Saturday, July 4, 2009

Nationals Recap: Pre-race

I got to LA on Tuesday with a bundle of nerves. I was fit and feeling fast but the timed track races are very different than a road TT in the early stages of a track racer's career. There is a lot of technique involved in getting around a Velodrome as quickly as possible and there is the standing start in race gear from a gate.
Craig Griffin, who is the National Paralympic team coach, set me out on a flying effort to gague the splits I should look at riding for my pursuit. My splits were decent, but my line was terrible. I stopped in for a chat and he told me to do a few efforts while looking through the turn so I could stay on the black line.
Wednesday was similar; still working on pacing and holding a good line, but this time in full race gear which was a HED trispoke front, Zipp 900 Disk, and aero helmet.
The girls had the 500m TT and Kilo TT (for the tandem) on Thursday morning so I went to watch and cheer them on. There was nothing left to do but race.

No comments: