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I am back from my around the world trip and I’m still suffering from jet lag. We’ve been away for a month. Last night’s training session at Hillingdon cruelly exposed the expected lack of fitness.
However, I did manage to get a few miles in while in New Zealand – thanks to brother-in-law Jon for the loan of bikes while I was there.
The indoor velodrome at Invercargill (NZ’s only indoor track) is a great facility with plenty of opportunities to ride. The Junior World Championships will be held there in 2012. NZ did really well at the recent Championships in Moscow and will continue to improve with this sort of facility at their disposal.
I had a few goes at riding the boards. The photo show me learning to ride the banking by following my (almost a Kiwi) sister Marie. I used to beat her all of the t
ime but now she’s a much stronger rider than me. Her daughter Jen is even faster.
At one session I was one of the riders who appeared live on NZ TV’s telethon, part of which was broadcast from the track (the photo on the right shows the Irish dancers with the blur of a rider in the background).
By the end of the holiday I was riding in groups but I was still nervous high on the banking. I’d like to do more track, but I have no top end speed at all (my flying 200 time was the same speed as my 25m TT season’s best).
Lance Woodman 