About this time last year Miss V and I had only just started trying our hand at track racing and had only had a few race meets at the outdoor Edwardstown track under our belts. With no experience of racing at the Superdrome we decided to tread carefully and only enter a couple of events, and specifically those that wouldn't require us being on the track with too many others!
This year however, things were different. With a whole year behind us and a number of race meets at the Superdrome under our belt we felt much more confident in entering more events. So we entered everything we could.
This year, the format was a little different from last, which added (I think) an extra element to the event as a whole. This year the event was to be run as an Omnium event, with medals and titles awarded for individual events as well as the overall Omnium. There was also a Sprint Championship that was run outside of the Omnium.
Rightly or wrongly, there seemed to be a bit of controversy surrounding the conditions under which medals would be awarded, which undermined the event a little. For the most part, I agree with the idea that medals shouldn't be awarded just for turning up when there are few riders in a category, but on the other hand there's at least one instance of a rider missing out on a medal in the Omnium series despite a hard fought and relatively even battle over two days of racing. I'm not really sure how a set of rules can be written to assess a situation like this and award a medal where it's deserved, since it's all a little subjective.
And with that, onto the racing!
Saturday
Saturday morning broke and we had the car loaded up and ready to go fairly quickly due to us preparing ourselves on Friday night. With the Superdrome being so close it's only a five minute drive to get there, so there wasn't too much of a rush. On arriving we staked out a spot in a reasonably crowded pit area and then signed on. A look through the start list showed that my age group (MAS3) had a decent number of entrants. Even better, there seemed to be a couple that I stood a chance against! Miss V didn't seem so fortunate with a fairly depleted entry list in MAS1 Women.Flying 250m
First event for the championships was the Flying 250m lap. I haven't done many of these, as most of the time in the novice nights we do Flying 200m laps. Only a 50m difference, but that's probably enough to need a slightly different approach if you're planning to do well. As I wasn't really planning on doing well, considering my competition, I just stuck to my usual Flying 200m lines. 17.071 seconds and 4th place out of 5. |
| Too high on the bend! Photo: M. Young |
20km Points Race
20km meant we were to do 80 laps. I don't ever recall doing 80 laps on the track, so the likelihood of this going well was slim! The pace for this one was hot from the outset with me and a few others struggling on the back just to hang on. The first sprint on lap 10 and the field took off and left me behind. I spent the next six or seven laps trying to get back onto the group, but then having got there the field started winding up for the next sprint! I was spat out the back in short order and was fairly cooked. I managed to get lapped twice, and then pulled from the race (along with others) on about lap 30. Chatting in the pits later with another MAS3 rider who finished the race said they were averaging about 50+km/h. Considering my terminal sprint speed is in the order of 54-55km/h, it's little wonder that I couldn't hang in there for longer!Elimination Race
Once again, for this event they combined the Masters grades 1-4 into one race. After the last race I kind of knew how this race was going to pan out. With that in mind, I figured my main goal would be to try to stick with, and finish ahead of my main competition Brian. Generally I don't mind the elimination race, so I was fairly confident that I could achieve my fairly modest goal.
The first elimination lap I pushed around the outside and made the cut fairly easily. The pace eased off slightly, and then again it was full bore in anticipation of the next elimination. I positioned myself in the centre of the track on another Port Adelaide rider's wheel with the thought that I'd swing up and the last minute and get in front. as we rounded into the finish straight I soon realised that my attention may not have been spot on and that there was another rider sitting behind me. He swung up and effectively boxed me in over the line. Eliminated :(
So (fairly dejectedly) I rolled to the infield and watched Brian survive the cut lap after lap. Outstanding effort, given that he was one of the slower riders in the group. Goes to show you that it's not always about raw power; sometimes you just have to ride smart.
If I'm honest with myself, I was fairly annoyed with myself on this race, but at the end of the day I didn't do anything to deserve staying in the race, so that's how it ended up. That's racing!
So with that event, the first day of the Omnium had concluded. I was dead last in my age group, trailing Brian by a mere point. So I had a goal for tomorrow... Beat Brian!
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| Pushing Hard! Photo: M. Young |
Sprint Championship
With about an hour break in proceedings we were back to contest the sprint championships.As there were only three contesting this title, the running of the event was slightly modified from the usual match sprints. First a three way sprint, winner to the final, 2nd vs 3rd sudden death with winner to contest for the gold. Only Gold and Silver medals on offer.
The Flying 200m qualifying was held, but didn't really figure into the equation given the race format. That said, it gave an indication of the relative speeds of the riders. With a few hard races under my belt already, I missed out on a PB by about 0.3 seconds, which I didn't think was too bad.
I lined up for the sudden death race against Paul F on the bottom of the track, meaning that I had to lead out. Unlike last year I maintained a reasonable and yet comfortable pace. First lap down and I was watching fairly closely. I'd pretty much decided that I'd try and keep him behind and see if I could lead it from the front.
