The KILLarney Race Track Ride/Race

Every Tuesday our provincial club organises an hour of uninterrupted track time at our local race circuit - Killarney Raceway. It's run for fun but in a sort of criterium way where you do as many laps as you can in an hour.

Anyone who has been to Cape Town knows that in summer, the wind can pump in the evenings. We're talking gusts of around 50-60kph with an accompanying breeze of 35kph. It's hell to ride in but the roadies love it, it makes them strong they say.

It's the first one of the year and I've committed to them to try and gain a few extra Watts for the mountain bike cross country season I'm entering. I lack outright maximum power compared to the other competitors. For those interested in numbers, my FTP is around 270W at 63kg. I'm hoping to get that number to 290 or even 300W. The criterium style road riding, flat out, heart exploding, all in hour effort should help a little, I'm told.

Today's session hurt, like really hurt. I lasted a lap with the fast guys until the wind knocked me off the wheel and I couldn't make it back on. Truth be told I was on the limit anyway. After that I found a small group of 3 for the rest of the hour, one of which was my mate Jody, in the pic smiling as his beastly legs have towed me for 45mins. What a legend.

I'm done, legs are dead weight but it feels good. Glad I've got another rest day tomorrow before I hit the gym on Thursday for some strength training. First race is early Feb. Anyone else out there training for something hard and motivated to achieve it? I read pretty much all the cycling stuff on steemit and it looks like a small group, but there are some interesting stories out there. Keep updating...

https://www.strava.com/athletes/1471749