Race Reports by Don Gillmore

Since I was young, I have wanted to visit Australia, so I took the opportunity to satisfy
this curiosity and experience some high-quality racing at a world-class facility.

Day 1 - 750m (3 lap) TT

I was not at all pleased with my time but was also relieved that nothing went terribly
wrong with my equipment or getting out of the starting gate.  The conditions were not
fast but not as slow as they were the next two days for the pursuits and the scratch
races.

I was shooting for a 49.0-49.5s time if everything went right and if it didn't, I wasn't
expecting to go much over 50s.  Therefore, I was initially very let down by my time of
over 51s.  Really, really disappointed, in fact.  I think it had to do with the mechanics
of the track and not being accustomed to the turns at speed.  After finishing, it felt
like there were portions of the ride - the start and the turns - where there was
untapped power not being utilized.  I was tentative in the turns and would back off
entering them and accelerate leaving them, which has a detrimental efffect on
average speed and probably saps the legs.  I also sat down a little early, possibly
worried about entering the 3rd turn while still transitioning into the aero position. The
start, which used to the be my forte, was also awkward.  The starting gate was
unfamiliar territory, and although I got out of it cleanly with nary a wobble, I wasn't
bold enough to swing my body forward and push off of it, lest my timing be off. The
gates were releasing a little later than the gun and I didn't want to be held back.  I
also didn't feel powerful until the bike had a bit of speed.  Once rolling, the bike
became stable and I could accelerate hard and hammer on it (in the straights,
anyways!). That's what I get for not practicing starts this year, or last, or for 8 years
before.

At the time, luck seemed responsible for my silver medal in that event, but after
watching the online video, I saw that there were many others that were obviously on
worse terms with that track than I was and I realized that my ride could have been a
whole lot worse.  In fact, the commentator gave positive comments on my technique
as my line on the track was notably smooth.  In the end, meeting my target time
wouldn't have changed my placing, as winner Stephen Hill posted an unbeatable
time.  That night, reflecting on the day's events, I became hopeful of what could
happen in the days to come.  If I captured silver with such a disappointing ride ...?

Back home and watching the official video, there were a few riders who beat me on
the first lap so I must have had a decent last lap in order to beat them. Speaking
with Hill as we were gathering for the medal ceremony, he said that in order to do
really well in the 750, it's short enough that you have to have a good start AND fast
finish, whereas with the kilo some people could get away with great staying power if
the start wasn't as good.  He certainly had both as he sat down with more speed than
anyone else and carried that into the rest of his ride.

Day 2 - 3km (12 lap) Pursuit qualifier: the pursuit of happiness - 3rd fastest time!

This is what I have been training for, and it turned out to be my best ride of the whole
competition, even though it didn't result in a medal.  In fact, it was by far the best
pursuit I have ever ridden.

During the day, the velodrome was colder than the outside temp, and this was
a relatively cool day.  The track was so cold that I needed to cover myself up
with heavy clothes to ward off the chills while waiting for my turn to ride.

I had the luxury of being in one of the last heats and watching most of the other
riders fail.  The times were slow and a few of us were contemplating changing our
schedules to reflect the slower conditions.  Based on some runs done during the
days leading up to the competition, I had decided on 17.5-second lap times, which
would require maintaining a 51.5km/h average once up to speed.   I decided not to
change this, despite seeing other riders drop the anchor early in their rides.

A year ago, when I decided to do this, I wondered about my chances of making the
pursuit finals.  Based on the results at Manchester last year, I figured that a 3:35
would be a good target but that meant I would have to be able to go 4:42 or so at the
JDF velodrome, which seemed a tall order at the time.  But my 3:44 this year was
getting close, and there was room for improvement by suffering more and earlier.  I
would also use a speed computer this time, a first for me.  I will use one from now
on, I think.

Still, I figured that my chances were not good to make the pursuit finals at Sydney,
although I knew there was the possibility.

Not surprisingly, due to the cold, my chosen schedule proved to be perhaps a tad
optimistic, and less than half way through the race it started feeling anaerobic!  Got
off to a clean, relaxed start, checked speed after sitting down, bam - right on target
speed.  1 lap in, ahead of schedule slightly - oops, speed a little high, check speed
next hslf lap, dead on.  Afterwards, I check speed every half lap for the rest of the
race until the last km and find it dead on at 51.5.  With 5 laps remaining, I was
entering anaerobic hell and with 4 laps to go I found myself fairly deep into the red
zone.  With 2 laps remaining, I could feel the signs that the limit was near and the
imminent shutting down of energy and with one lap to go, I was well into a war with
my body which was having a great deal of difficulty obeying my commands, my legs
wanting so badly to grind to a halt.  In the final moments, my legs finally gave out and
tied up but momentum got me to the finish without slowing down too much.