Entering the final bend on the second lap I decided to go a bit early.. Pow!! I got around the bend and kicked again! Shit yeah! Down the home straight to get the bell. Through the first corner, still in the lead! Kick Again! Around the last corner and I was still there, quads absolutely screaming in pain. But then...at about 10-15m from the line Paul F passed me. Disappointed? yeah a little. Happy with the race? definitely. My competition was a bit over 1/2 second quicker over 200m and I managed to take it to the line. I can't really say I'm unhappy with that. No medal of course, but that's life.
At this point, if I may, I'd like to give a massive shout out to the gold medalist, Peter Szegedi. I've "raced" (ie. been blown out of the water) twice now with Peter, and each time, despite the obvious performance differences he has either had some helpful advice or encouraging words to say along the way. Very much appreciated and a sign of a true gentleman racer.. Cheers Peter! :)
And with that, I headed to a mate's buck show.. because this is clearly the best preparation for the next day of racing.
Sunday
We awoke on Sunday morning feeling a little more prepared for the day ahead. I hadn't overdone it the night before so I was feeling pretty good. I guess in my head I now had a realistic goal to achieve which contributed a lot to a much better frame of mind.
3000m Individual Pursuit
I've never done one of these before. I didn't have a "schedule".. and I had no idea what I was doing, or what to expect, except that I'd be doing 12 laps of the Superdrome. For this event we were using the start gates.. I love the start gates .. it's so pro :D I remembered what I learned last year and got semi reasonable start. I think I went marginally early and was still held in the gate as I was trying to put on the power. I tried not to go out too hard and tried to settle into what I considered to be a reasonable pace. In fairly short order my opponent for this race had passed by me. Not unexpected, but it happened surprisingly early. As the laps ticked over I could feel myself slowing from my initial pace. I kept pushing to maintain the speed, but i think it was fairly inevitable that the speed was going to drop over the course of the race. Six laps to go and I felt all kinds of pain. This race is surprisingly brutal. It smashes your legs and messes with the head.I didn't dare look up at the scoreboard since I really didn't want to know how I was doing. Though seeing my opponent go past me a second time gave me a fair indication. Focus was solely on the black line.. If I was going to die, I was going to do it on that bloody black line!
Three laps to go and I was getting a mass of encouragement from the infield, I dug deep and gave it whatever I had left.. two laps to go.. still here... bell lap.. nearly dead.. finishing gun.. I'm done... get me the hell off this bike.
4:29.753I finished ahead of Brian by about 5 seconds, which meant we were now equal on points. Also, I had a handy time advantage in case we finished equal on points.
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| Out of the start gate for my first ever 3000m IP! Photo: M. Young |
10km Scratch Race
Once again, Masters grade 1-4 were combined into one race. So it was fairly clear how this was going to go. I set myself the goal of staying with Brian as best I could. Pretty soon the field split into two and I was stuck in the back end. but Brian had managed to stick on the back of the front group... dammit! he soon dropped off too, so I stood half a chance.I started working with another guy for a while before he'd had enough and dropped off so I pushed like hell to catch Brian, which I eventually did! Woot! We worked together for a while to try to catch the back of the field, but we eventually got pulled out. :(
By chance I was at the front when we got removed from the race so I got an extra point. I didn't feel too good about that since we were nose to tail at the time..
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| Life at the back of the field. Photo: M. Young |
750m Time Trial
Final race of the Omnium, and I was 1 point up on Brian. He would have to beat me by about 5 and a bit seconds to push me back to last place. Once again we used the start gates. I've done a 750m TT before, so I knew what to expect. After the last event though, I reckoned I needed to finish ahead of Brian to make things feel right if nothing else.As I was rolling around on the infield, Brian lined up in the start gate. He seemed to get a fairly strong start and kept smashing it until the end. 1:03.003 .. So I had a target.
I was called up to the start, and nerves were building a little. I was lined up against a slightly faster guy in my age category, so I figured I had my work cut out for me. Knowing that I had a time to beat, I was feeling fairly nervous too, which didn't help me settle in the gates. Counting down the final 5 seconds and then.. Go! Fuck yeah! I got a sensational start!
Thoughts then turned to the all important time... 1:00.297 .. Success!
And with that I could walk away feeling that I had achieved something.
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| Hard effort out of the saddle. Photo: M. Young |
Wrap Up
All things considered I quite enjoyed this race meet. Unfortunately some of it was overshadowed by politics, which I think all could have been avoided. Changes to rules and regulations I think would be taken much better if they are known before sign up. As usual, the efforts of the volunteers and officials is much appreciated... these events just wouldn't happen without them.Congratulations also to the fabulous Miss V who came home with two medals, and put on an awesome sprint race with Lee-Anne who is fast becoming V's arch rival. Always great racing between these two. :)
