WORLD MASTERS TRACK - Manchester

10Km SCRATCH

Adrian had made it back up to Manchester to catch the Points race final and I think the competition was making him distinctly nervous as its a long way to come to do a 5Km heat, he was right to be wary, after the heats of the Points race I was beginning to doubt my own motivation for doing this sort of thing, you sort of just get carried away with it. I know its a World title and that would be nice, but the cost  difficult to square with what goes on in the middle of a bunch at 35mph and what you are prepared to risk in a 'comfy' mid life, we are not young and a race can be an unforgiving place, but none so hard as the ground beneath our feet, and that is where we are heading if we slip up or take one risk too many, there is always somebody else to blame but ultimately we have to take the decision to get up on the track

Having said that, it's a beautiful place to be, I have likened racing on the track to "The closest thing to flying", and none so free as on a Scratch race with its destiny a headlong rush to the finish line, complete freedom to move in space, the banking gives the sensation of being unhindered by gravity and in a bunch at speed we wheel and swoop like a flock of starlings under the artificial light and in the dry air of the stadium at once freedom and speed. A heady combination with adrenalin and competition track racing has been my drug of choice and here I am still chasing it. At this level the highest level I have tried I can sense that feeling I had in a previous life on the boards at Leicester, the cold air of a summer evening rushing past your face at 35mph in the 20Km final, a dryness in the throat, always the most amazing rush, preceded by a game of 'Jenga' with bike and rider tessellate to the width of the track and try not to fall that is the simplicity of the Scratch race, one dash for the line

The stress of the heats

To get to the final we have to compete in a  20 lap heat and the first twelve go through, heats are the devils work, they get under your skin and make you sweat, you cannot take risks, and yet you must to get up into position, there is no moving up in the final lap, you have to position yourself with a kilometer to go and then hold that. The race continues going on around and fend off the opposition and then push for the line in a maddening rush, no tactics just hold your position and hold your nerve. I have been in heats where only six riders go through so maybe I'm not so stressed as some of the others but I'm still a bit shaky even if I don't show it

Adrian and I are in the first heat and I am getting to know the opposition, the race does not take long to unwind and we are in the final sprint already, I position myself on the outside where I can move , It's further and you catch the wind so its tougher, the big South African Michael Bevan goes past with somebody on his wheel (Gomez?) I just have to stay upright, on the final bend I sense a rider at my elbow and I have to use it to keep them at bay as I close up on David Klipper (USA) who in turn is shouting at Adrian not to move up the track (& not in a calm way!) I push up as near as I dare without contacting the fence at the top of the track over the line and then kick back as hard as possible and my bike shakes in an impossible speed wobble as I try to take off some of the speed before we hit the banking, and the banking hits me. There is no incident just a blanket finish and its tight for places, it did not help matters that Greenstreet who had been on the attack was being swallowed by the bunch in the final 100 metres but he too makes it as do myself and Adrian in 5th and 9th. A rider informs me he could smell rubber when I kicked back on the line but it was too close to call and at that point you can hardly call your mother and tell her to "Get me out of here!" and I still see track riders with no lock ring on their sprocket in races, madness!



The second heat more of a 'dragstrip' affair with Steve Clayton (GBR) lining the bunch out with 3 laps to go and making the pace so high that nobody can move up (how nice of him) so the bunch goes over the finish in a long  line. With 11 British riders in the final maybe something good will come as the home nation not having a great Championship in our age group (but better in others).

Waiting for the 10Km final

The final can be approached in a more relaxed fashion, you are in the final so the pressure is subtly different, for some riders getting in the final is there final and they are happy to ride it with no pressure and no expectation, but if you want to do a good ride then you need a strategy that suits your ability and your expectations, there needs to be a bit of pressure. The 40 lap final is a strange affair, Gomez is determined for a solo attack as he sits up in a group of four that get away early on and then when he gets away he stays away for 25 laps! The Argentinian has over half a lap at one point but the bunch goes into stasis and we lap after lap after lap and nobody attacks at all just a steady pace almost like a neutralised race. With less than 10 to go we are pulling him back, there is a bit of bumping and boring as riders jockey for position Adrian goes down on his own in the middle of the banking under pressure from Thomas Kapuste (GER) and hits the blue inner as we all move away, I have been trailing Ettles through the bunch for a few laps and approach the front, I go up to the top of the track and with 5 to go attack, Plan A is the only plan for me, it would be good for me to have somebody on my wheel but I do not have time to wait and its as fast and as far as my legs will take me to the line is all I'm interested in

It's tougher than you think

I pass under Adrian getting back into the race and over Gomez as his magnificent effort comes to a close and I just put my head down, for this (Plan A) to succeed you need the bunch to hesitate and it does for a moment and I get a quarter lap but the Germans have other ideas and Blasczyk goes to the front and in a blatant lead out for his team mate Kaspuste, he drags the bunch up to me on the bell lap and I am swamped by a mass of riders and I know my race is done. Kaspuste wins it from Paul Whatsmouth (GBR) so at least one of the British riders got up there and Colombian Jaime Cardona in third. As I circle the track to cross the line Blasczyk is next to me Whooping & cheering, sometimes the German aptitude for winning is justified but here in a non team race it is a bit hard to take, not blatant but just annoying. Plan A is an all or nothing strategy, it's rarely successful but it does give you a chance and in a world final that chance is just too juicy not to take, with Adrian in the bunch (a better finisher than me) but you just have to stick with it and say you took part and carried out what you planned , the result shows a different story. Adrian was up and back in the race but all at sixes & sevens so did not have a chance to get himself into position for the sprint, he has taken skin off all over as he tumbled to a standstill but he will mend, the damage to a pair of Mavic wheels more difficult to bounce back from.


Report & Result