Recently I jumped on a plane for the first time in months and headed to London to catch two of the three track cycling sessions in the Revolution Series.
Friday night session
Alex Rasmussen looking particularly relaxed.
Glenn O'Shea and Jack Bobridge warming up.
How can you not cheer for a rider in houndstooth?
Women's scratch race
Laura Trott wearing number 121.
Katie Archibald went down hard on a turn and took a frighteningly long time to get up. Impressively, she got back on her bike and rejoined the field after missing a couple of laps.
For the remainder of the race, Trott kept an eye on Archibald. It came down to Archibald, Trott, and Spain's Leire Olaberria. Trott pulled off a stunning sprint, just pipping the Spaniard at the line. I took the below photo with no more than ten meters to go.
Men's flying lap
Britain's Ed Clancy won the event where each rider gets solo 3 laps to build up speed before sprinting for one lap.
Men's keirin
Sporting an unmissable kit, Germany's Maximilian Levy won the event.
Men's derny race
Not a surprise to see Bobridge and O'Shea easily winning their respective heats and moving on to the final.
A derny zooms by Rasmussen.
Each rider gets his own derny for the 60 lap race.
Rasmussen.
O'Shea.
Bobridge.
As the dernies got progressively faster through the race, O'Shea and Bobridge both managed to lap the field.
Bobridge won the event and his derny driver was thrilled.
Men's longest lap
This was brutal to watch. The riders line themselves up and then have to stay still until the gun starts the laps. One kiwi couldn't hold his track stand any longer and was out before the lap even began. The Irish rider was shaking like he had hypothermia but managed to hang on.
Jeffrey Hoogland won the sprint.
Men's Madison
I'd always wanted to see this event where teammates take turns hand slinging each other ahead.
At 120 laps though and with virtually no commentary, I couldn't keep it straight which team was winning, so I didn't really mind when the man next to me asked the inevitable question: “So which rider is your boyfriend?”
Saturday afternoon session
A much fuller crowd was in attendance today.
Men's derny heats
Reminding me of the flying monkeys from “The Wizard of Oz,” the ever popular derny riders hopped aboard their motorized bikes with stoic faces.
Riders and dernies finding each other.
Pete Kennaugh (below, left) won his heat and O'Shea took the second heat.
Women's UCI points race
The racers complete 80 laps and every tenth lap is a sprint, earning 5, 3, 2, and 1 points for the first 4 riders, respectively.
Despite the size of the field, the race once more came down to Trott, Archibald and Olaberria but, truth be told, no one could touch Trott.
Men's sprint heats
In his heat, Levy rode at a crawl and kept his head turned back to keep an eye on his competitor…
…until he swooped down to win his heat.
The following heat was basically a clinic in doing track stands.
They were so still for so long, I was able to take a perfectly focused shot of the Hungarian's face, a portrait of focus.
About 100 meters later, the Hungarian cracked and went too soon, allowing the kiwi to pull off the win.
Men's UCI points race
Three riders earned themselves 20 points a piece by lapping the field, including O'Shea and Bobridge.
O'Shea with the win.
Dame Sarah Storey's hour record attempt
Media scrum ahead of the start.
She rode the first 30 laps progressively faster and was in good shape after 20 minutes with nearly 4 seconds in hand.
Unfortunately, she couldn't maintain that pace and rode each lap progressively slower for the next 40 minutes.
After 100 laps, she was 10 seconds behind so hope lingered but her face twisted into a grimace as her legs screamed and her pace continued to decline.
Still, it was a brilliant attempt and she was about 560 meters short of establishing a new world record. She did manage to achieve a new British record, a master's record, and a C5 record. UCI president Brian Cookson was present to congratulate her on her efforts.
Storey had to be helped off her bike and could not stand up on her own immediately after completing the sixty minutes. Her legs were so exhausted that she even slid down and off the chair she was sitting in, so it's doubly impressive that she found the strength to ride (a road bike!) for an extra couple of laps to wave to the cheering crowd.
Men's derny final
The dernies and the men took to the track one last time for the afternoon.
Kennaugh and O'Shea lapped the field.
The Aussie and the Brit were closely matched for much of the race but with Kennaugh pushing his derny to go faster, he pulled off the win.
Kennaugh celebrates.
Women's elimination race
Trott and Olaberria were the final two riders.
I don't think anyone, including Olaberria, was surprised to see Trott win.
