I was slightly surprised at the turnout, the day after the metro championships, but there were a good 8 or 9 sprinters on show. I, of course, showed up late, and so was playing catchup a bit - no surprises there.
After the warmup powerjump it was on to Flying 100s on 99", just working on the jump and the line, trying to keep low through turn 4. I generally do that fairly well, though today I ended up around the red, partly because the drill only went to the end of turn 3. Speed was okay at around 53-54, but not quite all-out.
After that was powerjumps out of turn 4 - one just to the end of the straight, then two for the full lap-and-a-a-bit. The idea was for the inside rider to keep the outside rider up high by not diving for the lane, an interesting tactic which seemed to work well, though I wasn't actually on the inside for any of the drills! For the second drill I was with Em, who kept me up high down the front straight but on 99" I just had too much rollout for her down the back straight. After that I was trio-d with Jarrod and John, and jumped from about 20m behind to pull around for the 'win'.
After that I dropped back down to 86" for a one-lap match sprint against Hayden, a chap who had randomly stopped by with his family and who proceeded to thump us all. He'll be in A-Grade next week if he keeps his promise to come along! Turns out he was a pursuiter with the AIS some 12 years ago. He's got an enormous jump, which I was hoping to negate by pumping the speed up high (hardly likely to happen in just one lap!) or by getting him going the wrong way and stealing a break. That latter almost worked coming through turn one - I pulled up the track, he started following and then I went to dive sharply down behind him while he was going the wrong way. He saw it though and turned steeper up the bank, leaving me to swerve back as I couldn't be sure I'd miss his rear wheel. A few seconds later he jumped and got a bit of a gap. I followed but pulled my wheel slightly - and was surprised that he didn't get as far away as I thought he would, 'only' winning by a second or so.
Nothing terribly exciting from the evening, solid training session but no notable results. This week is a taper for Round Three, and with any luck I'll actually do it properly this time and be in good shape for the weekend!
Showing posts with label F100. Show all posts
Showing posts with label F100. Show all posts
27 November 2011
26 June 2011
DISC Session #10 with ABOC
Tonight was fun! And tough. I was still a little sore from yesterday, and tired thanks to catching up on sleep, but that only really affected me when I was sitting around and warming up.
We started off with Flying 100s, which I did on 99" and then 92", to get an idea for the difference. And the difference? Well, not much. Maximums of 56.3 at 120 on 99, 56.1 at 129 on 92. On first blush, looking at the shape of the graphs (by distance, not time) it might appear that the peak is rather more vertiginous for the 99" effort than for the 92" effort, but that's just an artefact of the total distance travelled - the actual entry plus 100m follows a very similar profile - peak speed just coming out of the first bend, speed drop of about 2km/hr for a sustained speed along the straight of about 54km/hr, and then the effort ends coming in to the next bend.
Even if you compare those two to my flying 200 of a bit over a week ago (which was on 92") the profile is similar (though top speed was a bit higher at 57.1) including the speed drop in the last 100m! Still, I don't feel like I'm jumping quite hard enough, even though I'm not trying to give it 100% at that point, because I have to last the distance. Say, maybe 95% for a F100, 90% for a F200. Not sure if that's what I should actually be doing though! Top speed of 56ish km/hr is too low though - even if I was not hitting the entry as hard so as to maintain speed, an average of 56km/hr only gives me a F200 time of 12.85s or so. Still getting tyre slip too - I've got some new tyres to put on which should hopefully be grippier, and just keep trying to get my position right accelerating out of the saddle.
I was pretty tired after that, and a bit concerned about the MACs and windout to come, but I was right when I said that I actually enjoy them - I was tired, but they didn't destroy me. I didn't do any of them perfectly though - I hit the roller on all of them, which may be okay, but it disrupts the rhythm. Especially coming around the bend to the point where the motorbike jumps and you have to respond to catch it. So I was a little slow there, though not too bad, but I did the same thing again coming around to the same point, where the bike accelerates again - except this time, I simply forgot that it was going to happen so I actually had to jump again rather than just accelerate in the slipstream. Which left me a little exposed. Not too bad, but stuff I need to work on. 62.2/143 and ?/141 (on 92") are reasonable results though - a good 4-5km/hr more than 3 weeks ago.
The windout was supposed to be on 82", but although I now have a 16T, my chain wasn't long enough to get it on, so I had to go for 86" on the 15T. Although again my form wasn't that great - touching the roller, not maintaining a very smooth line - I can't complain too much. I let the motorbike get away on the last straight, but I still managed a top of 60.5/149 and held my speed down the straight pretty well. Again, a good 5km/hr and 11RPM higher than 3 weeks ago.
