MRTL 3rd February, Another week, another hammering.
A deliberately heavy week this week lead to lumpy legs last night, at least that’s my excuse. It makes me jealous to see the teenagers at the track, facebooking, chatting, not paying any attention then getting on their bikes and flying. I on the other hand have to go through an overly protracted warm up in order to just ride above 10mph.
Event 1, 1km scratch. When i saw this on the start sheet as the first event of the night i knew it would be bonkers fast with lots of fresh legs going for it. I decided from the outset not to go crazy as i know that it takes me a couple of efforts (at least) to get going. The final lap and a group of 5 got a small gap and i was next over the line. Not disappointed at all as it worked out kind of how i imagined it.
Event 2, 16 lap scratch. Looking forward to this one and in fact it worked out quite well, there were a couple of attacks which were brought back, i stayed in the wheels until a lap and a half to go and then, going high, i attacked down the track and got a good gap. Eyeballs out, 190bpm, 34mph, they were bearing down on me. Just caught on the line, 2nd place by 1/2 a wheel.
Event 3, Devil. I didn’t make a mess of this like i did last week although i did get boxed in when there were about 7 of us left. I had to slow right down on the back straight to come over the top and stay in. Down to the final 3, final lap i got myself on the front at the wrong time so i got jumped and ended up 3rd.
Event 4, Unknown distance. There are 2 ways of approaching this event. Either just sit in and wait until the bell goes or, after a number of laps make a speculative attack and hope you have got away at the right time. I opted for the latter strategy and so myself and another rider got away, got a good gap and stayed out there for 3/4 of a lap before being brought back just as the bell rang. Bad timing. I got behind the flurry of riders going for it and crossed the line in 6th.
Event 5, Points race. Legs feeling it by this time. I got third place in the first 2 sprints and nothing beyond that so 4 points overall. This was enough for 5th place.
All in all an improvement on last week, i am learning which wheels to follow and which to avoid. Turn of speed improving slightly and without a doubt a smaller gear than last time definitely helped.