6 Giorni delle rose track cycling race

Intro
I follow track cycling closely and always study results on the internet. About 3 years ago I learned of the 6 days of the Roses in Fiorenzuola, Italy. This race interested me because firstly it is in my favourite cycling country (Italy) and secondly there are South Africans participating. Dean Edwards has been riding the event and in recent years Nolan Hoffman has joined him to form an all South African team to compete at the event.

 Nolan Hoffman (left) and Dean Edwards (right)

photo: http://www.facebook.com/claudio.santi

The race organizer is Claudio Santi and he has a passion for dancing and cycling. Together the cycling, dancing and music seem to transfer the 6 days of the Roses into a memorable occasion. This year the event is streamed live on www.6giorniedellerose.com

Image from: www.6giornidellerose.com

Day 1
I logged onto the race site just in time to listen to the Italian national anthem as the event opened. The weather was perfect and there was a sizeable crowed.


South Africans lying in fifth place after day 1 of the "6 days of the Roses". The notable result of the day for the South Africans was the 2nd place in the flying lap for Edwards and Hoffman.

Madame Zaza provided the alternative entertainment for the night.

Madame Zaza
 Image from: www.6giornidellerose.com

Top 10 overall after day 1:

Classifica prima tappa Sei Giorni delle Rose: 1. Guarnieri-Viviani (Pulinet) 46 punti; 2. Lampater-Marvulli (Rossetti) 32; 3. Lea-Simes (Gas Sales) 17; 4. Donadio-Perez (La Rocca) 16; 5. Edwards-Hoffman (Rosti) 16; 6. Hochmann-Blaha (Acef) 15; 7. Madsen-Hester (Indacoo) 14; 8. Lagkuti-Radionov (Peugeot) 10; 9. De Poorteere-Schets (Ferri) 6; 10. Dostal-Hacecki (Il Container)4.

Day 2

South Africans in place 6 after day 2. Four more days of racing to improve :-). Notable result of the day for a South African sees Edwards placed 3rd in my favourite race, the elimination. (Shows you that the old crowd pleaser at local meetings and Paarl Boxing day can help one at international level. He! he!)

Entertainment for the night was provided by a firedancer.

Image from: www.6giornidellerose.com

Top 10 overall after day 2:

Classifica dopo la seconda tappa: 1. Guarnieri-Viviani (Pulinet) 96 punti; 2. Lampater-Marvulli (Rossetti) 56; 3. Hochmann-Blaha (Acef) 41; 4. Madsen-Hester (Indacoo) 41; 5. Lea-Simes (Gas Sales) 33; 6. Edwards-Hoffman (Rosti) 27; 7. Donadio-Perez (La Rocca) 26; 8. De Poorteere- Schets (Ferri)22; 9. Dostal-Hacecky (Il Container) 16; 10. Elorriaga-Muntaner (Alu Tecno) 15.

Day 3
Day 3 suspended due to rain :-(

Image from: www.6giornidellerose.com

Day4

Night 4 saw a tough madison and the South African pair falling to position 10 out of 20 teams. Got this Tweet from @SideWindSports Dean Edwards

Night 4 done. 5th in Points and the flying lap. The 100km madi was done in 1hr54min. Avg Speed of 52km/h. Using just 51-15. We took 3 laps

and this Tweet from

@thehoffnolan1 thehoffnolan

last nights madison was hard, we took 3laps and only finished 14th

Looking at the web it seems that the entertainment is getting more interesting every night! The fourth night saw on stage entertainment provided by the Roxy and the girls from Coyote Ugly.

