This is page two of my cycling/racing journal.

Sunday 17th September 2000

Sunday 24th September 2000

Sunday 1st October 2000

Sunday 8th October 2000

Sunday 15th October 2000

Sunday 22nd October 2000

Sunday 29th October 2000

Sunday 5th November 2000

Sunday 12th November 2000

Sunday 19th November 2000

Saturday 25th November 2000

Saturday 2nd December 2000

Saturday 9th December 2000

Saturday 16th December 2000

Tuesday 26th December 2000

Sunday 17th September 2000
Sunday was Southern VETs club racing at Strout Road Mc Laren Vale. Three laps of the home circuit making 48km with the only hill being the rise at Mc Laren Vale township but a long drag towards and up binneys and fast section through Mc Laren Flat. Probably good for a handicap race as a group should be able to stay together. 3rd scratch for Stuart, John De Stafano and I, 5 minutes in front of scratch but 25 minutes behind limit. None of us think we catch limit! Stuart is riding strong again and I struggle but with 3 in the group I can take most of my turns. After 12km, (less than 1 lap), we can still not see the group in front. John says "he's waiting for Chopping Block" and drops off. Stuart and I continue regardless. After ~5km C/B do catch on and we have not seen the next group. Chopping Block are working strongly but not smoothly which makes it hard. I have to miss turns, along with others and there are some strong turns. One of these moves two riders off the front. I use the opportunity to get back on coming out of a corner after which the rest also get back on. I make a comment to a couple of the C/B riders after there are no more turns and we are surging that "I thought this was a handicap race" and that we should be talking turns and working together. I got a firely response about sitting on and not working. Given that I had been working almost to my limit and the person who fired the response was not helping the group much even though he was a lot strong got me angry real quick! I gave heaps back in several directions complete with adjectives to make my point clear! This improved the turns enormously for at least 5km after which old habits returned but by then it did not matter as we were within 5-8km of the finish with the tough binneys section left were turns do not happen. We also say that the leaders we miles up the road, not to be seen and after the finish. I tried to help Stuart get into a good position for the finish but he did not hear my "don't" in front of the "go to the front" and ended up leading to earily and being pushed off into the gravel. Mental note: say "wait" instead of "don't go ...". I was feeling good/strong enough for a sprint, a good sign considering how much work I had done, so I keep a good position and went with the leaders to the line. Only three of us had a go, there were heaps of riders in front that had clearly taken all the placings but it was "practice". I came third but went through the motions nicely always moving forwards. By the way, scratch did not catch us. I am not sure if that means that they to busy fighting, possible, riding very non-smoothly, highly likely, or we actually rode well. I expect the big guns will be there next week so it will be a totally different story again.
Nearly forgot, Somebody else wanted me to ride a higher gear this week, same as last week! I must be a pedaller!! Humm, sorry guys but I need the practice/training for the track when there are no big gears.

Saturday 23th September 2000
Saturday was a nice warmish day, light wind, no rain, great day for training. I rode 70km, Pt Noarlunga Sth to Flagstaff Hill via Commercial Rd, to Clarenden up and down the hills, to Kangarilla, Mc Laren Vale and Pt Noarlungs Sth. Nice solid ride, perhaps a bit hard as preparation for Sunday but I was not going to waste a good Saturday for a race that I probably would not be in the money for.

Sunday 24th September 2000
Sunday was Southern VETs at Strout Road Mc Laren Vale. At sponsored race "Koffee 'n' Snax" with prize money. Div One and Two Handicap Races. 55km and 45 km. 1st $40-, 2nd $35-, 3rd $30, 4th $25-, 5th $20-, 6th $15, Fastest $30-, 1st U/P Lady $10-, 1st U/P 60/64 $10, 1st U/P Over 65 $10. Trophy to look at for Fastest Time (Div One only), Fastest Time, small trophy to retain. Course was standard, Club Rooms to Kangarilla, extra lap around Kangarilla Block for Div One, back to Mc Laren Flat, to Mc Laren Vale, Binney Rd and finish in front of club rooms. My mark was 3rd scratch Div One, group of three including Stuart and Paul, 2 minutes ahead of C/B and 3 minutes behind the next group of 5, 5 minutes to limit. No mans land as normal! Stuart was going strong even though he did a 30km run on Saturday, I do not know how he does it. I started missing turns early and could tell it was not going to be a good day. Paul struggled to do turns with Stuart and at about 15km gave up and waited for C/B. I struggle on as usual and took turns when I could, usual on the flat or downhill, not that there is much of that! We caught one rider who had missed is group then Barry. Barry took a few turns so I let him in front of me. I noticed that he surging even while sitting behind Stuart but know thought nothing of it. First mistake! Second mistake was not paying attention all the time, I looked around for something and touched his wheel, next second I was flying through the air thinking "Shit, this is going to hurt!". It did but I managed to land in the dirt instead of the bitumen and roll so I minimized the impact. I rolled right over and ended sitting up. I group looked but because I was sitting up the keep going, as did C/B who were only seconds behind and watched and then scratch how did not seem far behind either or was that because I sat there quietly stunned for a while. When my head cleared I starting checking for broken and injured parts. Lots of scratches in the normal places, knees, elbows, hips, shoulders and back but no broken bones or ripped muscles. Lots of hirt pride! The whole race had gone past with no sign of a sag wagon so I got up inspected my bike, handle bars, brake levers and dirty but a couple of minutes to straighten things up and I road back towards to finish via all the short-cuts. A quick chat to the handicapper who was standing on a corner. The pain was only coming from scratches so after a few days of Ungvita and bandages I will be fine. Monday is usually my day off anyway.
The race continued happily without me, as you would expect, I got back just in time to see the finish of Div One. Stuart and Paul very caught by C/B who must have then worked very hard as they caught the front and were not caught by scratch. Humm, The only week they get up and I am not there! Is there a message here? Unfortunately Stuart was not even in the sprint bunch. As the wind up for the sprint occurred Stuart could not lift and went out the back. I would have liked to have been there but I suspect that in my current form I would have got nothing except disappointment!
Track racing is my goal and I am pleased to say that track training starts again this Wednesday night so I will be there and waiting with "baited breath" to see if I am stronger or weaker on the track after having spent the last four weeks off the track and trying to do strength and leg speed training. After Wednesday there will be changes to my training schedule.
The cycling at the olympics have been excellent to watch!!

