Less than a week after the misadventure of the NSW Omnium, it was time to hit the highway for a week in Melbourne for the Vic State titles, followed by the Australian Omnium Champs.
The state titles went off without a hitch. I made the ride off for bronze for the individual pursuit- which I wasn't unhappy about as I have done no specific training for the event! It was never going to result in a medal and the time wasn't going to impress anyone, but it is always nice to get a second ride!
The points race the next day saw me in my element- both competitively and in a mentoring role. I always enjoy being able to help others out in a race. At the moment there are a some ACT girls coming through that have a load of talent, but have limited experience on the boards and in track bunches. It was especially rewarding to see 2 of them get up for gold and silver in the event- nicely done Ailie and Beck :)
After a couple of days hanging out at mum and dad's in Longwood (just north of Melbourne, about 5km off the highway), and spotting koalas on my training rides, it was time to put the race face back on.
The format for the omnium has been revised since it was added to the women's events for the olympics (at the expense of other events, but that is another story). It is now a 2 day event comprising of 6 individual rounds- part of the reason why it was held separately to the rest of the track national champs.
Day 1 started with the flying lap- you can never be unhappy with a PB and it certainly was a great way to start the event! After several hours break, it was back for session two with the points race and the elimination. Despite what the official results say, the points race was actually very successful for me on several levels. The elimination race was another story, a momentay lapse and that was my race over! At the end of the day I was happy to be sitting in 10th position- not a bad place to be. At 1030pm it was time to head back to the cabin, get some food in and try and get some sleep in preparation for the next day.
 |
| Image borrowed from here |
3km individual pursuit started proceedings and it was with the excitement of this being my final 3km IP that I set about the business. I was up against Beck Wiasak who was sitting in 9th place and is a far superior IP rider than me, and it was no surprise that she didn't waste anytime in catching me. The IP in the omnium is a little different- when you are passed you have to continue riding, but you are to allowed to re-overtake if the person overtook you slows down and you are not allowed to draft (but that is not surprising). And so I found out how frustrating it can be to try and take off speed so as to not be drafting but continue to ride to schedule! I am happy to say that I did manage to do just that and was pleased to ride the time I had set myself (which was very conservative) but I have to wonder what might have happened if I had been the only one on the track.
The final two events after the lunch break were the scratch race and the 500m ITT. The scratch race was probably my best round- tactically and performance-wise. All that was lacking at the end was a little more top end speed, but that is coming. And the 500m was, well thankfully only 500m. I hesitated at the start, an artfact from false starting the week before and being caught in the gate, and subsequently lost precious time.
Overall, I finished 9th, with all the others ahead of me being both considerably younger than me, in addition to being full time athletes. As the nanna of the bunch I can't really complain about that!
The week of racing rounded out with the Melbourne Cup on Wheels on the Saturday night. An awesome night in front of a sell out crowd at DISC. I made the final of the wheel race and did my best to make it on to the podium but it just wasn't to be. The Oz Madison Champs were what everyone was there to see, and Cam Myer and Leigh Howard certainly didn't disappoint, and neither did the rest of the competition!
 |
| More photos at http://www.cycling.org.au/?page=45026&format= |
