SSS Round 1, 2011

Well, that was rather a disappointing day. Short version: Slow F200, last qualifier in B-Grade, lost all three races. But, you know, it's me, so there's a longer version...

Let's approach this in terms of lessons learned.

i) Sunday is race day. Not, races go from 12ish to 4ish, but Sunday, the whole day, is race day.

I arrived late after attending to assorted family matters which left me with little time to warm up, check my bike, or get myself in the right frame of mind. With the wind on Sunday, gusting strongly up the back straight, actually getting out there in a couple of different gearings to check how they felt was important, rather than just guessing. As it was, I guessed 92", and that was probably too small. My tyres were low, too - only about 90psi at most. I hadn't ridden at BBN since last year so I was rusty on the right lines, places to jump, etc. and in my F200, I jumped too late though my line was probably not too bad. Result was a F200 time of 14.185, more than a tenth of a second slower than my time from Round 6 back in April, before I started training! Yes, it was a slow day, but that's an awful time.

ii) I need to be more active in my races.

By this I mean not just in terms of moving around more, or being more aggressive, but thinking more and being adaptable. In my first race against Nic, I was following and wanted him to keep the lead, be dragged up the back straight protected from the wind, then coming in to corner 3 to run up the bank, down in to his slipstream with pace and around, as we've been doing at DISC. But the key point came much earlier than that...

 

At 59 seconds I threw a bit of a fake, just wanting to get him thinking, maybe get him to jump. What happened though was that he went for it, going all the way down the track (and off it!) while I just swerved back up. And sat there. And sat there. And waited for him to get back on the track, get out of the saddle and accelerate while I wasted my height and the advantage that I'd gained from getting him going the wrong way. Eventually, I responded but too late - I wasn't quite able to get on his wheel and couldn't accelerate around. I was closing, but was never going to get there.

iii) I need to kick harder.

I've improved since last year, it is true. But the main point really is that I wasn't kicking as hard as I could. This I think is part experience, part confidence, and part bike handling skills.In my second race against Ed, I decided to take the lead and gradually wind it up so as to try to negate his acceleration a little. I felt that I controlled it fairly well, and brought the pace up. But I always expected him to come alongside. Watching the video though, just as with Nic he's still out of the saddle and accelerating at the point where I'm in the saddle and not confident to get out at that cadence.

I had the legs to accelerate more, but needed to be able to get out of the saddle. He sails past, and I keep plodding along.

iv) I need to be aware that I'm racing against another human being!

In my race against Ian, I decided to try to sit behind him in his blindspot. Fine, but I didn't think it through too much further. I let him get too much space, dictating the pace, and then I neglected to take advantage again.

At 42 seconds, again I threw a fake with nothing to back it up. I rolled down the bank not when Ian was looking forward, but immediately after he'd looked back at me again. After doing that, I just sat back up behind him, lost a bit of ground, and he jumped. Somehow I was caught off guard, he got the gap and won by that margin. As someone commented at the end - I'm a bit of a one-pace sprinter. Or, at least, that's how I raced. Too timidly.

Obviously there's much more to it than just 4 lessons. But I think that those are some of the important aspects to take away from these races. I was clearly off my best, for a number of reasons. What I need to do is work on those aspects and come back stronger next month. And, clearly, losing weight is now the more important aspect than gaining strength, and the ability to apply strength on the track is more important than getting bigger numbers on an ergo.