Round and around#

Mon, 07 May 2007 23:47:52 +0000

Discussing crossovers -

• Me: "I think there are two parts: one is that my weight needs to be more towards the inside, and the other is just a confidence thing"
• Peter: "You mean you're having trouble committing to the turn"
• Me: "Er, yeah"

Duh. Why didn't I think of that?

My second day on the track (at Birmingham) was somewhat less successful than the first.

In the first race (3k) I got a good start, slipped up and down the pack more or less at random, then with one lap to go and seeing that people were tired, went off round the outside: I was out at the front and increasing the gap when I set my foot down wrong on the banked turn and slid. Ouch. Got up again but only after everyone had passed, came in last-but-one

The second race (1000m) saw a fairly indifferent start and a lot of merging in the line. Went round and around somewhere in the middle of the pack for a while, until someone decided that they were going to join the line in the spot I was in, and managed to take me out in the process. Skating as a contact sport, not my favourite. Less than entirely clear what happened then, but it culminated with me landing on my back (I have a lovely sore spot where one of the safety pins holding my race number on has dug in) and knocking the back of my head against the ground. My helmet failed in the manner it was designed to fail: I can see the crushed polystyrene. Whether it Saved My Life(tm) - who the hell knows?

In fairness to the other guy, there had been a gap in front of me as we came out of the corner, because I was slower around the bend than the chap in front of me. It's just that it was not there any more my the time he decided to occupy it, because I had closed it in the meantime. There must be some trick to pack skating that I haven't found yet, because everybody else seems to cope.

Here's some related stuff from Eddy (scroll down, the useful bits are right at the end)