2010 Club Track Championships - Round 1

Sunday kicked off the Middleton Cycling Club Track Champs which was held at Manchester's Velodrome 3-5pm.

In the morning I went swimming with the Tri Club as I hadn't swam in a while again and don't want to get too rusty as it takes ages to get my swimming fitness back. Started off with a 40 length warm up the 8x100m 20 secs rest, 4 x 150m 30 secs rest, 4x50m sprints, 10x25m sprints. Took me ages to get warmed up and my arms started to ache after the first few lengths but I got stronger as the session went on. Hopefully it would be good preparation for the track later on.

I noticed that there was very little/no wind today and was a little disappointed not to be out on the bike. It was cold and cloudy though. At home I got the Planet x track bike ready by pumping up tyres, changing saddle height and set back, and lubing a bit. We set off to the Velodrome at 12 as we are sure the news letter said 1-3pm but when we got there another club was on and the MCC session was at 3pm so we went back home and went back.

Got ready and psyched myself up. I was really excited as I had some new competition in the form of Paul J (MCC) who is a very good triathlete, tied with me in the club hill climb and can run 10km in 36mins. I was hoping all the road miles would serve me well and for once I hadn't overtrained before the event. We had a 30 min warmup where I put in some good efforts to get the legs warm but Paul was having trouble as he used his own shoes with Look Keo cleats, the velodrome bikes take Look Delta....D'OH! Quite dangerous as he unclipped twice and had no control over the bike's speed.

I was first up in the 200m flying sprint, 1.5 lap run up. Tried to stand up on the corner but couldn't so sat all the way and gave a lot of effort. Time 13.90! Previous best was high 14's. Paul J got 14.5s

Next was the 1km time trial ( 4 laps) and I was really nervous for this, No idea why. I got some pointers on starting from the holder and before I knew it he was counting me down. Start wasn't great but I managed to stand up for half a lap to get the speed up. I tried to keep it up but felt I was slowing on the 3rd lap and by the forth I was calling upon the powers of my mind to get me across the line. At the start of this I was contemplating wether to go flat out on the 1km or the 2km as I'd have been happy with 2 wins out of 3. Time 1min 24.6 previous best was 1min 28.6 and Paul got 1 min 26s. 2 nil.

There was a nice 20min gap til Paul and I went head to head in the 2km Pursuit and my legs felt they had sufficiently recovered to have a stab at this one too. Strangely there was no nerves present for this one, so relaxed, must have been the thought of reaching my goal already and I had taken the pressure off. Don't get me wrong I wanted to win this one too. GOOO! Both of us had similar starts and were neck and neck. By the 3rd lap I could see I was pulling away and let off the gas a little as I thought I had it in the bag. By the 4th we were neck and neck again and I had to dig deep but save some for later. Lap 6, my camp said I was behind, didn't look like it to me but it kinda pi55ed me off that I had let him get ahead and I kept my eyes on Paul all the way round the 7th lap. We were still exactly opposite each other, crossing the line at the same time but on the last lap I sat back and pushed as hard and as fast as I could. As I crossed the line I gazed at his finishing line but couldn't tell who had won until I heard my camp shout that I had got it..just. Wow that was difficult and I was cramping up a little. Time 2min 53s my previous best was 3mins. Paul got 2min 54s. 3 out of 3 ain't bad ;P and it added to my enjoyment.

Finished the session with 20 laps going quite fast then I was called in and that was the end of Round 1. 2 more to go and I know I will have to work hard to keep the Track Champion Trophy at home. Cycle Chat forums have a 2hr session booked in June which should tell me what kind of form I am in for July's round. I don't think Ill get much track time in by myself as the weather is picking up and I have new goals to aim for. There is going to be a 'Crit' series in the Eastlands area of Manchester starting middle of May, this should be my first road race. Not sure weather to start of with the Go-ride version or the full blown E/1/2/3/4 cat. There are a couple of Triathlons in June too I am thinking of entering.