Zak Kovalcik's report from the Copenhagen six days track competition.
Day 1 was hard. Really hard. Opened with a 250 lap chase and the six races after were hard too.
Day 2 was a little better. 8 total races. Won a sprint in the opening points race. 11th in the team elimination (raddest and craziest race), 45 min first chase was better than yesterday,10th I think in the 2k team pursuit, 4th in the flying lap (!!!), 4th in the elimination, chill 10 lap scratch/parade/wave thing and survived the final chase thanks to my strong partner Guy. Race two sessions tomorrow. Gonna be so hard to get up early. Good Knight!
Day 3. Saturday was a double session which meant getting up early and not getting great sleep. Getting a better rhythm with the chases but my legs are really going flat. Finally took our first lap in the 1st chase of the evening. The final chase was fast. Yeah, we're 26 laps down. But only one of those was a lap lost on the field (first day 250 lap chase). The rest have been from sitting in the bunch.
Day 4. Early start was rough. Relatively light program. 45 minute chase Guy and I got a lap. Wanted to try a second one but played it safe. Team elimination, I think we quit before we were pulled. Have to check results. 5th in the flying lap with a 13.6 (new track record today 12.5). 100 lap chase at the end we didn't manage to find a good time to try a lap. Tomorrow has a 75k (300 lap) chase.
Day 5. I have never been in such a cave of pain. Early races went good. 6th in the team elimination, 5th in the flying lap 13.6 again. Guy almost won the ballestrad sprint. The 75k (300 lap) handicap chase was the hardest race of my life. Was hard from the gun. At 100 to go I thought I might make it to the end ok. But at about 85 the cramps started in the right glute, then the legs and then everything went south in a hurry. Not able to catch my breath. The bunch at times was quite shattered and hard to find adequate shelter from the wind. Guy rode quite strong and I technically survived, although I nearly coughed up a lung after the race. One more day!! Then back to Portland for at least a few days rest.
We haven't heard about day 06, only that message from Zak: I've made a HUGE mistake. I booked my return flight for the wrong month. Feb 6 and March 6 are both Wednesdays…
;-)
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