The Below report is by Greg Johnson (Northern Sydney CC)
It is taken from Gregs Awsome Cycling Blog ...Velociti.
Check it out:
www.velociti.org/blog/Track Racing – bruised lungs and getting schooled…June 20th, 2009
If you’re a trackie and living anywhere in or around Sydney, you’d have known that last night kicked off the start of the 2009 series of Race All Winter (RAW).
After making my ‘debut’ track racing last year I was itching to get out there again this year and enjoy the rough and tumble smash fest that is track racing. I started in the novice grade last year and worked my way up to division 3 where I enjoyed being competitive and coming away with a swag of wins and placings. This year I decided to step up and signed on to Division 2.
As per usual, Crafty was in fine form and despite the fact he doesn’t have his trademark dreaddies anymore, he was looking slightly less scary than this recent photo of him:
He was sporting a bit of hair, and the wiry facial hair was trimmed down to a fashionable bit of stubble. As per usual, he fired up the mic and provided endless entertaining commentary as well as bringing the races to life for all present.
So, a bunch of races on the agenda for the evening, I rolled up to the warm up scratch race – unfortunately for me I rolled up into last wheel. The bunch rolled out and from the word go I was off the back. I got a shock with how fast the bunch in Div 2 rolled compared to Div 3 and spent basically the whole of the first race just trying to keep in contact with the back end of the field. I rolled off the track thinking “what the fuck, I’m not that lame am I??”
With a higher average speed in Div 2, and given I’ve generally got a good ability to push a bigger gear, I found myself a little underdone on a 49×15 gear (88 inches). For the rest of the racing I changed over to a 50×15 (thanks to a mate, Peter Rox who had a spare chainring) which improved things. I got in the pack and went out front to drive pace and see what the front end of the field was like in Div 2. Whereas in Div 3 I found it relatively easy to get a break and go off the front, it’s a completely different ballgame in Div 2 – you’ve got to have someone a little asleep behind you or be seriously strong to break from these guys.
I found the racing in Div 2 was much, much tighter and considerably higher pace. In the lower grades the pace ebbs and flows, whereas in Div 2 it’s pretty strong from the word go and just winds up from there. There’s much less spread in the bunch as well and people are generally better at keeping their line. I found myself on the inside on a couple of occasions as riders were coming over the top of me – so long as you hold your line it’s not a problem, despite higher speeds and more aggressive riding.
Tony Unicombe (known by mates as Jabbs) was there in fine form:
It was good fun racing in the same division as Jabbs and always good to get a few pointers. Riding on his wheel when the jump went on one of the sprints in the points race I could swear he was going to bust his bike in half – “animal” is probably the appropriate word. Oh, and Jabbs had his custom number pinned to his back, proudly telling me it was 100 – one for each kg he’s hauling at the moment:
It was a huge turnout on the night and it was awesome to see so many first timers there as well. Tamara (a friend from triathlon, known to mates as T-Bird) was there and had some good races in the novice grades. One thing is for certain, Tamara has style:
Chatting to Tamara after the race I think it was a bit harder than she expected, but knowing her, she’ll be smashing some of the boys soon.
Also present was “novice” Roxii (Peter Rox) – I say “novice” because he’s had a few spins at the track previously and I think even rode a teams pursuit not so long ago. He managed some good results (cough, cough, burglar) in the novice grades – pulled off a couple of wins and some placings. I’m looking forward to Roxii moving up into Div 4 and getting busy in the thick of it. Roxii’s another bloke never short of a smile:
There were some of teh guys I got to know last year as well from my cycling club – Northern Sydney (NSCC). Carl and Owen, plus Brock Roberts. Some good racing from these boys and was good to see them again – a year older and a year stronger!
I’ve got some tinkering to do I think with gearing as I step into Div 2. Whilst in theory I could learn to spin a bit faster and harder, reality is I think I need a bigger gear so will play around with everything between 88 and 96 inches – suspect 92 or 94 inches is about right for me at the moment.
Finally, had a roll around on Jabbs’ new bike – awesome piece of machinery from Felt, the new TK1 frame which looks something like this:
Not only is the bike nice and rigid (gotta be with the sort of power Jabbs puts through a frame) but the headset setup (which I think is borrowed / adopted from their triathlon TT frames) is beautifully put together and the adjustability of the integrated stem is cool. I took the bike for a roll and it felt solid as a rock – a seriously nice bike.
Well, enough babbling on – lungs are still bruised this morning and I feel like I learnt a lot last night. Can’t wait for next Friday!!
