Provincial Champs

The last time I rode in a Provincial Champs was in 2007 when I still lived in Ontario. I won Kilo, Match Sprint, and Keirin. After a summer of racing I packed up and trucked west. That next summer I could have ridden in the BC Champs but a nasty crash left me off the bike for a long while. Shortly after that the Juan de Fuca Velodrome in Victoria was closed down. Since then a perfectly good track has sat doing nothing. This past weekend I finally got chance to race on it. Thru the efforts of many a volunteerism Victoria has its track back again! And man oh man do I like that track.

Since nationals in Bromont I took a few days off right away but then got back to it training harder than ever, even with Champs a few days away I stayed hard edged and didn't really think to rest at all. The trip to the Island was more for some fun racing and to support Chris Anstey, a board member for the Commonwealth Legacy Velodrome, a long time cyclist, a masters world Champion and someone who has helped me at far too many races to list off as my holder or tactical advisor.

The first day was good fun, I had never taken a Ferry to Victoria, I flew there once from Ontario. What a view! My Cycling BC team mate Rachel Canning was the navigator in the car pool and couldn't believe I had never been on the water between the Island and the rest of Canada. Once on land it was a short blast down the highway with four bikes to the track and was I ever excited to see the thing.

After an hour or so of rolling around and a couple short jumps to open up a bit we all went for lunch. We returned in time to get warmed up for the afternoons events. First up for me was Team Sprint. The Cycling BC team was represented by Erik Mulder as starter, Bigger and younger brother Scott as #2 and yours truly in #3 go figure. What I wasn't looking forward to was the fact that a team sprint is always 3 laps no matter what track. This track being 333 meters long meant I was going to ride a full kilometer.....twice. What non of us expected was the start. All three of us compete at very big races and have trained our starts to the standard 5 second countdown with beeps. Similar to Ski racing. On the line we had barley grabbed the bars when the starter shot his pistol off and left three of us wondering what the hell was going on. I'm surprised we were as fast as we were in that heat. I'm surprised I didn't puke after. After a bit of a cool down, we trotted off to get more food and come up with a game plan for the gold medal ride off later on. This time around I dedicated the forty minits before hand to warming up like it was a kilo, witch means not only a couple hard jumps, but some efforts to activate my lactic systems ability to soak it up and not hurt as noticeably. On the start line this time we knew how it worked here and were still able to anticipate the starters shot somewhat. The end result was a full second faster than in the afternoon session. I put in what the commentator and a few long time spectators called "a monumental third lap". Boy did it hurt.


-Digging into the last lap.

For a laugh afterwards I entered the Madison with Malcolm Faulkner. A masters racer who has always been at the same races and like me wanted to enter for fun. We didn't do so well but it wasn't a concern.

After the racing we headed over to stay with Gillian Carlton, who dominated the woman's racing by the way. I was pretty sore and didn't sleep much but woke up hungry to race witch is always a good sign.

The second day of racing would be a test of endurance of the sun more or less. What was funny is the two of us who went to the final for gold are the two who should avoid the sun the most haha. This weekend was all about trying out some different gears etc. As far as flying 200s go my time was no wear near what I'm capable of but it was good for second spot witch I was happy with. I went thru the quarter finals without issue. Played it safe and conservative. The only thing I changed other than my sun glasses was I went to a lighter gear knowing that only a couple of us would be rolling heavy gears and if an opponent with a good kick went for it or caught me off guard I could be in trouble.




Semi finals I raced a Victoria local who will go on to be a very good track sprinter if he wants too. The first ride I just kept it low as possible and kept him on my hip the entire time. It wasn't until the second ride that I opened up the throttle quite a bit. He had made an early and very obvious attack. I didn't really want to go for a full on sprint the entire time and was glad he pulled up when he did, after a few seconds going above and bellow him to throw him off a bit I jumped under and went. When I knew I had a suitable gap between us I just floated it home.

