I quickly learned that I need a harder gear ratio. My bianchi came with 48x16, and I got 2nd in every single race because I couldn't accelerate fast enough. It was really frustrating. There was another girl racing who was pretty fast, and every time she accelerated, I would take twice as long to catch her. I just had no chance. I couldn't attack her either because she could accelerate faster to catch me.
It was also frustrating because the officials and some of the other racers kept commenting on my pedal stroke and saying that I need to stop bouncing so much. I can appreciate constructive criticism, however I knew that I was really bouncing because I was spinning too fast. Once people realized that my gear was too easy, everyone and their brother came up to me and told me I needed a harder gear. I knew this last week after the keirin simulation, but I just haven't had a chance to get one.
Track racing is weird. I'm used to shifting into a hard gear and stomping out the joules/second to win a sprint. That doesn't work, and it's interesting how the accelerations are a lot more gradual than they are on the road. It's not the same kind of explosive power. Maybe this is more due to my gearing, though. My legs were spinning so fast, and there was no anaerobic work going on like there is when I do stomps or flat sprints on a road bike.
All in all, it was fun and a good learning experience.
Otherwise, the waiting game continues. I'm waiting to hear back from two companies, and I should know if I got a job by tomorrow. Either way, it would be fine. A fun job making little money vs. a hard job making lots of money.
2 comments:
No explosive power, you say? I always had the opinion that track racing is full of explosive power. It's the only real cycling discipline where racers can specialize solely in sprinting. Sure, there may be sprinters in road racing, but they still need the sustained power and endurance to get to the finish. If you look at some of the world class track sprinters, they have a ton of explosive power and tree trunks for legs. The only problem is that they can't last for more than one or two laps. They're essentially body builders who ride bikes. There will be a lot of really fast sprinters at your track at the end of July.
The same goes for the endurance track events, too. There may not be as much explosive power, but it's still there.
Oh, and yes, 48x16 is way too small, but that's what all track bikes seem to come with. There's a 3-day at Bloomer this weekend (which Chris and I are racing in) and they're limiting the gearing to 49x15 which should be really interesting. We'll be spinning a lot.
Take the fun job.
i think it was more due to my gearing. it was like my legs weren't really that tired, but i just couldn't go any faster. there definitely wasn't any anaerobic work going on in my legs.
Post a Comment