James MacDonald – Indoor track attempt – Jan 6, 2023

James MacDonald Ride Report

200 mile indoor velodrome ride 6th Jan 2023

As part of preparations and training for the upcoming 24 hour indoor velodrome record attempt we scheduled another fully supported training ride on the velodrome. Chris, Tim, Toby, Sean and I met up with track coach Steve at the venue in Newport the evening before so we could set up the audio comms and the timing equipment that we use for such rides.

We all had to get up early the next day in order for me to be on the track and ready for the 8.20 am target, and we made it on time! A 12 minute warm up and short rest to check everything was ready and I set off at 8.40am ready for 8 hours on track. We officially had rented the track from 9 am till 5 pm but we needed a few minutes extra to target the 200 mile record hence the earlier start.

The first hour or so was fine but after that I felt a little eager to push more than I should have and although this was enjoyable at the time I did pay for it a little later on, so I had to recover my glucose level around the 3 hour mark so I could settle back down again. At the 4 hour mark or thereabouts we discussed a brief stop so I could reapply chamois creme and sort an annoying contact lens out, during which Sean and Tim discovered I’d actually punctured my rear wheel and it was going soft. They quickly changed the rear wheel for a spare disc wheel and I got on my way again. I passed the 6 hour mark setting a slightly better distance than I’d done last time, breaking the age group 6 hour record again (to be confirmed). Toby used the pacing model we use to determine my pace to see where I was against the 200 mile record and told me I was off the pace a little. Given that we were really there that day to ride at 24 hour pace for 8 hours we decided to just do that and so never pushed to regain lost ground. I crossed the line at 8 hours having done 1238 laps and slowed down. Toby told me I had broken my own age group 300 km record also, not a bad day on the track but I was actually quite disappointed about the 200 mile record.

I got off the bike and talked to the team and chatted with a couple of guests we had invited. The team packed up while I got changed out of my skinsuit, I could tell I was the most disappointed out of the whole group about the ride. The day was actually a great success, we had another 8 hours on track and even managed to have the opportunity to test our pitstop routine with awkward rear wheel change so that was also a useful experience.

Thanks so much to the team for your support and efforts – Chris Edwards, Tim Wade, Toby Ellis, Sean Wratten and Steve Miller from Newport. This was our best session on the track regards being on time, getting setup and ready and just being organised in general. We are always learning and there’s still so much to improve on but it was a fantastically professional session, well done team, you were amazing.