TRACK RACING Report by Expert XC rider Steve Wood Forest Town Track League - Round 3 Monday 19th May Having raced a few rounds of the Forest Town Track League two years ago I decided to register for the 2014 league season having enjoyed it so much first time round. Weather and bike issues prevented me from entering Round 1 & 2 so with the fantastic weather from the weekend continuing into Monday, and my Moda Forte ready to go, the stage was set. Racing has been held at Forest Town since 1909 when the track was built, the track itself is tarmac and the banking is a massive 5 degrees!!!! The meeting format is four races per age category an evening with a 40 minute open session for warm up. As this is part of my training, I decided to get as many laps in as possible before the first race. The first race was a scratch race, basically 8 laps in a group, first past the post at the end wins. Tactics are the key to group races, ideally its good to be about 3rd or 4th wheel heading into the last lap. The first few laps were comfortable but the pace soon picked up to the 30mph mark, when it was my turn on the front I brought this down a bit to set myself up for the last two laps. With two laps to go i pulled off the front and managed to force my was back into 4th wheel, as we approached the last lap I kicked hard and shot to the front, could I manage a banzai last lap........???? ..............No!!, just getting beat on the line in a 4-way finish, ending up a confirmed 4th place. Race two was the Devil - last person across the line each lap gets knocked out until 4 remain for the last lap sprint. Usually this is my favourite format, but after 5 laps of Aske the day before my legs were a little heavy. I got a good start and employed my standard tactic of hanging at the back and sprinting from the blind spot the long way round, this worked well for the first 4 eliminations, but on the 5th I ran out of kick and couldnt quite make it. Race three was a points race, every four laps points are allocated to the top four. My plan here was to go for the first two points laps and then ride it out to the end. On the first points lap I picked up a fourth place, but at the start of the second points lap I kicked harder that my rear drop-out bolts liked and pulled the wheel off-square, rubbing on the frame. An embarrassing walk across the grass infield followed!!!! A quick tighten of the drop-out bolts and I was ready for race four, the 5 mile scratch race. As a group we were set a target time of under 12 mins - 25mph. This race followed the pattern of steady, bit faster, faster again and then flat out. I felt great until the last lap having taken two turns on the front, but when it came to the last lap I had nothing left, my head ruled my legs so I pulled back and limped over the line at 12:48, not bad for a first time out. The main lesson I learned from my first evening back on the track was that I definitely need to invest in a 15T or 14T rear cog. My current 16T is good for about 35mph but my cadence is far to high to sustain at 30mph. This should hopefully leave me with some energy for the sprints. The next lesson is that due to the forces put through fixed gear bikes, checking bolts etc is a weekly requirement, it sounds obvious, but its not a case of torque up and forget. Bring on next week, weather permitting! For more info about the track or how to get into track racing see bc-clubs.co.uk/foresttownaces/ or search Forest Town Track on Facebook.
Posted on: Thu, 22 May 2014 10:51:33 +0000
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