Saturday was a great day at camp! We started out the biking with a skills section in the parking lot at the Southwest corner of the OTC campus. We worked on turning skills in the midst of a timed course. First run turning mostly left, second run mostly right. We focused on communication, positioning of our feet for the most efficiency through the turn and the apex of the turn for approach. My stoker and I had good success with this! Although on our second timed course we were thrown a bit off our line dodging a squirrel in our path! We then had a coned course to replicate a time trial u-turn. This was a tight turn. Our execution was fair at best - turning a tandem this tight is very different from turning a single so I did not select the best line for us. Learning opportunities! The start/finish lines for these courses was a tight narrow turn that relied intention to successfully navigate. We did ok with that - much room for growth.
The next task was a slalom course. The start/finish was lined by cones on both sides which were very narrow (about the width of our bike) and start was uphill. The cones on the course were also pretty tight which made navigating through the turns very challenging. Needless to say there was much room for improvement there. We graded ourselves a G figuring we didn’t make the grading scale!
We then moved to a field of soaking wet grass. We had played in the mud a bit on day two and learned that moving through slop is challenging! The goal of this session was to be the slowest. It required much control of the bike and lots of intention and communication. We put our foot down one time on the first go but managed to make it to the end. In the “money” round we made it through to the final heat and ended up third overall. My strategy was to get across the course as many of the competitors were not making it slowing the pace so much that it caused falls or feet off the pedals. Fun to have success! https://www.relive.cc/view/1568098837
We then rolled back to camp. Had a quick brunch and prepared to head out again. This time rolling to the velodrome for round two. My stoker and I decided that our rides to the park are getting easier each day! A true confirmation of the development we have made together! We arrived at the velodrome - went through the process of getting to the track and set up to go. We road the warm-up track for a bit to settle into our routine. We then shifted to the apron and were able to move up to the sprinter lane. Big milestones together! The next activity was a 1 Kilo Time Trial. We were able to execute our standing start and successfully complete the event staying in the sprinter lane. Our time 1:44.9. We were slower but not by much and based on the fact that was one of our first real track rides we were both quite satisfied! There were some addition TT and ride opportunities changing up bikes, pilots and stokers and lots of opportunity to observe and learn. We all got back on our original bikes for cool down and this actual turned into my stoker and my best track ride yet! We found a groove! https://www.relive.cc/view/1568098837
We rolled back to the camp after getting back out of the dome through the tunnel and unwound for a while. I had the opportunity to meet with the athletic trainer, get a shower, clean up and prep a bit for tomorrow and catch up with family and messages before heading to dinner and meetings. The day wrapped up with some laundry and lights out.
Welcome Day 5 - I hear we are having hills for breakfast followed by 20K Time Trial Course Recon for our race on Monday.
Here we go!
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