But I did it!  I met my target time of 3:35 and was fighting hard earlier on than ever
before but right on schedule for every lap, losing less than a second during the final
lap.  It was as close to perfection as I could want.  The only room for improvement
might have got me *at most* a half second from pushing off the gate. Anyway, an
excellent time (for me) given the conditions.

That ride left me collapsed in a chair, chest heaving wildly, for way too long.  For a
moment it seemed like I might qualify for the gold-silver ride, but during the last heat,
my qualifying time got beat by a fraction of a second.  Damn, I was going to have to
fight again for the bronze in 4 hours.  No!  I could not do *that* ride again!  I wasn't
expecting to make the pursuit finals and to be honest, I wasn't happy about it right
then.   A bit later when going over the ride with my parents, I almost cried with joy at
the thought of the tremendous amount and great control of effort that I had just
managed.

Pursuit final - 4th place

There was a price to be paid for such a supreme effort.  I could not duplicate that ride
4 hours later.  There were pains deep inside my chest and I was wondering what
damage I had done.  I approached the pursuit final cautiously, riding under my ability
until I sensed what could be laid down later on.  Except for the start.  I didn't spring
out of the gate but had a solid connection to the bike right away and got off to a great
start.  Unfortunately, I left my final surge a little late; my opponent gained too much
time on me to take back in the last several laps, although with him slowing and me
lifting, it was a bit exciting for the spectators perhaps.  We were separated by less
than a second; my time was in the 3:39's.


Day 3

Scratch race qualifier 5km

There were almost twice as many riders entered in the scratch race as the maximum
allowed in a race on that track, so there were two qualifier heats. All I had to do was
place top twelve out of 22 in my group to make the finals and I did so without a
problem at all.  Beforehand, I was worried about any damage done by the pursuit
qualifier and how long that would last, but it wasn't a factor in this race and I felt
suprisingly good during the upcoming final.  It was another cold day at the track.

Scratch race final 10km - 5th place

I felt an almost agonizing buildup before this race and much nervousness. Being in
strong contention for the win in this type of race, at this level, is not something I had
experienced before. .

What worried me the most was my lack of experience, a plan, or other riders to
support me should the need arise.  Then there was Stephen Hill, the winner of the
750, who destroyed the field with a blistering 2-lap finishing sprint in his scratch
qualifier earlier in the day.  Bob Veroba and I spent some time going over this race
beforehand.  Of course, we wanted to work together and lap the field but neither of
us had any solid ideas on how to combine forces; we wondered what to do about Hill
in case of a final sprint so I vowed not to be behind him with 3 laps or less to go.

The race started off very mellow when 3 laps in, Graeme Allbon of Australia attacked. 
I was near the front and could have responded, but decided to take a wait-
and-see approach.  He got about a half lap on us when there was a soft attack from
the pack but the pack settled down again soon after, and this worried me. Where
was the horsepower?  So I attacked hard, going over the top from about 5 back. 
Something needed to be done, I supposed, and I hoped that in the event I bridged to
Graham, he would accept me as a breakaway partner.

The pack reacted violently to my attack, and less than a lap later there were riders on
my wheel.  I was hauling fairly well and not concerned with what was going on behind
me at that time.  Just over two laps after my attack started, I looked back then swung
up track to end my pull.  I slotted back in to the group about 3 places back, wanting
to be near any action at the front.  Nothing happened so I decided to drop further
back in the pack to avoid unnecessary work and speed recovery.  Around then, a
rider attacked.  If I was on the ball I would have checked his number before the race,
known it was Jager and responded, but even though I was still near the front I wasn't
in the mood to do any favours so I didn't respond.    A long pause and then two more
riders attacked, but I wasn't in a position to see/react and the group didn't respond; in
fact, my earlier attack may have softened many of the riders because the pace was
really slow, allowing them to get away rather quickly and lap the field! The first rider,
German Chris Jager, actually did this all on his own; it must have been a supreme
effort.

Awhile later, frustrated with the slow pace (and not knowing that we were lapped) I
attacked again and got free but the group did not let me get far.  I soon passed a
rider and wondered if it was the one who had broken away earlier, but I flew by him
pretty quickly and he made no attempt to stay with me.  At that point, I figured he was
probably a dropped rider but never saw proof that we were lapped.  Jager was one of
the riders driving the pace at the front to keep the pack from slowing again; I guess
he didn't want any more riders lapping the bunch.  When the group was about to
catch me I swung up track in advance to catch a breath, then slotted in mid-pack. 
This run, tho slower, took more out of me than the first one.  I would focus on
recovering for the final sprint, as the race was already in its later stages.

