London Borough Championships 31 July 2010
Grey skies, strong winds and the threat of rain was the order of the day for the riders that had turned out for the Olympic Omnium track racing at Herne Hill Velodrome on Saturday 31 July, writes John Coolahan. For the first time in nearly a decade the London Borough Champs were being held, what better way to celebrate the fact by running a race programme that hasn't been run before, even at international level! The Olympic Omnium is a punishing schedule of 6 different races, testing the ability of riders over a variety of different distances from the sheer power and speed of a flying 200m TT to the tactical and more endurance based 15 lap Scratch Race and Individual Pursuit. Similar to the SE Champs, discs, deep sections and 4-spoke wheels were being bandied about with riders warming up on rollers and tinkering with handlebar setups, once again clearly a more serious affair than the monthly Open meetings, what do you expect with medals being handed out I thought to myself?! The game plan was really to see how the races unfold, a good showing in the sprint events (200m and Kilometre TT) was what I had come to achieve.
Flying 200m TT
250m to get up to speed then 200m as quick as you possibly can, what could be simpler than that?! Strong winds made getting up to speed quite a drawn out and leg sapping affair compared to the efforts completed at Newport, at least it was the same for everyone. Staying close to the fence, timing the main jump of the effort was always going to be key, jumping too soon would mean pedaling squares for the last 50m but jumping too late means an unspent effort with more power to give. My effort went relatively well, 3 hundredths of a second quicker than at the SE Champs but in far worse conditions, perhaps I'm getting quicker? More likely it was down to the Corima disc wheel very kindly lent to me by fellow Kingston Wheeler and Squadra Donne team coach Steve Wright. The effort placed me fifth overall of the 35 riders starting the event - must try harder was the response to this. The Omnium format was scored with the first placed rider in each event being awarded 10 points down to tenth who received 1 point, 6 for me to start with...
Five Lap Individual Pursuit
Although not as far as the standard 4km individual pursuit, this was an event I was absolutely dreading and not expecting. Those Wheelers who were down at Newport may remember my first ever attempt at the Kilometre ('Kilo') TT and the crumpled mess it left me in for 30 minutes afterwards, this was going to be two and a half times as long! I even hesitated as to whether or not I was going to even start this event as just prior to the race Miles Anon and Miles Stovold (both Team Terminator) approached me and asked if I would like to form a composite team to race in the Team Sprint competition running alongside the Omnium. After much deliberation I decided to ride the pursuit, the first two laps being very much a steady affair, just feeling the lactate slowly starting accumulate in my legs but still feeling like I could go faster. After the first half of the pursuit the sprinter part of my legs started to give up and left me with my very much neglected slow-twitch muscle fibres to keep me company for the remainder of the race, oh how I hate you slow twitch muscle fibres... Not having a TT setup on the track bike meant that all I could do was ride on the drops or assume the slightly sketchy 'Preying Mantis' position, this I figured would lose me lots of time. 2.59.29 was good enough to place me a surprising 6th overall, 5 more points towards the Omnium overall.
Individual Pursuit, must work on number pinning...Click on the images for a larger version
Team Sprint
Apparently I'm meant to be a sprinter so after being asked by Team Terminator to make up their team how could I say no? A lap and a half at 100% awaited with me going off second man, taking shelter from the Miles Anon for the first half a lap before leading Miles Stovold over the second half and letting him bring the race home for a further half a lap. An insanely fast, hernia-inducing standing start, followed by clinging onto dear life of Miles Anon's wheel opened the race before tying myself in knots to leave Miles Stovold to finish off the race. 48.01s finished us in first place by two and a half seconds. Later on I unfortunately found out that as we were a composite team we weren't eligible for the a medal...
Team Sprint, my turn at the front.
