Simonsky
10-11-2009, 12:33 PM
Dear all
I had this report posted in the MACT area, but thought I'd share it with all as well.
Jamie, do you want a cut down version for the newsletter?
Cheers
SimonN
=============
What a fantastic time all the masters riders had at the World Masters Track championships! It was almost incidental that we hauled 9 medals (3 each of Gold, Silver and Bronze). The combination of awesome racing, top level fields and great team camaraderie made for a memorable experience.
The really great thing about this sort of even is that, despite the level of competition, there is a strong participatory element. Any given race would have former Olympians and pros, with club level riders thrown in. (The Italian team in particular had some members who were really out of shape, but having a lot of fun. It was good to see them having a go, even if it meant that some of the elite riders had to pass them twice in the pursuit.)
At the serious end of things the racing was sharp. Certainly the highest intensity I’ve experienced after 20 years out of the sport. My own data from the scratch race — like a crit, but shorter and on a velodrome — showed my heart rate stuck between 200 and 205 for the last half of the race, which I didn’t even know was physically possible.
Yours truly, in the hurt box (but doesn’t the kit look pretty and match the bike nicely).
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky/100061/simps/web.jpg?ver=12578090390001
There are too many highlights to mention individually. The medals started flowing right from the start of day one in the timetrial, with Jim (master bling) Veal pulling a bronze in the 500m and Sue Powell a silver in her age group. Next was the pursuit. So many riders came close to medals after getting into the finals (the pursuit involves doing a race to get a time, with the top four going into ride-offs for the medals). Jim and Vanessa got fourths, but it came down to our newest MACT and Vikings member Graeme (the Albinator) Albon to set things alight.
Now, one thing I learnt at the meet was how conditions can dramatically affect times on the track. Trackies spend a lot of time talking about which gear to pick. And which gear depends on how fast the track is. How fast the track is depends on temperature, air pressure and humidity. It sure makes a difference. The week prior to the Champs a few of us rode the World Masters Games as a warm up. The conditions there were seriously slooooow. At the champs they were faster, but not quite fast. (Both Vanessa and I knocked off 5 seconds between the two events, which is at least partly down to the conditions.)
However, in his heat, the Albinator did a 3:29 for 3000m (do the math folks!), only seconds of the world record for his age group. He then turned around and won the final, almost lapping his opponent. It was a domination that he carried through to the Point Score (more of that soon).
The next day was the team sprint. With the ‘endurance’ (well, those who specialize in racing more than 200m) riders taking a day off, it was down to a single team of Ray Gorrell, Gary Aisbitt and Jim Veal to fly the flag against extremely stiff competition to ride into 17th spot — that should give you an idea of the quality of the field.
Jim, Ray and Gary wind it up for the team sprint.
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky/100061/Jimscratch.jpg?derivative=medium&source=web.jpg&type=medium&ver=12578092030001
Then came the sprint racing. For those who haven’t seen match sprinting, this is the most tactical of any form of cycle racing. And great to watch. Vanessa was up there in 7th, with Bill Laing also one of our next best placed riders, getting 9th in masters 3. Jim Veal made it into the finals again, but just missed out on a medal (again!).
But Jim got his revenge in the scratch race with awesome win. The MACT crew were ooh-ing and ah-ing as Jim moved up to the front of the pack in the last four laps, found the right wheel coming into the last lap and sprinted around to take the win.
Jim leaves ‘em in his wake.
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky/100061/JimSc/web.jpg?ver=12578092080001
John Forrest (aka Pothole) gave a thrilling ride after finding a bit of bad luck with riders peeling off leaving him at the front with 3 two laps to go. Showing experience, he didn’t panic and just backed the pace off, keeping an eye on the field so that he could kick as they tried to come around on the last lap, which kept him in contention to ride for the Bronze in Masters 2. Sue Powell also rode a good race to scream down the back straight from the back with great leg speed into 4th place. Imagine if she’d actually positioned herself! Here it should be mentioned that experience accounts for a lot in track. Positioning is everything! And a lot of our riders are new to the sport. So expect even better results next time. Still, one of our least experienced trackies: Terry Moore, who is well known for riding twice the distance of everyone else at the back of the pack and to the side (up the bank).