Sunday 1st October 2000
Wednesday
The track season is nearly with us and Wednesday night training has started again at the Superdrome. Oh, did it hurt. A different coach! Everybody up on the blue line for the 20 minute warm up. break-aways in pairs from the group which cruised at 30 km/hr on the blue line. When you get to the front of the group and the whistle blows you and your mate have to attack off the front and take turns riding on the black line until you get on the back of the bunch again. Humm, repeat 5 times. Humm, shagged! Third exercise is 20 lap scratch race. Nope, the legs will not sprint after this!
Can'nt wait to do it all again
Next week is also the start of track racing on friday nights at Edwardstown 440m outdoor track being run by SACF. (Assuming there are sufficient numbers I guess) Saturday
Saturday training was very short as lots of showers came through and all I could do was a few laps around the block and a short ride up the street. I still mananged to get wet and had to clean my training bike! Sunday
Sunday racing as a Club race at Southern VETs, 9am start ~48km handicap to Kangarilla and back. Slightly different return over 3 small but steep, sharp hills just to make it more interesting. Tony and a few other scratch riders were present which meant of got 3 scratch, 3 minutes in front of Chopping Block and 3 minutes to 4th scracth, which was a bunch of 5 riders. Unfortunately only Stuart and I turned up in my group so it was always going to be hard. I started a reasonable pace and Stuart held the pace and took turns for a while at my pace. Once we got out on the road to Kangarilla where the road points up and I wanted to drop the pace Stuart just keep going "as usual" and I have to "hang on for dear life". I did not take a turn for ages until the road level changed and he let the pace slip, accidently I am sure. Fortunately I can go with him on the hills, even take a turn, not that it helps much, but on the long drags I just have to sit on. we caught a few straglers a long the way which we left behind. We even caught the remains of the group which started in front of us but none of them could/wanted to get on and work so we, (Stuart really) just powered on. In the faster downhill but strong head wind section on the way back to Mc Laren Vale I found I could take turns, not big, but turns and help. We were going well and had another group of riders in sight when suddenly Tony cruises up and says "Hi". We were able to lift and get on. He had come from nowhere and brought nobody with him!! My tactics changed instantly! This was going to be very hard but if we could stay with Tony it should a ride to the finish and maybe up to the front of the groups. Stuart struggled a lot, varying from, taking turns to off the back. Taking turns was out of the question for me. It was going to take everything I had to hang on. We caught a couple of groups and Tony put it in a big gear and sprinted past each group. We just hung on for grim death. Because Stuart was up and down I took up first position behind Tony which probably made it easier for me but I tried to give to position to Stuart several times but he couldn't/wouldn't take it. I thought he would have a better chance of surviving but in the end I survived longer but on binney's road (long draging hill) my legs exploded after Tony lifted the pace several times. Bugger, so close, (less than 4kms to the finish), yet so far. Stuart joined me again and we watch the race finish up the road in front of us. Well actually the front was still well out of sight and Tony did not get any where near it either. Humm, the handicaps are not getting any better, my group is to small, I should go up to the next group and Stuart should go back. Whatever!

Sunday 8st October 2000
Wednesday
Training at the Superdrome Wedndesday again as it does not matter whether it is rain or shine. Graeme returned home from the Olympics just in time to coach us again but he took his lead from last weeks coach (Eddie) so it tough again. 20 minutes pace riding to start with which seems to be getting faster each week. Then "Whistle Sprints". Graeme likes whistles! When the whistle blows you sprint hard for 20 seconds at which time the whistle blows again, you ride easy for 1 minute 10 seconds and the whistle blows again for another 20 second sprint. Repeat 6 times and you get a 5-10 minute rest sitting down. Repeat all over again then rest. By sprint five the second time around I was looking for a paper bag. My legs went to jelly and I could not do the last sprint cos' I hadn't found a paper bag and I was sure I would need it if I sprinted. Boy that's hard. After the rest, 5-10 mins max., we split in A and B grade, back to B grade for me! and do two 15-20 lap scratch races. Hanging on is hard enough, sprinting at the end is out of the question. I survive without being dropped, when plenty of other are but using will power. This is going to get me fit and strong for track racing or I will die!