Kilometre TT
After the debacle that was my Kilo effort at Newport a few weeks back I was determined to try and make this effort a more dignified affair! Standing on the pedals with my backside as far back as I could possibly get it 'bang' goes the gun and off we go. Throwing my considerable weight forward I managed to get quite a nippy start which is so important in this event (especially so considering it was in fact 900m instead of the standard 1000m). I decided not to go completely all-out over the first 450m and then die a horrible death for the last lap (exactly what happened at Newport...), however, this game plan went slightly out of the window when I realised I was starting to catch the person in front. At national level the Kilo is raced one person at a time on the track, due to time constraints and the sheer number of events to get through four riders were on the track at a time which was actually better as you had people to chase! I didn't manage to catch the person in front but did make up some time. Fourth place in the event with a time I was very pleased with and another 7 points towards the Omnium.
Lap 2 of the 'Kilo'
Devil-takes-the-hindmost
As the results from the previous races were being accumulated and announced it soon became apparent that it was becoming quite a close-run affair. Symon Lewis (Sigma Sport Specialized) had already sewn up the overall and was running away with the title, with Jake Martin (One-Life Development Squad) having a healthy lead in second place. The battle for third was a hot contest with four riders (including myself) were all within a couple points of each other. The pressure was on with only two races remaining in events that traditionally don't really suit me. First up was the elimination race and with increasingly tired legs I took to the track. A quicker than normal 'neutral' lap and the race was underway with riders jockeying for the ideal position not to get eliminated straight away. The laps steadily accumulated with my aim of finishing in the top ten riders to score some Omnium points slowly becoming a reality, however, a momentary lapse in concentration and a loss of position resulted in 'number 15' being announced over the PA system. Absolutely gutted and thoroughly dejected I slowly came off the track and sat down as far away from people as possible to give myself a good talking too; that's it no chance of a result now.
Scratch Race
After 20mins on the rollers and a lot of thinking I decided to give it one last push and race in the final event of the day. A renewed fire in my belly in the knowledge that I was fifth overall and if the results fell favourably I could still possibly reclaim a podium spot. Miles Stovold was five points ahead in third place with James Solly (VCL) in fourth only one point to the good; both were racing in the final event so it as going to be an interesting race.
The first couple of laps went by without incident at a steady pace, making sure that I was placed firmly at the front of the race so I could see everything that was going, trying to delicately balance staying near the front without working too hard. All the big names including ex-clubmate Jules Birks, Iain Cook, James Solly (All VCL), Yasuyuki Sakurai (Brixton Cycles), Matt Theobalds (CS Grupetto) Jake Martin and Symon Lewis were ominously congregating at the head of the peloton and its soon became apparent as the pace was increasing that the race wasn't going to end in a bunch sprint. This was actually welcomed from me as I figured that a sustained high tempo race would be enough to drop the pure sprinters (possibly myself included!) from the race. Repeated digs off the front by various riders went by with me occasionally jumping across to something that looked like it may stick.
It wasn't until four laps to go that the winning move formed. With Symon Lewis out of position Matt Theobalds, Jake Martin and James Solly took the initiative and pushed off with me joining them just as the gap to the main group opened up. Working well together we opened up a small gap of about 10m that was just enough to stay ahead of the bunch. One lap to go and some tired legs in the break were appearing, with the bunch gaining on us Lewis bridged across and with this Martin made his move sprinting from 400m out to take the win. The bunch never really made contact and in the final sprint between the remainder of the break I took third just behind Lewis, 8 points towards overall. The results were totalled up with the final race of the day deciding the final podium spot with me being lucky enough to be on it.
Individual Overall Podium
Team Sprint Podium
Many thanks go out to the organisers of the event, Ron, Brian and Dereck for officiating and George for running sign-on. Also thanks to Conor Bunn (VCL) for the impromptu MC job and Paul Churchill for the photography. Most of all thanks to Jason Cattermole (VCL) who seems to be single-handedly running the competitions at Herne Hill this year, long may it continue!
All photos courtesy of Paul Churchill (Rollapaluza)
July
South East Track Championships 2010
Herne Hill Velodrome 10th July
An absolute scorcher of a day greeted the riders at Herne Hill for the annual South East Track Championships, it seemed that the heat would be the main competitor of the day rather than the other riders all competing for the hallowed purple and white winners jersey. A healthy number of riders signed on and soon began setting up their stalls in the centre of the track, before you knew it the once clear grassy centre of the velodrome was filled with an array of fantastic looking race bikes, elite riders on rollers stretching their legs and about every type of track wheel you have ever seen; Mavic discs, corima 3 and 4 spokes, deep section Planet X’s - a bike geeks paradise all in all. For me it was the same as any other week, bombproof 2kg Navigator Pista’s, or ‘Fat boy’ wheels as Craig MacLean affectionately called them...
