Well, it felt really odd arriving at the velodrome in the daylight, but couldn’t let the first winter(?) season track session go by, so landed at about 19:10.
No sooner had I got into the middle of the track I saw a figre in black at the other side of the track on the rollers. Didn’t twig for a minutes, thinking it must be someone from another group. Then, it dawned on me that it was our very own John Keen.
Far too happy. Far too fit clearly. Two hours of track battering not enough for you?
Riders arrived, and we started to get gloves and helmets on. Alan, being the expert tactician that he is in terms of marginal gains, clearly figured that, as you are always going ‘left’ on the track (anti-clockwise), that if you wear left gloves only, then your balance, speed and power will be delivered more efficiently.
At least I think that’s why he brought three left mitts, and chose to wear one the right way round, and one inside out on the right hand. Clever. Sir Dave Brailsford would be proud of your thinking, and the French would be furious.
Shortly after, Kev came over looking for spare mitts (there’s something going on here). Unfortunately Alan only had one spare (left) mitt left, so Kev chose to ride wthout mitts to get the weight down. This worked during the session, as he rode strong and fast all night.
The session started with the usual ‘warm-up’ (effectively 5 laps of getting organised before someone puts the gas on and drags everyone else roundtoa 20minutes exhaustion session!
Warm up done. Intervals next (oh no). Onto the track, warm up, individual efforts. 30 seconds full gas, 30 seconds rest, 3 minutes full gas (aaargh), 1 minute rest, 3 minutes full gas (aaargh), and rest (or desperately try to find some more oxygen to breathe in my case!).
One of the joys of the track session when Paul West is our coach for the evening is the 1 lap TT. Here, all you have to do, is be pushed off by Paul (not onto the floor, onto the track), hot the white line and go full chat for one lap. Get a time recorded.
Some very impressive times were recorded last night, particularly by novice track riders. Results below:
Fast.
Team training was also the order of the evening, practicing close to the wheel riding and smooth change overs each lap.
Pursuit training was in eveidence (chasing other riders round the track effectively), along with the usual multi-lap finishing battering to ‘warm-down’.
My warming down didn’t involve this. I tried another approach as Kev observed with his phone.
My kinda warming down.
A fantastic night. Thanks to Nick Butterworth for organising, and our coach Paul West, wh, with his usual sadist wit (if there is such a thing), made sure that we all got a good workout and enhanced our track skills.
If you haven’t tried track, I highy recommend it. The next session is on the 11th October 2018. Get yourself down there!