Friday
A short drive from work to the Edwardstown track, cool!, (15 minutes max when you don't get lost). I have never riden here but it looks similar to Hanson Reserve with a bit more slope on the corners and a bit further around. 475m per lap. The lights are the main concern as they have been setup to light the football ground in the middle, which they do well but not the track around the outside. As it gets dark it becomes a bit hard to see in the final corner and I find that I want to back off a bit to get more room particularly in a large bunch with riders chopping around in front of me. There seems to be more chopping on this track for some reason. They will attempt to have the lights adjusted!
About 30 riders paid the $2- training fee with all age groups and both sexes present. Abilities also varied from almost new riders to the very strong. The weather was very nice, no wind, cloud cover to keep it a mild warm evening. Warwick Phillips is the head coach for fridays but he was introduced by Dave Gommer who was also clearly involved in the organising of the event. It is being overseen by the SACF with several SACF officials present. Things ran very smoothly. Warwick was excellent offering lots of encouragement and controlling things smoothly.
First exercise was 20 laps of pace, half lap turns, with the twist that after each 5 laps the pace was to increase. This did not quite go to plan as the pace increased a bit early each time but increase it did. Everybody was meant to hang on for as long as possible, then miss a lap and join in again or form another group. After lap 15 lots of riders were being dropped and I to was dropped but not until lap 18 because I was lucky enough to hold a good position after a couple of chases to stay on. Mmm, tough warm up. Next a small group, (6 riders), 3 lap scratch race. My legs were not really ready for that. I did not have a kick at the end, I just sort of died. Another rest while others race. Warwick kept things moving with nearly two racing going all the time! A handicap race of about 15 riders next. The handicaps were not really large enough but I did a bit better. Rest, then a 10 lap scratch race with about 10 riders. The pace seemed slower in this and I was able to come home much better of the last 200m and move up 2-3 places to get second. First was still a long way ahead. Collin had won all 3 races by large, (large for track), margins.
Hope I got them all and in the correct order, but I doubt it. It was good training and I was again legless but not looking for paper bags!.

Saturday
While I was at friday training I heard that Hanson reserve was starting again today. Weather permitting I would be there. Well I got ready friday night but first thing Saturday morning it was raining, had been raining and looked like it would continue to rain. It also looked like it was raining over most of Adelaide so I did not go. A quiet ride in the after on the mountain bike to and from South Port a couple of times was it.

Sunday
I had nominated for Sundays Southern VETs race at Mt Compass last week so as it was not raining in the morning no excuses were available. 20-30 minute drive, 9:30am start, 2 lap unknown course, but expect some hills. Normal Div 1 and Div 2 handicaps. Tough. 4th scratch for me in a group of six. Great to start with six riders, pitty we are only 6 minutes ahead of scratch and 10 minutes from the front. Even Jim who started 6 minutes ahead of me did not think he would catch the front. Humm, never mind, all this disappeared once we started as it was a tough course, we got a shower of rain just before the start just to dampen this down, and I was finding it hard work. Joe/John would not let anybody stay with the group if they were not doing a turn so it was turns all the way for everybody. In less than one lap there was only three of us left. Joe/John, Stuart, of course and me but I was getting weaker. No change in policy and then finally relief as we a caught by the two groups behind us. I continued to work but not as hard but the course then took it's toll and I was spat out the back on a long climb. I was cracked and creeping. Another couple of guys caught up who must have gone almost at the same time. We worked together for a bit and were holding when we came to a downhill section. The group ahead seemed to be resting so I picked up the pace and we were catching. A few turns and we were nearly on, then it went up again and we were off again, big time. Creeping resumed. Scratch, just two, Peter and Tony came up. With a bit effort two of us got on but these guys were not going to get us up! Scratch split and we went with the back but it did not matter any more as we could see the finish over the valley and not far away. We did not win, scratch did not get up, the group I got spat from did not even get up. Jim won in a group of 12-15 riders that none of us ever saw! Humm, another day another race, maybe next time but I have not actually nominated for next week and if I can track train Wednesday, Friday and track race Saturday I doubt I will race on Sunday. Track racing rules!!!

