Revolution and Training Week One

Great night out at Revolution with a couple of mates of mine on Wednesday night. The event was very well supported and was the largest crowd I have seen at a cycling event in quite some time. Very fit looking crowd too. Some great racing but to my mind the match sprint events were the most exciting - great combination of skill and raw power.

Anyway I managed to complete most of this weeks training in amongst the torrential downpours. Call it global warming or just wierd but we have had 66mm of rain in December roughly (according to the Greensborough gauge) and 42mm of that fell on 21st and 22nd December.

Fortunately this only trashed training on Saturday. I managed to get my sessions done bar one set of hill sprints and high cadence. Still finding my way with the drills. Second effort at high cadence (HCLR) was much better and I hit 156rpm without bouncing.

The 5 min E3 intervals were interesting. The first set on reflection I think I brought my HR up a little too quick as it got too hard to keep the HR in the E3 range. Second set I stretched out the build up and found it easier to sustain it in E3. Now need to find that balance between max effort and going to hard early and falling off. Was extremely humid which probably didnt help too much.

Hill sprints are supposed to get a bit of a burn going in the legs. Well it didnt really so I need to take a look at this in next weeks outing. Came home soaked from two outings so the bike got two cleans this week.

Did Glenvale D grade crit as planned - but not sure I had a race plan per se. Quite a few starters for the 23rd of December (about 35 roughly). Saw a guy from the SKCC D grade crits - who really should be booted to C. Not sure whether I was in the right frame of mind for racing either - had no clear goal in mind before the start (ie train some specifics like bridging or race for a placing).

Stayed near the front but failed to get on the break of three that eventually won it. They went past me and off the front about seven laps in. I didnt have the leg speed to bridge the gap - should have been able to in theory since I know I can crank out 50kph for a sustained effort.

Anyway it was pretty much the bike race then and there. No organisation and only a couple of lame efforts by individuals (with a few wheelsuckers in tow of course) to reel them. Both of these failed (not that the wheelsuckers helped out of course) and got stuck in no mans land. Eventually swept them up and I stayed on the front towing the pack around at about 40kph for the rest of the race.

The leading three got organised (including Mr SKCC) and were atleast half a lap in front just before the 3 laps. Could not get anyone interested in working - other than a 30 sec turn on the downhill part of the course by one guy.

Anyway there was a bit of rain starting so I had a hissy fit and bailed out with four laps to go. It seemed quite pointless to tow the also rans around for a sprint finish out of the places and I had done a reasonable E3 session.

I really need to decide before a race exactly why I am there and what I am aiming to do in it. Without doing that it seems pretty stupid turning up. Also need to think through why I can sit on the front on 38-40kph for ages but dont have the extra kick to bridge a gap. GRRRR.

Anyway there is always next week to look forward to.