Sunday, May 31, 2009

Guyana cycling pictures

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Guyana is by no means a powerhouse in cycling. Guyana is a little tropical off the beaten path English speaking country located on the main land of South America bordered by Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname. Although I said little, it is in fact as big as England in land mass but only has a population of less than 800,000. Guyana is known as the country of Six People- Africans, Amerindians, Chinese, East Indians, Europeans and Portuguese.

First charted by Spain in 1499, Guyana came under Dutch control by the mid-1700s. The British gained possession of Guyana in 1814. British rule brought large influxes of Africans, East Indians, Chinese and Portuguese. In 1978 Guyana was the scene of the mass suicide and murder of more than 900 American members of a religious cult on orders from their American leader, James Warren("Jim") Jones.

At Kissena Track there have been quite a few Guyanese cyclists over the years. Currently there is myself, Somraj Seepersaud, Khary Ward, Horace Burrows, David Coriea, James Joseph, Randolph Toussaint, Anthony Newton & Derick Davis.

In Guyana we don't have a velodrome therefore fixed gear racing takes place on grass tracks, usually on the grounds of a cricket field. Track cyclists would have to go to Trinidad to race on banked velodromes. Above are pictures taken during the 60s of racing on grass tracks and a recent picture of a road race through the tropical jungles.

Pictures were obtained from Guyana Cycling Online.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

5 30 2009 Flying 200 Meter time trials


Today in training I did three flying 200 Meter efforts:

-1st effort = 13:41 seconds = 33.40 mph average speed

-2nd effort = 13:21 seconds = 34.0 mph average speed

-3rd effort = 13:43 seconds = 33.38 mph average speed

My previous best official time was 13:39 seconds. Today on my second training effort I beat that time using my training wheels, no skin suit, no shoe covers and an 88" gear (49x15). Hopefully I can get closer to 13 seconds or even get into the 12 second zone with all the right accessories.

Weather today at 2:00 pm:
-Temp 74 F
-Humidity 43%
-8 mph from the west
-Sunny with 38% cloud cover
-Pressure 29.70 in

The weather today was optimum for riding good time trial times, just a tad bit windy.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Racking up points in scratch races 5/2009


The data indicate the Scratch race is where I am guaranteed to score points. About all I have is enough for one good sprint which requires about 10 minutes rest to allow the ATP levels to replenish before I can repeat the effort. The other point type races require a high level of endurance and recovery which I don't have since I haven't been doing road races nor riding too many road miles. The bulk of my training miles so far were acquired on an indoor spin bike, with focus towards the Kilo and Match Sprint events.
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I might as well forget about scoring points in the Super Tempo, Point a Lap and all the other cumbersome points races where a repeatable or breakaway effort is required. The Chariot is also where I am guaranteed to score points, this is the type of race where the benefits of heavy weights and plyometric exercises translates into a quick jump and burst of speed for about one lap before the lactic acid sets in.
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Over the years I have noticed the Miss & Out race seems to be the race where most of the crashes take place with riders running into each others back wheels in turn one, or over lapping and touching wheels in turn four. Best to proceed with caution during this race.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

5 20 2009 kissena feature miss & out race video



Horace Burrows wins feature Miss & Out race.

5 20 2009 Kissena Cat 4 - Garmin race data

7 lap Super Tempo race - finished with no points


8 lap Scratch race - placed 5th


15 lap Miss & Out - got out on lap 6