Road to Beijing

Friday, March 23, 2007

Track Nationals

We raced track nationals last week.

We raced in Invercargill at the new valedrome.

Wow! What an experience that was. What a fantastic valedrome. I am so stoked that N.Z has 'one of the top valedromes in the southern hemisphere.' as put by a top Australian rider.

It rides so smoothly and so many NZ records were broken last week. It was an amazing atmosphere and I was stoked to be part of it.

Annaliisa and I raced the pursuit, the kilo and the qualifying race for the flying 200m sprint. The pursuit was the race I really wanted to win badly. It is my favourite race and most suited to me. We did a pb by 6 secs! It was great. Everything went smoothly and I pushed like hell. And we beat the other girls by 1 and a bit seconds! We did a 3 mins 50 which earned us a gold medal against qualifying times!

The kilo was on a thursday and after winning the pursuit I saw the kilo as an extra layer of icing on the cake which I would give my best shot but not be worried about if we didn't win. The standing start didn't go off too well as Annaliisa, myself and the guy holding us were going different directions. We went up the incline of the valedrome before dropping down to where we were meant to be. I think it was the 2nd lap where I was moving so violently on the back that Annaliisa couldn't keep the bike still and couldn't take the corner as smoothly as she had done at other times. Though we pushed hard, it just wasn't hard enough and we came away with a silver medal time, 2 secs slower than the other girls. I find the kilo hard as you have to give it your all from the beginning as it is such a short race. There is no time to work out how hard to push or to think about things. It has to come from the beginning and it finishes very quickly.

On Friday we had the sprint qulaifier. Again I wasn't really worried about winning and I don't ever feel really comfortable doing sprints/ I feel more suited to endurance racing. Anyway I was going to give it my best shot. I don't even really remember it cos it was so short, but I do remember that trying to stand up when we dropped off the corner to do the sprint didn't work. I remember standing with one hand on the handlebar and the other not. I remember feeling quite scared and when it came to sprinting not really going as hard as maybe I could have. I dunno maybe I am trying to find a rationale for us only doing a bronze time but I really don't remember. It happened so fast... When we finished Gary pointed out that the handlebars had been put on the bike assymettrically- that the handle bars were not fastened in the middle. No wonder one hand came off faster than the other,

Anyway it was a great nationals. Watching the racing was superb and I love riding track. Ooooh also I had a personal goal which I full filled. I rode a bike by myself (under Gary Sword's watchful eye)! It was cool. I felt good and didn't fall off. The reason I find it hard is because I have lost a lot of my balance which has been a challedge for Annaliisa and myself on the tandem as well. Anyway Gary says he might let me ride a track single bike one of these days. That would be amazing, and VERY scary.

Oh and it rained all week in Inver except the last day, but Inver does have good shopping!

This last week has been a week off for me. I have been doing an awful lot of socialising and going out with friends. It has been great catching up with people but just today I am feeling like I want to get back on the bike. Coach (Annaliisa) says we start training again tues, so I am excited, but scared at the same time as I do not want to see how much fitness I have lost!

Will keep you informed about what is coming up.
Neelu

1 Comments:

At 2:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Neelu train hard. One of the women I coach in Palmerston North has been asked to get into tandem. Very exciting.

 

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