Thanks a lot, sounds great. Seems only right that after I guilt tripped you into getting back onto a track bike that you should persuade me to get on a CX bike! Let me know when I can give it a try. Shame I missed the CX workshop last week.

I'll practice my Flemish in the meantime.

I'd love to do this, but I'll be on the other side of the Hudson Labor Day.  I was thinking about the Basking Ridge/Track Meet double (take that Mueller!), but won't be able to pull it off.

mugwump &  kieranleahy  - This looks similar in format to the state champs - lots of categories and events\long gaps in between events. 

Joshua - sorry for the late response - this might be useless to you now, but here it is anyway. Long days at track meets are a real pain. I found grazing a little and often is the key, but with the odd more substantial snack (e.g. a sandwich - maybe avoid cheese though) mixed with cereal bars, fruit (bananas) and I guess gels if you're into those. If you have a lot of time between races this should be fine as you don't need to worry too much about keeping your food down as you might in a day with more races. If that was the case, you'd do more grazing and less sandwich eating. There is undoubtedly a lot more scientific answer than this, but I don't have it.

Plus, it goes without saying, but make sure you drink plenty - don't go overboard on the energy drinks, I'd say water is just as important.

At the state champs my eating was far from ideal - from 12 to 8pm all I ate was 5 cereal bars, a banana and a packet of chips (the latter bought from the ice cream van!)

Good luck for today!

Hi all,

I'm cross posting this from the Mentoring thread under announcements and info. You can find the full details there, but in short, I'm the club's new track mentor and wanted to bring attention to I’m hoping to do this year as a mentor, in terms of organized events and general things I can offer.

I noticed in my first year with the club last year that while there was less active participation on the track at KCC than I’d expected, there are enough riders who are keen to explore it for the first time, re-kindle their enthusiasm for it after a few seasons off it or are already experienced trackies, and that’s what I’m hoping to tap into and develop.

Here’s the three main goals for the track program for 2013:

1. Increase awareness and participation of Kissena riders in track racing and training at Kissena velodrome.

      2. Increase participation and visibility of Kissena riders in NYS track races. E.g. aim for a team of at least six riders at NYS champs, up from three in 2012.

      3. Win five medals + at NYS champs in July, up from three in 2012.

      Please see the attached file (or the Mentoring thread) for further details of the proposed provisional program. I'm also on hand to offer any track training advice, particularly from a sprinting perspective - e.g. weights, drills, race prep. psychology. Feel free to PM me here, or email me at kieranleahy67 at hotmail.com

Any comments or support are welcome!

     Cheers,

     Kieran

 just took my track bike out for a 30 miler today, I'm psyched!  also note the Wednesday series starts in April this season.

 sweet!  I'll know I'll be out on Wednesdays, andy too.  we may even drag konrad out.

I'm gonna need me a track whip once this gamey knee heals up!

the grrrr... is coming back...

^ I think those colors just burned out my monitor... or was it my RETINAS?

That's the problem with Apple's retina displays. Get s PC... Lol.

I'll be out most Wednesday nights (taking a week or two off for getting married, going on a honeymoon, that sort of craziness)

Elite state team sprint State Championship title?

I am going to try for some of the t town Saturday 4 races

I wanna give it a try too. I have a track bike but my gear ratio is punny, I have to address that issue first.

@alyoshas, this is a non issue. What bcd are your cranks?

yo no se. but my khs flite 100 is getting old and too big for me anyway, Im prob gonna sell it and get something a lil better. I'm looking for a 54cm top tube if anyone is selling.

Whoa, I don't look at the forum for a few days and I miss this! This is very exciting, not least track now has its own general thread...But seriously, @Marc - I feel the excitement too! I didn't quite expect we'd get as much enthusiasm for the track so early on. I can think of like, at least 8 of us who all want to ride track seriously, and that's without all the new guys. I agree we could really be a force to be reckoned with if we all get in shape and like you say, pool our strengths.

Ye olden golden days sounded pretty fun. It won't take you long to get that old skool swagger back once you hit the track again. And major baby steps are fine with me...it's gonna be like that for a lot of us! Tho I don't think Ragot needs much time to get his Grrr back.

