It has been a while since my last post and although I have done a couple of outdoor rides (which have their own entries), much of my training has moved indoors to the Boulder Velodrome. Amazingly enough, I can spend an hour going ’round and ’round without getting bored. Not only that, but all the data is indicating that I’m also getting a great workout too!
Upon returning from Telluride, I’ve been riding every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Rising at 4:45am to be dressed and on the track at 6am. The crazy thing is — I’m not the only one there at this insanely early hour. There are between 6-10 riders each morning. On Tuesdays the group tends to be a bit smaller. Both mornings boost some VERY serious road and track riders — both current and past competitors. Everyone but me shows up in their team riding ‘kits’. The Natural Grocer team seems to have the largest representation with three riders – the only two other women riders and one slight but powerful guy. Let me tell you, these folks can ride! One of the gals, Jena, is super strong and can hang with the guys on most of the drills and pace lines. The other gal, Carol, is also strong, but much closer to my ability than anyone else in the group. In addition to these competitive riders, there is often one or two other ‘recreational’ riders.
A typical morning starts out with everyone warming up for a few minutes. Then without any formal announcement, a paceline comes together and the lap times start to drop. I don’t generally join this line on Thursdays as the pace is just too high for me to maintain for any significant length of time. I am anxious to see if that cnanges as the winter wears on. On Tuesdays I have joined in and found it to be both exciting and a little nerve-wracking. Pace lines on the track are similar in concept to those seen out on roads, however, when the front rider is done with their turn at the front, the signal by doing a little ‘chicken wing flap’ or a verbal ‘Up!’ indication and then move up-track and let the paceline pass below them. Once the last rider passes, they come back down-track and take their place at the end of the line. It is very cool to experience and interesting to observe.
There are a couple of drills the group does regularly. The first involves the paceline setting a ‘recovery’ pace at the ‘Stayer’s Line’ while the first rider drops to the ‘Sprinter’s Lane’ and sprints until they catch the tail of the pace line. As a rider catches the tail, the person on the front drops and becomes the chaser. This continues with each person chasing multiple times.
The other track activity I’ve seen with these morning groups is a 2-team race. I haven’t figured out how it is run yet, but I have all winter to work on decoding the event. Gives me something to do while I go ’round and ’round.
The record tme for one lap is 7.69 seconds. My time isn’t quite that fast — and I generally hang out at the ‘Stayer’s Line’ and I’m sure the record lap was done in the ‘Sprinter’s lane’. My cruising lap time is somewhere between 17-20 seconds and my fastest is probably in the lower teens. I had a transponder on the rental bike I rode early one. Now I have my own track bike and as yet, no transponder for lap times. Sure is nice having my own bike though — don’t have to keep messing with pedals and seat adjustments everytime I go to ride! Here’s a photo of my 2008 Fuji Track Pro. Scooter’s buddy is fixed gear (49×15) and doesn’t have any brakes!
Scooter's indoor buddy - yet to be named