Sunday 15st October 2000
Wednesday
Training at the Superdrome as normal. More and more riders are turning up each week now with a noticable increase this week. They pace and level is getting noticable harder and faster. In the warmup laps it is a challenge to hang-on to some of the groups that form and fly around the track. In the standard 20 minute session at the start of training it is getting much harder to just hold position. Graeme Zucker took the training and reverted to the format of a few weeks ago with 20 minutes pace, three x 8 lap pace holding 20 - 22 secs per lap and two x scratch races. I selected 22 secs per lap and found that I could just maintain the pace in the second and third sessions after struggling in the first a bit. This leaves me with a lot more left for the scratch races so I decided to stay near the front with five laps to go and see if I could go with them this time. In the first race I got a excellent position and was able to jump-on the train as several attacked with 3-4 laps to go. In fact I was the only one to get on the chasers who caught all but one and felt me in front with one lap to go. With all my effort I could not make any more of the gap, in fact it probably opened a bit but I got second as everybody else had dropped off. The second race was not as good with several jumping away at the end and no train to catch or chance of going too. Great training.
Friday
An even shorter drive from Flinders to the Edwardstown track because I knew were I was going. A cool to cold windy evening with clouds and the possibility of rain. 30+ riders nominate and Warwick si doing the handicaps and running the show, excellent. There is enough for Open A and B grade and U17 A and B grade plus a grade for Road Bike riders. Warwick keeps us moving with lots of different races including 6-10 lap scratch races, 2-3 lap handicap races, a madison time-trial. The order of the races escapes me now. The first race seem to really hurt my lungs and legs and I thought I would be in trouble in the next race but I recovered and actually got better and better as the evening went on. The scratch race were clearly my favourite and I was able to get a couple of second places where as the handicaps were much more out of my control. In one handicap I remember that I could not catch the front and in another we were swamped by the stronger riders from behind. There were a couple of really short light showers of rain which cause no problems. The nights were better with additions lights in place and some re-positioning of the existing lights such that there was sufficient light on all parts of the track.
Saturday
Saturday morning was fine but cloudy when the alarm woke me up so I got ready and headed off to Hanson Reserve. Unfortunately the weather deteariated on the way and it was raining every 10 to 15 minutes at Hanson Reserve. Several other also arrived and we talked and waited and talked and waited but it never quite cleared enough so I had to drive home without turning a pedal. It was fine at home and had not rained during the morning! A couple of quiet rides to South Port was plenty as I found I was quite tired.
Sunday
No racing for me today! I was to tired and decided that I needed the break/rest if I wanted to become fresh and give "track racing" a real go. A short ride up the shop was it for the day.

Sunday 22nd October 2000
Wednesday
Wednesday as the Superdrome was a challenge this week. Not the training, that's great, although A grade is only a dream for me now as heaps of other riders now turn up all of which seem to be much better than me. the challenge was to stay dry. It was raining in the morning when I left for work so the bike got wet on the way to work. It was raining at work so I got wet carrying the bike into work. It was raining when I left work for the Superdrome, I got wet again and the bike got wet on the way to the Superdrome. It was raining at the Superdrome so I got wet carrying the bike into the Superdrome and it was still raining when I left the Superdrome to go home so we both got wet again. Yuck, yuck, yuck but it was another night of hard training. I found out what happens when somebody a couple of lengths in front suddenly swings up high in the final bend in the last lap of a race! It is surprising how fast you can swing up the track when you have to but it does put you out of the place getters in the finish. Nearly forgot! This was my first ride with 90 inch gearing instead of the 88 inch I had been using before. I could certainly feel that it was bigger as it pushes back harder and I never felt like I was over revving. It felt good as I was still able to wind it up quick enough to keep up and there is room for growth and improvement. Now lets see how we go up against Collin!
Friday
Friday was a really nice evening. I was a bit tired during the day but somehow it all seems to wash away when I arrive at the Edwardstown track at 5:30pm after a 15 minute drive from work. The first shock of the evening was that Collin was promoted to A grade, followed by cheers, clapping and congratulations from most of the B grade riders. He had won three out of three race last week and several by a large margin. I now know how to get to A grade, or is it, I now know how to stay in B grade! That upset my plans quite a lot as I was going to use Collin as my reference point to find out how I was going. First race was a 3 lap scratch as usual. I am finding that I am not wonderful in the first race but I does not stop me trying. I made a big mistake, I went way to early and found myself being held up on Phil's, (Big Phil), hip for three quarters of the last lap and when it was time to go/jump coming out of the lap bend I had nothing left. I found some post holes that need digging and went backwards through the field. The handicap races were a little frustrating in that you put in heaps of work to get up to the front, or near to the front and in the last half lap there is a big whoooosssh and several/half a dozen riders come past and you are out of the placing instantly and there is nothing you can do about it. It's great training but I have not control over what is happening at the end of the race. We also did a another madison time trial. We, David and I, did a good change again and improved our time by 1 second over last week. We did not even come last this week because another pair did a really bad change. Phil beat us all again in the next scratch race using the same method of getting out in front and winding up the pace with three quarters of a lap to go and somehow making the pace to high for anyone else to get over him at the end. Both Chris and I tried by sitting on Phil, then jumping and giving it everything out of the last corner. We both made up ground on him but not enough to get past. Collin has put his gear ratio up to 94 inches to keep up with A grade. Oh dear, I am not ready for 94 inches. Our last race was a "Missing out"/Elimination race with five free laps at the start and then one rider out every lap after until there are only two. I had never done one of these so I decided to stay in the middle of the pack, (11 riders), but on the outside, and try to follow the moves of the more experienced riders. The first five laps were a nice warm up. The work started and it seemed easy to begin with just watching and counting riders and moving forward around the outside to make sure that my wheel was not the last one over the line. Once the group gets down to five it starts to get harder and I deliberately boxed a rider in on the last bend then sprinted up and over so as not to be last. I suspect I did it again the next lap but I can't actually remember, it may have been just a big sprint around the outside hanging on for dear life. The next lap with three riders I defiantly held Collin down and boxed in so that unless he backed out he would be last I held him there as long as I dared actually easing him back off the group as well. Finally he decided that he would have to back out and go around. As soon as he had commited himself I jumped and took off to try and get up to the other two riders how had a gap on us. I knew I was in trouble as we crossed the line but I waited for the judges, as they can be wrong at times, quite often actually. They called Collin out, he had made the mistake of going up the inside, on the duck board. He was first over the line but that does not count if you are on the duck board. Two riders left and I am one of them, Cool!, I have the back seat position, as preferred by me, I want to win and it has been hard work to get this far but I am sure Eadie, in front, is thinking the same. Eadie likes a long wind up so he is quite prepared to stay in front all the way. I am hanging on hoping that he can not wind me off. Around the last bend and I give him a little room so that I can jump and Graeme Zucker, the commentator has me out of the race, I forget what he actually said but he thought I was going to dig some more post holes. Not true, I have other ideas and the legs are willing. I leave it until the last second, as long as I dare anyway, and jump as hard as possible, I automatically rise out of the seat and do a road sprint, old habbits die hard, but I get the required speed, Eadie is surprised to see me coming past and can do nothing about it. I sit down to cross the line with half a length lead. Cool! I like Elimination races. Graeme has to change horses and announce me as the winner.
Saturday
Saturday morning was always going to we fine and warm so up early, good breakfast and off to Hanson Reserve. This will be the first race for the season at Hanson after 2 false starts. The big shock for the morning is that Collin gets A grade again. Ok, I will concentrate on Phil today and measure my performance against him. Humm, first of three scratch races and he leads out, winds it up and no one can get past. First race hurts as usual and is a warm-up pipe opener etc, not to worry. Second scratch race over 12 laps basically the same thing happens all over again. Humm, something has to be done here. I talked to Dave during my break and he tells me that I have to stop Phils run by holding him down or slowing him down from in front. OK, last scratch race, I keep close to/around Phil most of the time but not necessarily on his wheel as there is a lot of wheel swapping going on and you can burn up a lot a energy if you insist on holding a particular wheel. With about one and a hlf laps to go I see a real opportunity so I move forward a length to close a gap and at the same time hold Phil up on my hip so I am one from the front getting cover while he is out in the breeze. I figure that if this killed me with three quarters of a lap to go in a previous race it should hurt Phil with one and a half laps to go. The rider in front of me go nice and hard although a couple of times I notice that he has realized the he is in front with to far to the finish but fortunately he just digs deeper and keeps going. Phil stays out in the breeze for ages and I am definitely not letting hime back in so he finally droppes back to where I can not see him any more. I am watching my lead-out to make sure to does not quit on me and watching for wind-ups/jumps from behind. Nothing happens that I can see so going out of the last bend, a bit early, but I need to cover the un-doubted attach which will come from behind, I jump out of the saddle and do a road sprint wind-up to full speed, sit down and drive for the line with-out looking around. It is good enough to win! Humm, last event of the program again, is there a message here somewhere ?
Sunday
Rest day, short ride on a small gear just to try to get the soreness out of the legs.

