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Sunday at DISC was a mess
The Sunday aboc session was bad, I need to do better!
Sunday night's DISC training session ended up a bit of a schmozzle. We had to start an hour late due to a heap of 'come & try' sessions, which is fine, and wasn't the problem, and it was great to see how well the sessions were attended. Lots of enthusiasm, that's for sure.
We had a range of abilities at the track, also not a problem, but for my enduro sessions I tried to run a drill we call 'two teams take half a lap' that just didn't work. You have the enduro riders split in half, a bunch on each side of the track lapping at E1 effort (generally 30km/h, recovery pace), on the whistle, the rider in front has to jump across to the other group (thus 'take half a lap'). It's usually a good interval session for enduro riders, but it just didn't work last night. The groups ended up split up quite badly and in the end we had to consolidate it down to one group and take a full lap, but that was too far for most riders and the 20 minute block was awful to watch! I felt quite bad for the riders who while I'm sure they got a good working over in terms of fitness, probably didn't enjoy the block or gain any skills from it.
I might have to use the motorbike next time to control the pace and to be one 'team', and also try and make the drill appropriate for some of the less experienced riders.
Our final enduro block was a 10 minute 'take a lap grandprix' and that worked well, I managed to recover enough from my flying 100's to take a lap or two with Dino, while watching Shane 'teh Llama' and Jonathon blasting their laps at 'scare the v-train' speeds. I think with a bit more time on the boards Shane could be a very good pursuiter - possibly nationals or world masters level. He's got a great ability to drive through pain that you need for that discipline. Jonathon's done a lot of racing at a high level, but we need to coax him into being a bit more generous with space for the less experienced riders!
The sprint blocks went well, in particular it was great to see Emily Apolito riding the track banks like a veteran, showing one of the Dundas girls the ropes for how to ride a flying lap.
Stu 'V-Train' Vaughan has volunteered to run a session soon so I get a weekend off. Good-o!
It wasn't that bad..
Here's some suggestions for digestion and discussion.
1. Warm-up
I think a more structured warm up involving everyone would be better. Sure, let people roll around before the official start but at your say-so we should all gather at the start finish line for a group warm-up of, say, 20 laps.
Someone should be designated the pace-maker and the first 10 laps should be at minimum safe speed so everyone, including juniors and regardless of ability can stay on. Newcomers will benefit from the experience of simply rolling turns and holding a pace-line. Everyone should be encouraged to stay on for the first ten laps at least.
Then after ten laps the pace could increase by 2kph every second lap finishing at around 40kph for the final lap where there could be a sprint finish for those who are interested.
The whole exercise won't take more than 10 minutes and serves as more than just a warm-up for the less experienced.
2. Take a lap
I can't see take half a lap ever working the way you want it given the variation in abilities but as we saw last week, take a full lap can work.
Someone needs to volunteer each week to be the guerney. This could be any sprinters looking to roll around in E1 or E2 or one of the enduro's could do it each week. (At this point Alex and Nathan don't seem to mind and it would do them good I reckon.)
Before we start we need to decide which riders are strong enough to take a lap on their own and who needs help. Shane Miller aside the others could be paired into a working pair of two with similar abilities. When taking a lap they share the workload with the aim being to get back to the bunch in three laps, maybe four. The Shane's of this world can go solo or help others get around if needed as would be the case with odd numbers or if someone in a working pair has blown.
3. Blow the whistle from the blue line
The bunch rides along the blue line. When you blow the whistle the lead rider (or a pair of riders)dives down the bank and surges into E3 with a view to getting back around to the bunch or until you blow twice. Because he/they have the shorter distance than the bunch it should be easier to get back on than the Take a lap drill above.
4. Handicap
If we had holders it might be a good exercise to run an 8 lap handicap. Just a thought
5. Warm-down
Should be the same as the warm-up but without the sprint
All food for thought. I had thought of another drill but it escapes me at the moment. Old age.