In the points race, Terry decided to change tactic and ride off the front, collecting enough points on her solo sojourn to get into the medals. Vanessa Essam got into Silver using a different tactic of going for each sprint. On a personal note, I was very happy to be tickling the medals in Masters 3 after an awful bug-ridden preparation in an action packed race in which the Silver medallist (French chap) was taken down with 6 laps to go in a race in which 6 of us were capable of winning in the last sprint. I had a nail biting few minutes in which I thought I was in the bronze until the Frenchy was reinstated after a liberal interpretation of the rules and a countback on the last sprint. (Minor details!)
Terry Rides an impressive solo in the pointscore
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky/100061/Terry.jpg?derivative=medium&source=web.jpg&type=medium&ver=12578090600001
But the race of the day was the Masters 4 scratch race in which the Albinator and Mark Harris took the quinella for MACT/Vikings. Graeme Albon had come oh so close in the past two years to winning, with officials not quite keeping the right score in a race that is complicated to keep track of. (There are 5,3,2,1 points for the first 4 in the sprints and 20 points for lapping the field.) This year he had folks around the track tallying points in case a protest was needed. But the victory was emphatic, to say the least, with Graeme winning every sprint except one (in which he came second). The real race was for second. Racing here was tight and it took a canny rider to snatch second place. Fortunately they don’t get much cannier (or faster) than Mark Harris, who took it on the last sprint to edge out an equally canny Canadian and American.
For his efforts, Graeme took out the Champion of Champions jersey for his age group and is favourite to take out the Australian Masters Cyclist of the Year in a couple of weeks. Watch this space.
Oh, and a special thanks to the soft tissue therapy students, who volunteered their time to come and keep us crusties from seizing up after our races.
Ah, that’s better!
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky/100061/Ah.jpg?derivative=medium&source=web.jpg&type=medium&ver=12578092150001
More pics at:
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky#100061&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=12
http://picasaweb.google.com/MACTCycling/Worlds2009?feat=embedwebsite#
I had this report posted in the MACT area, but thought I'd share it with all as well.
Jamie, do you want a cut down version for the newsletter?
Cheers
SimonN
=============
What a fantastic time all the masters riders had at the World Masters Track championships! It was almost incidental that we hauled 9 medals (3 each of Gold, Silver and Bronze). The combination of awesome racing, top level fields and great team camaraderie made for a memorable experience.
The really great thing about this sort of even is that, despite the level of competition, there is a strong participatory element. Any given race would have former Olympians and pros, with club level riders thrown in. (The Italian team in particular had some members who were really out of shape, but having a lot of fun. It was good to see them having a go, even if it meant that some of the elite riders had to pass them twice in the pursuit.)
At the serious end of things the racing was sharp. Certainly the highest intensity I’ve experienced after 20 years out of the sport. My own data from the scratch race — like a crit, but shorter and on a velodrome — showed my heart rate stuck between 200 and 205 for the last half of the race, which I didn’t even know was physically possible.
Yours truly, in the hurt box (but doesn’t the kit look pretty and match the bike nicely).
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky/100061/simps/web.jpg?ver=12578090390001
There are too many highlights to mention individually. The medals started flowing right from the start of day one in the timetrial, with Jim (master bling) Veal pulling a bronze in the 500m and Sue Powell a silver in her age group. Next was the pursuit. So many riders came close to medals after getting into the finals (the pursuit involves doing a race to get a time, with the top four going into ride-offs for the medals). Jim and Vanessa got fourths, but it came down to our newest MACT and Vikings member Graeme (the Albinator) Albon to set things alight.
Now, one thing I learnt at the meet was how conditions can dramatically affect times on the track. Trackies spend a lot of time talking about which gear to pick. And which gear depends on how fast the track is. How fast the track is depends on temperature, air pressure and humidity. It sure makes a difference. The week prior to the Champs a few of us rode the World Masters Games as a warm up. The conditions there were seriously slooooow. At the champs they were faster, but not quite fast. (Both Vanessa and I knocked off 5 seconds between the two events, which is at least partly down to the conditions.)