Sunday 29th October 2000
Wednesday
Superdrome training with a slightly bigger gear. I have decided to try 51x15 (91.8 inches). I have been having trouble with the nuts not being quite tight enough on the front wheel so I have also changed front wheels. This was a big mistake as the front wheel seemed to have a large lump in the single and this made it hard to push. I struggled all evening. Friday
Track Racing racing at Edwardstown 6pm start. the first race was a one lap Handicap (475 metres) Open A & B grade. Gavin on scratch, me 65 metres, Phil 70 metres, David 80 metres. Because Collin was in B grade tonight, he has been shifting from A to B and back again, I thought that this race might be my best chance for the evening. As we were taking our marks I asked Phil (5m ahead) if he was going to take-me up. He said, No, He was a slow starter and would probably not be able to help me at the start of the race. I knew David would be no help either so I decided to go really hard at the start and see how things turn out. I was past Phil before I got down to the black line and past David 20 metres later. There was no turning back now so I stayed standing up and sprinted as hard as I could to get to maximum speed. Coming out of the corner heading for the finish line I tried to have a look around, still not very good at this, but could see nobody but I knew they were coming. The legs were hurting but I focused hard on the up coming finish line and hoped that no one could be passed as I felt that I was getting slower and slower, (They tell me I wasn't but it's the feeling you get). No one did get passed and I won!!!!!!!! Great feeling to win. 20 metres after the line Gavin came flying past but it does not matter. The huge effort that I had put in to win suddenly became obvious as my legs were screaming and my breathing was way out of control. A couple of laps to wind down but the legs still hurt when I sat down to watch the next event. Our next race was an elimination with 3 free laps at the start. I was still hurting and automatically fell into the back. This actually worked very well for me and I was able to do little sprints each lap and survived until there was only Colin and I left. With my legs still hurting there was no way I could beat Colin and happily settled for 2nd. I guess we had another scratch race, I do not really remember, and I probably came second to Collin again. The bigger gear was a help for sure. I was still able to jump and get on top of it, just. 91.8" will do for a while! Saturday
Track Racing racing at Hanson Reserve 9am start I was there but I have little recollection of what happened! I think I remember one Handicap race, C grade I think, where I started on scratch with riders stretching out in front of me until limit was 70 metres. An honor starting on scratch but I could not see how I was going to win given that it was only a 1 (one) lap race. I tried to start hard, to catch Chris 5 metres ahead, but found that I did not get a roll off the bank as I have come to expect starting in a handicap. (It's flat back on the scratch mark!!!) I did get onto Chris but I had to hope that he would take me up as I was not feeling strong enough to go past yet. By the time I did feel I should try to go past it was to late. We had made up all of handicap ground but no one had actually passed anybody and we all finished together but in the same order as we started. Started last finished last! Humm.

