Last year was the first time I'd raced it and I'd parternered up with Spiro. At the time I had thought I was in decent shape, I'd been racing a bit, but for whatever reason I had one of the worst days ever on a bike. We had a few missed changes which didn't help but all I can remember from that day was from the moment I got on the bike and started to push the pedals I wanted it all to stop but I was stuck in a hot, concrete-cauldron of pain and dispair. In any other race you could just deal with getting spat out the back and sooner or later, discretely pull the pin and exit stage left. This is not the case in the Madison, you're in a 2-man team swaping turns ever lap or so and the way you swap over is via a hand sling (I'll assume that most of my readership will know what the go is with Madisons but for those that don't and to my loyal followers in Russia and South Korea, go here Zesdaagse van Rotterdam). So leaving your mate hanging around the track by himself isn't really an option.
With those memories of last year fresh in my mind I made a decision that I wanted to return and be "part" of the race and not just hanging off the back. Since I've been in Pirie I've had the opportunity to get plenty of km's in on the bike and prepare as best I can even though racing here is non-existent.
So race day came and they were running a slightly different format for the B-graders. There was a 50-lap "warm-up" Madison where lap taking wasn't allowed, followed by a 75-lap race proper in the arvo. I will admit to being a little apprehensive about our hand-sling form, as the only practice we had was 5min before the start, but I knew Spiro was in good form and I was starting to feel a bit better about my own.
Race 1 started and the first few slings went off without a hitch but there were a few close calls as everyone got there race nerves settled. Lap by lap I was feeling better and we found ourselves slinging some quick changes off the front make everyone else chase. I have clear memories of the year before, slinging Spiro in and grasping the fence rail like a drunk clutching at the carpet to make the room stop spinning, but this time was different - I actually wanted to get back in!
Some quick tactic talk, and we decided to sit and wait for the first 25laps, not worry to much about the sprints and hit the pack hard to take a lap. Normally I would have shut this sort of talk down straight away but I was actually getting excited. As soon as Race 2 got underway it was pretty clear which teams were going to be in the mix. We did as we'd planned and layed low for the first part but around the 30lap mark I slung Spiro in and he yelled out to me "I'm going to hit 'em now" as he spun away, my first reaction as I pulled up to the fence and watched him launch off the front was "ah shit" but by the time I was in and looking up for the next change we had half a lap. I was waiting and waiting for the legs to pop, to start fading and for the bike to start riding me back to the field, thankfully it didn't and my legs decided to rock up to the party. 15 laps later and I through Spiro on the back of the bunch and we were awarded the lap. It had gone exactly to plan but obviously we wern't the only ones with the win in mind - and we couldn't stop 2 other teams taking their laps. In the end it came down to the fact that they'd picked up more points in their laps then we had. We ended up 3rd, 1 point behind 2nd!
 |
| Game face + Freddy Mercury gloves |
I was totally shagged but it was one of my best races, for a numbe of reasons. One was being able to race on the limit with my mate, the same mate that sold me my first race bike and got me into racing years ago. Another reason was chatting with the other teams after and getting told how we'd put them in the hurt-box (something I've never been accused of!). The final reason was that Mum, Dad and Chrissy were there to watch. I've had plenty of crap days on the bike but it was nice to share a good one with them.
Big thanks also to Nath Larkin, the dude is always in a corner and provided some valuable advice. Plus he took some totally sweet photos of us and the ones shown here are his property, find more here Phynyght Studios
No comments:
Post a Comment