However, in his heat, the Albinator did a 3:29 for 3000m (do the math folks!), only seconds of the world record for his age group. He then turned around and won the final, almost lapping his opponent. It was a domination that he carried through to the Point Score (more of that soon).
The next day was the team sprint. With the ‘endurance’ (well, those who specialize in racing more than 200m) riders taking a day off, it was down to a single team of Ray Gorrell, Gary Aisbitt and Jim Veal to fly the flag against extremely stiff competition to ride into 17th spot — that should give you an idea of the quality of the field.
Jim, Ray and Gary wind it up for the team sprint.
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky/100061/Jimscratch.jpg?derivative=medium&source=web.jpg&type=medium&ver=12578092030001
Then came the sprint racing. For those who haven’t seen match sprinting, this is the most tactical of any form of cycle racing. And great to watch. Vanessa was up there in 7th, with Bill Laing also one of our next best placed riders, getting 9th in masters 3. Jim Veal made it into the finals again, but just missed out on a medal (again!).
But Jim got his revenge in the scratch race with awesome win. The MACT crew were ooh-ing and ah-ing as Jim moved up to the front of the pack in the last four laps, found the right wheel coming into the last lap and sprinted around to take the win.
Jim leaves ‘em in his wake.
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky/100061/JimSc/web.jpg?ver=12578092080001
John Forrest (aka Pothole) gave a thrilling ride after finding a bit of bad luck with riders peeling off leaving him at the front with 3 two laps to go. Showing experience, he didn’t panic and just backed the pace off, keeping an eye on the field so that he could kick as they tried to come around on the last lap, which kept him in contention to ride for the Bronze in Masters 2. Sue Powell also rode a good race to scream down the back straight from the back with great leg speed into 4th place. Imagine if she’d actually positioned herself! Here it should be mentioned that experience accounts for a lot in track. Positioning is everything! And a lot of our riders are new to the sport. So expect even better results next time. Still, one of our least experienced trackies: Terry Moore, who is well known for riding twice the distance of everyone else at the back of the pack and to the side (up the bank).
In the points race, Terry decided to change tactic and ride off the front, collecting enough points on her solo sojourn to get into the medals. Vanessa Essam got into Silver using a different tactic of going for each sprint. On a personal note, I was very happy to be tickling the medals in Masters 3 after an awful bug-ridden preparation in an action packed race in which the Silver medallist (French chap) was taken down with 6 laps to go in a race in which 6 of us were capable of winning in the last sprint. I had a nail biting few minutes in which I thought I was in the bronze until the Frenchy was reinstated after a liberal interpretation of the rules and a countback on the last sprint. (Minor details!)
Terry Rides an impressive solo in the pointscore
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky/100061/Terry.jpg?derivative=medium&source=web.jpg&type=medium&ver=12578090600001
But the race of the day was the Masters 4 scratch race in which the Albinator and Mark Harris took the quinella for MACT/Vikings. Graeme Albon had come oh so close in the past two years to winning, with officials not quite keeping the right score in a race that is complicated to keep track of. (There are 5,3,2,1 points for the first 4 in the sprints and 20 points for lapping the field.) This year he had folks around the track tallying points in case a protest was needed. But the victory was emphatic, to say the least, with Graeme winning every sprint except one (in which he came second). The real race was for second. Racing here was tight and it took a canny rider to snatch second place. Fortunately they don’t get much cannier (or faster) than Mark Harris, who took it on the last sprint to edge out an equally canny Canadian and American.
For his efforts, Graeme took out the Champion of Champions jersey for his age group and is favourite to take out the Australian Masters Cyclist of the Year in a couple of weeks. Watch this space.
Oh, and a special thanks to the soft tissue therapy students, who volunteered their time to come and keep us crusties from seizing up after our races.
Ah, that’s better!
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky/100061/Ah.jpg?derivative=medium&source=web.jpg&type=medium&ver=12578092150001
More pics at:
http://gallery.me.com/simonsky#100061&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=12
http://picasaweb.google.com/MACTCycling/Worlds2009?feat=embedwebsite#