So actually, now that I look properly at the stats and graphs and comparisons and so on, I'm quite happy with how things are going. It's a bit like losing weight, I guess, in that random variation (a brush of the roller, moment's inattention, whatever) can easily account for 2-3km/hr difference, and the improvement is incremental - and lower than the random variation. So you really need to step back a bit and say - hey, look, that's 5km/hr faster than only three weeks ago! Which is significant (though not as significant as it appears - 5 weeks ago I hit 59.1, only 1.4km/hr slower) as it confirms that yes, improvement is being made. Slowly, but it's real. The problem is that now I want to take all of my data, put it in a table and do actual statistical analysis of it. But I'm going to resist that because it's not even remotely worthwhile. This blog is already excessive analysis! Just so long as I record the information, reflect upon what I'm doing and use it for motivation. And let Carl know what I'm doing and how I feel about it, so that he can masterfully coach me towards perfection. Or, erm, something.
We started off with Flying 100s, which I did on 99" and then 92", to get an idea for the difference. And the difference? Well, not much. Maximums of 56.3 at 120 on 99, 56.1 at 129 on 92. On first blush, looking at the shape of the graphs (by distance, not time) it might appear that the peak is rather more vertiginous for the 99" effort than for the 92" effort, but that's just an artefact of the total distance travelled - the actual entry plus 100m follows a very similar profile - peak speed just coming out of the first bend, speed drop of about 2km/hr for a sustained speed along the straight of about 54km/hr, and then the effort ends coming in to the next bend.
Even if you compare those two to my flying 200 of a bit over a week ago (which was on 92") the profile is similar (though top speed was a bit higher at 57.1) including the speed drop in the last 100m! Still, I don't feel like I'm jumping quite hard enough, even though I'm not trying to give it 100% at that point, because I have to last the distance. Say, maybe 95% for a F100, 90% for a F200. Not sure if that's what I should actually be doing though! Top speed of 56ish km/hr is too low though - even if I was not hitting the entry as hard so as to maintain speed, an average of 56km/hr only gives me a F200 time of 12.85s or so. Still getting tyre slip too - I've got some new tyres to put on which should hopefully be grippier, and just keep trying to get my position right accelerating out of the saddle.
I was pretty tired after that, and a bit concerned about the MACs and windout to come, but I was right when I said that I actually enjoy them - I was tired, but they didn't destroy me. I didn't do any of them perfectly though - I hit the roller on all of them, which may be okay, but it disrupts the rhythm. Especially coming around the bend to the point where the motorbike jumps and you have to respond to catch it. So I was a little slow there, though not too bad, but I did the same thing again coming around to the same point, where the bike accelerates again - except this time, I simply forgot that it was going to happen so I actually had to jump again rather than just accelerate in the slipstream. Which left me a little exposed. Not too bad, but stuff I need to work on. 62.2/143 and ?/141 (on 92") are reasonable results though - a good 4-5km/hr more than 3 weeks ago.
The windout was supposed to be on 82", but although I now have a 16T, my chain wasn't long enough to get it on, so I had to go for 86" on the 15T. Although again my form wasn't that great - touching the roller, not maintaining a very smooth line - I can't complain too much. I let the motorbike get away on the last straight, but I still managed a top of 60.5/149 and held my speed down the straight pretty well. Again, a good 5km/hr and 11RPM higher than 3 weeks ago.
So actually, now that I look properly at the stats and graphs and comparisons and so on, I'm quite happy with how things are going. It's a bit like losing weight, I guess, in that random variation (a brush of the roller, moment's inattention, whatever) can easily account for 2-3km/hr difference, and the improvement is incremental - and lower than the random variation. So you really need to step back a bit and say - hey, look, that's 5km/hr faster than only three weeks ago! Which is significant (though not as significant as it appears - 5 weeks ago I hit 59.1, only 1.4km/hr slower) as it confirms that yes, improvement is being made. Slowly, but it's real. The problem is that now I want to take all of my data, put it in a table and do actual statistical analysis of it. But I'm going to resist that because it's not even remotely worthwhile. This blog is already excessive analysis! Just so long as I record the information, reflect upon what I'm doing and use it for motivation. And let Carl know what I'm doing and how I feel about it, so that he can masterfully coach me towards perfection. Or, erm, something.
01 May 2011
DISC Session #2 with ABOC
Well there goes the now traditional Sunday massacre at DISC. The emphasis was on strength, with two sets of K1s, the first three as reaction drills (a group of 3, since there were just 5 sprinters in total) and the second set gate starts. All 1/4 lap except for the final gate start, which was a 1/2 lap.