Roxy and the girls from Coyote Ugly

Image from: www.6giornidellerose.com

Top 10 overall after day 4:

Classifica generale dopo la quarta tappa: 1. Guarnieri-Viviani (Pulinet) 120 punti; 2. Donadio-Perez (La Rocca) 62 punti; 2. De Poorteere- Schets (Ferri) 50; 3. Kadlec-Kankovski (Macro) 35; 4. Lampater-Marvulli (Rossetti) 76 (-1); 6. Hochmann-Blaha (Acef) 56 (-1); 7. Madsen-Hester (Indacoo) 50 (-1); 8. Lea-Simes (Gas Sales) 49 (-1);  9. Dostal-Hacecky (Il Container) 38 (-1);  10. Edwards-Hoffman (Rosti) 37 (-1)

Day 5

The Italians, Guarnieri and Viviani, still hold the lead. The South Africans will have to work hard on the last night to take back some laps and make their target of top 8 since they are 12th overall based on laps lost (but sitting in 8th on points). If they can gain some laps then they will gain position since some good points have been collected last night. The highlight for the South Africans was another third in the flying lap. See Tweets from the team below:

@SideWindSports Dean Edwards

We currently 8th on points - 12th overall 3 laps down, If we take a lap in the finale we could end up 7th or 8th. We will fight to the end

@SideWindSports Dean Edwards

1 Night to go. Tonight The Hoff managed 4th in the Scratch, I was 5th in Elimination and we ran 3rd in the flying lap.

The leading pair of Guarnieri and Viviani

Image from: www.6giornidellerose.com

Crowd attendance is good and the entertainnment continues with Fabrizio Moro.

Fabrizio Moro

Image from: www.6giornidellerose.com

Top 10 overall after day 5:

Classifica generale dopo la quinta tappa: 1. Guarnieri-Viviani (Pulinet) 160 punti; 2. Lampater-Marvulli (Rossetti) 118; 3. Lea-Simes (Gas Sales) 105; 4. Hochmann-Blaha (Acef) 94 (-1); 5. Madsen-Hester (Indacoo) 89 (-1); 6. Donadio-Perez (La Rocca) 66 punti (-2); 7. De Poorteere- Schets (Ferri) 56 (-2); 8. Kadlec-Kankovski (Macro) 48 (-2); 9. Ciccone-Masotti (Pinarello) 37 (-2); 10. Glowacki-Ratajczyk (Pavinord) 30 (-2);  

Day 6
I just learned from Nolan Hoffman that Dean Edwards gave him a good leadout and that he took the win in the scratch on the final night. Guarnieri and Viviani held onto the lead to give the Italians a home victory.

Final general classification after day 6: 
Classifica finale Sei Giorni delle Rose 2011: 1. Guarnieri-Viviani (Pulinet) 200 punti; 2. Lampater-Marvulli (Rossetti) 154; 3. Hochmann-Blaha (Acef) 135; 4. Madsen-Hester (Indacoo) 120; 5. Lea-Simes (Gas Sales) 141 (-1 giro); 6. Donadio-Perez (La Rocca) 85 punti (-3); 7. De Poorteere- Schets (Ferri) 75 (-3); 8. Edwards-Hoffman (Rosti) 70 (-3); 9. Kadlec-Kankovski (Macro) 56(-3); 10. Glowacki-Ratajczyk (Pavinord) 51 (-3); 11. Elorriaga-Muntaner (Alu Tecno) 24 (-2); 12. 13. Dostal-Hacecky (Il Container) 38 (-3); 14. Lagkuti-Radionov (Peugeot) 14 (-3); 15. Grassmann-Edmuller (CMO Trading) 7 (-3), 16. Buttazzoni-Jonkman (Arda Natura) 5 (-4); 17. Marcolina-Simpson (Conad) 5 (-1); 18. Nielsen-Morkov (Mori Onofrio) 6 (-5); 19. Luttrell-Khatuntsev (Garbi) 4 (-9) 

Mid winter blues

There is still snow on the Boland mountains, but it is official that the shortest day and the longest night has just passed as the winter solstice occured on 21 June in the Southern hemisphere.

My training has been progressing really well on weekends. Complements must also go to my very dedicated training partner who is making sure that we ride every weekend. We have been riding frequently, but a quick analysis of my HR monitor made it clear that our friendly rivaly on the hills turned our intended 2 hour aerobic rides into rides with less than 30 minutes in the aerobic zone!

