May 22, 2005, Track Racing
San Diego, CA

(All pictures can be clicked to go to a different page of more details)

This was another fine event put on by the Arizona club at the San Diego track. Although even fewer people were involved in running it than previously, they have the format down and it ran smoothly. Matt Runquist did the majority of the work, from registration, to time keeping, computer printouts, and count downs, as well as doing some racing himself. Don Melhado did the organizing and worked with Matt as well as racing on the track; good team work. Only 17 racers were in attendance, which made it easier to manage as well. A couple of young category 3 racers from the local area were the strongest of us all.

The racing in San Diego is Sunday morning and it's six hours of driving to get there from Tucson. So this time we decided to go a day early and spend Saturday at Sea World. It had been about 9 years since Noel and I had gone to a theme park and we had enjoyed Sea World in Florida a decade ago; boy how time flies. We were blessed with perfect weather and it was not extremely crowded, although if one wanted go on any of the rides there was about a 25 minute wait. A good choice as we had a wonderful day.

My season so far had not been able to produce much increase in fitness. This was due to catching a cold in early January and never really getting it out of my system. I'd have days were I wanted to train hard, but would feel so weak that I'd have to cut the ride short and struggle just to get home. On better days, my lungs would be wheezing and I'd be coughing for hours afterwards. I've skipped all the time trial races this year because of this and struggled on the mountain races. After the last track trip, I decided that my body was not going to get rid of this condition on it's own and needed some professional medical attention. The clinic in our park only has a nurse practitioner during the January through March season. A friend recommended a pulmonary specialist, and I made arrangements to try to get to see him. Finally I went to a Urgent Care clinic and the doctor gave me a bronchial inhaler; however, I'd still cough up flem and wheeze during hard efforts, although I didn't have the coughing problem afterwards. A cycling friend recommended another doctor and this time I got a prescription of anti-biotics, which I began last Monday. By Wednesday I was able to do my 3.6 mile time trial ride with the best time of 2005, just 9 seconds slower than my best time ever. On Thursday I could feel power in my sprints again. Even if this didn't provide immediate results at the track, it seems like I should be able to get back onto a training program again soon.

The weather at the track was great, in the 70's and 80's, lot's of sunshine and a light breeze from the ocean. The day started off with a flying 200 m time trial which were the qualifiers for the match sprints. I had been disappointed with my previous times, both at 13.1 seconds and this time decided to go with a bigger gear (49 x 13) and to start my effort sooner so that I was already at full speed when the timing started. I felt pretty good and was able to finally break 13 seconds with a 12.8. Matt also had a good run and improved his time to 12.7 and two locals who had joined us from San Diego were much faster than that. So a happy start to the day for me. Results
The next event for me was a timed 2000 m pursuit, six laps around the track. This event is the most demanding on the lungs so I wasn't sure if they would be strong enough to do what I wanted to do. I kept my computer up in front where I could constantly see it, but decided not to play with it during the ride; just try to maintain a steady tempo above 30 mph. I kept the gear ratio at a 49x13 from the previous event. I still want to try to get the time down to about 2:30, which would be 30 mph average (my previous rides were 2:42.6 and 2:42.7). Previously I had started a bit too fast, so I wanted to keep under 31 mph and if I had enough left at the end, pick it up to shave off the time lost from the standing start. I rode alone this time (normally they ride two at a time on the opposite sides) and I had a good start at the gun. The first three laps went very well, as each time I glanced at the speedo, it was between 30.2 and 30.8 and with three more to go I felt very comfortable and it looked like my goal should be easily obtainable. As I hit the back stretch where there is a bit of a headwind, my speed reduced to about 29.5 and I started lamenting. I pushed harder, but the legs just would not cooperate and I watched the speed get even worse. My lungs weren't wheezing, but they probably still aren't up to full functionality and are not supplying enough oxygen to the muscles. I finished just over 2:40. Hopefully I'll do substantially better next month, but lungs take a while to get into condition. Results


