Track in Canada

It seems with the economic boom a distance memory in the Irish psyche and the recession touching everyone in a unique way the opportunity to build an indoor velodrome in Ireland has passed. The selection of London for the 2012 Olympic games brought an optimism in the Irish cycling community. The project made economic and political sense in the run up to the games. It seems that Irish athletes now face an unfortunate dichotomy; travel abroad in search of appropriate facilities or endure sub-standard facilities at home.

The Irish track commission have made the best of a bad situation and used limited funds available to great effect in re-surfacing the track in Sundrive Park, Crumlin. Unfortunately a minority of local youths seem intent on destruction, vandalism and theft. A series of regretable incidents has culminated in serious damage to the racing surface caused by a deliberate fire a couple of months ago.

I have been lucky enough over the past couple of months to be based near a velodrome in London, Ontario. The track is a lot more compact than traditional two hundred and fifty meter Olympic tracks, measuring a mere one hundred and twenty five meters. The angle of the banking on the track is also more severe than I have become accustomed too.

The compressed nature of the track serves to exaggerate and magnify any mistakes made on the track. A poor change in a team pursuit drill sees one trail meters behind team mates, while holding the black line for a pursuit is almost impossible with g-forces forcing one onto the red line at every corner.

Most of the work I have been doing on the track is skills based with intensity far from one hundred percent - this suits me fine considering it is still November and many months away from my first A-priority race of the season.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

The Edge

The beginning of the off-season draws a line under the previous years racing and gives everyone an opportunity to start from fresh. Poor winter preparation is the excuse I hear most frequently advanced for sub optimal 'in season' performance.

A solid winter is the basis upon which success can be built upon as the summer approaches. For most Irish based cyclists' their top priority race will be the eight day An Post Ras, starting at the end of May.

Base training has been described to me using the analogy of a pyramid. The wider one builds the base of the structure, ie the amount of base miles logged in the legs, the higher the potential peak. A good winter training does not guarantee success later in the season; it merely facilitates it. One must increase the specificity of the sessions as ones top priority race approaches. My template for the coming season will resemble that of last season. The early part of my season will focus on road racing while the latter part will become more track specific.

I recently completed a performance review for last season. One of the areas which I feel I can make big strides in is nutrition. My nutrition last season followed no structured plan. I ate whatever was convenient with little thought to the nutritional quality of the food I was ingesting.

This season I have starting working with the guys from The Edge Fitness (www.theedgeclontarf.com) on a new nutrition plan. The plan has at its core fresh produce. I have started eating large quantities of nutrient dense, alkalising foods. The difference it has made to my strength and overall well-being is immense. By eating wholesome foods I am hunger less often, have less cravings for sugary snacks and have increased energy.

I have realised the stress placed on the body from cycling is significant. The body seems unable to distinguish between mental stress (work concerns etc), physical stress (produced from training) and nutritional stress (produced from eating bad foods). By eating foods that require little or no work to digest I am able to remove nutritional stress from the equation. The absence of nutritional stress has the effect of speeding up my recovery as the blood required to aid recovery in my legs is not diverted to my stomach to help digest a bulky processed meal.

Reduced recovery time invariably means improved quality in the upcoming session. By focusing on small details I am hoping to make big strides for the coming season.

iBlogger

Excuse the condensed nature of this post. This is my first update from a new app I have found called iBlogger.

Training was been going well here in Toronto. The conditions at the moment are pretty much ideal for cycling; it's dry almost every day but I do have to endure single digit temperatures most days.

The key is dressing for the weather and the absence of rain makes that job a lot easier. I have had to invest in a pair of lobster style gloves and some heavy wind proof over-shoes but everything else is the same as I was wearing back home.

Multiple but breathable layers are the key for staying warm and dry in this weather.

I will try get a blog post up about how I am adapting to track racing soon.

Annual Awards

Last week I was lucky enough to be voted UCD rider of the year. The award was made all the more ponient by the fact that the honour was voted on by my peers.

Ciaran O' Conluain picked up the special achievement award for an outstanding season consisting of in excess of fifty races including eight grueling Ras stages.

The season has finished up for most of the UCD riders and reflection can begin. Most riders will take a short break in an attempt to mentally and physically recuperate from a draining season while others will throw themselves into track or cyclocross for the off-season. Regardless of ones preparation, all will endeavor to be in decent physical shape for a domestic training camp in December and a foreign one in January.

