Track Racing, 6/20/06, Kevin Hetherington-Young
Turnout tonight wasn’t as good as last week’s blockbuster showing, probably due to the chance of thunderstorms, but we had a good turnout nonetheless and not a drop of rain during racing.
Tonight’s theme was pursuit, and to keep people racing, we went with a team pursuit format. Barry wasn’t around so I hooked up with some of the other A riders. Unfortunately, one of our crew had an emergency (all’s ok, I hear) and couldn’t make it, so we rode with three.
Equipment: This was a fun night to try things out. I had my new (old) Hed disk with the track conversion and my 14-spoke for the pursuit. I set it up with a 53×15 (95.4 gear inches) to start and thought I’d go from there.
Goals: In the sprinting/mass-start events, I wanted to try sprinting even farther out today. Perhaps a full lap. I know I can gap people, but can I hang on?
Race 1: 10 lap points race, 1 point to the winner EVERY lap. This was brutal. I raced this on my disk with eh 95 inch gear, which was pushing it. Steve Lehman attacked at the end of the neutral lap as usual and I grabbed his wheel. In turns 3-4, I was coming around the outside and clipped my pedal. I almost let up, but figured I’d already put the effort in during the last 200 meters and wasn’t going to bow out. I managed to pip him at the line, even throwing my bike as well as you can in a fixed gear (don’t try this at home kids :) ). We had a small gap and I built on it taking the next two laps. Steve V bridged up and I didn’t even challenge the fourth sprint as I was knackered from the first kilometer. After that, the big bridge/attack came from behind and I was still not recovered. I was passed by another rider and lost Steve, but not by much. I hung in there and finished 3rd across the line and tied for 2nd on points. I believe I lost the tie-breaker, so let’s call it 3rd.
Race 2: Four-man team pursuit – 12 laps ~4000 meters, but a tad shorter. Not much to say here other than we were going really fast from the gun. It certainly felt that way! I felt we kept it nice and smooth, though we certainly could’ve used our fourth man. Not only would it have afforded us more rest, but the exchanges would’ve gone more smoothly for me. For those unfamiliar with this event, when exchanging the lead, the leader shouldn’t actually slow down. Instead, he pulls abruptly up the banking of the track to take a longer line. He then drives down the track to the back of the line, never losing forward speed and not needing to accelerate onto the back of the group. Anyway, I felt good pulling up the banking in the turn and timed it perfectly as if there was a fourth rider that wasn’t really there. I had a nice gap in front of me! We caught the other team about five laps in and finished in 5:12, about 20 seconds ahead of second place.
Race 3: Four-man match sprint: We were originally going to take the top two teams in each category from the pursuit and race against each other in a final. Given the low turnout, they decided to mix it up a bit instead. Tony (the promoter) assembled what he thought would be competitive four-man groups for a four man match sprint – a two lap, 336 meter race. What fun! :) I hadn’t expected this and showed up on the line with a disk wheel (not so bad) and a 53×15 (not so good). One lap in, the jump went and my legs just didn’t respond given the gear. I feel I can accelerate this tall a gear, but not always and not this time. I rolled in 3rd.
In another heat, Mark Bowen attacked on the back stretch and held the group off for the win for NEBC. Nice ride Mark!
Race 4: Four-man match sprint: I was ready this time. I switched wheels to my standard 28/32 spoke setup with a 53×16 ( 89.4 gear inches). Much better. I focused on jumping first and did so as soon as we hit the one-lap to go line. I timed it about 10-20 meters before the winner of the first 4-up sprint went previously. I gapped the group and held it to the line for the win.
Race 5: Miss and Out: I’m beginning to think this is my favorite format. I spent almost the entire race on 2nd wheel. I did have to work a bit to stay there, but I wasn’t going so deep that I couldn’t recover quickly. After making the final three, I attacked about 20 meters after the one-lap to go line – about 300 meters out. However, I wanted to really surprise the other two riders and did so seated at first. I figured they wouldn’t expect a seated acceleration and would have a delayed response. It seemed to have the desired effect, and after gapping them, I stood through turn one to further accelerate and then just sat down and focused on spinning it all the way to the line for the win.
For those interested in what the style of riding is like, it’s obviously very bursty and, after the initial acceleration, the sprints are generally seated at very high cadence. I talked to a couple of the riders who have computers on their track bikes (I don’t need the distraction :) ) and they told me our sprints are generally in the 35-38 mph range, or about 134-145 rpm in a 53×16. In the past four weeks, I’ve experimented with different sprint distances and tactics and have discovered that I can take it as close as 100 meters in with an outside pass, but I can also go as far out as 300 meters or so. This is really confidence building as I now know I have more tactical options that I can take to the road as well.
Final results: 3rd, 1st, 3rd, 1st, 1st.
For more info, check out www.leadcycling.com. They’ve got Dick Ring up there announcing and plenty of loaner bikes. After racing, rain was threatening so I stuck around to help pack up the loaners. I got eaten alive by the mosquitoes and recommend bug spray. They seem to come out just as we’re finishing up.
I’d just like to add that Tony Eberhardt, Laurie Daley, Dick Ring, and their crew are doing a lot of hard work to make this happen. They’re successfully building a track community in here in New England. We’ve got guys coming in from Vermont and Portland, Maine. The long-term goal is to get a proper velodrome, but the first step is establishing a community that will do what it takes to support this.
Kevin