Helmet cam footage fat biking down the green runs at Mont Ste. Marie ski and mountain bike resort. Organized thanks to Velo MSM and Tall Tree Cycles. Music tracks by: https://soundcloud.com/toramusic
Day 3 of Track Nationals included a 1km time trial for me, while Hans raced in the Master B Scratch Race and Points Race. My time trial brought to light my lack of starting power; not a huge surprise, but definitely a huge room for improvement. It is a tall ask to get all your effort out over such a short race. There is a big mental game to it.
I had a good warm-up, and was psyched to race it and in the end I posted a time of 1:08. Pretty bad time compared to the rest of the field, but a benchmark nonetheless to work from. A key takeaway is the need to work on standing acceleration all around the banking. With more time on the track my comfort level with this will improve. The kilo wrapped up my racing for the weekend, but I still got on the track for the open training sessions to get more track time in.
Hans had a program of the Master B Scratch Race and Points Race. He took a different tactical approach to both races, going on the attack in the Scratch Race from a long way out. It was a valiant effort, but there wasn't quite enough hesitation behind for him to go the distance. In the points race he was more conservative, looking comfortable in the bunch despite the accelerations, and he finished off the race in the bunch, pretty pumped with his race and looking forward to more.
Friend and ace photographer Brian McFadzen caught a few picks from my pursuit effort on Day 2. This was the first time I rode with a double-disc setup. Yes, it is awesome. The photos turned out really nice, and on top of that they provide a good bit of info to analyze in order to adjust my position for improved aerodynamics. This race was also the first time I used the starting gate. It's no biggie.
-Charlie
Day 2 at the National Track Championships began with two heats of qualification for the men's Omnium. I did not manage to qualify for more pain. So my menu of pain includes only the individual pursuit and the kilo (1 kilometre time trial) as those events, while included in the Omnium competition, are also their own National Championship events.
The individual pursuit was also included on Day 2, so after a long break from the running of the Omnium qualification, I got kitted up again to warm-up in preparation for the individual pursuit; 16 laps of the 250meter track, or 4km as fast as you can go. Given this is my first foray into track racing (since '97), I took a conservative approach with regards to my goals and aimed for an average speed of 47km/hr.
Trackside, I had Anthony giving me an indication of how on schedule I was. Initially I started slow, which was part of the plan, and then gradually ramped up the speed. Once I received indication that I was 5 seconds ahead of schedule, I made to sure to conserve some gas for the last few laps, as it is a common mistake in pursuit racing to overcook your effort to early. Overall, the strategy paid off, and I finished off the race a few seconds ahead of schedule with a time of 5:01.
Afterwards I felt like I could have gone faster, and this was a good chance to set a benchmark from which to work from. I'm excited to see what I can get out of myself if I dedicate some time to pursuit specific training, and get more track time to practice riding pursuit efforts. But for now, there is still one more race to do this weekend. The kilometre time trial! Not really an event that suits me, but I'll give it my best go.
-Charlie
Day 1 at the National Track Championships worked out well for Nine2FivePro. After an early start from the Nations Capital, Hans had a smooth drive down to Milton in time to get some training laps in on the newly minted velodrome. He had his oldie goldie track bike, a Hugh Porter whipping around the banking like it was old hat.
Anthony, Kyle, and myself had driven down the day previous, and so only had to get some breakfast and then head over to the track. After arriving at the velodrome, we stood in line to get our accreditation, basically hall passes to get to the infield.
Once on the infield, the first order of business was testing my pursuit bike setup, one to get used to riding the banking in the aero-position, and two, to figure out the gearing. After a few laps I was comfy riding in the tuck position, and put in a few fast laps using a 52x13 (or 105.2 inches in trackie-speak). It's a big gear, but the feeling is I should be able to roll it for the 4km pursuit, and going to a smaller gear will result in a cadence that is too high. Time will tell whether this logic runs true. One thing is certain about the pursuit however; it's going to hurt.
Before that however, I have to qualify just to get into the Omnium event, as there are 30 riders registered, and the track has a limit of 24 racers at a time. So, as if six races weren't enough, they are being front-loaded with 2 heats of qualification points races including 15 riders, where 3 riders from each heat will not move on to compete in the full Omnium. No pressure. And what a thing to qualify for...."Hey Mom, I qualified!"....."For what son!?"....."More pain!"...."Congratulations???..."
Anthony was as helpful as ever getting bikes setup and taking care of logistics. He got the details at the managers meeting after the training session to keep us riders in the know. And his son Kyle was on the infield, being his inquisitive self, a good reminder to take in the experience, and really appreciate how cool it is that Ontario now has a World Class Indoor Velodrome! What!!!???
But there is still racing to do, so on that note, it's time to shut down for the night to recharge the batteries for tomorrow's racing.
-Charlie
Video from a ride up Mt. Lemmon, in Tuscon back on March '14.
Catching up with last month's adventures...
At the beginning of August, a Nine2FivePro contingent made their way to the Catskills again for another racing adventure. On the way, Gerald and Charlie found themselves as part of a parade when they took an exit to find food and gas. And everybody managed to find their own meandering way to the rental house due to the "creative" nature of each GPS.
Everybody made it to the house the night before the race started, so the morning of the time trial was relaxing, giving everyone a chance to decompress after a long drive the night before. Coffee aroma filled the air, and plenty of oatmeal was made to fuel up for the Windham time trial.
