I remember my first crit race last year…I hung in okay and placed 4th in the Jr. 13/14 race. After the race my parents mentioned that I never got off of the seat to sprint for the finish. Looking at photos, sure enough they were right! I was down on the seat while my competitors were standing on the pedals, out of the seat and sprinting. In the following weeks I practiced standing up and sprinting on training rides or whenever I thought of it. This was working okay but my mom suggested that I should go to the track for some high speed cross training. So we went down to the track and signed up with Track Coach, Tim Roach. I borrowed my neighbor's track bike and started riding the track on Monday and Wednesday nights.The track is different than the road. The bikes have no brakes and you cannot coast. They call it fixed gear. After a couple of sessions of basic training I was given the okay to participate in the nightly group warm up of 40 laps or so. After the warm up we would do various exercises from sprint training to intervals to time trialing and mock races.
Keep in mind I went to the track to improve my sprint but found out the track is really a lot of fun and a great workout. I increased my top-end speed, developed a smoother pedal stroke and improved my bike handling skills. Sure enough with my new found track workouts, I was able to sprint for wins in local races, sometimes with total dominance. Especially for crit racers, there is no better training for the road than racing on the track. Bottom line is, if you ride the road you should ride the track, and if you ride the track you should ride the road. Fast forward to 2011, I’m still training at the track and winning some crits and road races thanks to cross training at the track.
See you at the track….
Diego Binatena
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