastest novice woman. My trusty mechanic, Dean, the one that built my bike for me, said he should have flipped the wheel to the smaller cog for the sprint (vs the warm up cog) but c'est la vie, next time. Normally on FTF, they have 200m sprints where you go head to head with someone else. I am a little nervous about this but I would love to try it. If you have ever seen it done, its pretty much a chess game for the 2 laps preceding the actual sprint then you can use your opponent (if you are near enough) to draft and launch around them....in theory. My nervousness is only due to my inexperience and the fact that someone else would be on the track when I am and I don't want to crash or have the opportunity to crash. I must say, it felt a whole lot different than when I went to Burnaby (wood track, shorter straights).

Last week, I went out to the track twice. On Wednesday I spent an hour out there getting used to the bike. I didn't have a clear plan when I got there and mostly it was going around and around. I warmed up for 20 minutes, timed my average lap which was not very good, around 30 seconds, then took a short break, drank some water and pondered my next moves. My coach had told me to try and do my sprint intervals on the track and see how I felt. The interval entails riding at my 40k TT speed for 1-4 minutes then sprinting all out for 30 seconds. Attempting to sprint while trying to hit the buttons on my watch was not in the cards so I just went for it after the watch hit 4 minutes and figured I could gauge where 30 seconds was in my head. Um, NOT!!! The first sprint I did 3 laps. I know my lap speed was falling off towards the end but this gave me an idea of how I need to race the kilo, when I get to that point. My HR was up around 189 (after I DL my data from my watch, I will have a better idea of the actual BPM) and I was breathing very heavy. Another thing about a fixed gear bike, you cannot really rest after the sprint, your legs have to keep going even though they might be going slower. Not to mention the fact that you need the speed to stay on the bank or go onto the apron with more speed than you might want.

I rode on the track instead of the apron and kept my speed up just enough so I didn't fall off the bank but all the while watching my HR come down. Unlike being on the road, my HR came down ever so slow because I still had to put out the effort to stay on the bank. I rode for 5 minutes like that then ramped up for the next TT/sprint interval. I decided to only do two laps for this one but that decision was made during lap 2 and I felt I didn't have the gas to do three. Again, I have no idea what my time was but again when I looked at my HRM, I was pumping 186bpm. Another cool down for 5 minutes then another sprint session, this time only 1 lap. I did that one more time but with less rest for the last one.

I noticed a scary thing that I did on a couple of the sprints. I was trying to do the "dog humping a football" thing that Jeremy told us at the Burnaby track, and in doing so, I pulled the front end off the track. At whatever speed I was already going, pulling the wheel up and slightly sideways was very dangerous. I didn't lose control at all but it really made me nervous. I talked to coach and she gave me a few pointers as well as directed me to a video showing the proper technique.

I went out again two days later without a plan again but I just wanted to get used to the track and the bike. I did a long warm up, around 30 minutes, and then some 200m sprints. The HR got up there again in the high 180's, but it came down quicker this time, not sure why.

The track thing is fun but I still have heaps to learn. Tomorrow, I hope to get all the fit items sorted out and learn some techniques from some salty veterans of the velodrome. The folks at Bike Central are cool enough to let me come out to their track time/practice and I am eager to play.

Nothing new to update on the classification side of things. I was hoping to go to Nationals and get classified but as was suspected, the French seem to have the clout with the CCA and they swiped track nats from Burnaby. What is truly interesting and almost makes me want to become a US citizen....almost, is the note I sent to USA Cycling regarding classification was replied to in 3 hours, inviting me to US Paracycling Nationals a short 3 hour drive from me and it also included an email address for one of the US team docs who is an international classifier. I emailed him and got a response from him the next day.

I know there are more athletes etc in the US but I found it sad that in all the things i have sent to people that can help me within the Canadian system have been all but ignored (one response from a classifier back in March but nothing since). I will head to the US Nats, not to race but to get classified, then I will work on the new coach/manager for the Canadian High Performance program.

I often wonder if I am putting too much effort into this classification thing. I mean, I will be 46 by the time the next Paralympics comes around, is that too late? Ciao for now.