Saturday, I know

It's Saturday evening, back in the hotel room after a full day of casual rest and eating and then some great time on the track from 3 to 5 P.M. Mark Stewart is in, the rest of the NSC pack will be here tomorrow. Dan and I went to the track for afternoon sessions, his was a pursuiter session for 2 hours right before my sprinters session of 2 hours. Dan keeps saying how fast the track is and I believe him, no wind of course, the temp is good inside with an outside temp of about 45 degrees with light rain. I rode over with Dan in the Fiat for his session so I had plenty of time to change, wander around the Cycling Center and then spend some easy time on the rollers warming up before the session. These are sessions we had to book with the velodrome prior to getting here, they are 20 pounds per 2 hour session. Makes riding at NSC seem cheap doesn't it? We get a wrist band after signing in for each session and then onto the track. There are some staff trainers there to help with what ever kind of training we ask for. They did send the derny out for a pace line warm up for about 30 laps at the blue line. I caught on to that as it came by and stayed in until 5 to go, today's plan is to go easy with serious activation tomorrow. Next came derny paced flying 100 to 250's. I got into the second one right behind the derny and did a flying 100, wow, it is fast as I tried but failed to stay down in the lane through turns 3 and 4. Next, a little conversation with the derny driver asking about lines. Out on the track again for some slower laps following the line he described with lots of laps below the apron on the warm up band. Eventually another derny 100, this time a bit better staying in the lane. I will have some work to do tomorrow. One last effort, gate practice, half a lap, definitely not at full speed just to get a feel for the gate. The coach guaranteed we will be using gates to start when the races call for them. Off the track, grab a sandwich at the cafeteria, pack up, go to the store for some stuff and then back to the hotel for dinner with Mark and our new best friend, Nick, from Melbourne. Everybody is plenty friendly and I think excited to get on with the games which start on Monday. Another early to bed night with an earlier get up time tomorrow to get to registration and then be prepared for some hard work to prepare for the sprint qualifications and rounds on Monday.