I came to the Champs with no real agenda other than riding in the Sprint and even then I had no idea how that would pan out having never ridden in a major competition before. There were plenty of other winners jerseys on offer with the Points race, 20km Scratch and Individual Pursuit, however, I knew these really weren’t for me considering the weather and also my physiology - anything over a Kilometre is too much for me so I focussed my energy on the Sprint...to begin with.
Qualifying
As this was a championship event the sprint was to be run via seeding and that meant completing a flying 200m effort. Embarrassingly all the times that I have trained or raced on Herne Hill I have never done a 200m effort (on this track) before so this immediately meant that the day was going to have a steep learning curve. Whilst warming up I rode right at the top of the banking to try and observe what would be the best line to take, in the end and after much deliberation and an endless internal monologue I decided that riding as fast as bloody possible would be the best solution.
Fortunately I was the sixth rider to post his effort so got to observe a couple of more experienced riders complete their effort before me, happily they had taken similar lines to what I thought I’d end up taking. My turn came and went without incident thankfully, it was quite a tough effort due to the wind and also the fact that we only got a 300m wind up from a standing start to complete the effort (Normally on an indoor velodrome you get 2 and half laps to hit top speed). After all the riders had completed their efforts it was back to the tent to put the legs up and see what the result was. I was hoping to qualify and was very surprised to find out that I had set the 4th fastest time overall; ‘lets stop the competition right now’ I thought to myself - ‘I’ll take 4th overall!’
The Heat (Literally...!)
Being seeded fourth had a real advantage that I hadn‘t banked on earlier; it meant that I raced in the fourth and final heat (top 16 from qualifying progress, 4 heats of 4 riders) which I was then expected to win, however, if I did progress my semi-final would have a shorter recovery period. The four riders drew lots to determine where we would start from in a horizontal fashion on the start/finish line, I drew position three, to be honest I didn’t really know if this was good or bad, I hadn’t even really decided what my tactics for the race would be! 2 laps of the 450m velodrome awaited, should I go from the gun and try a kilometre effort? Should I let someone else make the move and follow them? What would Chris Hoy do? Was I riding the right size gear? What direction is the wind blowing? Have I had enough coffee?
As soon as the starters gun went I pushed off and immediately assumed the front position leading out the three other riders. I kept the pace slow riding at the top of the banking meaning that if the riders were going to try and jump past me it was only going to happen on the left. Before I knew it the bell sounded and we were on the last lap, the pace was very slow, largely being dictated by me which was what I wanted - a race on my terms. It soon became apparent that no-one was going to try anything and as we exited turn two with 300m to go enough was enough, I jumped as hard as I possibly could catching the other three unawares and opened up a gap that couldn’t be closed. With 50m to go I even managed to sit up and preserve some precious energy for the impending semi-final.
Semi Final
I was pretty chuffed, a semi final place meant either progressing to the major final or the minor final for 3rd to 6th. The second place finishers in the heats went to the repechage where the first and second place riders went to the semis, (at the expense of an extra race) this meant to semi finals of 3 riders each. Personally for me, the less riders in a race the better as that means it’s a lot easier to control. After a 45 minute wait we drew lots again and it was race time. Taking my place on the start line the perceived pressure of the situation became very apparent that I was racing for a place in the final - both my pusher and I looked down at my hands and feet to see them shaking pretty badly, “clearly too much coffee” I lied...
The gun went and I pushed to the front again leading the riders out for what turned out to be a far more tactical affair riding against more experienced (than myself) riders James Solly (VCL) and Elliot Tabraham-Dowers (Onelifedevelopment Squad). James set himself up on my wheel moving up and down the track, faking the jump to try and make me go too soon whilst Elliot lurked dangerously a couple of metres back again quietly observing the race unfold. Bell lap and again it felt like a now or never moment, exiting turn two the kick came again, this time I knew I hadn’t opened up a significant enough gap and James jumped into my rather sizeable slipstream, as we came out of the final turn I could feel James move out of my draft and try to pull around me, with one final seated push I just put my head down and drove to the line. I’d made the final.
