Tag Archives: training
Retro racing rocks the Apple Isle
Friday the 10th, November, 2017 saw myself board a jetstar flight to take part in the Tasmanian BMX State Titles, this would be my first trip interstate to race and I was excited to be going. Early afternoon in my hotel car park I was putting my bike back together after being dismantled for the flight over. Once the bike was back together it was time to head on over to the track for a practice session. As soon I turn up the track I am greeted by my coach and competition for the retro racing, Luke Cristiano, I was tempted to put a nail in his tyres to slow him down, unfortunately even if I did I don’t think it would have helped me get past him on the track, Luke was flying all weekend. Behind the start hill for the first time and I can’t help but notice
Training for the Retro BMX State Titles
It is that time of year, when everyone is stepping it up a gear and training hard for their state titles, this year I will be racing my Retro BMX in both the Tasmanian State Titles and the Victorian the week after. Training for me is now at the hardest intensity that it will be over the next week or two and then I will start to back off a little to give my body a chance to recover and be fresh as I possibly can be, to give the best performance that I can. I have no illusions as to my ability and am staring down the barrel of last place at the Victorian State Titles and quite possibly the Tasmanian titles as well, but you never know, if someone takes their foot off the gas, I will be there to pounce and will happily pass them as I
Retro BMX racing, sprint training, what off season?
It is the off season for us old retro BMX racers, a time where we can sit back, relax in front of the heater on a cold winters day, drink beer, eat pizza and not have to worry about when the next race is. That lifestyle of luxury is fast drawing to a close with the first open meet only a few weeks away and whilst my fellow retro racers have been hibernating and hopefully getting fat and lazy, I have been out there continuing training if for nothing else but to keep my fitness base in tact. Todays torture test saw me back at Edithvale velodrome for some sprint training on the bike with some laps of the running track in between. Everything started off easy, a couple of laps of the velodrome, followed by a lap of walking the running track, in total a 1400 meter warmup. It
Retro BMX racing from Frankston to Wodonga
Another big week of retro BMX racing comes to an end and a new week is set to begin. Along side the normal training, Friday night saw Retro racing at Frankston BMX track for the 3rd round of their Summer series. Retro is getting bigger at Frankston every week, 11 riders hit the track on Friday night, with first time Frankston racer Brendon Marshall making the long trip, from Doreen in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne to the Frankston track at the gateway to the Mornington Peninsula. Initial thoughts from Brendon were, that he quite liked the track, it was fun to ride and had a nice flow to it, as it turned out Brendon really enjoyed the track as he was to be the eventual winner on the night. With 11 racers in the retro BMX field, the BMX Gods were going to smile upon someone getting into motos
A massive week of retro BMX racing
This week saw me step it up, with a massive week of training and retro BMX racing and quite honestly I can say I am stuffed, but I am very glad that I have done it and can feel the constant improvements every time I race. My week started off on Tuesday night with the secret trainer, dusting off my old road bike and getting it hooked up to the wind trainer, it was all about sprint efforts in short bursts, these were a gut buster and the secret trainer was there right beside me on his bike toughing it out as well, I can tell you by the end of the session we were both feeling it, having given it our all and it was good to see that the secret trainer is human after all and also has limits that he can push himself to, if I can
James Tait, I swear tries to kill retro racers
Tonight saw myself back training with the dastardly James Tait for the first time this year, fellow retro racer Michael Herceg was also in attendance and rumor has it that retro racer Brendon Marshall was a no-show after training last week where he was brutalized and too scared to return. Our warmup started with some relay run throughs of side steps, butt kicks, grapevine shuffles and jumping, seriously what is with the jumping lately, last week with the secret trainer and this week with James, I think I may have given him some ideas with my last post, I am definitely going to have to avoid that in future. With Michael and I on opposing teams, it was game on and the grapevines were serious business, I busted out the dance skills from when I was a teen back in the 80s and grapevined shuffled like a champ, Michael was
Rebuilding old bikes, rebuilding old bodies
The last week has been an interesting one, whilst I had planned to step up the number of days I was going to train, I found that I was without a bike, the old Vortex Cruiser has gone through a rebuild and the crank bolt that goes through the chain wheel and into the back of the crank, turns out I had accidentally sent to QLD, when I traded my 180 cranks for 175s, fortunately the bolt was sent back express post and I received it Friday and had my Vortex BMX built just before race time. Tuesday saw me back with the secret trainer, doing further strength training, mixed in with a bit of cardio, whilst I feel the muscles around my knee getting stronger, the training doesn’t get any easier, the weights build up and with the bit of cardio mixed in, I am constantly out of breath