Better Under Than Over: Chopsuey Before the ACC Track Asia Cup 2nd Leg in Thailand, Point Race
30 km point race
90 laps in 333 meters velodrome
Participants: 2 entries per country; Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Philippines
August 14 Manila. Its been 5 long years since my last major race on the track in Busan, South Korea Asian Games last 2002. At dahil sa Thailand ko na nalaman kung ano ang event na sasalihan ko, nagulat ako na I will be competing in point race. I am not expecting that I will be entered for two reasons. First, I was not trained for such event. Ang natatandaan ko lang, once lang kami nagsimulate nun, wala na. Second, I was not asked to bring a standard handle bar that is typically used in massed start events like point race. Pero wala namang pressure from the staff na manalo basta maglaro lang, kaya ok lang.
I am quite happy with my performance in the point race. Dahil hindi naman talaga ako handa for the event at mga bigatin talaga ang mga kalaban na very prepared using scientifically advanced programs and equipments. Mahirap at mabilis ang karera. Parang Asian Games minus the Kazaks. Before this scheduled race, I was training for the road event, then in velo, then in road again, then in velo again in just about 3 months. Medyo nahirapan ako talaga to adjust dahil bukod sa napakalaking pagkakaiba ng road racing sa track racing, there were different systems used by different people implementing or supervising the training. Since bago pa lamang ako nagtrack ulit, nabigla ako physically at medyo nahirapan sa training para sa mga ensayado na sa track. Medyo magulo at pa iba-iba. There was even a time I was already training for the track but was asked to do longer itt for the roadies. Grogehan lagi sa ensayo kaya tuwang-tuwa ako na hindi ako umayaw at nakapwesto pa ng maganda. hehehehe
August 11, Thailand. Race schedule is 10am. The team woke up at 6:30 am to have our breakfast and have enough time to prepare for the race. The velodrome is near the hotel so my partner and I left at around 8:30. I started to have my warm up ride at about 9am. I had my ride on my room mate’s road bike outside the velodrome kasi isa lang ang nadalang roller sa velo, which is being used by my partner.
The race started with one neutral lap followed by the starting lap. Ang plano namin ng partner ko ay wag na munang sumabay sa first batch of sprints dahil sayang lang ang effort at puro malalakas pa ang mga kalaban. We will just wait for possible break away. Start pa lang ng race ay talagang nasa likuran lang ako dahil di ko pa gamay yung bike na nilagyan ng standard handle bar dahil naka pang pursuit set up na. At syempre dahil medyo kabado din sa mga siksikan sa tagal na di ako nakapagvelo. Hindi ko namalayan madaming sprints na ang lumipas sa sobrang bilis ng karera. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster while tailing the group. Bigla na lang umagwat ang 3 siklista from Japan, Iran and Malaysia. I did not hesitate to chase them at madali naman nahabol dahil pursigido din ang nakasunod sa akin na Korean. Naging 5 kaming break away. Hindi na muna ako pumapalit sa trangko dahil alam ko na mas malalakas sila kaya medyo dumiskarte na muna ako at nag-antay ng sprint para kumuha ng points. I got some points but was immediately attacked by the Japanese and a severe side stitch kaya tutok na muna ako dahil hirap na ako huminga. During the last 10 laps, The Japanese led another attack. Nagkahiwa-hiwalay kaming 5. Umagwat yung Japanese and Iranian, followed by the Malaysian, Korean, and me. Over lap namin lahat kaya pinatigil na yung iba. 1st is Iran, 2nd Korea, 3rd Japan, 4th Malaysia, and 5th Philippines