The shakedown after the time trial had Charlie finish on top of the Cat-3 podium, squeaking out a win by 16 seconds. After going out way too hard, and taking a bit of a breather after 3k, he found his tempo, for the rest of uphill part of the course to the turnaround. After making the turn it was all about spinning to the finish. Greg finished up 9th, putting another N2F guy in the top-10. Caroline rode the women's open time trial to a 2nd place. Two podium places for Nine2FivePro was a good start to the weekend!
Stage 2 was a circuit race with one punchy climb of about 2km...enough to hurt for a bit, but not quite enough to make any significant splits. Nigel jockeyed a couple times for the KOM points, while Greg battled for the sprinter jersey points. In the last lap, after going for the sprint points, Greg made an opportunistic move to sneak away with another rider. With power in numbers, the team tried to give him a fighting chance by neutralizing any chase efforts. But the pack was too keen to contest the uphill run-in to the Windham ski centre. At 15k to go, Greg was brought back into the pack. With the pack all together Charlie thought it was a sure thing he would start the last stage in yellow, but that wasn't going to happen without a speed bump. At 10km to go, Charlie had to pull over to "manually" shift by pulling his chain down the cogs, as his rear mech had gotten stuck on his sprockets, a product of fitting a "Catskills cassette". A hard chase back to the pack, and a short and fast finishing climb to the finish, the pack finished all together.
Caroline rode in the women's Cat 3/4 women's field for the circuit race, battling hard to hang on for the first lap. She hung tough to finish off her race, and had her domestique-husband to take care of her after the race, after he cleaned up from his circuit race and went out to support her.
A couple days of racing complete, and we were ready for another root-vegetable extravaganza courtesy of top-chef Gerald. Apart from providing the awesome dinners each night, Gerald also served up some sweet pre-race tunes as team-DJ.
Stage 3 was the Queen stage, with an early hard climb, a rolling middle section, finished off with the infamous climb of Devil's Kitchen. Rolling out for a long day in the saddle, Charlie found Hans' steady wheel to follow for the first 20km, while a breakaway snuck up the road, the team content to gamble that the long day and brutal final climb would be too much for the breakaway. The break's lead grew fast, and mid-way through the race time checks weren't available as the lead car was out of radio range. Mid-race Nigel, Gerald, and Charlie had a brief stop to heed the call of nature before the first KOM, with Nigel doing great team work to pace Charlie back onto the group.
With 20km to the base of the Kitchen, it was time to begin the chase. First, friend of the team, Andrew Kruger was at the front setting a tempo in front of Charlie. He was in Catskills looking for a hard workout. After he pulled off the Front, Nigel came to the front and lit it up, chasing at 40km/hr right into the base of Devils. This brought back most of the break, apart from a lone rider who stayed away until the finish to take the stage win...Chapeau! The pack hit the final climb, and it was time for business. After hanging tough for a K or two, Charlie came unglued from the front runners, and had to settle into his own tempo to the top. Over the top, and an alliance formed with riders around him, he chased to the finish to try to hold on to a top spot in GC, finally finishing up 8th overall.
Greg was the next finisher after having a tough go on the final climb being over geared, while Nigel grovelled in after his massive chase effort before the climb. Gerald had suffered a flat mid-way through the stage, but still finished off his tour of Catskills, while Caroline was cheering us on on the Devils Kitchen, collecting evidence of our pain and suffering.
With that, another Catskills was wrapped up, with plenty of good racing and good times. All that was left was to pick up some tasty brews to bring home.
Big Thanks to the TOC organizers for another awesome edition!
We had a big contingent out for the annual Preston Street Criterium. Adam lined up in the Master 2/3 field and had a strong finish to stay in the pack in a race that averaged 40km/hr.
Darrell and Graham page lined up in the Senior 3/Junior race. Juniors always race aggressively, and this one was no different. Unfortunately, this race saw Nine2Five's only mishap of the day, with Darrell having to call curtains on his race after he overcooked corner one and went into the barriers. He escaped from the crash relatively unscathed, looking like more of a boxer from the scrapes and cuts he sustained to his face. But that didn't stop him from taking all the awesome photos below.
In the elite race, we had our strongest team yet, all motivated after having a good showing at the Bill Patterson challenge on the Tuesday leading up to the race. Warren made the break, which had most big teams represented, so it wasn't long before the break lapped the field. After that the game plan was to keep Warren near the front, remain attentive so his breakaway companions didn't slip away off the front again without him.
The officials finished the pack a few laps before the break, so we focussed on helping Doug stay near the front to contest the sprint for places 8 through 10...the leftover prize money spots. Into the second to last corner, and Doug was in the top five, and even after the front of the group lost some momentum, he still had enough to grab 9th place, 2nd in the bunch sprint.
After that, the breakaway was left to duke it out, with Warren being our sole representative. There were a lot of strong riders in the break, but Warren still put in an attack with a lap to go. However, cramps set in and he was left to ride in behind the sprint to take 7th place, a solid performance from him and the team.
Thanks to all the Nine2Fivers out cheering....Jake and family, Rich and his crew, the SpokesForFolks gang, along with Duncan and all the others could be heard providing encouragement all over the circuit. We'll see y'all out next year!
Pack tackling Pink Lake Climb. Photo credit goes to Doug Corner from Bike Race Ottawa
Group photo for winning team. Photo credit goes to Doug Corner from Bike Race Ottawa.
