Graham, Bill, Gene, Laurie, Fabio, Arnold and "Shadow" with his vintage shaft drive machine

DAY 2
The skies were overcast again as we made our way to the Velodrome for another day of training. We met Bob in the parking lot then walked to the trailer to pick up the bikes. After a lengthy warm-up on the track, Bob called us in for an explanation of what we were going to do next. We ended up doing a paceline again, but this time the person at the front was going to swing off at the start finish line. Before moving anywhere, the person at the front was required to look over their shoulder to make sure the track was clear. (this actually should be done at any time you are riding in a group, even on the road bikes) On entering corner one, the person at the front would then swing high on the banking. Riding high, that person would then look down on the riders passing beneath him. Once around the corner, the lead rider high on the banking would then drop down after corner two and fall in behind the last rider in the paceline. Each rider then gets to pull for one lap then pull off and swing to the rear. I think we did at least 25 to 30 laps before slowing and stopping at the start/finish line for our next session with Bob.

Next we were going to try a double paceline and also do a rotation in the corners again. This was actually quite simply done. As the person moves up from the bottom line to the upper line, the pace actually slows... due to the upper line having the longer circumference to follow, therefore allowing the bottom line to keep moving ahead. We did this again for at least another 20-25 laps, until Bob again called us in for a break and the next item on the agenda.

Our next session dealt with bumping into each other without crashing. The trick to this was only letting your elbows touch each other. This way one still has control of the handlebars, therefore still being able to the direction of the bike. We practiced on the infield area of the velodrome, this way we were in no danger of dumping each other onto the boards. After ten minutes or so of playing bump and shove, we had a short break.

This was basically the end of training... now it was time to have some fun trying a bit a speedwork by doing the "Flying 200 meter sprint". We had to accomplish this in three laps. The first two were done to build up speed and to get as high as possible on the track coming into corner four, where from here you drop down to or below the line at full speed as you reach the 200 meter line after corner one. You now hold or increase you speed as you charge toward the finish line. It's amazing how much speed you can get in such a short distance, by dropping down from the top of the track. It's also totally different trying to hold your line going into the corner at speed. I was really surprised at how difficult it was to control the front end going into corner one. I actually had to back off because the front wheel started to wobble so much.

We all took turns as only one person can be on the track doing this type of event. Here are the times each of us got:

Bill.............15.2 secs
Graham......15.8
Laurie.........16.7
Fabio..........17.5
Arnold........18.3
Gene..........15.6
After another short break we tried doing an individual pursuit. In this event, two riders race each other from opposite sides of the track. One rider starts off at the normal start line and the other rider starts directly opposite that rider on the other side of the track. This was a kilo pursuit, meaning each rider was to do four laps, trying to beat his/her opponent back to their start line. Graham and Laurie had to restart because the watch wasn't started when they left, so they were probably a bit more tired redoing their pursuit. Here are the teams and times: Fabio (1:34.80) vs. Arnold
Graham (1:37.46) vs. Laurie
Gene (1:29.06) vs. Bill
After that bit of a harder work-out we all cruised around the track a few more times. Eventually we all retired of the track and began setting up for the long ride home. We removed our pedals and cycling clothing then returned the bikes to the trailer. We said our good-byes and thank-you's to Bob for a great weekend, then we headed for the vehicles with smiles on our faces, walking and chatting about the weekend that just finished. After stowing our gear in the cars, we jumped in and headed back to Thunder Bay.
Back to DAY 1