Hi Everyone

I have just recently returned from the land of China competing in the final round of the Track World Cups. As you all know this event over lapped with the Tour Down Under. Having just recently been crowned the new Australian Road Race Champion most would find it strange that I would want to compete at a Track World Cup instead of lining up with some of the best Pro riders in the world including Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans and Alejandro Valverde in the National Champions Jersey. Well I thought it would be a good time to eliminate the confusion of why I would make such a decision.

Firstly I am a big believer in doing what you have committed yourself to do and the decision for me to ride the Beijing World Cup was made a fair while ago and I don’t believe it would be a fair decision to pull out a week from competition and also I am not sure it would have been possible to get a start in the Tour Down Under as we had riders from overseas already flying in for the event.

The other reason is because the World Cup was my last real chance to make an impression for the Track Worlds Team. As I had missed the Melbourne World Cup due to not being fit enough after coming off a break, I was in real trouble of not getting a chance to try to make the Track Worlds Team for 2010 and this is a major goal of mine for this season.  In the end of the day I am very happy with the decision I made to go to Beijing as I had a very good meet and had very strong legs.

My first race and the main reason I was there was the Teams Pursuit. With my team consisting of Michael Hepburn (Junior Individual Pursuit World Record Holder, which I might add his record is a 3.15 for 3km which is just incredible for a Junior!), WA sensation Luke Durbridge (Junior World Individual Time Trial Champion, and as all of us can appreciate, especially West Aussies, an incredibly strong machine!) Victorias Leigh Howard (World Omnium Champion), who has just been signed by one of the biggest Pro Teams in the World, HTC – Columbia, and a real up and coming superstar, and myself, we were there to put out a very respectable time.

In the morning was the qualifying round and we cruised through to post the fastest time of 4.05, but knowing we were very capable to go much quicker in the final. I felt very strong in qualifying and pulled a 2 lap turn comfortably to put us slightly back on schedule. We were up against the Dutch in the final who had posted a time of 4.08 in the qualifying. Our main objective for the final was to put up a good time as we were pretty confident taking the win wasn’t going to be a problem. ‘Heppy’ got us up and running nicely in the first lap of the final with Leigh getting us up to race pace in second wheel. I was moved from 4th to 3rd wheel for the final so I kept the pace right up on schedule with Luke doing the same right after me. Luke and I were both feeling strong so we both pulled a lap and a half on our 3rd turn making sure our speed didn’t drop and giving Leigh and Michael a bit more recovery. With approximately 5 to go we caught the dutch team and it got a bit messy and we lost about half a second in one lap. In the end we come through with a time of 4.01.2 and after some analysing Ian McKenzie (Track Endurance Coach) estimated our time for the 4km would have been around 4.00.50. Not bad considering we only did a week of track training after Road Nationals leading into the World Cup. I was very happy with my splits in both rounds and it has kept me in contention for the Track Worlds team.

I also competed in the Scratch Race and Madison at the World Cup. I got DQ in the Scratch Heat for going under on the blue band which was a bit disappointing but nothing to worry about as I was more doing it for a bit of a hit out before the Madison. I teamed up the Leigh Howard for the Madison, and we qualified for the final comfortably. In the Final we were a good half a lap up at one stage but the bunch never sat up and we were eventually pulled back. In the end we ran 4th which was a relief as we had a bit of pressure on us to run top 6 in order to qualify Australia a spot for the World Championships.

So all in all it was a fun, beneficial trip and should keep me in contention to get a spot to go to Copenhagen for the World Track Championships in March. This coming week is the Australian Track Cycling Championships ,were I will be competing in the Individual Pursuit and Teams Pursuit,  followed by the Perth Criterium Series which I am happy to say both Cameron and I will be competing in.

Keep a look out for our next report of the Track National and Perth Crits!

Travis