Yes you read it right, a 24 hour race in a Velodrome. Until now I’ve avoided any long distance races like the plague, they go against everything I enjoy about racing and I’d much rather go flat out for a short time. But I have persuasive friends and decided to be open minded and give it a try.
First was the slight issue that I’ve never ridden in a velodrome before so I found myself on Monday evening at the new track in Grenchen to learn the ropes. I had Fiola to teach me and quickly realised I just needed to turn my brain off an follow her so after a few minutes I’d forgotten about having no brakes and we were shooting around at the top of a 45 degree slope at high speed. I finished the evening buzzing and almost looking forward to the 24 hour thing.
I did the race for the Big Machine Club with four others who all happen to work for BMC so I was spoilt with a super pimped out bike for the day. Our strategy was 35 minutes on, 35 break, 35 on again and then a break of 3 hours with a total of 8 times on the track each. So really it was 4 sets of 2 x 35 minute intervals spread over 24 hours. Easy right? I was expecting 24 hour races to be a bit slow and lacking in adrenaline but our team strategy meant we were riding flat out fast for the full time. Breakaways came and went, sometimes you were on with strong guys and it hurt like hell, legs burning counting down the minutes until a teammate took over.
Riding a few laps following someone you trust is a bit different to jumping into a high speed bunch race but by the time I was up it was a case of sink or swim. It was a bit freaky riding at 40kmph being boxed in front and back with people riding just above my head knowing that i had no brakes but I tried not to think about it and got more comfortable as time went on. It certainly wasn’t boring (maybe because riding the track was still a novelty to me), you had to concentrate hard, stick to the wheel in front, watch for riders flying past above, decide to jump and keep up with faster guys, sprint to close gaps as others lost the pace, bury yourself with a turn on the front.
In the long breaks there was time to shower, eat and get an hour or two of sleep so that you recovered a bit for the next interval. Riding at 4.30am after an hour sleep was the hardest for me mentally but the most painful were the last two intervals to finish of the race at 7pm – there was no winding down at the end, the speed went up and despite burning legs, sore hands and problems with sitting on the saddle it was totally eyeballs out, full gas racing until the end. Luckily I had the loudest spectators in the velodrome cheering for me making it easier to give it all before collapsing at the end!
We finished the 1st mixed team and 2nd overall with an average speed of over 42kmph over the 24 hours (results here). Great event, very well run and I’m surprising myself by saying I would recommend it. Now seriously considering how I can justify getting myself a track bike…
