I love the fall. The excitement of racing season is over and there is no more pressure to train hard.
The day after the Giro, which led the RBC Gran Fondo Whistler, marked my first official day of the off season. So I dont feel any guilt sleeping in on Saturday mornings, listening to the rain fall outside. I rationalize that I can always ride later when the sun has warmed things up or not go at all.
Besides sleeping in and slacking off, the off season also allows for extra time to try new things.
This year, my new thing is track racing. Right now Im just riding but Im working my way up. Like any new sport, there is a learning curve and a process.
The first time I walked inside the Burnaby Velodrome Club (located on the Barnet Highway in the Harry Jerome Sports Centre) for my first lesson, my stomach sank and I thought I was going to vomit. The 200-metre track is all turns with huge banks. It didnt seem possible that anyone could ride a bike on a bank that steep. But of course, as I watched the cyclists ride around and around and around until I got dizzy, I rationalized that it must be possible.
Before you are allowed to race, you have to attend three Learn to Ride classes and one Learn to Race. Each is 90 minutes.
They handed me my rental bike, which was without brakes and one fixed gear. These are the only words of advice I remember from that first night: Dont stop and whatever you do, dont ride under 30 kilometres an hour or you will fall off the track.
Great.
I was scared, very scared. After a half hour of instruction, our trainer Kelyn Akuna (a U.S. national team rider) sent us out onto the apron, which is the bottom of the track and flat. On the apron we practised just riding the bike.
Once we got comfortable and had enough speed, Akuna told each of us to ride on the Cote DAzur. The cote is a wide, blue band named after the Mediterranean coast and technically isnt part of the track, but rather a point of transition on and off the track. It took all of my mental energy to force my bike onto the cote.
Akuna allowed us to stay here until we felt comfortable enough to move up into the sprint lane (which is slightly banked) and then eventually into the stayers line, which is halfway up the track on the bank.
I had a death grip on my handlebars. Every muscle was clenched, waiting for the moment that my tires would fly out from underneath me, leaving me laying on the track hoping the other beginner track riders would have enough skill to avoid me.
But that didnt happen. We finished the drill and I racked my rental bike unscathed.
By the third class, I was hooked. Still scared but hooked.
What a rush it is to ride on the rail (the top of the track where the bank is steepest and scariest) and then swoop down to the sprint lane with such acceleration.
Now the true test will be my first Friday night track race.
Kristina Bangma is a coach, personal trainer and writer with a love of riding and racing. Email questions to [email protected].