Fortunately there are some flat routes in the area and a route change made for a great aerobic ride during our last workout.

My biggest challenge is to stay committed in the week. This year I opted for garage sessions (I'm sure that the UK riders also have stationary trainers in garages or bedrooms!) and following my favourite training DVDs, but I found it difficult to maintain regular training. My fatal mistake was that I started with an advanced core strength program. Week 1 went super good, but in week 2 I could barely complete the workouts. I could handle the advanced program 4 years ago when I was participating in top level competitions. This made a huge difference to my condition, but it is now clear to me that I need to build up slowly and that my goals have changed.

Luckily I spotted my mistake after the first week and since I'm cycling to stay fit and healthy as my main goal it was back to the drawing board with a program that is less intense. Now I look forward to getting those core muscles back into shape and building my strength for the summer season.

My first track cycling meeting is in two weeks time and it will be good just to get onto the bike and to work on my handling skills before we go into peak racing season.

Goals and plans - we need them!

I believe that it is vital to have goals in life.

It is the same with track cycling. Sometimes the goal can be big and audacious and other times it can be simple. Having these goals energizes one to push through to achieve ones dreams.

Visions, missions, strategies and plans are all part of the corporate world. Years ago I've started to apply some of the lessons that I've learned during my time in the retail sector to cycling and I've experienced that planning and executing my training plans successfully in support of my cycling goals has yielded very good results.

I've referred to the value of miles in the legs in one of my previous blogs, but generally ones training program should be in support of your own goals e.g. if your goal is to be fit and healthy and to train regularly then you might set a goal to train 4 times a week for 30 minutes to an hour per day. If your goal is for instance to be the top pursuit rider in the club, province or country then a more structured approach in terms of training and racing will be needed.

We have wet and cold weather from May to August in the Western Cape where I live and therefore I need to be creative with my training to ensure that I can execute my plan. My training plan is rather simple at a high level and starts with a recovery phase in May, a general phase in June and then leading into specialization. I'm happy to follow this long term approach since I am able to see through a longer term plan. Some riders want to be fit for more races and in this case they will adapt their high level programs in support of that.

Example of a high level training plan:

The high level program has a training period linked to each month e.g. transition, preparation and competition. Each of these periods are broken down in a phase(s) e.g. Transition has regeneration as its phase. Preparation has general and specialization as phases.

Each phase can then be broken down further into activities per week and day.

Example of a phase (regeneration) broken down to a week and days:

The specialization phases can be much more complex than the above sample and would include specialized workouts for each day. The racing phase will list the preperation races and important races in the weekly and daily activities. I believe that training schedules should be put together in a support of a goal. Therefore one needs to start with defining the goal and work back to put the plan together in support of that goal.

There are a few points that can help one to achieve goals and these include:

• A good support structure e.g. family, training partners, coaches and/or mentors.
• Balanced diet & good nutrition
• Ample rest & recovery
• A good training plan that suits your needs
• Executing the plan and/or adapting it based on progress made
• Positive attitude

I'll discuss the above points futher in my blog, but today I had a prime example of my support structure in action. I had a busy week at work and it was cold and overcast this morning with rain clouds distantly looming. However my training partner confirmed yesterday that we are going to ride. This pressure was just the motivation that I needed to get out of "club duvet" in the morning to go on our 2 hour road ride through the Cape winelands. The ride was fantastic and I even included the steeper climb into our usual route. The skies opened during the last last 10 minutes of the ride, but this did not dampen my sense of achievement. The mission for the day was accomplished and 1 more day of the plan could be ticked off the list.

Happy planning and keep the pedals turning!

Miles in the legs

I believe that one needs miles in the legs for track cycling. Even sprinters do some base miles. My favourite events are the points, elimination and pursuit races.

I've spent up to 180km a day on the track in the past with weekend road races mixed into my training program. The trick is to use your miles in the saddle effectively and work it into a structured training program.

Various forms of training are used at various stages, but an endurance track cyclist usually builds base, then strength and then the focus shifts to speed.