James MacDonald – 100Km Indoor track attempt – Dec 15, 2021

James MacDonald – Rider Report 100km Record Attempt

Date 15th Dec 2021

Location Newport Velodrome, Newport, Wales

Equipment: BMC Trackmachine 01, 3T Brezza II Nano bars, Mavic Comete track disc wheels with Ceramic Speed bearings and EAI 17 tooth gold rear sprocket, Rotor 2InPower track chainset with 62 carbon chainring. Bisaddle EXT sprint adjustable saddle.

Nutrition: Secret Training Big Energy carb drink and gels.

Unlike the recent training sessions on the track this one was specifically arranged for me to target the outright 100km World Record held By Christoph Strasser en route to his successful 24 hour record ride in 2017. The target for the day was just the 400 laps, nothing else. The atmospheric pressure was high and so wasn’t ever going to be a fast day, I warmed up for 70 laps and my legs felt heavy and unwilling. I’d done a lot of training leading up to the day as this wasn’t an official focus for my training my coach hadn’t tapered me off for it, that was the compromise given the goal for the next 9 months is still to reattempt the 24 hour distance record.

I completed my warmup and sat down for an interview with Alex Paton from GCN who was there to record the attempt and create a video for their YouTube channel. 15 mins later I went out for a final 5 minute warmup and then went to the start line to begin the attempt.

The first lap was slow as I set off from a held start not using the start gate, but by lap 2 I was on the 43kph pace, by around 10 laps in I was already ahead of the steady average pace even accounting for the standing start. By lap 73 I knew the record was possible, all I needed to do was sit at the same pace, relax, sit on the black line and keep my head down. 100 laps went by pretty quickly, Toby (race engineer on the radio) and I spoke a lot less than normal, our only conversation was around current pace, average so far and target pace required from now. All metrics were green, it was a very controlled and even ride.

At lap 250 I checked in with Toby to make sure I was still up on the record and he told me I was, I requested a 0.5kph reduction for 50 laps just to solidify the final 100 laps and the slight increase in pace. I rode at that reduced pace for the 50 laps which was 12 watts/3 BPM less than before. At lap 300 I went back to 43kph, with 20 laps to go I squeezed the effort a little more and finished on a 46kph final lap.

After the ride I sat down with Alex from GCN and did a wrap up interview. The whole day was executed perfectly by the crew. I didn’t have to do anything other than focus on my own prep. The bike, the comms, the fuelling, the social media etc were all handled for me. Toby (race engineer), Chris (sponsorship and marketing), Sean (mechanic), Tim (technology) Dan (social media) and Steve (Newport track timing and coach) were amazing. Thanks guys, what a day!