The Final
As the seeding had largely followed the formbook the favourite and quickest in qualifying, Miles Stovold (Team Terminator) progressed to final and was my 1 on 1 match sprint opponent. Miles is a rider with obvious talent, taking a bronze medal at the European Masters Sprint champs last year and dominating the men’s Kilometre TT at the National Masters champs last weekend in Newport. We were pushed off and the race began with me leading out in my usual fashion.
A real sprinters match ensued as we rode the first lap at an easy pace, eyes firmly fixed on each other with little regard for anything else. Coming into the home straight for the bell Miles pushed up the track and squeezed on the pace trying to come over the top, fortunately I saw the move and followed suit, pushing him so far up the banking we both nearly went into the fence. Rolling down the back straight with less than 250m to go the same tactic again from Miles, this time with 100% commitment and power I just couldn’t match. Over the top he went, I dug in to chase but alas he was long gone so I had to settle for second place. Apparently it was a good race to watch as a spectator with two pure sprinters going at it hammer and tongs, personally I was quietly disappointed that I didn’t win as I would have loved to have pulled on the jersey.
Scratch Race - A shorter report I promise!
After finishing the Sprint final I was feeling on a high even though I’d lost, I was going home with a silver medal at least - what have I got to lose? As a bonus for me it had also been shortened to 15km as opposed to 20km due to time constraints, personally I think they should have shortened it more to 2km but that didn’t go down too well so 30laps it was... The pace started fairly steadily with very few rider really wanting to do any work, a strong wind had picked up coupled with it being the last race of the day saw some lethargy amongst the riders. I was feeling really lazy so whenever I was on the front I either pulled up immediately or slowed the pace down to what I though was acceptable, this was not particularly popular with eventual winner Symon Lewis (Sigma-Sport Specialized) who told me in no uncertain terms to ‘stop being such a fat lazy sprinter’, charming! A couple of digs of the front were either pulled back by myself or a couple of the other riders, but eventually consecutive attacks with 12 laps to go snapped the elastic with a group of four breaking of the front - that was the move.
Sitting in fifth or sixth position I gathered myself and weighed up the options; pack it in, sprint for fifth, continue to roll around and see what happens? A rider from Dulwich Paragon and I worked well together to minimise our losses when I saw the front group split into two groups of two with the latter looking pretty tired. 6 laps to go and we were neither gaining or losing time on the 3rd or 4th placed riders, this gave me renewed strength and I started to hatch a plan. With 4 laps to go I came through for my turn but this time intentionally put my head down and attempted to lose my companion. After two laps on my own I had managed to bridge the gap and made contact with the two riders ahead, I hedged my bets and sat on the front hoping that they were too tired to come round me. Bell lap, waiting, waiting, waiting, 250m to go. Kick! With a positively guttural cry I kicked with every ounce of energy I had left in me to hold the other two off taking the final podium spot.
In some respects I was more pleased with this race than the sprint. It’s the first time ever in a race I’ve bridged a gap alone, formed chase groups and had the confidence in myself to have the endurance to last 15km. It was is a bit long though, don’t fancy it every week...
June
John's back on track for June's Herne Hill Open Meeting and his progress continues. Next up it's the South-East and London championships.
Saturday 5 June saw the second round of Herne Hills open meetings for the summer season co-hosted by Dulwich Paragon and London Phoenix. The weather was never going to be an issue, unless you’re like me and there is a point when it is just too damn hot to race! After spending the previous weekend learning from the very best at the National Cycling Centre at Manchester velodrome on a 2-day Sprint master class, I was keen to put some of the tips and tricks I’d learnt into practice. The coaches for the course were none other than Geoff Cooke – Welsh National Sprint coach and 16 times world masters Sprint champion and Craig MacLean – Commonwealth, Olympic and World Championship medallist; I was in good company and never stopped asking questions which the guys were only too happy to answer. I would thoroughly recommend this course to anyone wanting to race on the rack as the information supplied was absolutely invaluable.