Sunday 5th November 2000
Wednesday
Superdrome training as usual. Solid effort but still in B Grade. Just looks to hard in A Grade. Friday
Track Racing racing at Edwardstown 6pm start. The last event at Edwardstown for a while Saturday
Track Racing racing at Hanson Reserve 9am start. Probably my last Saturday morning race for a while as the Superdrome will start on Saturday Nights next week. Can't remember what happened!

Sunday 12th November 2000
Wednesday
Track training at the Superdrome Solid effort but still in B Grade. Maybe A Grade soon. Saturday
Track Racing at the Superdrome on Saturday Night.
This is were it gets serious. I have trained for this for so long. Nobody has come to watch me, a good thing as it turn out as I do not get a place in any of my races. Everything seems to be happening around me and I am not in the right places at the right time. The last race as particularly bad as I was nearly lapped by the 1st, 2nd & 3rd place getters. Several other riders were lapped! Kerin Modra and Rosealee Hubbard were just way to strong. I tried to learn from each race but I left very disappointed.
Sunday
Sunday probably marks the start of serious weight training in an effort to get much needed strength in the hope that I might be able to sprint, or at least go with, the leaders in last couple of laps of the races.

Sunday 19th November 2000
Wednesday
Track training at the Superdrome was very hard tonight because I decided that it needed to be, so that Saturday night racing might not feel so tough, and I put myself in A grade for all exercises. The first pace riding was 15 minutes instead of the normal 20 minutes so I just told myself just to hang-on for a bit longer, just hang-on for a bit longer, just hang-on for a bit longer and it will be over! The second exercise was all in whistle sprints. 8 of. A 20 second sprint from walking pace followed by a 1 min 30 sec recovery. The first couple are OK but the last couple really hurt. The third exercise was break-aways. Two groups on opposite sides of the track. when the whistle blows the leader of each group jumps off the front and catches the back of the group in front. Just time for one 15 lap scratch race. I survived with the bunch in A grade all the way to the line.
Saturday
Track Racing at the Superdrome on Saturday Night.
My first race is the Open B Derby Heat. Collin, Kerin, Rosealee etc. are not in this heat, Kerin is absent and Rosealee has moved to A Grade, so this looks like a good chance to go for a win. A Derby means that it is a short race, 4 laps, and no one has to take turns, a sprint race with 4 riders really. I made the mistake of lining up on the fence first. When I rolled away the rest followed, when I swung up they all swung up too. Humm!, I swing up again and again but I am still in the lead, now riding at the top of the track with no where to swing up to. Two laps down, two to go and I do not want to be on the front so I slow down going into the corner and hope I do not slide down the banking. It works, they all slowly go past and I am last wheel. We are still more than half way up the track going through the corner with a lap and a quarter to go. Eddie is on the front but looking around heaps and also looking like he will jump soon. I am still at the back and high up on the track. It occurs to me that my only chance is to jump really soon while I still have the advantage of being high on the banking and go to the front, go long and hard and hope that they can not get around me when/if I start to die towards to line. Shortly after thinking this I detect a movement from Eddie that says he is going, so I jump, diving down the bank at the same time with full commitment. I meet Eddie down on the black line but I have half a wheel in front which causes him to hesitate. This reinforces my commitment to go for the line. I think they are coming!, but I think I will win! but I do not back off until after the finish line. A Win!, cool, and I made it happen. It did not kill me either!
The Open B Derby Final is my next event. After last time I carefully get behind Collin on the way out of the pits up to the starting fence. I doubt that I can beat him but I should be able to come second if I follow Collin. I carefully follow Collin, who is first in line, everywhere. Fortunately he is happy to lead. It turns out to be a parade with everybody finishing in the order we started and none of the positions being close finishes.
The Open B 24 Lap Points Race with 4 sprints is next. I did not really try in the first sprint. I just wanted to stay with the leaders. I did a poor job of that as shortly after the sprint there was a break and I was on the wrong side of it. I spent the next 10 laps chasing, working with several others, until I eventually got back on with 3 laps to go. I slotted into the bunch and watched. Much to my surprise Phil swung up with one lap to go leaving me in the lead! Deciding that this was to good to be true I gave it my all and again hoped that they would not be able to get passed me. No one did so I took the last sprint. Good, pitty about the middle of the race.
Another 18 lap scratch race. I carefully followed Collin. when he jumped I jumped. This time I was with him. Now could I get past? He had jumped with one and three quarters to go, his pet distance. I was right on his wheel. I figured I had to leave it until the final straight so I sat and tried to conserve strength. Unfortunately he kicked through the last corner, or did I ease?, and got a metre away from me. I gave it my best shot and made up the metre plus another one but it was not enough. 2nd again. Later in the even Cathy calls me "Michael Young 2nd". You always get 2nd. Humm!

