Training in Invercargill

Last weekend was the final training camp in Invercargill before Paula heads off to the warmer climate of Perth for her pre-Beijing build up. It was a good chance to test run her new dura-ace 160mm track cranks. Those sharp eyed techno weenies out there may well be saying, “aha … but dura ace don’t come in 160mm”, and you’d be right. But these are no ordinary cranks. They are modified 180mm cranks. The hole has been filled in and the crank re-drilled and tapped at 160mm. They work fine too – as long as your guy is careful to drill the hole straight. No problems there though.

Anyway cranks fitted and working ok we got down to it. Two sessions on the indoor boards of Invercargill just a day before the shortest of the year. I seem to remember El Jeffe (http://jeffsbike.blogspot.com/2007/10/report-2-from-sydney-masters-worlds.html) mentioning that this was a fast track because it is artificially heated. Well sorry pal but not in the middle of June its not. We woke up to a frosty morning. The car was covered in ice and when I turned the key the dash lit up with warnings of icy roads. We got to the track and I immediately noticed the temperature was bloody cold which I think is some below 3 or 4 degrees. Even with the nets down and all four netball courts in full swing for the duration of the session it didn’t get much more than a few degrees warmer.

After we’d finished Bruce Ross of Cycling Southland happened to stroll in and said that on frosty mornings they have to keep the air circulating around otherwise condensation forms on the ceiling and it starts raining inside. Unfortunately this keeps the temperature down and the track doesn’t get as fast as Jeff had experienced in the summer. The afternoon session wasn’t much better so we cut it short and went back to the motel to watch the rugby and sky movies. It wasn’t all bad though and Paula did manage some good times considering the conditions. Unfortunately when the netballers are playing we are not allowed to use the derny which means I have to stuff my trousers into my socks and jump on a club bike and pace Paula for her warm up. This isn’t ideal as my fitness isn’t quite at a level where she can get the quality of pacing as she would if I were charging around on the moto.

On our arrival on Friday night I went into the track and witnessed the annual corporate pursuit challenge that they run down there. It’s a very popular event with about 30 teams entered this year. Friday was a seeding round with finals coming up this Sunday. The races are 4 lap Italian pursuits with 4 in each team and must include at least one chick.