The talk at the UCD awards night was of tales from this years Ras and the swell of opinion seemes to be that a second consecutive Ras could be a possibility.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Racing in Canada

I arrived in Toronto five days ago and the focus since I landed has been on ensuring my body and equipment were in proper working order for my last road race of the season - The Queens Park GP.

In a previous incarnation the Queens Park GP was one of the classic races on the North American professional calender; it returned this year after a prolonged absence and may take some time to capture its former grandeur.

The setting for the race was idyllic. A two kilometer loop around the Canadian parliament, on closed roads, in the heart of Toronto. The loop was pan flat with three mild corners which required no more than a light feathering of the brakes.

Everything in Canada is bigger, shop floors span kilometers in diameter, the Blackrock tractors (SUV's) resemble hummers and donuts are sold by the dozen; cycling is no exception. The crowds of people who gathered to watch the race browsed stalls erected by major bike manufactures; hot-dog vendors tussled for prime position; exhibitors promoted the latest gadget that will invariably save you ten seconds in a race against the clock and participating teams sold club merchandise and paraphernalia. Cycling races, in this part of the world, are like any other event or exhibition - a chance for businesses to make profit and promote their product.

I was part of an eight man Jet Fuel team which had high hopes for the event despite the race attracting some of North Americas top professionals including: Michael Barry from team sky, Ryder Hesjedal from Garmin and a strong Planet Energy team directed by Steve Bauer.

The fear of the unknown in a race is uncertainty; uncertainty about your competition; uncertainty about the speed of the race to come and about how the body will preform in a warmer climate. I had a job to do within the team ensuring the team leader conserved energy and was not caught on the wrong side of a split. In addition I was given the freedom to initiate or follow any early attacks. In retrospect I was probably too conservative in the early stages.

The main break of the day formed about midway through the race and contained our team leader. The team was content with having their strongest rider in the break and patrolled the front of the bunch for the remainder of the race, closing gaps and ensuring a chase group was not established.

Unfortunately a mechanical problem within the closing meters meant our team leader dropped his chain in the sprint for the line but nevertheless placed a respectable 4th place. The rest of Team Jet Fuel rolled in as part of the main bunch.

The Crit experience was novel but I found I adapted fast and soon felt at home. Initially the intensity caught me off gaurd but once the body warmed up race pace was not a problem. I had a normalised power figure of 344 watts for the 80km race.

Lenister Track Championships

The Lenister Track Championships took place last Saturday at the outdoor track in Sundrive, Crumlin. The problem with having the racing surface exposed to the elements is, on occasion, weather necessitates that racing must be postponed or even cancelled.

The forecast for the day was for a scattering of showers but as the day unfolded it was clear racing could proceed - largely uninterrupted. I was planning on riding just the Scratch Race as the other event offered to the Senior men was a sprint event, to which I am not well suited. It turned out that the five hundred meter time trial was scheduled to take place before the Scratch race. I decided to race the time trial event as a warm-up for the scratch race.

I rode the five hundred meter time trial with no expectations. I went hard in the race but as soon as it finished I began my warm-up for the scratch race and did not concern myself with the results from the previous race.

The scratch race consisted of twenty two laps of the Sundrive circuit. The race was aggressive from the beginning with attacks going inside the first lap. I did not respond to any of the early attacks and relied on my competitors to close down the moves. On the third lap as one of the early breaks was caught I launched a speculative attack, not sure of the impact it would have -the purpose was to test legs around me. I opened a substantial gap immediately and was soon joined by John Lynch and Derek Cunningham - this was to develop into the race winning move.

Our group of three worked well together, sharing the pace setting and it soon became clear that this move would contest for the Lenister title. After some attacks and counter attacks the decisive move was made by John Lynch, attacking two laps from the finish for a fine solo win. I placed in the silver medal spot beating off Derek Cunningham in a sprint finish.

As I was standing around watching the five hundred meter presentation I heard my name being called. In my rush to get warmed up for the scratch race I had overlooked a bronze medal.

All things considered, it was not a bad day at the track. I would have liked to take a win in the scratch race but the unexpected bronze in the five hundred meter time trial lessened my disappointment.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Lenister Track Championships

The Lenister Track Championships took place last Saturday at the outdoor track in Sundrive, Crumlin. The problem with having the racing surface exposed to the elements is, on occasion, weather necessitates that racing must be postponed or even cancelled.

The forecast for the day was for a scattering of showers but as the day unfolded it was clear racing could proceed - largely uninterrupted. I was planning on riding just the Scratch Race as the other event offered to the Senior men was a sprint event, to which I am not well suited. It turned out that the five hundred meter time trial was scheduled to take

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]