What a brutal event!! (Alex Bird)

2009 Australian Track Nationals,

Adelaide SuperDrome, Feb 3-8

Final day of competition

Omnium: 500m TT, Flying 200m, 2km IP, Scratch and Points

This isn't regarded as the iron man event of track cycling lightly! All the races that we had already competed in, plus some all in one day! Not only was it a massive day for the athletes- 6 of the 9 ACT team were competing- it was going to be busy for Gerry the mechanic and newly acquired assistant, Matt!

To put it bluntly I was pretty unhappy with the overall outcome for today's race. I made an enormous amount of mistakes (more than usual) and I didn't really allow myself to race well. But, there were some good things. I also have to remember, this was only the second time I had every ridden a competitive 500m TT and a flying 200m! So, to be brief here is a breakdown of my perspective of each of the events.

500m TT: I over-estimated the gear that I should have been on, went out hard and kind of limped over the line. That was a pretty bad start to the event.

Flying 200m: Being surrounded by sprinters for the week I made the most of their expertise. This was probably the event I performed best in! Whilst not the fastest, it wasn't the slowest, it was a PB for me and technically I almost scored full marks! Thanks Gerry, Danny & Birdman for your help!

Finishing off the Flying 200m (photo from Trish Ellis)

Scratch Race: This race started well, with everyone bunched up and aggressive. About 4 laps from the end one of the other girls decided that she wanted to move lower on the track, squeezing the girl who was above me down. Initially I was on the duck boards as we were approaching the bottom bend, then all of a sudden I was riding on the cement in-field!! Somehow I managed to hold my bike up and get back on the boards around the apex of the bottom bend! Now, that was an adventure! Unfortunately by the time I was back on the boards I was off the back of the bunch and had a hard time making up spots, but I wasn't the last one over the line.

2km IP: Lap times were nice and consistent, but overall I would have liked this to have been quicker. Given the level of fatigue I was feeling I can't be too unhappy.

Points Race: The key point of this race was that I finished and I stayed upright! I was so tired by the time we rolled out for this I wasn't sure I would make it to the end. But, I did finish and I have to be satisfied with that.

Final result for the day: 10^th. Not my best performance, but certainly many things to take away.

And that was the end of Track Nationals for 2009. Thanks for reading! :)

You get that. It's bike racing!

2009 Australian Track Nationals,
Adelaide SuperDrome, Feb 3-8

Elite Women's Scratch Race

In hindsight, I enjoyed 95% of this race. I was happy with my position in the bunch and was certainly holding my own- a big boost to my confidence after the races earlier in the week. Jessie and I had a loose race plan going in which was largely going to depend on what the other states had in mind. It was clear pretty early on that it was going to come down to a bunch sprint as the bunch was reacting to everything and not letting anyone get away. That was my plan out the window. With about 4 laps to go the hammer went down to wind it up for final sprint, unfortunately as this happened was swinging off the front and got caught out up the bank. Despite trying desperately to recover some position in the bunch, that was me done, over the line in 15th- somewhat disappointingly given how I'd been feeling throughout the race. Bad timing, and probably I should ave been a bit smarter about that, but the best way to learn is through experience. Jess was in a good spot and made it over the line in 6th.

The other events of the session saw Caitlin 5th in the U19 Keirin and Tom 9th in the elite Men's scratch race.

Post session ice bath. Yes it was cold in there! (Edward, Jess and myself)

Day 4 Slideshow

2009 Australian Track Nationals,
Adelaide SuperDrome, Feb 3-8

3/5 Sprint Teams DQ'd... Oh, no, we take that back, you're all in!

2009 Australian Track Nationals,
Adelaide SuperDrome, Feb 3-8

Day4: Elite Men's Team Sprint and Points Race

What do you get when you add 2 sprinters and an enduro together?
Silver in the team sprint!! :)

In the starter's hands for the qualifier

It certainly wasn't the prettiest bike race you would have ever seen but the effort Tom Palmer put in to hold Danny's wheel was extraordinary, as was Danny's effort to lay off Birdman to ensure that Tom wasn't left behind! The boys qualified second fastest in a time of 46.437 sec, but then the drama started...