Two more riders, Allbon and someone else, left the group early, with - I would say -
at least 6 or 7 laps to go.  At around that time, I started moving up through the group
to get near the front for a final run at the finish.   Then with 5 to go, Vaughan takes
off.  Not fully recovered from my last effort, but I bolted from the pack with 4 to go
and felt I was going faster than ever before on this track.  Unlike the 750, this time
the compression through the turns was not a problem and it was great fun to be able
apply full power the whole time.  Apparently Veroba, who also didn't know we were
lapped, momentarily boxed Hill for me in case he wanted to jump for my wheel.  At
some point I went flying by someone; I think he got dropped by Allbon. Then I had
the two Australians in my sights and focused intently on catching them.  My legs
started tying up with 200m left, struggled past Stuart Vaughan,  the legs seizing up
badly now, drawing up beside Allbon, too slowly - no! ... the finish line passes
underneath us just before I pass him.  As we are rolling around, I ask him tentatively
"you first?" and he breaks the bad news that he is fourth.  Talking to other riders
reveals that some of them also didn't know there were 3 riders a lap up on us.  The
commentator's words were barely understandable from the infield, let alone while
racing.

5th place was a significant disappointment for me but that last kilo felt really good
and had an uplifting effect.  I was using a 49x14, the same gear for all events so far
and it felt pretty good this time, though not as perfect as it did in the pursuit and the
750.  An inch larger might have been appropriate.  Before the race, Bob told me that
during a race of this length, a rider would have 3 attacks available to use. Later while
watching the video, I can see how things could have been so different.  I had the
tools to win.  And used 3 attacks.

Days 4 and 5 - sprints

When I saw the race schedule, I pulled from the sprints the day before Day 1.  Going
through 2 days and 5 rounds of sprints isn't my idea of fun.  There were so many
riders, and the schedule was pretty brutal for our age group most days.  As it turned
out, by the time Day 4 rolled around I was sleep deprived from having to stay 'til the
end for the 750 medal ceremonies for our age group on Day 1 and then again for the
pursuit finals the next day, followed by the scratch final for our age group which was
also late in the schedule.

I hindsight, I would have liked to try a 200 only, but would they have let me do that?

Day 6

Points race qualifier 10km

The warmup for this ride felt awful.  The hard racing followed by 2 days off the bike
made my legs really stale.  Originally I had planned an early morning session on the
track before the events of Day 5 but I slept in instead.  Luckily, the start list was
shortened significantly as riders had scratched themselves out.  Notably absent was
Stuart Vaughan.  Really nice guy and really talented rider.  Maybe, like me, he is
more into the timed events.  He certainly displayed fantastic all-around ability by
medalling in both the pursuit and the 750 (curiously, his 200 was not that great
though).   Anyway, a couple of riders got dropped during our scratch heat, which
guaranteed the rest of us a position in the finals, but they kept the race going ... so
just in case, I placed in the final sprint.  But oh boy, I could barely keep up near the
front during some of the sprints.  I was not looking forward to the final.

One thing that was lost on me in the concern over how dead my legs felt, was how
hot it was at the track today and how that would affect the speed of the riders big
time.  It turned out to be by far the fastest of the days that I was there. What a
difference!  Otherwise, I might have realized that at least part of what I experienced
in the race was probably due to being undergeared, and that it would be a bigger
problem in the final where the speed was insane.

Points race final 20km - 6th place

I felt much better during this race tho not as good as during the first three days.  The
qualifier woke up my legs but I was still so worried about my condition that I didn't
even think about the gearing.  As expected, speed was insane; I definitely had a hard
time with it in the sprints, which just seemed to wind up forever.  There were times
when we seemed to be going on at 55km/h for ages and it was just spin, spin, spin. 
Now I think I know what it feels like for Shish ...

Struggled through and tried at one point to come long over the top starting in the
back straight during one of the sprints, but it didn't get me much (1 point I think) and
only served to cost me dearly in terms of energy.  The pace barely ever let up
enough for my rpm to drop enough to recover after that, and there was a critical
moment for me as I fought hard not to get dropped, something I haven't experienced
in a long time.  At one point about half way through I thought I was going to get
dropped but I couldn't bear the thought of letting this happen, not here, and
especially not this in front of my parents, so I fought harder and finally the pace let up
enough for me to recover just enough to stay in the game. But the final sprint was
coming soon and I was expecting an early, fast windup.  When it happened, riders
started dropping like flies and this was an inspiration to give all of what was left to get
around these guys and up to the front; there was nothing to save for any more.

The group fractured and strung out,  I moved up steadily as we entered the final lap,
which went by quickly, and I found myself approaching the sprint leaders going into
the final bend and actually got some decent speed out of the last turn.  At least that's
the way it seemed.  I won't know what caused the crowd to go unusually loud at the
finish until I see the video.

All in all, a first-rate racing (and learning) experience.  Although I'm really glad I went,
I don't expect to be doing it again for awhile, certainly not before the venue changes
for this event.

Don