I've got a long way before I can really say I'd be in good bunch race shape...esp in 1/2/3s (and esp points races - they've never been my strong point I have to admit...). But it's possible and I'm working on it - and having a bunch of team mates who are really enthusiastic for the track is going to be a huge motivation. I need some serious aerobic conditioning and to get my major power back. The latter shouldn't take too long, esp once the track is good to ride again, but the former will take some work / a good kicking on the road from the likes of you guys.

@Andy - Elite team sprint State champs - my thoughts exactly...It's on!

Dying to race T-Town too. It'll be a shock to the system to ride a "real" track again after two seasons of Kissena and Dublin (the latter neither fast or a decent track). Definitely up for Saturdays...and would love to make it to the odd Tuesday.

Exciting times!

Ok, had to try and shamelessly match Ragot's grrr pic with one of my own... ;-)

looks like there's gonna be a hipster track bike racing hoedown in bushwick this weekend: 

Tegalol's 

John Malcolmson said:

Tegalol's 

This race certainly favors anyone around 5ft tall with any cage riding experience.

the only fixies appropriate for this track

Dude... this is gonna be my opener for Sunday!

Grr face all around! Although I seem to make this face on my bike often.

Brief report from T-Town, "Master's and Rookies" today. 27 riders in the Master's 30+ Cat 1-4 field, so one shy of the "split" where they let 3/4s race by themselves. Joy. 10+ years since I've been on my track bike.

Fortunately, got there plenty early and other than numb hands from "death grip 2000" I felt pretty comfy on the banked slopes of T-town.

Our first race was a 10 lap scratch and while I was initially on the back, I could see a few laps in that this field was going to get SHREDDED thanks to the 1/2s who like to, you know, "shred" at all costs. I started going the long way around guys (still too chicken to pass underneath in the sprinter's lane), and with 1 lap to go I was chasing the lead group in no-man's land. A few folks passed me before the finish line and I ended up in 12th. Not too shabby. I'll take it for race one.

The second race was the dreaded "Miss and Out" and if you sprinters ever want to get a hard lesson on the importance of positioning in the final sprint, you MUST participate in the Miss and Out. I guarantee you will become a much much better sprinter. Anyway, the start of this race was comical. First, like a cross race with no call-ups, it was a mad dash to the boards for pre-race position. Then during the "neutral" roll-out lap, the guys at the front just drilled it. So much so that, it took us THREE laps to finally come together before we heard the starters pistol.

The first couple of laps I was in the back, sprinting every lap around the very long way. As the field slimmed a bit, I knew I couldn't keep this tactic up, so I pushed to the front of the field and started to ride tempo, which gave me a bit of a gap as it turned out, so I was "safe" for the next few laps. But then the big boys started bum-rushing around me on both sides. YIKES. Memo to self. Sprinters lane when I'm on the front--this way I only have to deal with one side of terror when they thunder past me. Then it was pretty much game over for me here as I was locked low and on the inside and with turn three fast approaching, no time to slow up and out and over the top. Damn. 20th place. [sad trombone sound]

Third race was a 10-lap Snowball. First lap winner gets 1 point, last lap winner gets 10. To be honest I wasn't exactly hunting points during this race. I just wanted to see if I could race closer to the front, keep in the thick of it without peeing in my chamois from fear. This race had the makings of the "hardest" race of the day. But low and behold, I managed to ride okay. And in fact, on the last lap, when they give points 5 deep (I think), I managed to bridge gaps, hold onto wheels etc, enough that I actually rolled across the line in 6th place. Which is ONLY relevant, since I earned no points throughout this race, in the fact that it proves that I've got enough fitness and rusty skills to physically keep up with the better Master's riders out there today. And that's a pretty good "takeaway" for me.

Final race, was a cat 3/4 15-lap scratch race. Things started slowly, with a woman and some dude taking off from the gun and gaining 1/2 a lap pretty quickly. The field was reluctant to chase, but as the laps started to wind down and they had a bit more than 1/2 lap on us, the field started to wind it up. With less than a straight-away between the charging field and the breakaways, I was about to counter-attack and see what was what. 5 laps to go at this point. Two other dudes had the same idea, and since we were all in synch, we ended up off the front together. SCORE.

But they were going too slow, way too slow. I tried to encourage, but all I got was an elbow flick. FINE. I'll get to the front and...what? How did I get a gap? Crap. 3 laps to go. Do I have 3 laps in me? Can I hold off the field? Well, I have no idea, but slowing to let the field catch me at this point, with feeling not 100% slick on the bike skills/handling wise, this seemed like not a great idea either. So I put the head down and just went for it.