The second meeting saw a similar setup to the Rollapaluza meeting with all the usual races; 10-lap Scratch, Elimination race, Points, 20km finale as well as Match Sprint and also a Kierin event. This is enormous programme obviously threw up some interesting decisions, what to race? The initial idea was to race the Scratch race and see how the legs felt...
10-Lap Scratch
A decent number of riders signed on with some of the more regular riders being replaced by unknown quantities of newer riders. The heat clearly had an effect on the riders as nobody really wanted to grab the race by the scruff of the neck and do anything. After six laps I took a turn on the front to put some effort in to string everyone out which worked relatively well, the only problem being that with four laps to go to and an impending mass sprint for the line, it was worth slowing up to keep the powder dry for a little longer, so I swung up the track and returned back into the line pushing my way into fourth wheel or so. The bell lap sounded with myself on the front riding at a steady pace, head firmly cocked to the side so I could see the whole bunch of riders behind me. 350m to go and the kick started. Once again I’m amazed at instinct and the amount of things that can go through your head in a split second; “What was it that Craig said?” “Stand up, lock your hips off, pull yourself through the pedals”. “Make yourself too big to come around (not a problem there then...)”. “Don’t stand and sprint for the whole time”. Thankfully I was in the sprinters line so anybody wanting to get in front had to try and get over the top of me, taking the longer route over the banking on the final bend. Fortunately I had just enough in the legs to hold people to the line taking a win in the first race. But to what cost?
A combination of no sleep the previous night and a long hard sprint had successfully toasted my legs for the next race of the Match Sprint. I was draw n in a tough heat with European Masters Sprint Champion Lee Povey (Team Terminator) who was clearly out to get revenge on me after our quarter final ding-dong meeting in the Rollapaluza roller racing several years ago... (Nick Hussey, Chris Hathaway and Sam Hodgson were all in attendance to see me beat Lee by approximately 1/1000th second after he donned a skin-suit and a Casco mirrored track helmet a la Chris Hoy – he was not pleased). Lee proceeded to give me a master class in how to boss a match sprint with myself and four other riders trailing in his wake. For the record I think I finished third and needed to be in the top two to progress through to the next round.
Devil-takes-the-hindmost elimination race
Legs still a bit wobbly from the earlier efforts but without a neutralised lap there was no time to take a breather in a race where positioning is key as every lap completed the last rider to cross the line is eliminated. I rolled away from the barriers and immediately moved to the very front of the bunch on the inside line taking the shortest route around the track. After five or six laps riding at the very front leading the group putting in small little efforts near the line to ensure my safety, the first signs of the all too familiar fatigue were creeping into my thighs. This was apparent to the remainder of the bunch as every now and again I get instructions from the rider behind me; “Come on Kingston give it a push”. In my head I didn’t really give a monkeys as I was doing all the work and if they were that desperate they would come round me to do some work! Thankfully a rider from Finchley RT screamed over the top of me and the proceeded to string the bunch out single file for three laps, not only ensuring my safety at second wheel but also giving me a couple minutes of respite.
After this effort I resumed my place at the front of the group, safe and able to some extent control the pace of the race. Eventually the riders were whittled away until there were only four of us remaining to duke it out for the honours. On the final lap I remained at the front controlling the pace with the other three riders sat safely behind me; Connor Bunn (VCL) tore out from fourth wheel to overtake the other two riders and draw level with me. Determined not to lose the sprinters line I matched his speed and forced him to take the wider line, from here Connor rode very intelligently and sat on my shoulder reaping the benefit of a rather ample slipstream from myself before coming round me in the last 20m. Second place, my best result in this race so far this season.
Points race
After deciding to give myself a rest and missing the Kierin race to extend my rest period, the Points race was my final event for the day. I always go into points races with a plan formulated on the strength and tendencies of the riders that are there on the day, needless to say this never works... The idea was to sit in on the first sprint and then whilst everyone was exhausted to break away and ride solo for four laps to take two maximum point hauls. What on earth was I thinking? When does anyone ever do that? What actually happened was that I sat on the front, missed the two riders that accelerated clean past me then worked way too hard to take third place on the first sprint. Excellent, only eight laps to go and four more sprints and you’re absolutely shagged already. Thankfully no one fancied going off by themselves so as the next race for the points began I had recovered a little and actually managed to take the maximum points.
