Izzy has recently attended another RSR and also competed in two of the three SE Regional Youth Omniums. She tells us about her experiences below with accounts which are really helpful for budding competitive riders.
My RSR write up:
On the 29th of May I attended the 3rd RSR of the circuit series. It was held in Gravesend’s Cyclopark. It was a reasonably nice day for late May but a little on the cool side. The day started out on our bikes with 50 miles ahead of us of technical riding.
First of all we started off recapping what we had previously learnt: bunch skills. Then we moved on to bunch positioning and attacking. We began to learn when and how to attack and counter attack. This was very helpful to taking into road races and on the track. While some groups and people attacked we looked at chasing the attacker down in the peleton and leading the peleton into attacking positions and holding positions.
After completing our riding-part of the session we looked at ‘big race’ preparation. We looked at how to train coming up to big races and a little how to eat well for them. I found this really useful as I am wanting to compete in the track nationals next year and will need to step up my training if I want to reach them. Overall I find the RSR very beneficial for races and training and also bring knowledge back to PPYCC for others to learn from.
Omniums:
This is my first season racing therefore these (Welwyn and Herne Hill) were my first Omniums. Until I had entered and got the conformation through that I was allowed to compete at Welwyn Garden City I didn’t know what events I was in for. The day began with a TT which I thought I did averagely in for my first time, I found it tough and only managed 7th place. It followed with an elimination race which I don’t usually enjoy (from experience of the scrl track league.) but thanks to my good positioning I stayed in until 4th placed, it was a good results for my first Omnium and looked forward to better that result further in races to come. The third race was a 500m sprint in heats of 4 which I enjoyed but would have liked to have been in the last heat (top 4 positions). And to finish off the day was a scratch and points race. Unfortunately I couldn’t finish the last race due to my spoke braking but I would have been in with a chance of getting a better placing than a poor 7th.
I was Looking forward to Herne Hill I certainly wanted to beat 7th and beat a few more girls who were ahead of me at Welwyn. The race day had the same structure as the one at Welwyn but I averaged 5th all day until the last race where I, to my disappointment, crossed the line after one specific girl which lead to me finish 7th once again. At Preston park’s Omnium (the last in the Southeast series) I hope to get better than my previous placing and hopefully get the gist and tactics for each of the races.