Following this, we had the first round of sprint heats. I had overcome all the ridrs in todays meet when they were here two months ago, so I might have a chance to succeed again. I dropped my gear down a notch to a 49x14 for this event. I was in a 2 up sprint with a rider who was riding for his first time in a track race. Although we are given 2 laps, the first lap is usually just jockeying for position and the speed usually doesn't get going until past one lap to go. Just as I had done in my first sprint 35 years ago, Jay took off early with about 1.7 laps to go and I could just draft behind him and easily pass him just prior to the line. I gave him some pointers after our round and he was able to do better in his next heat to win it and get back into the game.
Next up was the 500 m time trial and I left the 49x14 gear on the bike. Previously I had done 39.6 and 39.3. I needed to concentrate on my start technique as winding up this big gear from a standing start is costing me a lot of time. I was first off in the group and they were running us one at a time. Since the event is only 1.5 laps, Matt was on the front stretch with the stop watch and we started on the back stretch. He counted down from 5 and when it got down to zero I waited for the gun so as not to get a false start. Apparently they were not going to use the gun and I finally realized this and got going, losing about 3/4 of a second there and forgetting entirely about my start technique. I felt pretty strong through the ride, but judging from the performance graph, the headwind slowed my up a bit and I never got the speed back up, actually slowing towards the end. So a poor official time, I still didn't get to put in my start technique, and I really need to do better at accelerating towards the finish. Results


Next was another sprint round against Jay, who is also fairly new to track racing. I took the lead and did about 85% effort at 230 m to go and hammered it at about 100 m to easily take the win.

Finally we get to the Sprint semi-finals. I was matched against the fastest rider of the day, Tonatiuh Rodriguez. I had beaten him two months ago, but now that he knows me better, it would not be so easy. Also his flying 200 m time had dropped to 12.3 from the previous 12.8. I dropped my gear down to a 48x14 as the better sprinters usually have an amazing jump and I couldn't afford to lose too much on an initial attack. Tactically I was able to have the race go exactly like I wanted. He led out from about 280 m, I was able to sit about 1.5 lengths back on the head wind back stretch and then I started to come up through his draft and around with 120 m to go. I just didn't have enough speed and was only able to get to within half a bike length by the line and would not have closed any more if there was more distance to go. He was just too fast for me and would eventually win the day in the finals.

Before the final sprint for third place, they decided to hold a Miss and Out event, my favorite. This event pulls the last rider out of the race on certain laps, in this case, every other lap. I dropped the gear to a 49x15 for quicker accelerations. Since the sprint finals had not been completed yet, the top riders didn't participate and there were only 6 of us. I rode the race from the back and rather easily picked them off until we weree down to the final two, which happened to be against Jay who I had been in a sprint round earlier. Rather than changing modes at this point, Jay just kept riding at a moderate pace. With 230 m to go, I dove down the bank on his left and handily won the event. Results

Before I could even get off the bike, we had the runoff for third place in the sprints. I still had the smaller gear, but hoped it would be enough against Matt, who had not sprinted well in the previous two meets. I took the lead position at the start of the 2 lap event, but I didn't want to lead the sprint finish down the back stretch into the headwind. I kept the pace moderate at about 10 mph for the first 3/4 of a lap, but had to soon get Matt in front of me. I figured I could pull a trick on Matt, where I would give an attack between turns 3 and 4 with 1.3 laps to go, diving down the bank, and then just as I get down to the pole line, pull up the banking to come almost to a stop. Most likely Matt would respond strongly and either slow in front of me or keep going with a long lead out for me. He decided to slow down as well, but since there's reaction time involved, he was already even with me and could not have room to pull up as high, thus ending up slightly in front of me. So now I had the position I wanted. We crossed the line and were high on the bank as Matt gave some quick feint jumps to try to rile me to no avail. He then dived down turn 2 and I quickly followed, getting in just the right position about 1.5 lengths behind him into the back stretch headwind. I psyched myself up in anticipation of my jump, accelerated up his draft and as I popped around I saw I was not going fast enough. I gave it all I had, but Matt was riding well and able to take the win. Results
These 3 photos are fractions of a second apart just before the finish of the sprint with Matt.

Thanks again to Noel for the photos. The weather was great and there was some challenging competition. There's another AZ track meet in June, then the State championships in July, and the possiblity of the Nationals in August in Indiana. There's a criterium series in between (starting next Saturday), but no other major races until fall.

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