First lap- "Wait up Birdman"; Second lap- "Get on Danny's wheel Tom!"; Third lap- "Go Ninga, Go!!"


There was an announcement that they had been disqualified for an illegal change, along with the SA and NSW teams!! "WHAT?" was the collective cry from the mothers and remainder of the team in the stand. After some frantic searching for photographic and video evidence of their changes, it was determined that in fact there changes were legal and the officials had just been a little over officious!

Oh the drama!!

So, it was the gold/silver ride for our composite team, up against the pure sprinters from Victoria- Joel Leonard, Jason Niblett & Ben Sanders. Then, more drama... off the line and the red flag goes up... one of the Vics had pulled their wheel. Get back in the gates and do it again...

Good clean start and it was on. The ACT boys dug deep and managed to stick reasonably close together to look like a team! Birdman got us off to a flier, and a good change to Danny who came through with Tom stuck to his wheel, and then it was up to Palmer to finish. With all his experience as a kilo rider he was able to bring it home in style. Unfortunately the Vics were a well oiled team and being pure sprinters, took out the gold in 44.948 sec with ACT in second in 46.005.

Shortly after his impressive foray into elite men's team sprint, the Ginger Ninja backed up for the 160 lap points race! To our amazement he not only finished the race, but was aggressive and took a solo lap on the field! In the end he finished 7th and was a very spent unit! Awesome effort Tom!

Tom backing up for the Points Race

There is no 'I' in team

2009 Australian Track Nationals,
Adelaide SuperDrome, Feb 3-8

Day2: Elite Women's Points Race

Now, this was a race I was looking forward to, I was confident that I had good form in my legs, and somewhat pumped after Danny and Birdman's sprint finals, Jessie and I were out to have a good race.

But, sometimes the best laid plans just won't work. In a nutshell, I needed a bigger gear if I was to have any chance in this race and once we were away racing it was too late to do anything about that. Bugger!! Despite putting myself in good positions coming into a number of the sprint laps, I could do nothing but let the bunch go past as I spun my legs as fast as I could.

Clearly it was going to be an uphill battle for me to really perform in this race. I was undergreared, couldn't spin any faster, the field was fast and very little in the way of attacks were getting away.

About a third into the race Jessie got away to join up with a WA and Vic rider, this was an opportunity for me to do something useful! Between myself and one of the WA riders we controlled the bunch for a while letting the girls get some points up. Even managed to cover a couple of attacks that tried to get away. Eventually one of the Tasmanian riders escaped us, trying to bridge, but shortly after everyone was back together.

Not long after the 7th sprint I decided it was time for me to have a dig off the front to see what I could achieve. I managed to stay away solo for almost 7 laps- all the while wishing I was on a bigger gear so I could go faster!!- only to be caught on the line by enough of the bunch to push me out of the points :(

The next 15 laps were pretty uneventful and then there was the horrible sound of bikes and bodies hitting the boards, only this time it was directly in front of me. Somehow I managed to avert my eyes away from riders sliding down the boards and jump up the track to avoid the caranage. Somehow Tess Downing (Vic), Malindi McLean (NZ) and Davina Summers (WA) had all got tangled up and come down. A very unfortunate way for a bike race to end, particularly for Tess who had been racing very well all night was sitting in third.

At the end of the race Belinda Goss (Tas) had a very decisive lead over the rest of us, with Skye-Lee Armstrong (NSW) in silver. Up to the crash Tess had been comfortably in third but there was some debate as to whether it should be awarded to her as she had not completed the race. At one point the score board indicated that Jessie was to recieve the bronze (that would have been an awesome result for the two of us), then that changed to Liz Georgouras (NSW) on count back. In the end it was decided that since the crash was within the last 5 laps of the race, Tess was eligible for the medal.

Congratulations to all the girls on a fantastic race and speedy recovery wishes to the girls who came down.

(Tess was taken to hospital with concussion and suspected broken collarbone, but the lastest I heard was that she has no broken bones but has torn the ligaments and muscle away from her shoulder. Davina is up and about and back on the bike. The only news on Malindi is that she may have a broken arm.)

