I was certainly looking forward to getting some quality time at the CCC training camp prior to testing my legs again at the Track Asia Cup. Couple of hours north of Bangkok is Suphanburi, where one of four velodromes in Thailand is. The hotel we stayed in, which would also be the official race hotel, is about a 10min bus ride. It’s a nice quiet town. Little distractions, only problem were the mozzies at night. There was no way of sitting still for more than a minute without one flying in your face or attempting to put a stinger in you.
There was a vast improvement from the first time the CCC Shuzenji coaches saw me. I’ve always preferred doing interval sets as compared to a 4hr ride. Now i can focus on a lot more things on the bike rather than just chasing the set and/or distance: posture, leg speed. Every effort was the opportunity to feel the different elements. The program was the same as in Shuzenji, so it was all about leg speed and chances to practice some all important standing starts.
A CCC Shuzenji camp would be not complete without a roller session.
As the training camp came to a close, I started to shift towards thinking about how I wanted to race the Track Asia Cup. It was a large turnout. 10 countries. Things had to be done differently from my previous race in order for results to change as well. I entered the sprint, kilo and keirin. The sprint was more for me to try my hand at the flying200 and track my progress. Unfortunately, both that and kilo didn’t turn out to be anything to celebrate about. To be honest, I really wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong, or what was I not doing. My last chance would be in the Keirin. It was only after my heat, when I was chatting with Bom that I understood what I needed to change. However the weather gods decided to show their presence and the last few events of the night were cancelled, which included the 7th-13th place final, so I didn’t have a chance to give it a good go. At least I took something back.
Going old school in the kilo on the standard bars. Thanks Kee Meng again for the race wheels. Really appreciate it. I really need to have my own.
Photos courtesty of Thai Cycling Association.
I’m in the midst of sorting out my next (hopefully few) race (races). No point spending on race wheels if I don’t get a chance to use them. I did see a set of FFWDs on a fixed along east coast park bike path this arvo.
Laters
Believe 