In the finals I raced Scott Mulder. Now although I may have some experience in reading and racing Scott is faster than I am. This is where the fun stopped and it was time to look at this seriously. This is where I also should have remembered my gearing choices.* cough rookie move! In the first ride I took an opportunity to get under him and control him on the rail. When he we eventually punched it I wasn't able to match his acceleration at all, and shouldn't have let him have that much downhill run up either. I spent most the final 200 chasing him down and barly if at all got up to his hip. A convincing loss.

In the second ride I was on the front and didn't want to be, As soon as we met the regulated half lap before you can stand still mark I was up track and parked trying to get him to take the lead. When he moved I read it as an attack, not a giving up and covered him. The only mistake he made was getting up beside me and letting me push him up high where I could cover him. But again, same as the first ride when I started my acceleration he was able to stand on the gear longer and dusted me coming out of turn 4. Its hard to say what the outcome would have been had I been closer geared to what he was on, but at the same time I'm here for race experience and I learnt something that day.

I was surprised to wake up the third morning and be able to walk. But I strangely felt pretty good. Today was going to be a tough one. My goal today really was focused on trying out a new game plan and gearing choice in the kilo, but it was at the end of the day. Right after the keirin. Like a drug addict I cant say no to keirin racing. Its too much fun. Even when it goes horribly wrong its just great racing. I did a minimal warm up and more or less made sure my muscles were loose before the qualifier ride. My plan was to use that as a warm up jump but on a race gear. When the race started I comfortable rode into third slot during the wind up. I like to race from here. When the motor pulled I could see the two guys in front working together but not being very good about it. When one of them made a go of it I was quick to jump around the one and then float into the others draft still leaving a good gap. Coming out of turn 2 I opened up the motor and passed. I coasted from turn 3 to the line. I was very pleased as to the gear choice. I have never raced on anything that big and it went better than I thought it would.

Originally we were to ride the final an hour later and then break for lunch but they changed their minds....after we all got warmed up to go. So after a quick lunch it was back to the track to warm up....again. In the final I slotted into 2nd spot right behind Scott but didn't really want to be there. I wanted some surprise room there. Another rider rode up beside me and I opened up to let him in, perfect. When the motor pulled I had left some room to move around in but the pace dropped instead of its normal lift. When it started to lift Scott had realized he had been marked by everyone and moved up track a bit. I quickly made a go to get up under him. I got under the 2nd rider without drama and then hid for a second or two for Scott to move up again. When he did I rushed my little gap and made a move to get the race going. Going down the home strait at the worst possible moment Scott responded to another attack above and took me off the track. Going into the first turn I bascily used him to stay upright but was forced back into third spot again. I made the jump of my life to stay in the race. Quickly I was up and over 2nd place and was closing the 5 bike gap between me and gold. At the line shoulder on shoulder I threw my bike harder than ever. I'm surprised that I didn't crash I lifted my front wheel so high. It was 1cm of difference on the camera.....10mm that worked in Scott's favor not mine. At a big event Scott would have been relegated, and if he hadn't I would have protested the result until he was. But it was only a fun race, and one hell of a crazy race. Ive been sent to the floor to slide a few times in Keirins and its not fun. I thought for sure I was in for it! I'm hoping to have a video to post of this race.

Within a half hour I was on the start line again, only with my aerobars on. I was fully feeling the effect of the previous race but knew why I was there. Yes the biggest was to win. But also to try some bigger gears than I previously raced on. Ultimately 101" gear is far too big on Victoria in a kilo. It felt like I was lifting weights the whole time, I also didn't get the same lactic pain I normally would because I was really trying to get it up to top end the whole time, not stay at top end. It was a good experiment and now I'm able to go to fast tracks with a better idea of what I'm capable of. Oh and I almost forgot, I won.

At the end of it all a fun race weekend was topped off with 2 silvers and 2 golds. We all headed over to go for some cliff jumping before speeding off to the Ferry for $22 buffet.

Next on the list of things to do is still a question. I think a short break this week will be nice but then back to the training. Toodles