Hooked – YES. Dreaming of going back… almost daily.
Basically i have wanted to race track for a very long time but it just never came up until recently when Michael bought his KHS [aka Fuji by myself]. He started attending the Raw Track Series at Dunc Grey and I had decided to try at some point to make my way down and spectate. By the time I had a free friday Churchy had already brought a second bike, a second hand Felt which is bloody nice, which left his KHS as a spare.
So he offered me a ride. I at first didn’t take him up due on the offer but as the day drew closer that I could actually make it to the track, he mentioned again that I could borrow it. This time I agreed and decided to give it a go. We met up after work on the friday and thankfully I was there early enough to get my head around it a bit, without the usual rush before a weekday race.
After getting all kitted up we rolled out for a bit of a warm up. I had no issues at all until I hit the first bend and realised how fucken steep those bloody banks are. Rob Parbs was there as well and he explained you need to be traveling a min of 25km / hr to make it around the bank without sliding off it. After we hit the second bank at a faster speed I was still totally shitting myself and toyed with the idea of just rolling back into the center and sitting down for the night.
After the third or fourth warm up lap my confidence returned and I felt comfortable – but it was all only that way because of speed. The faster you go on the boards the more confident you become. We rolled back in and then waited around till my first race in novice.
Novice had 3 riders including myself. The two other riders were father and son. The son was about 15-16 I think so his father must have been a bit older than me. First race was 8 laps where we just rode the first 4 then it was a sprint to the finish for the the final 4. I found the race really easy as my form was way better than the other two.
Race 2 was a handicap with the three of us again but it was this race when I began to learn about track riding. It was pretty much the same except as the guy running it said to me – “your running last because your fucken fast” – lol. Having said that I was pwned this race. I just didn’t time anything right and as it turned out I ran out of gas with about 3/4 of a lap to go. I had gone out way to hard, and not paced myself properly so I basically died. Well I beat the son but the dad was about 4-5 bike lengths in front as he crossed the line.
For the final the son unfortunately had issues with his asthma so he couldn’t make the start line. Again it was a handicap start but we were both being paced this time by Div 1 riders [the fast dudes]. Told to ask the Div 1 rider to speed up as we felt fit, it again was a 4 x 4 race. 4 laps with our lead out guy then he would pull off and we had to sprint to the end. I was on the Div 1′s case the whole time to speed up. I don’t think he was expecting me to push him that much. I had sorted my pace and finish out and had taken the dad in the back straight before the final straight to the line.
Track bike racing is bloody amazing. With very little variants from wind, traffic, bush, trails etc it is an extremely pure form of racing where you have to know exactly what your body is capable of at all times. You have to set out with a plan and stick to it as much as possible. I really want to do some more but its just another discipline I can’t see happening mainly due to timings and budget. Track bikes are pretty cheap but another bike is just not going to happen. Not for a long time anyway. I’ve made a pact with myself. I am going to try my darnedest to make it to as many Summer Crit races I can this year.
As for Churchward. Well this video says it all. With silly working hours and no training he is still proving to be a great track rider. Having only moved up into Div 3 on the night he took a win and placed in most other races. As the MC says CHURCHWARD… and thanks for the bike, so good. oh so good.
