Hyun’s track season wrap up!
In this post, we get another update from our track cycling friend Hyun as he finished his summer track cycling season with three different types of races with some incredible success, personal best achievements and some great learning for next year.
Written by Hyun Lee:
One of my personal goals of the year was performing well at the Regional Track Cycling Championships in August called Fred’s Race, named after Fred Rehberger. Fred Rehberger was an avid bike racer who loved to ride and compete. Fred was tragically killed in an accident in 2012. The Marymoor Velodrome Association named the regional track championships after Fred in his memory. This year, Fred’s Race was scheduled for a weekend in late August but due to weather (rare late August rain), it was spread out over a few days the following week.
Match Sprints
Leading up to the sprint championship on Monday, I actually needed the little break provided by the rain out. Having a lackluster performance on the Wednesday night leading up to the sprint race on Friday, I was clearly a little fatigued. Having some extra time to rest, I was able to enter Monday Night (Sprint Championships) a bit more refreshed. I started the night with a 200 meter TT time of 12.89. Not amazing but great. Based on some data analysis of previous rides, I chose a slightly lighter gear that would allow me to accelerate better. The format was not the usual sprint tournament format but one designed to be more equal and fun. The organizers broke the sprinters into groupings of eight based on time, and riders would compete against each other in their eight rider groups. My time got me into the second group with the fourth fastest time in that group. The way this worked is the fastest rider in each group would do one ride against the slower, the second fastest rider would go against rider 7, and so on.
Hyun celebrating success
Hyun intensely focused
Having the fourth fastest time, I ended up riding against the fifth fastest time which would make it a competitive round. That fifth fastest rider was my team mate Ken who I respected as a competitor having raced numerous sprints against him. There are few people more dedicated in terms of training and research to track sprinting than Ken. For illustration purposes I used some images from a previous year’s race with Ken. In this round, I drew position one which meant I had to lead the race at a minimum walking pace for the first half lap unless rider two chose to overtake me. I started out at a moderate pace just fast enough so that I could still accelerate but mindful of Ken behind me. I was hoping there would not be an early attack and it played out that way. We came around for the bell lap signaling the last lap and gradually increased the speed a little when Ken went from between one and two.. I Got on his wheel and let him drag me around for a few meters but then stood up and charged. We were riding hip to hip for a while but then I got to the line first. Going from a slow start to 38 miles per hour and generating about 1300 watts, Ken made me work for it.
In Round two, I drew the rider with the fastest time in our group. In this round, David drew position one and he rode pretty conservatively but moved up and down the track. Once the bell lap came around he stood up and went for it from the black line. I was able to draft him and come around to take that heat as well.
The race for first and second in our bracket was between myself and another rider whom I had also raced a number of times. This would be a “best two out of three competition”. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and it started to rain. Consequently, the night was called but I still got a gold for my age group but I’m counting it as a top two for our bracket.
Keirin
Like match sprints, the keirin was rescheduled for Wednesday Night at the end of the regular Wednesday Night schedule. Due to limited field size, the keirin for Masters 50+ went straight onto a final ride without qualifiers or semi’s. This was fine for me because we had already had a chariot race and a 10 lap scratch that night. The Chariot race is an event I have a love-hate relationship with. Because you go from essentially a standing start for one lap, it requires a lot of muscular strength to get started and is just brutal. I won the qualifier and the finals which was great but pretty rough.
For the keirin, I geared up just a little but not a lot. Looking at data from previous races I wasn’t generating the power and cadence needed to perform using bigger gears so I used my regular gear that I was comfortable with. Keirin is a five lap race where the riders are paced by an e-bike for the first two and a half laps. With a lap and a half left, the moto pulls off leaving the rider in position 1 with about 600 meters in the wind. I drew position 1. Knowing there was a current masters national champion and a former masters world champion behind me, I was a little apprehensive. In the past I had drawn position one and won but this was a pretty tough crowd. Knowing who was behind me I didn’t feel like leading this out at speed would be a great tactical path since they would just come around me. I went back and forth during the three and a half laps behind the moto. Once the moto pulled off, I rolled it at speed. I didn’t slow down but I didn’t accelerate either. Keeping it just fast enough so that I could still accelerate it if needed. I was hoping somebody else would get anxious and jump first. With about 300 meters to go, my friend Eric made the move and went with a hard jump and accelerated away. I was able to catch up to him just before turn three and the last 100 meters or so we were neck and neck. I threw my bike at the line, and that was just enough for the win.
Focused Hyun
Hyun on 1st place podium
2000 meter individual pursuit
This was one of those times where maybe I didn’t think things through so well. Since I had aged out of the 4000 meter pursuit and the kilometer TT I thought hmmmm, maybe this 2000 meter pursuit isn’t so bad. I wasn’t sure if this would be like a 4000 meter TT that wasn’t sooo bad or perhaps it was a 1000 meter TT that hurt twice as bad 😀 Well, I went with that famous line from Risky Business in the 1980’s that went something like, “Sometimes you gotta say what the #$@&” Preparation entailed retooling the aero bars my son had borrowed for junior nationals and figuring out gearing on the trainer.
Hyun training hard in his garage
Getting bike positioning dialed in was tough because with two weeks to go, I only had so much time to get comfortable and this was definitely different from what I usually trained for. Gearing was a tough one to dial in. You don’t want to be in too big a gear because then you’ll get bogged down early and just slog it out. You don’t want to go too light either because then you’ll leave meters on the table. My experience with doing hour rides was helpful but a different ball game all together. The hour ride was a whole different write up on self punishment and aerodynamics.
Come game time on Saturday I had already raced twice that week with Match Sprints and Keirins. Consequently, I was a little tired but not exhausted. My start wasn’t great and it took a little while to settle in but once it was on it was on.
Hyun at the standing start
After three laps you get pretty oxygen deprived and cross eyed from the effort. With three laps to go I thought the lap card said two laps to go. When I saw two laps to go again, that took a little bit of the wind out of my sails. Pretty much left everything out on the track when I was done.
The race is on!
I was reasonably pleased with 2:53. The winning time was 2:27 by my friend Jamie who broke the track record. Thinking back on it, I think I did well but could I have gone a little faster in a slightly bigger gear? Maybe? That’s what next year’s for.
The Winners!
On to cyclocross.
Pictures were provided by the Jerry Baker velodrome and Steve Everist.
Thank you Hyun for sharing your summer track cycling racing experiences and for providing the insight and education for those of us not familiar with the sport. We look forward to continuing to follow you in your Cyclocross season!
Up next: A new update from @PerdidaVanVida and an exciting new partnership with @Chris.Hikes.USA as he and his two dogs set out on the Pacific Crest Trail. Chris is another incredible human being who is on a journey of healing, self and societal discovery and overall path to overall health through getting out and embracing everything the outdoors has to offer. We know that you are going to be fully inspired by Chris and his journey.
We truly appreciate all of our great partners sharing their stories and life journey’s in the outdoors with us! You all are extremely inspirational and truly the reason we exist as a company. From all of us at the Mountain Exp, a heart felt THANK YOU!
If you have stories and photos of experiences that showcase the benefits of getting outside, please feel free to submit them to us via TheMountainExp@Gmail.com! We’d love to hear from you and add your stories to our blog!
