BC Day, The Olympics, and Racing!

Yet again it was another weekend away enjoying the sights and smells of the infield of a velodrome. West Shores Velodrome hosted Track Fest 2 for the year right over the long weekend, PERFECT! I opted to miss the Saturday racing so I could stay behind and help out at work. Its a bit of a give and take thing I have going on when it comes to leaving to go race all the time. Saturday after work my friend Michelle jumped in the car and to the ferry we headed. A few hours later we checked into the hotel downtown and it was time to eat a third dinner and sleep. I some times forget how much energy it consumes being at work for 8 hours. Unfortunately when it comes to travel days some people adapt right away and sleep like a baby. Some of us, even if in the same time zone are wired from the drive, and maybe a bit too much coffee on the boat!

Before I go any further I have to congratulate The woman's team pursuit in London who placed 3rd place in the ride off against Australia. This Olympics was special for me because I know all of the track cyclists competing for Canada really well. Some of them are very close friends. I have spent a lot of time training and racing with people like Zach Bell and Gillian Carlton and have to say that I was proud to see them representing Canada in the world's center stage. Great Job to all the Canadian Athletes!

Sunday morning was an early start, god I hate those. Up at 6, watch some Olympic coverage, go get food, coffee and then on our way to the track! It was already hot out when I started to warm up for sprint qualifying. And do I ever mean hot.  I like the heat, I always have. The trick is staying out of the sun. When its hot I warm up easier, I don't have to spend as much time on rollers between heats or races and I just feel better. I also find it to my advantage when its killer hot. A lot of riders cant deal with it and you can see them progressively fade through a day of racing that way. Years ago my old downhill coach pointed this out to me. At a Four Cross event he noted that although I hurt after each heat in the sun the other riders were even worse off. He suggested rushing back to the start gate earlier so they officials would rush the others along too. This Sunday would be very similar with a mass group of sun baked faces and tired eyes as the track in Victoria is more or less a giant concrete bath tub / sun reflector.

Because they decided to run qualifiers in order of our numbers we were wearing I didn't have to go first or last.  There is nothing I hate more than being first qualifier up. I rode a half decent 200meter with a nasty headwind. Each time I ride here I learn how to ride a 200 on a 333m track a bit better.

My first round saw a re ride when my opponent popped out of his pedal. I wasn't too concerned as I knew I had an easy ride qualifying first spot buy a good margin. In the re ride I basically just followed the rider around at the rail. For whatever reason a lot of these guys just like to ride really slow, like the rules say they have too. When the time was right I made my move but shut off early to save a few litres of gas. In the Semi's I raced against fellow team mate Eddy Reid. He put up a fight but ultimately I was able to get to the front when he turned his head before going into the last lap and control the ride until the end.  A late jump and razor secured my going through to the finals and Eddy going on to the minor final.

In the finals I was racing young cat Henri De Boever. He's a weapon in a road sprint and won the biggest upset of a ride I've seen since god knows how long beating one of the tracks local star younger sprinters using his endurance. Eddy would ride against Andrew, who Henri put out. I have to say the minor final was the closest and best sprint action of the day.

In the first ride Eddy rolled up the speed 200m out but saved it for a late jump mid turn to hold Andrew on his hip. What bit him back was a relegation for lane violation. I did see him flick up a bit un intentionally but I didn't see either wheel cross the red line. I think it was a bit of a sympathetic call but its how it goes. I am myself a champ at being relegated for practically nothing. In the second match Eddy rode a perfect race, He caught Andrew napping at the first turn in the last lap and went for it. Andrew never got on terms with it. In the final ride Eddy tried to mix the first and second rides tactics together and it worked out really well. Took a jump off the back but saved the rest of the coal for the last dig to the line. The finish was tight, too tough for me to call where I was sat by eye. The judges awarded the ride to Andrew.

In my first ride I rode it on the front and controlled the ride. I kept the pace slow enough to give me all the advantage. Even when I started to wind up a bit. He may have thought he had some opportunity to jump me from behind but I had him covered and years of experience on him. I used a late second jump to keep the win and save some gas. In the second ride he played it cool on front at the start but learnt that he needs to pick up the pace. He made a leap of faith jump to either tire me out or hope I'd explode trying to catch him. I have to hand it too him for trying something and not riding around like he had a pair of pants on his head. What he didn't anticipate was that I saw the move a mile away and then took a good solid run at him. I won the match sprints in 2 clean rides. Nice try Henri!

Like I said earlier, I have to hand it too him. You end up against a lot of guys, like perhaps my first ride who are intimidated just being there against someone who only races on the track and they ride around like they have already lost the heat. In the fall I rode against Kyle Buckosky at Burnaby's Bare Bones race. Instead of giving up he took a big risk, made a decision and went on it. He got beat but he tried. At the end of the day I will always remember the first bit of sprinting advice I was given by Gordon Singleton. Make the first move and done look back. You will win more than your fare share for trying.

The next part of the day was a bit of a fluke. I entered the flying lap more or less as a training effort. 333m is a long lap and I figured a nice big gear, a harder than hell jump and then the following lap would put some serious lactic overload into my legs, especially with the days racing in me already. What happened instead was a solid jump, really good speed and no pain at all. Everyone seemed impressed at my time, a time I didn't get to see until the end at the podium ceremony. I clocked 19.42 seconds, Andre the event organizer figured it was close to the tracks record and with a bit of research we found out I had beat the record by .04 seconds! Quite proud of that. Josh Weir set the old record in 2003 and before him was Curt Harnett I think. I have to give props here to Jason Reddy. His brother has turned into quite the trackie and to help him out I loaned him my old steel bike to ride and race on. For a laugh he hopped on my old bike and rode the flying lap. This is his first track race period. We tried to keep his result from him but couldn't. I gotta say kid, you may wanna look at riding track more often.

This is where the fun began. Some wear along the way my car decided to be a bit of a miss pissy pants. When we decided to go to the lake for a swim after the racing she decided not to start back up. Not even a boost would do it. We ended up pushing the car and bumping starting it, witch seemed to work well enough. The next day It cranked and cranked and cranked but wouldn't go. Another bump start from my friends got it going again and got us to the boat. But not before it stalled in the line up. I was petrified! For whatever reason it started right up! It started up fine to get off the boat witch was weird, but then next morning wouldn't start at all. After 3 hours of work she lives again, I hope. Turns out a negative battery lead from the block to the battery had gone bad. At the same time I found a major vacuum leak that after temporarily fixing it temporarily threw the fueling mixture out the window. I tuned as best I could without using the proper exhaust gas reader my favorite shop, PG Performance has. Time to book her in I suppose. My initial fear was the starter was fubar. Turns out it works. I'm going to change it anyways since it has 250,000km on it and up dating it is only logical since the battery and alternator are brand new also. Getting it going at least gives me a way to keep going to the track to train, but it certainly isn't what it was a week before!

Its time for me to hit the sheets. Some how I let me self be talking into working a few hours before a big day at the track tomorrow and then another hard training day Saturday that will no doubt leave me puking in the ditch. In two weeks is BC Provincial champs in Victoria. I'm looking forward to the event as it will be good fun racing and a great last chance to see how the training is going before Nationals.

Go cars.