Not bad, four points, I should at least finish relatively well with only a few more points available. Connor Bunn then stole my move and went solo taking a sprint alone but apparently the pack weren’t going to let him take too many points, swallowing him with one final sprint remaining. The bunch has split, one rider is off the front alone, two are chasing looking very tired and I’m in a group of three with Anna Glowinski (Team Mule Bar) and Tom Sutherland (Twickenham CC). With one lap to go I made a deal with my legs that they would give me everything they had to try and catch the two isolated chasers and take at least one point (third place) or better in the final sprint on the condition that I would then lie down and not move for at least twenty minutes...deal. The chase began with about an 80m gap; I’m committed now I’ve got to catch them. The riders look around, they see that I’m chasing, the heads go down and they start to work harder but the gap is closing, 60m. We’re onto the back straight, they’re not working together, brilliant, more chance for me to catch them, 30m. I hit the bend, I’m getting even closer, I can nearly reach out and touch them, this is amazing! I’ve never ridden so hard solo before, chasing people down, closing an 80m gap to take a really hard fought second place and possibly a win overall in the points race. This race is going to be talked about in the same annals as the greats; Obree, Wiggins, Cavendish and Pendleton and now Coolahan in the points race! What was that bump? Oh that was just the finish line; I’d lost the sprint by half a wheel. After coming back down to earth and taking three laps to recover before I could even sit down it turned out that the sprints had been won by so many different riders my four points was enough to secure third place. Chuffed!
A pretty successful meeting all in all with a first, second and third taking my BC points haul up to 52 so far this year and now moving into the strange world of the second cats... Next racing will be in early July with the South East champs a week later and the London borough champs at the end of the month.
May
I raced on the Track again on Saturday in the first of Herne Hills monthly summer open meetings hosted this time by Rollapaluza CC. The meetings are held on the first Saturday of every month and are hosted by a different club each time adding their own flair to each event (full details and photos here: www.hernehillvelodrome.com/01-05-10-open-season-may). With a guaranteed prize pot of £500 for the variety of different races, there was certainly a lot to race for!
10-Lap Scratch Race
The first race for me was the 10-Lap Scratch race – all riders start at the same time and it’s a simple case of first across the line wins. The race started with its usual high tempo to catch riders out that back who are sleeping and before long the field of twenty or so riders was stretched out into single file. After keeping the tempo steady for three or four laps the pace settled down to something slightly more sociable (probably due to the wind-it is always windy at Herne Hill...), the riders gathered into one big bunch for the impending sprint to the line. With three to go and much to the delight of the hosting club, Tom Phillips of Rollapaluza CC decided to take a flyer against the bunch. A very brave man considering the wind but the bunch were in no mood to let anyone get away and within a lap and a half Tom was caught. Although the catch was complete the pace stayed high which prevented anybody from overtaking one-another and the line of single-file riders remained intact. The bell sounded with Herne-Hill break specialist and all-around Track strongman Craig Northam (Dulwich Paragon) leading the bunch followed by Andrew Elderfield (VC Revolution) and then me. On the back straight Craig decided to make his move early and kicked hard, Andrew was clearly expecting this as was I and immediately responded, chasing his wheel down and then going over the top of him as the sprint to the line began. With 100m to go I was firmly planted on Andrews’ wheel franticly trying to decide when the best time would be to try and come around him, having nearly left it a millisecond too late the final kick came and managed to take it with a full bike lunge winning by less than a tire on the line. Heart Rate data afterwards suggested it had been a hard race; avg. HR 178, Max 203.
