Monday 30 August 2010

Middleton cycling Club Track Champs - ROUND 2

After Round 1 in April I was in pole position to regain my title of MCC track champion. Two more rounds to go and Round 2 was held on Sunday 2pm-4pm at Manchester Velodrome. I brought quite a large support today so the pressure was on to do well.

The warmup didn't go well at all and my knee started playing up after 2 laps probably due to too much running and pedalling in a high gear on the track. After 15 mins I came in to rest my knee and got a telling off for having 2 sprockets on my bike. After getting back on the track, taking it a little easier, my knee settled down and we were called to do the flying 200m. For some reason we only got a 1 lap run up instead of 2 so had to hit it hard from the start to build up speed. Managed to stand up and pump the pedals for a few revolutions on the final banking before sitting into a fast sprint for the start line. I could feel myself slowing down but tried to keep the power down. 13.53 ( previous time 13.90) seconds was my time, my target was under 13, maybe the extra lap run up would have seen that happen. Very nervous.

Straight into the 1km timetrial. My target time for this was 1 min 20s. I think I set off way too fast and after one lap I was dying. Very hard work to keep the speed as high as possible and by the last it felt that all my energy had gone. 1min 23.25 seconds ( previous 1min 24.62seconds)

I requested  a 10 min spin around the track so that I could compose myself for the 2km pursuit. Wasn't expecting to do too well after the 1km effort and all my targets so far were way off the mark. 2km time I was aiming for was 2mins 50seconds which was a bit hopeful after my first two runs. My bunny rabbit was Paul Jibson who had placed 2nd in Round 1 and was placing second in Round two ( +0.5sec 200m, +1sec 1km). Last time we were neck and neck all the way around and only just pipped him on the line. We set off neck and neck for 2 laps then I edged ahead about 10-15 yards for the next 2. Feeling strong I was able to keep up the pace and found myself closing on Paul very quickly. With two to go I upped the pace again but saving some for the last lap and he was within 100metres. On the final lap I gave it all to try and overtake him but the wasn't enough track left and I had won convincingly. 2min 45seconds! ( previous 2min 53.89)

Couldn't get on top of the gear today so might try a sprocket with 1 tooth more and spin a bit faster. Lots of fun had and legs crying due to the burn. Suppose its good training doing some full on efforts. So I broke all my PB's but thought I had improved enough to challenge my targets.

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