The main difference in the rolling K1s compared to the last session was that this time we had to do them seated, in Race Gear (as previously mentioned, 99.7" for me) which made them so much more difficult. I think I came third in both of the competitive efforts (the first I did solo due to a mistake.) I had a bit of front-end wobble in the last effort, and checked out my bike afterwards but could find nothing strange around the front-end so thought it must just have been user error.
The gate starts were interesting, as I've never done them before and watching a youtube video or two is only so useful. Especially when, again, we had to do them seated rather than the usual standing out of the saddle. But I watched carefully, took note of the audible countdown and felt okay about it all. When I was strapped in and just about to start the countdown, I pushed forward on my bars to get my hands well seated-in and they moved! Back off I got and went back to the infield to tighten them up - each of the 4 bolts needed to be done up a full 2 turns at least! Very disconcerting, and not something I've encountered before; sprint training does, I agree, put more stress through the frame and contact points, but I would never have expected that to happen. But a track bike is a very simple thing, really, so I know the points to be checked every time I get on at least.
My first gate start was... an experience. I was very slow, very wobbly, and looking straight down, just concerned about getting away cleanly, not falling over and so on. Which of course meant that my form and power were rather lacking. I'd like to say that that improved for the next two efforts, and it did really (top speed on effort two was 3km/hr higher, and 1km/hr higher than the fastest rolling start), but not nearly enough. I suspect there's a reason why the next couple of months are going to be focussed on strength work! The last effort, being a half lap, felt better because once I'd actually gotten moving it was much easier to get the power going and get some acceleration happening, which always feels awesome.
We rounded off the evening with 3xFlying 100s, each of the three of us taking turns to lead the group in. I decided to stick with the theme of the evening, staying in the saddle to accelerate in to the starting point, and try to work on my line. I managed over 57km/hr on the first two efforts (top 57.6) but the third was a bit off, though at the time it felt okay, so perhaps it had more to do with the line I took than with getting too fatigued.
I was though. Rooted. And then to make things funner, getting up at 4am to take my sister to the airport, and getting almost no sleep beforehand because I always anticipate when I have to get up early. Even if it's not really that early. Anyway. 1hr spin on the roadie today. Then sleep!
Brief stats here.
The main difference in the rolling K1s compared to the last session was that this time we had to do them seated, in Race Gear (as previously mentioned, 99.7" for me) which made them so much more difficult. I think I came third in both of the competitive efforts (the first I did solo due to a mistake.) I had a bit of front-end wobble in the last effort, and checked out my bike afterwards but could find nothing strange around the front-end so thought it must just have been user error.
The gate starts were interesting, as I've never done them before and watching a youtube video or two is only so useful. Especially when, again, we had to do them seated rather than the usual standing out of the saddle. But I watched carefully, took note of the audible countdown and felt okay about it all. When I was strapped in and just about to start the countdown, I pushed forward on my bars to get my hands well seated-in and they moved! Back off I got and went back to the infield to tighten them up - each of the 4 bolts needed to be done up a full 2 turns at least! Very disconcerting, and not something I've encountered before; sprint training does, I agree, put more stress through the frame and contact points, but I would never have expected that to happen. But a track bike is a very simple thing, really, so I know the points to be checked every time I get on at least.
My first gate start was... an experience. I was very slow, very wobbly, and looking straight down, just concerned about getting away cleanly, not falling over and so on. Which of course meant that my form and power were rather lacking. I'd like to say that that improved for the next two efforts, and it did really (top speed on effort two was 3km/hr higher, and 1km/hr higher than the fastest rolling start), but not nearly enough. I suspect there's a reason why the next couple of months are going to be focussed on strength work! The last effort, being a half lap, felt better because once I'd actually gotten moving it was much easier to get the power going and get some acceleration happening, which always feels awesome.
We rounded off the evening with 3xFlying 100s, each of the three of us taking turns to lead the group in. I decided to stick with the theme of the evening, staying in the saddle to accelerate in to the starting point, and try to work on my line. I managed over 57km/hr on the first two efforts (top 57.6) but the third was a bit off, though at the time it felt okay, so perhaps it had more to do with the line I took than with getting too fatigued.
I was though. Rooted. And then to make things funner, getting up at 4am to take my sister to the airport, and getting almost no sleep beforehand because I always anticipate when I have to get up early. Even if it's not really that early. Anyway. 1hr spin on the roadie today. Then sleep!
Brief stats here.
21 April 2011
Blackburn Velo 21/04
After being frustrated in my attempts to get out earlier in the week, today was my last chance to get a ride in before the Easter camping trip. Unfortunately (sort of) I got there at the same time as another chap and we spent a lot of time 'warming up' (that is, chatting!) and so I only got in 4 K1s and a flying 100 or so. Still, it gave me a bit of a rev-up before the weekend and at least provided some training benefit. Hopefully.
Brief stats here.
Brief stats here.
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