Sunday 26th November 2000
Wednesday
Track training at the Superdrome. I trained really hard again in A Grade. By the last scratch race I was done. Saturday
Track Racing at the Superdrome on Saturday Night.
The first thing I did once in the pits was to walk over to the "Events & Grades" posted on the wall and look for Collins name to see if he had been moved to Open A Grade. No such luck! That was Plan A. Moving to Plan B. I had decided that if Collin was not in A Grade then I would change up a gear ratio. 91.8" (51x15) up to 92.6" (52x15). Hesitation, but I decided that I changed it quickly and went out for 20 minutes warm up I should be able to get-a-feel of it and decide if I could handle it. I had a calm, controlled warmup taking turns with several different groups, but always the fastest group. We seemed to be moving quickly and I felt great. One jump and a one lap sprint to finish off which also felt fine. No turning back now, I am going to take my chances on the 92.6" even though I would be much happier if I had trained on it for one night at least.
Race One - Open B 8 Lap Pursuit
This became a nice warmup event because the teams were badly balanced with 5 of the better riders in one team and only 4 riders in the other team. It was clear before we even started that we would lose Dale fairly early in the pursuit and be down to three riders against 5 riders. We were never going to win and I could not think of any reason to bust-my-bum trying. The race started and finished with incident, we were one quarter of a lap behind.
Race Two - Open B 15 Lap Scratch Race
Now this is where things start to get serious. This is one of Collins favourite events and I was determined to either beat him or get real close. Unfortunately I was not close to Collin in the line so I decided that I have to do something special. Coming up to two laps to-go I was at the back of the bunch. Bad! From the back it looked like things were going to happen real soon so I decided to go. I jumped through the corner but climbed up the banking so that I could get around everybody cleanly and get a big surge of speed as I came off the banking down onto the straight. In the middle of this manoeuvre things were looking really good until I spotted that Collin had also decided to jump. First I thought I would get past him, then I thought I would get on behind him, then I was chasing trying to get on. The rest of the bunch were blown away, as I had hoped, but I had a three length gap on Collin which I could not seem to close. I held the gap finishing second with daylight to third but it did not make me happy. I hope this was not going to set the tone of the evenings races.
Open B 14 Lap Progressive Points Race
What a strange race. 14 laps. 1st on lap one gets 1 point, 1st on lap two gets 2 points ... 1st on lap fourteen get 14 points. No points for second or third, a sprint every lap, no free laps. Talking before the race the guys suggested that it would be best, if possible, to win the last couple of sprints and earn maximum points. Phil also smiled broadly when it was suggested that someone might try and break away and really break up the field. This looked really ugly and I decided that I would call in the only plan which seemed half sensible which was to stay with the leaders but not at the front and see what happens. Phil took the first sprint, humm, this could be a problem but no, Greg jumped off the front and took a 5 length lead giving him the second, third and fourth sprints easily. This clearly worried Collin who wound off the front of the bunch. Fortunately I was close enough and decided that if it was good enough for him then I better be there. I got on Collin and sat. Humm! now what was I going to do. Collin took sprint five, six and seven then to my surprise swung up. Maybe we were going to take turns and keep going. I was happy to be in this as we had a sizable gap at this stage. A quick look over my shoulder and Collin is gone, out of sight! Another look to check on the gap. It's big. Plan B, I will pursuit as long as I can out here on my own and hope that I can get enough points. I took sprints eight, nine, ten and eleven. People seemed to be yelling encouragement at me for the twelfth sprint so I put in some extra effort in the straight towards the line. I just won the twelfth sprint from a fast finishing bunch. They did not ease up and went straight past, clearly thinking about the next two sprints. I tried to go with them but the legs would have none of it. I finally got up to there speed and held them at the same distance not that it really mattered. I had not done any calculations along the way. Pedalling so hard for what seemed forever, took all my concentration so I was really pleased to hear of the PA system that I had won! Cool! What a mongrel race!
Open B Elimination
The talk amongst the guys at the start reinforced my thoughts that there was two ways to ride these Elimination races. (Well two ways for sprinters, other options apply for pursuiters), One is that you sit second wheel up the track just a bit so that you get a sit but can come past if necessary. You rely on sitting on a good pursuiter that will hold the pace high enough to stop the rest coming around and over. Second option is to ride from the back of the race and sprint up and around each time it counts. You must be careful not to let anyone above you or hold you down or back. Well Collin got himself into second wheel behind Phil and was looking pretty so I decided to go to the back and play the yoyo game which I feel better about doing but I think it is much harder. It starts off easy to sprint up and around but gets hard and hard. I quickly found that if you play the waiting game and hold other riders down you can ge them eliminated, just as long a you still have the strength to sprint and you do not take on somebody to good for you. Things were going well until about 5 riders to-go and the legs really started to hurt. The teeth were gritted and the sprints got longer and harder and I survived. Three riders to go. Phil on the front, Collin and me. Collin has a look around and decides that it is time to sacrifice his lead-out man so I also need to beat Phil. I say this move coming earily enough and put it a big sprint to survive. Just Collin and me. The sprints are every second lap so we relax and look at each other for one lap. I carefully stay above him where I can see what is going on. I need to make this a short sprint so I am very relaxed, making no jumpy moves. Three quarters of a lap to go and Collin is getting edgy, somehow I am underneath him but I do not take my eyes off him for a second. He jumps, I look straight ahead and jump as hard as I can desperately wanting to be in front. I get to the black line in front racing full steam waiting for Collin to come around. It is not until I get half way up the final straight that I look around and find the Collin has given up and is way back. Cool! I have beaten the King in a one-on-one race. Excellent!
As I wind down over a couple of laps a couple of people call out "A grade". Not yet, it takes 3 laps to recover
Tonight I am really pleased, I have two 1st's and two 2nd's beating Collin in two out of three individual races. He still has the speed, but I can match it, I just need to be there or preferably jump first and be in front.

