Lex Albrecht

I'm a roadie.  I'm with the Canadian National team to ride the track in L.A., California. No gears, no brakes, no asphalt... except on our recovery rides, for now.

Every morning priority number one is to score hotel java from the lobby, and grab a few oranges for my fridge-stash, and oatmeal bars for snacks at the track.  I whip up a bowl of magic oatmeal, and clear out e-mails that have come in on East Coast time.  The bag gets packed with my collection of gears, chainrings and tools (I've never wrenched so much in my life. Good thing track mechanics are easy...).  Thanks Martin Rooseboom (2524 Hochelaga, Montréal) for lending me what I need.  And I never forget my tube of DZ Nuts Bliss shammy cream anymore.  It's my new favorite.  Especially since the saddle on my loaner track bike and I don't have a great relationship...

Track sessions always start with a 20 minute warm up.  We spin around in a paceline, going progressively faster.  1 lap-to-go always feels like balls-to-the-wall speed.

Hammering out near-maximum efforts for 4km with my teammates, reefing on the pedals to shoot my bike forward from standing-starts, whipping up and down the track walls when we do our exchanges, and holding a tight, straight line down at the base of the track (the pole line) despite those HUGE G-forces as we spin at unheard of (OK, for a road cyclist...) cadences are all things that are going to pay off once I get out on the road to start racing next month.

But the best thing about the track is the consistent environment.  The conditions are reproducible and our efforts are easy to measure.  That means when there's something to fix or improve, we keep giving the same thing a shot, making minor adjustments, until we NAIL IT ON THE HEAD.