One lap later, one dude catches and passes me. Damn. Okay keep going. Another lap, I'm still in 2nd place, but then a heard of racers, with 1 lap to go rushes past. Plus another guy who just beat me at the line. 9th place for me. Not thrilling. But still. Now I know. 3 laps off the front, I do not have. One though...I can't wait until I get to suit up at T-town again!

Awesome marc! come out to states!!! 

Random notes from the day:

1. Former Kissena Michelle Lee (she and BrittLee used to tear up the cyclocross circuit together wearing Kissena kits) was there racing very well. She now lives in Philly, and is maybe one of my top 3 ex-Kissena riders because she not only remembered me, but didn't for a second think I was JP.

2. Greg Olson was also "racing," and it appeared to be his first time on the track? It was weird, because I expected him to be racing the Master's category, but instead he was racing the cat 5s. But what was weirder, was that he appeared to be way undergeared, and also not just riding away from the field. He did alright in a couple of the races, but...that dude is strong in a crit or road race...he just looked kind of anemic out there on the track. However, maybe the trip was more about his kid Jack who was racing the junior 10-14 category. He was cheering her on nicely, and not being a sarcastic asshole to his kid like one of the big gun Master's racers was being.

3. Despite one T-town regular saying my 49x15 might be a "little light" for the T-town track, and earlier advice that most folks use a bigger gear, I didn't bother to switch over to a 50x15. I've always been more of a spinner, plus Thursday night racing/post ride home induced leg cramps continued to linger into the morning and I didn't want them to rear their ugly business while I was tootling around the track. And in the end, I found the 49x15 to be to my liking just fine. Not once did I feel "spun out."

Hey Marc,

Good job re yesterday, sounded like you acquited yourself great on your return to the track! I hear you on the miss & out - as it's all about positioning, speed and nerve, it's great training for bunch sprints. And yes, riding tempo at the front is an easier bet as, as you observed, sprinting from the back gets tiring quickly. But riding in the top 3 or so the whole time is not exactly easy either. Good that you felt comfortable enough riding 48x15 (88" in old money...) - that is a small gear for what is a nice and fast track, so nice to think you've room to move up if you want a bit more "bite".

You wanna go again next Sat (27th) if you're free? I'd definitely be down for going seeing as I'm a Masters and all...

Andy and I went this Tues for the Fuji Super Pro night. I've been putting off writing a race report as it was definitely a baptism of fire! My first time there and racing in the Pro-Am field. Emphasis on the "pro" - a lot of the guys who race the Fridays were there, including a very fast Polish guy, an Argentinian dude, some Germans and several Caribbean dudes. Big field, probably 25 rides or so. There were four races, all of which consisted of me having my ass handed to me over and over again. It was a reminder how fast racing at that level is - this was the kind of meet I'd find challenging back in 2007 when I was actually good, so harder still when I'm merely a part-timer....Easily my hardest race since my "comeback".

The "best" I probably did was in the first race, a 3k scratch. I was doing fine for the first 5 laps, hanging out in the top third, but then made the fatal error of trying to make the split. I couldn't quite make it - we were probably touching 33mph + at this point - and the inevitable elastic grew until it snapped and I basically freefalled through the chasing groups until the race was over. In the other three races - a 12 lap tempo points race, a 20 laps points race and a 10k scratch, I refused to not hide at the back, i.e. I was always up there in the top half or first third, but then I'd lose my legs and blow up midway through the race when someone putting the hammer down once too often proved to be too much. There was generally no let up - someone would go hard, then would be a two sec lull and then we would go hard again. I only managed half of the 10k scratch before I blew, which was kinda embarrassing. Turns out the average speed was 31mph for that 5k, so that made me feel a little better.

Disappointment asides, it was good to put myself out of my comfort zone and race with some real fast guys. Such a fun track to ride too! Can't wait to get back out there...It was a great lesson in realizing the work you have to do to get fitter. At first I was down at what this meant for my chances in the endurance events in the State champs in a few weeks, but it's actually really good training for them, and I am reasonably sure the avs will be a little less at Kissena...

I can do Friday the 3rd.