Martyn Irvine – From world champion to also-ran and (hopefully) back again

Hey SportsJOE readers, remember me? That dude who races around in circles on a wooden bowl? I thought it was about time I said something else, more in-depth, and more about my Olympic event and qualification process.

Firstly, my Olympic event is called the Omnium. Basically, the powers that be have made it that if you are a track endurance rider, you only have two options for Olympic qualification - Team Pursuit or Omnium. I think this is a stupid decision but in order to get where I want to go, I have to go with the flow. For me, I've tried both, with more success in the Omnium. One of the easiest descriptions of the Omnium is that it’s like heptathlon for cycling. It's made up of six events over two days and, believe me, on the second day, your body knows exactly how much you hurt the day before.

Day 1

Scratch Race: This is the most straight-forward race to explain. It is a 20km bunch race and the first rider across the line wins. Pursuit: The pursuit is a 4km individual event which starts in a “gate” – basically a rig which only allows you to start when the timer does. It's all about pacing. You've 16 laps to hold a good pace, go out to fast and you'll pay later on. Elimination: The mention of this race strikes fear into the heart of most Omnium riders. This race is a bunch event so everyone starts together with the last over the line being put out every second lap. This makes riders go for gaps that don’t exist so it makes for a dangerous race. When you see the flashing orange light on your transponder goes off you get that sinking feeling. The trend for me is that my light comes on a lot earlier than I’d like! Yes, I pretty much suck at this race but watch this space as I’m working on it.

Day 2

Kilometre TT: This is torturous and, again, like the pursuit, it's an individual event starting in the gate, except this time it is four laps, flat out. Flying Lap: This event is a flying lap where you use the 45-degree banking to create speed and then fly in off the bank for a timed lap. I usually have a 66-67kph average so it's pretty fast. Points race: Since the London Olympics, the layout of the Omnium has changed. The points race is now at the end and it carries more weight in terms of points than the other events. Every 10 laps the first four riders across the line get five, three, two and single points. If you gain a lap on the field, you get 20 points. It can be ridden using different tactics. I prefer to lap the field if possible as I am more of an endurance-type rider. Only problem is, I've made my mark on track racing and other riders want to come with me for a “free” ride. So, how do you win? A rider gains 40 points for each race win, right down to one point for 20-something-th place. Except for the points race, that has its own rules as above. In the end, the rider with the most points after six races wins. As you can see, the Omnium is a very mixed bag. One bad race and that can be your medal chances out the window. It’s a mixture of pure grunt, leg speed, race craft and fitness. Trying to keep all the balls in the air is the part of the art of being a successful Omnium rider. So, where am I now? I really wanted to have some great news to give SportsJOE readers but I don't have much. I guess there is a silver lining though, which, six months ago, I would have taken as a given. However, with the bumpy road I've had in between, I'm really lucky to have qualified for the World Championships. In a nutshell, there are four qualifiers [European Championships and three World Cups) for main world championships which all count towards, Olympic points. In the European Champs, I crashed during Team Pursuit and underperformed in my Omnium, due to my leaving a good percentage of my skin on the track the day before! I 'Did Not Finish' in my first World Cup in Guadalajara, thanks to breaking my collarbone in a pile-up of wally brains. I had another DNF in the second World Cup, in London, thanks to my shoulder being freshly bolted on. The only place where I could collect points for the World Champs was the last World Cup in Cali, Colombia. Yes, cutting it fine, I know! Generally, World Championships qualification is taken as read, for me. This year, I am grateful to be there.

Thinner, faster, better

At this point in my career, I don't want to be an also-ran. In the Cali World Cup, I was 16th. Yes, I was coming back from a broken collarbone, but that’s just not good enough. It’s not where I want to be and, when all is said and done, I will really only get one crack at doing a decent job this track season and that’s at the World Championships. I’m in planning mode right now as I have a hell of a lot of things to work on before the World Championships. I just need to prioritise them. Basically, get thinner, faster and better at track cycling... Pretty easy, right?! It is just cycling at the end of the day. Right now I'm fresh in from a spin where I tortured myself up and down a hill in the pissings of rain, in Mallorca. Fairly standard these days. February 18-22, at the 2015 Track World Championships in Paris, is when I will find out if I succeeded in becoming a better bike rider. I plan to race the Scratch race (First man over the line wins) and then the Omnium. My track record (excuse the pun) in the Scratch is pretty good - World Champion in 2013 and Silver in 2014. My best Omnium result was Bronze in the Europeans Championships in 2013. As I'm not a regular face on SportsJOE, I'm tempted to tell you all about the rest of my year and what I have planned but I’m going to bite my lip. I will take it one step at a time and, all being well, the next time you hear from me I will have just completed a successful championships. Thanks for reading and hopefully you now know what an Omnium is and how my qualification process has gone so far... it rhymes with might. If not, you can find out more about me via the usual social media outlets @martyn_irvine or my Facebook page.