Devil takes the hindmost Elimination
Another tough event with all riders starting at the same time with a neutral lap to begin with and every subsequent lap the last rider to cross the line is eliminated until there are four left to sprint it out for one final lap. Having been caught snoozing I was firmly placed at the back upon the first lap and had to sprint around everyone to ensure I wasn’t eliminated first! Stupid riding on my part which ensured that I was redlining on lap one. Great. Over the last couple of years that I’ve been racing both on the road and track, I’ve heard many people say it’s always smart ‘to ride from the front’ – this couldn’t be truer with track racing and this race in particular. The minute that you let yourself slip towards the back of that field then clearly that’s your lot. Fortunately with a little bit of luck, gaps opening at the right time and once or twice going elbow to elbow with people I managed to get to the last 4 riders to contest the final sprint. For me this scenario is when I’m at my weakest, after having absolutely killed myself for 15 or so laps staying at the front, trying to sprint from here is my own personal hell so I had to settle for hard fought second. N.B. I actually think the judges got this wrong as I’m pretty sure I was third...
5-Up Match Sprint This was always going to be an interesting race, all tactics and power with the top two riders progressing to the semis. In my heat I was faced with some stiff competition from the European Masters Sprint bronze medallist Miles Stovold (Team Terminator), Alan Strang (Dulwich Paragon) and Toby Blackman (VCL). 2-laps of the track with everyone being held on the start line by helpers led to a very cagey opening lap with Toby taking the front followed by Alan, Miles and then myself. Riding at the very top of track next to the barrier, Miles was clearly assessing the other two riders and backed himself by letting a 20m gap open up between us and them, and then the acceleration came. Alan pushed hard off the banking and dove onto the finishing straight for the bell lap. Miles reacted first and chased hard easily overtaking him down the back straight and rode to a comfortable win. I unfortunately must have been thinking about something else altogether as I was last to react and then spent the entire lap chasing down Toby and then Alan on the finishing straight to make it through to the next round.
In the semi final there were some excellent riders with sprint specialist Miles Anon (Team Terminator), Masters Champion John McClelland (Agiskoviner) and eventual winner Symon Lewis (Sigma Sport). Another slow but cagey first lap gave me some hope that a strong enough kick off the banking might catch everyone out and they would let me go, this was not to happen. Symon had been purposely hanging off the back of the group of four riders leaving a 15m gap in which he slowly but surely ramped up the speed and shot underneath all of us like a missile. This instigated Miles to chase and the race was over with those two progressing to the final. I was slightly disappointed to get caught napping again in one of my preferred events but I guess you just chalk it down to experience and learn from it.
I raced in the Points race directly after my semi final. I think I managed to pick up a first and a third in the five sprints on offer but was not strong enough to compete for an overall position.
All in all a successful day taking home more money than I left with. Also with track racing, any races that are over 3km in length, the top six riders are awarded band five points. This means that I think I’ve now got 32 points from my three races at Herne Hill this year, second cat is looming...
April
Herne Hill Omnium
The Omnium is a multi-discipline track cycling race and on the menu for the 2012 Olympics. The club's John Coolahan's just ridden one... and won.
After a somewhat frustrating season last year after crashing badly at Hillingdon in the first evening race of the series, it was finally time to get back on the Track bike and head down to Herne Hill for some fixed gear madness and the first of the three Spring Omnium races. The Herne Hill Omnium’s consist of a 10-Lap Scratch race, 3-lap sprint; Devil takes the hindmost race and a Points race. Having raced here last year only placing sixth in the scratch race and getting spat out of the bunch in the devil and points races, I went into the meeting with zero expectation and absolutely no agenda.
10-Lap Scratch
Lining up for the first race with about 30 others I realised that it’s actually quite breezy and riding a 90” gear on the concrete of the exposed velodrome might not have been the sharpest idea. The gun goes and we’re off with the pace ramping up immediately and riders spread all over the track seeking shelter from the oncoming wind. It was clear that due to the breeze no-one fancied their chances of staying away so the pace settled for 6 laps (good job as I was firmly positioned at the back of the group!) before elevating again. 2 laps to go and I decided to move up the field, planting myself firmly on the wheel of accomplished sprinter Simon Schmidt (VCL). The bell sounded and the pace began to get even faster with riders now spread the full width of the track, because of this I moved around Simon to get in a good position for the final 200m where the kick finally came with me having about 6 riders to come around. Fortunately as I was high up the banking the downward slope into the finishing straight gave me an extra kick to sprint past everyone and take the win.
