Masters Track Championship - Newport

Been trying out my fixed wheel bike in the local Hinckley RCC '10' (check C P under rider history) on the Wolvey course (K41/10) trying out a variety of gears and positions but we have had some lovely evenings so far and a minute up on last year at this time.
Apart from the LVRC Track last November the BC Masters would be my first 'Open' track since 1992 when I fell off the week before the Nationals and broke my collar bone in an ill advised return to the wooden bowl of my past notable victories. At the LVRC I came away with a Gold(Pursuit) and Silver(Points) but although the same events here a step up in quality, some of the same names but a chance to win a National title always a draw for the showmen that take on the Track Circus.
I was with Adrian (and Dan - not competing) of the Shaftsbury CC and he had persuaded me to enter the old arena (we go all the way back to school days)
Riding a fixed on the road not the same as in a bunch on a banked track, the cut and thrust of tactics and sprinting for the line but the one thing that got me almost immediately how nervous I was. I could hear my heart beating out of my chest in the cauldron that is the track centre, I needed to get out for a ride to calm down and compose myself.


Following the GB men

So we trotted out on road bikes for a spin on the flat lands that make up the marsh around Newport Velodrome. We bumped into some of the GB squad doing the same pushed off the track for the weekend by a load of Old Duffers and Hasbeens we tried to recognise them but they all had Sky outfits and impressively tanned calf's, we dare not get too close
Back in the Velodrome all we had on the Saturday was the 15Km scratch race, a one off sprint after 60 laps, in a way I was glad, get some of the nerves out the way before the main event 'The Pursuit' what I'd come here to do, less chance, more of a test of the riders form all alone on the track. A fast pace race, one rider got 3/4 lap before getting pulled back, I attacked with 15 to go taking Ian Greenstreet (Newbury RC) and ex runner Steve Clayton (Litchfield City) Clayton jumped at the bell and I could not come over him my speed blunted by my time trialling but a good effort none the less, in the end I missed the Gold by half a bike length.

15Km Scratch Podium


Sunday was much like the day before, apart from my Pursuit ride in the morning, we still had time for a 20 mile spin and then a build up to the 3000 m pain fest that is individual Pursuiting 3 and 3/4 minutes of acute stress for legs and lungs but only the one ride to get it all out (no time for rounds), winner takes it all. A fault with my rear wheel means I have to use my disc with a heavy (road going) 'tempo' and it hardly matters that I put new bars on the night before and with no chance to get on the track a spin back to the hotel is all that they get by way of preparation. In the event its my pedals that let me down (set at their highest tension) I pull my foot out at the start and It takes an age to get it back in again, I manage a 24 second first lap 3 down on my schedule it is the worst possible beginning, I press on, no going back and get into my rhythm, Adrian tells me I'm "5 down" on my 3.38 I think it will take to get a medal 125 RPM too fast on my 94" gear and I slow at the risk of overcooking it, 110-15 more like it and the laps (12) are disappearing rapidly.

It all goes wrong!


An all out effort in the last Km as my opponent (on the other side of the track) is in view and I make the last lap a fast one as I pass him on the line 3.43.275 the 2nd fastest to date but not enough I fear. In the next heat Clayton and Alistair Taylor (Musselborough RC) go faster 3.41.251 and 3.40.396 and in the final heat Peter Ettles (Forres CC) breaks the European Record 3.33.491 to win and Greenstreet 3.41.050 good enough for 3rd
The disappointment is a bit overwhelming, only 6th, only 2 seconds off a bronze medal and 3 of silver, Ettles the champion in another class but that opening mistake cost me dear.
No time to dwell the Points Race is in a couple of hours 20Km and ten sprints to sort out 16 riders from 16 clubs, this is more my game. We know who to watch and the opening laps are cagey and tense, I put in a bit of an attack I do not have the speed but If I can get in a break I can gain a lap (20 Points) but I need the race to fracture. I get up in a few of the sprints (3 x 2nd) but not enough, the bunch is still together, it is not slow, but it is not tough enough either.
In one of the lulls two riders collide just above me, the inside one takes a tumble the long way down the track, he clips me and my back wheel, my BBAR ambitions (all that training) flash before my eyes but I hold my nerve and I manage not to come down as he takes the two behind me into the acrylic fence at the bottom of the track. Only one thing to do, attack! It's the one rule of track racing
I attack between the sprints to break it up but I am a marked man and my efforts are chased down, on the penultimate sprint I am too tired to contest but Ettles attacks soon after and nobody chases, there is a fatal delay but I attack anyway and get the gap, I hunt him down 30 then 20 and then 10 meters we have half a lap and together we work, its too late to gain a lap so I sprint away to take the final

It takes ages to sort out the result, apparently a rider took a lap (Taylor) he tried it in the Scratch and only got 3/4 before giving up but this time his effort has paid off Clayton (the best sprinter with 3 x 1st) and I get the bronze on count back with the same points as Ettles because I beat him on the final lap
Of the three races nine medals are split between five riders, the same ones getting on the podium, I come away with a Silver and Bronze not bad for such an extended break from the boards, I came here to test the water and found it much to my likening

Report Here
Photos Here (Stylish rostrum picture of me! - Points)