Well, I finally got back out and raced. It was a series of time trials at the track run pursuit style. The distances were 500m, 1k, 2k, 3k, 4k. I figured if it was just me and another sprinter on the track at the same time I would only have myself to blame for an injury! I had never done pursuit on the track, so I was looking forward to learning a new style of racing and laying down some hideously slow benchmark times that should be easy to beat next season! I figured I'd be hideously slow since I've never done a holding (non-throw) start on the track and because I haven't done anything resembling a maximal effort in a couple of months.
Of course, they had to start with the shortest event, so there was no time to ease into the whole holder thing. My first start was a comedy of errors. Somehow despite telling myself and being told by the holder to head down track, I headed up for a couple pedal strokes and then had to correct it the right direction. I'd just gotten that sorted out when I caught my shorts on the saddle on one of the strokes and had to sort of sit and disentangle myself before continuing with the standing portion of the sprint. About 100 meters in I finally caught my stride. I ended with 50.4 seconds. I look forward to killing that number in the near future.
The next event was 1k. I actually got a good start despite having some issues relaxing with my holder. I kept tipping to one side or the other, but somehow managed to start in a straight line. I finished in 1:40. I know, not that impressive, but not horrible either! Too bad this isn't a real track event for the ladies!
In the 2k, they put me up against Linda Elgart. And, in the next flight they put Cathy against Karen Brems. Hmmmm. Could anyone think of a possible pairing that might be better? I totally got lapped, and blew. My time was a truly glacial 3:48. By the time they finished the 2k events, it was 6:00 p.m. and I was STARVING! So, we called it a night and went out for some Afghani food.
I had a good time and LOVE my new shallow drop handle bars. Yay! Rick even got me some pink bar tape to make the bike extra-festive. I also wore the fabulous knee high striped socks that my mom and dad sent for my b-day. Cool socks always make racing more fun!
6 comments:
Glad you liked the shallow drop bars. Now we need to see how well they feel over longer periods.
Just think of Linda E. as the hound and you are the rabbit trying to stay in front. The old hound and hare motivation in reverse ;-)
what model bars? they look really shallow.
nadiamac - the bars are FSA Wing Pro Compact
Good job on Saturday! I later learned the Karen was world champion and went to the Olympics. Yes, better pairings next time!
cathy - for sure! I hope your races on Sunday were fun!
nadiamac - We'll have to talk Canadian Rockies some time :-)
Ms Chatterbox felt she needed shallower drops, and I was having problems finding anything much shallower than she had. Then we noticed Shelley Olds had some really shallow drop bars on her track bike, so we inquired and found out about the FSA compact line.
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