VladiKhlopine said:

Hey, where is everybody?
 we had a fun windy day of track racing at Kissena track. Next sunday round 2.

Graydon Kolk said:

It was my first time racing track and I think I'm hooked. I haven't had that much fun on the bike in a long time!

I was able to take 4th place overall for the Cat 5 A group.

@VladiKhlopine it was nice meeting/racing with you.

First ever race and as such my first report. Forgive me.

Arrived at 1215, races due to start at 1300. Ride over was a nice enough 10 miles or so but it was pretty cold. I was wearing quite a lot and took more clothes (as recommended) in my bag. Wore full leggings and a rowing undershirt all day. The wind was crazy strong when spectating but it it didn't feel as brutal on track and in the opposite direction to @mugwump's  track day so there was a nice home straight tail wind.

Races ended up starting nearer 1400 because of some administration problems which were blamed on it being the first meet of the season.

There were  6 categories of racing. 4s, 4 womens, masters, e123 women, 5s then e123 men. The men's 4 and 5 were each split into two groups because there were over 20 in each. In total 93 people registered to race.

For me (Cat 5 evens) there were 3 scratch races of 5,4 and 7 laps with the chance of qualifying for the b feature race. I had been feeling very nervous in the days leading up to the race but when I got to the track I felt at home which was nice. I also set my expectations very low - stay safe, get a feel for position and gearing. I also had no idea what to expect despite doing as much strava and forum research as I could.

In race one I chased down an early attack before it got going which felt good. Then as we went round together about 5 went off the front with 2 to go. I just didn't go for it. Probably finished 6/7th. 

Race two was short and going round nicely, once again they (the bigger geared/stronger) went with like 2 to go, once again I didn't go but finished at the front of the second group having chased down a front group straggler. 

Race three was 7 laps and I was looking forward to as it was a bit longer. Went around pretty nicely then with two to go they went,  I was behind a guy on the back straight who went to chase but didn't have it in him and then I was boxed in by two people coming round the outside so I got on their wheels, at this point break group had gone too far but I was pretty confident that I could get past the two that boxed me and maybe pick up fifth which I did easily enough by going a bit harder on the last lap, the other guy blew up on the home straight and I don't think he thought there was going to be anyone there so I just whooshed past and got myself some points.

As I said it was crazy windy and pretty hard to keep warm between races. It was very weird on finishing a race because my legs just kind of stiffened right up. I'll definitely need to train and for that feeling I think and I could definitely see the benefits of having rollers/trainer there. It felt tough because unless you have a trainer or rollers you can't warm up for each race so you kind of go cold to hot and back down. There were a good number of people with them though and I think if I were to drive I'd take @David Yang's with me.

Looking at the stats I'm pretty sure I could have worked harder. I mean max hr of 169...? I think I could have rolled with each of the breaks had I wanted to but I could have been slightly under geared riding 84.7. Next week I'll put more effort in. It was super fun though and a really nice atmosphere. Lots of people chatting and stuff. If the weather is good it must be incredible. I think @EvelynDeLaRosa was there in Kissena kit, I was just wearing a mash of stuff to keep warm with no Kissena kit yet.

There will hopefully be the same turnout next week. For the ladies out there Kimberly Geist will be racing next week (former medalist at world champs, also finished 7th in this years point's race).

I could go on but I'd be surprised if anyone has made it this far. Needless to say I enjoyed it and will be back next week. Who's joining me?

https://youtu.be/Q3VL5JCqQhQ

It used to be that an easy spinning, 10-minute warm-up sufficed but that is no longer considered to be enough so here’s how the best do it. You may have seen this warm-up protocol from British Cycling and Team SKY before in the context of time-trials, but it is well worth using for winter workouts and races as well. It transforms your warm-up from being a ‘bit of a spin’ to a proper integral part of your training regime or race preparation.

Being properly set-up for the efforts you are about to undertake will improve your ability to perform them, reduce the chances of injury and allow you to train harder. Just remember it is winter; wear plenty of layers that you can easily remove as you warm-up. Knees are particularly vulnerable in winter, whether outside or just sat in front of you your turbo training cooling fan, so an extra set of knee warmers won’t do you any harm.

The Standard Team SKY Warm-Up: 

5 min light spinning
8 min progressive to Zone 5 – gradually increase the effort until reach maximum power output without sprinting
2 min easy – to recover from the above
2 min to include 3 x 6 second sprints to fully prime all the musculature involved in cycling
3 mins easy – to recover from the above before the race start

Note that this is identical to the British Cycling warm-up detailed below:

TimeCadenceInstruction/Focus