Saturday 2nd December 2000

Racing was much tougher tonight with the late inclusion of a couple of wild boys from Whyalla into Open B Grade. They took 1st and 2nd several times leaving the rest of us to fight for 3rd place which was tricky for me as Collin seemed to be able to be in the right place at the right time for often. I felt out of my depth.

Saturday 9th December 2000

The Whyalla boys were back again so both Collin and I are looking for ways of getting a place as these guys are to strong for us. My win in the Kerin seemed easy as neither Collin or the Whyalla guys were in my heat. The real challenge was to get a place in the final. 3rd was all I could manage if I remeber correctly. I raced harder and better tonight but only one 3rd place to show for it.

Saturday 16th December 2000

Racing 9am Saturday morning at Hanson Reserve. I don't seem to feel very strong this morning and nothing much works so the results are pretty poor.

Tuesday 26th December 2000

As part of the "Glenelg Foreshore 26-31 December 2000, Bay Sports Festival" the City of Holdfast Bay held there 2000 Cycling Championships. As you can guess it is held on the Glenelg Foreshore and consists of a set of Criteriums for 7 grades of riders. The circuit was a new one, see picture below. I new I would like it as soon as I saw the map. Lots a slow corners, very technical and a small circuit.

The Start/Finish was slightly more than half way down Colley Tce. Proceed towards Anzac Highway, 180 degree U-turn just before the intersection round-about, back along Colley Tce, 90 degree left into Augusta Street, right into Torrens Square and follow the round-about back onto Augusta Street, 90 degree left turn back into Colley Tce, 180 degree U-turn just before the intersection round-about with Jetty Road, continue back to the Start/Finish. Total distance approximately 1km, 2 x U-turns, 2 x 90 degree turns and one round-about.

The Roads were all closed and cleared of traffic and parked vehicles for the day. Heaps of people were there to watch lining Colley Tce on both sides two or three deep is the best places.
Total Prize Money $7500- cash, cool!. The 1st place prizes were:
Seniors A Grade: $1000-, Seniors B Grade: $300-, Seniors C Grade: $200-, Women: $400-, Masters A: $250- Master B: $180-, U17 A Grade: $100-, U17 B Grade: $70-.
Seniors A Grade paided to 10th and most others paided to 5th.

These races have been running since 1980 and seems to have a strong following with great organization, prize money etc etc.

I arrived at 7:30 am because the action started at 8am and I was not sure what time my race would be. I did some warm up laps before they started racing. The corners were really tight and intense concentration was necessary to hold your position particularly in the 180 degree U-turns.
I knew about half of my group, Masters B, We started at 9am and the race consisted of 30 minutes plus 2 laps. This would be plenty to sort the sheep from the goats and produce a winner. The other races split up by half way and the winner was reasonably clear by then. My tactics were always going to be to stay up the front, in any break-aways of more than 3 people and just try and hang in there at all costs. I figured that if I could be in the front group at the finish I should be able to get a place. 1st would be nice and that was always the aim but it would depend on the last 180 degree U-turn. I moved up the towards the front off the line and the pace was hot from the beginning. Greg and a couple of others were pushing hard on lap one. A solo break-away happened by about 3 and about 6 of us chased hard for ages and slowly seemed to be getting him back. About 20 minutes of chasing (2/3 of the race) and he came back to us. He got tired or something and came back, we did not catch him. The pace did not slacken fortunately or somebody else would have been off the front again until 3 laps to go when Greg made a huge effort and got a big gap in no time. That looked like 1st taken care of but I could not do anything about it as I hard only one more sprint in me and I had to save that for the finish. Keith had other ideas and moved from no-where to 1st wheel, not counting Greg. This caused a big jump in speed to a level which I thought was dangerous but I held my nerve and we flew though the last 90 degree corner. Just one was corner (180 degree U-turn) and the sprint to the line. I knew that this was going to be the decider and I tried as hard as I could to get it right but unfortunately a couple of guys did a better job than me and I only came out 5th or 6th wheel. Greg had come back a long way and Keith seemed to have a good lead over the bunch. I gave it everything as soon as I was around the corner and very quickly picked a one place. This made me thing it might still be possible and I sprinted ever harder and changed up a gear or two. I managed to pass a couple more guys but could not reach Keith. 3rd for me. At some stage in the sprint we went flying past Greg who did not even get a place in the end. I was pretty happy with 3rd. $95- for 32 minutes. Most of my track racing mates had gone out the back and got lapped during the race. It was a road riders race and I hadn't done a road race for months.

The Senior A Grade race was won by Corey Sweet with brother Jay Sweet a close second. They broke away mid race, worked together and crossed the finish line arms linked held high, to the delight of the crowd. Stuart O'Grady was broken and followed Russell Van Hout for 4th place.

The Gills had a great day with Russell winning U17 B Grade, Allan winning Masters A Grade and Shane getting a place in Senior B grade.