World Masters Report Card......

Well, the 2008 World Masters Track Championships here in Sydney finished yesterday, and I've come away with a "mixed bag" of treats............ a PB, a broken bike, and a bent body.

My first race was on Wednesday and was my priority 2000m 55-59yrs Pursuit. My medium term goal is to go sub 2min 30sec for the eight laps, and my intention was to go "rip, shit or bust" and have a shot at this in qualifying.

But I had second thoughts when Wednesday turned out a little cooler than it had been in the days prior, and after discussion with a club mate, decided to go out on a 2.32 schedule. I had instructed Mike (Popplewell....750TT silver medalist at these Championships) to let me run if I happened to be up a little early on.....as long as I was able to settle back on scheduled lap times within a lap ot two.

As it turned out, I was able to ride virtually every lap within a .2sec range and still hold reasonable form over the last 500m or so. Finished with 2min 32.085sec for a two second PB.

Might have been a high 2.31 if I hadn't caught and had to go around my opposition going into turn 3 with 500m to go. Surely must have dropped .085sec minimum there :-)

I had no thoughts of getting close to the medal rides, just wanted to PB. Missed out on a Bronze ride off by .8sec .......which is still a decent amount, but much closer than I had expected.

So far, so good.

Next evening was my Scratch Race and unfortunately was involved in a crash about 7 laps from the finish when a rider higher on the banking, touched wheels and slid down into my path. Nowhere to go, so finished up T-boning him, breaking my forks on impact and hurting my right shoulder, hip and ribs.

Sat on the trainer for 15min the next morning, but was a bit sore. Spent the rest of the day icing all the sore bits and swallowing anti-inflamatory medication.

Went out on my road bike for an hour the next morning (Saturday) to see how things were. Was OK as long as I didn't have to change hand position on the bars. Things were looking up.

Did a couple of jumps of 30-45sec to see if my shoulder would hold up and while still painful, was manageable.

Unfortunately, these efforts stirred up my ribs more than anything, and by that night I was getting a sharp pain when I took big breathes.

So everything was good.....unless I rode my bike ....or breathed. Not the ideal combination with the prospect of trying to ride in a typical aggressive Points Race next day.

So for once in my life, commonsense prevailed and I sat in the stands to watch the action instead of participating. In hindsight, it really was the smartest thing to do (really unusual for me)

Finished the week a little frustrated, but satisfied that significant progress has been made towards the 2.30 barrier. Good thing is I will get 4 opportunities for quality Pursuits next year with State Champs in March, Nationals in Launceston, Tasmania in April, UCI World Masters here in Sydney again in October, plus World Masters Games within a week or so of the UCI meet.

Really happy with my preparation, although there are definitely areas where there is still "work in progress".

After Nationals earlier this year, I made a list of every aspect of my preparation where I thought gains could be made ...... from actual physical training, to equipment and aerodynamics. I'll post again shortly with details of the list, where things stand right now, and what I plan to target over the next 12 months of preparation.

I'd like to thank a few people for their advice, assistance and encouragement in my ongoing quest for this 2min 30sec thing.

Dr. Andrew Coggan has been generous with his time and provided some thoughtful suggestions and back up for some of my plans along the way......what else would you expect from this bloke.

Alex Simmons for his patient analysis of data from CdA testing at the velodrome.

Pete Barnard for providing me with my sweet NRT carbon frame, forks, and seatpost at a great price. http://www.tracknut.com.au/

Michael Popplewell who has helped out whenever he could with advice and loan and sale of various peices of equipment..... I used Mike's very fast front Fluid disc/Dugust tubular combo in the Pursuit.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your help.

More soon.

Mike