3-Lap Sprint Heats
These were split into three separate heats due to the number of riders with me being drawn in the second. The legs felt at little heavy after the Scratch race 20mins earlier but mercifully Simon and I policed the front of our heat riding two-abreast keeping the pace at a crawl around the track until the final lap when the kick came down the back straight. A rider used the banking to gain speed before diving under Simon and myself forcing us to work very hard to come around him with Simon taking the win and me nipping second by a tires width. The top two progress to the final.
The Devil
The Devil race is a favourite among many trackies as its all speed, tactics and endurance with the last two riders across the line of every lap being eliminated until there are only three left to contest a final sprint. A neutral lap to start with and then the fun began. I safely avoided elimination for the first five or so laps, however, none of us could hear who had been eliminated so the race was neutralised for lap to expel the surplus riders-fortunately I was not one of them. Poor positioning on the restart meant that I was at the back of the group, boxed in on the inside of the track. This meant having to slow-down, go round the last rider and then sprint around the top of everyone to avoid elimination. This worked well and I was now leading the group, however, the effort had made me seriously redline and staying at the front was a real effort but I just managed to survive. The extra effort really couldn’t have come at a worse time, as I crossed the line the bell rang signifying that this was the final lap and I was one of the last three riders. The other two riders rode very intelligently and attacked as soon as we began the final lap; I gave a half-hearted chase but with nothing in the legs decided to settle for third. I now realised that by finishing third in this race and with two remaining I could be in contention for the overall Omnium win.
Points Race
This was definitely my least favourite race by some considerable margin. Sitting down between races I realised how tired I was, with my heart rate failing to drop below 120bpm (note to self, this is because you never do any rides longer than 40miles...). The race was only 10 laps with points being awarded every other lap for the top three riders scoring 3, 2 and 1 respectively. Straight from the gun a dangerous group of 4 riders (including Euan Cattermole of VCL who was second in the overall Omnium) broke clear that threatened to mop up all the points for the entire race! I’d been caught out and had to chase very hard with another rider from the DHL development squad, this took 4 laps and therefore we had missed out on a lot of points. Upon catching the group (that were now tiring) we went over the top of them and contested for next sprint where I managed to nick maximum points and then another 1 in the penultimate sprint. Content that I had taken enough points to secure a placing overall I eased off thinking forward to the final of the 3-lap sprint. Third place in this race was very pleasing considering the previous year I hadn’t scored a single point in the whole thing!
3-Lap Sprint Final
After four races in two and a half hours my legs were almost dead, every time I tried to stand up and then sit down they started shaking and I began to feel little bit ill with that all too familiar taste of iron in the back of my throat signifying that I’d maybe pushed myself a little too hard. With this in mind and also knowing that I was leading the Omnium overall this really changed my tactics for the race and I just decided to ride very defensively, safe in the knowledge that there was only rider that could challenge my overall position. As we lined up on the barriers I positioned myself firmly on his back wheel so that even if he would try to take the sprint from the gun (which happened in one of the heats) I would be right on his tail. Thankfully the DHL development rider led the 8 finalists at a snails pace right at the top of the banking for 2 of the 3 laps before deciding to kick. Using the slope of the banking he shot off at an almighty pace; I was so focused on his wheel that I noticed his calf muscles twitch as an indication of what was about to happen so immediately jumped with him. Simon Schmidt also saw this and came round the both of us on the back straight catching us both by surprise leading us out around the final bend. By this time we were now three abreast with me being at the highest point on the track; although I had the furthest distance to travel I also had the greatest degree of assistance from the banking and managed to give one final push past the two riders to take another win and in the process securing the Omnium overall.
A very painful recovery lap and a max heart rate of 202bpm as I crossed the line really indicated that I couldn’t have tried any harder! A very productive and satisfying day taking the Omnium overall, (a very big surprise) my real aim was just to place well in the Scratch race and the 3-Lap sprint. Here’s looking forward to next week and the rest of the season.
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