Ride Entry 29th December 2009
by admin on Dec.30, 2009, under Uncategorized
Bike: Van Tuyl
Distance: 35 miles
Very hard and fast and a chap told us how far we’d gone so I know it was 35 miles.
I also know I’d be the worst racer ever. We were doing this scratch race. 30 laps in total, change every half lap, last ten laps are the race itself (and that’s about a mile and a half doing around 30mph). So we reach the end of the 20 laps and I’m the man at the front, what do I do? Do I change on the corner? I’ll lose my place then and end up at the back.Do I drift and force my way back in? While I’m no wimp, I’d still rather not upset people on a training session while forcing them out of the way. So my only choice is carry on flat out at the front.
Of course, this means everyone else gets in my slipstream and have a chat while I work like crazy. After 6 laps I’m screwed and bang up the corner. I get a few angry shouts from people and I’m so knackered that I can’t even keep up with the slow guys. I guess that taught me a lesson but I’m still unsure what the correct course of action would be had I been serious about the race. At the end I asked the lad who shouted at me what his problem was and he was pretty good and explained that I was slowing everyone down by staying at the front. (That’s still his problem as far as I’m concerned), but he did suggest that in that instance I should have banged up after a lap and then just dropped down into any gap I could find near the front.
Yet another contradiction between what the coaches tell you and what actually happens on the track (the coaches say you should stay on the racing line till everyone has passed you – which seems a bit odd)
Anyway, I’ve had more chats with the guys who race and they reckon I’d do quite well in the league racing. I got the impression they thought I’d be too fast for the slower group, which means I’ll no doubt be at the back of the faster group for the rest of my life. Same old story. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
Twenty more miles to 5000. Two days to do it in. All it needs is an hour or so on the bike. It’d be a crime not to do it. I might tell work to blow it out their ass tomorrow and get a quick ride in.