Is it a weapon? Is it a magician? No, it's Birdman!!

2009 Australian Track Nationals,
Adelaide SuperDrome, Feb 3-8

Day2: Elite Men's Sprint Final

The finals of the men's sprint was Victoria vs ACT- Danny Ellis v Shane Perkins for gold/silver and Alex Bird v Jason Niblett for bronze.

Elite men sprint finalists contemplating the next round

After some magnificent rides through the rounds of sprint qualifying, 1/4 and semi-finals, Alex Bird rode two smashing races to win the bronze medal against Jason Niblett. It would be an understatment to say that Birdman was excited :D

Men's sprint podium: Danny (silver), Perko (gold) and Birdman (bronze)

Unfortunately, Danny didn't quite have the legs to match it with Perko, who is current leader of the World Cup Series, and had to settle for silver.

What was I saying about quality v quanitity...

Let's just call that training...

2009 Australian Track Nationals,
Adelaide SuperDrome, Feb 3-8

Day1: Individual Pursuits; Women's Team Sprint and Elite Men Sprint- Qualifying and Round 1.

Let's get this straight, I was not here to ride the pursuit this year! Yes I rode the qualifying round, but I have done nothing in the way of specific training for this event and it was more about getting time on boards and experimenting a little, so there was very little expectation around this event. Matt got a crash course on calling a pursuit in Glenn's absence, and he did a stellar job at that. Unfortunately, I was a little over my scheduled time, but there were a number of positive things to take away from the event if we pursue this further next season.

The girls at the pointy end were very competitive and there were some cracking times ridden by the medal qualifiers: Josie Tomic, Sarah Kent, Tess Downing and Helen Kelly (WA v WA for gold/silver, Vic v Vic for bronze). Jessie posted a PB for the event and was pretty stoked to have pulled that off.

Tom was pretty happy with his ride, again more for time on boards than anything else. And Edward (JM19) was stoked with the time he rode given his limited bike experience, though he did go out at a cracking pace, posting 1:08 for his first kilo-oops! As predicted the track was fast and the JM19 world record was broken in qualifying by Michael Hepburn (Qld) with a 3min16.385sec!

The JW19 girls- Catherine and Caitlin rode the open team sprint later in the day and finished 5th overall. And, our two elite sprinters, Alex and Danny, rode their flying 200m to qualify 5th (10.654sec) and 7th (10.734) respectively, and also went on to win their first round match sprints- well done boys!

Full results for the championships can be found here.

The mum's enjoying the sprint action:
Trish Ellis (upper left), Iron Chef Leanne (left) and Iron Chef Lyn (right).

It's time to step up!

2009 Australian Track Nationals,
Adelaide SuperDrome, Feb 3-8

It's track nationals time, the event that we have been working towards for the last few months. Personally, I appear to have finally kicked this cough that has been plaguing me for weeks and I am pretty sure I got all of my form out from the back of the couch!! Adelaide has been in heatwave for the last week, and thankfully it has cooled to the high 30s (rather than >40C!), though it does make for a super fast track!

Team ducks- keepers of the kiddy pool/icebath!

The ACT has a very small team this year- there is only 9 of us. But, what we lack in quantity, we are making up for in quality ;) For the elite men: Danny Ellis, Alex Bird and Tom Palmer; elite women: myself and Jessie Maclean; JM19: Edward Bissaker and JP Orchison; JW19: Caitlin Todd and Catherine Culvenor. Along with the athletes there are 4 support staff- Brian and MaryAnn Simpson (coach and manager), Gerry Elias (mechanic) and special to Matt for stepping up and driving Glenn's car across with all the gear after Glenn's slight mishap! We also have the iron chef mums with us again to prepare our lunch and dinner- thanks Leanne, Lyn and Elaine!!

Here are some photos of the team relaxing in the backyard of our apartments before competition began.

Dinner as a team;

Icebath (of sorts)- Edward, Jessie & Catherine

Danny and Gerry playing cricket with one of the ducks (ball) and Jessie's thong (bat)- I think Danny hit the duck once!