When I was 26, I would jokingly refer to my bike as the CWM (Cross Wind Missile). I'm not 26 anymore...

About Me

My name is Dean Russell and I raced road bikes and some track endurance in the 1990s. I stopped racing in 1999 when I was 26. After almost thirteen years of being a lazy slug I decided to put my sorry backside onto a bike seat and have another crack at racing. This blog chronicles my journey from being completely unfit and overweight to becoming one of the oldest Elite A grade riders in Queensland...and then slipping nicely back into Masters racing.

Monday, 10 October 2016

Turning Left

I have to be honest...I can't wait to get back on my track bike. It all starts on 22 October with the final round of the Chandler Spring Series, which will (I think) be the last time I ever race on the outdoor velodrome at Chandler. I can't help but feel a little nostalgic about that, when I think about how much time I spent at that place in my younger years. After that, the State Titles Masters Omnium is on 13 November (I came second in that event last year) which will be held on the brand new indoor Anna Meares Velodrome. 

The Omnium format has been changed by the UCI. It is now four events in one day instead of six over two days. I really feel that the new format suits me very well. The two 'sprinty' events (Flying Lap and Time Trial) have been removed. The Individual Pursuit has also been removed (which I am not happy about), but it has been replaced with a new event called the Tempo Ronde. This event pretty much sounds like a points race with a sprint on every lap. Like! So the program is now:
  • Scratch Race
  • Elimination
  • Tempo Ronde
  • Points Race
Overall, I am hoping for a much stronger track season this year than I had last. Even though I manged a couple of results last year, coming in with basically no road season really had an impact (after recovering from my two shoulder surgeries). This time around though, things are very different. I am looking forward to a fast and fun season with (hopefully) some results. I am considering having a crack at the Australian Championships in Sydney and there is also the Australian Masters Games in Tasmania and the World Masters Games in New Zealand. I doubt I will do all of those, but will see what happens. In any case, as I said, compared to last year, I am ready to go:


 2015 (by October)
 2016 (by October)
 Kilometres ridden:
 10,500
 16,000
TSS:
14,456
26,210
 Days of racing:
 6
 29
 FTP:
 330 w
 360 w
 Weight:
 90 kg
 84 kg
 Left arm strength as % of right (estimate):
 65 - 75%
 85 - 95%

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