Elite Track Nationals, Carson, CA

I have wanted to go to track nationals ever since 2006 but to me the track represents fear and intimidation.  Being an adrenaline junkie it also represents a pretty big rush, and the idea of overcoming the fear and accomplishing something so hard is a huge draw for me. Other drawbacks are that it's quite a lot of money to spend to go compete at something where I don't know what I'm doing, and falling at the end of September I'm usually tired from the year of racing on the road and the idea of staying sharp and fit until then is overwhelming.  

This year some things changed.  One is that I got a spot on the Garner Cyclery Track team, and was able to ride with and get invaluable advice from some very experienced track racers.  I sought out and received excellent advice on everything from training, equipment,  how to warm up, and all of the logistics involved. And one of the positives about crashing in the middle of the season and taking 4 weeks off, is that now I was feeling pretty fresh and good.  I'd had a really positive experience at Omnium nationals back in August, and felt like this was the year to head to Los Angeles!

I had attended nationals last year as a pilot on a tandem with my visually impaired partner, Kim Borowicz.  The original plan was to go and ride with Kim again this year, and also compete in the individual endurance events.  However, Kim got sick and was unable to train, and did not get better in time to make the trip.  It was such a bummer, and I debated whether or not to go. At the final hour, I just decided to go anyway.  Lucky for me my Garner teammates Jeff and Jason G let me tag along with them.  

Garner Cyclery teammates Jason Garner and Jeff Whiteman

I was going to compete in the Individual Pursuit, the Scratch race, and the Points race.  My events were going to be on Thursday morning, Thursday night, and Saturday night.  I was hoping to find a team pursuit team to jump in with on Friday, and I could have been convinced to jump in the Madison race on Sunday, had I been able to find a partner, but everyone there was pretty much set with teams.  While watching the team pursuit I was overcome with the very strong feeling that WE NEED MORE WOMEN FROM CHICAGO GOING TO THIS!!!!  Goal for next year: we need to field a women's team pursuit team and at least one or two madison teams!!  There is no reason we can't make this happen and be competitive!  

Because the training is so specific, most track racers specialize in either the sprint or the endurance events.  I am an endurance rider and Jeff and Jason G are sprinters, but Jeff also jumped in the scratch race, which is an endurance event.  

My first event was the pursuit.  The pursuit is a time trial event where you and one other rider are on the track at the same time.  You start on opposite sides of the track and "pursue" each other.  The start is a standing start, and then you go as hard as you can for 3 kilometers.  Everyone goes at least once, and then the top 4 riders go on to a final round, to determine first through fourth places.  If you get passed by your opponent in the qualifying round, you keep going so you can get a time.  If you get passed in the final round, they shoot the gun, the race stops, and you have a winner and a loser.    Most people have predetermined splits and they have a coach on the track with a stopwatch yelling out their times.  Since I have only done the pursuit one other time, we decided that I would just wing it and based on my time I would figure out splits for next time.   

Bike check

Before each event, you must get your bike checked to make sure that your position is legal.  If you've seen the movie The Flying Scotsman,  you know what I'm talking about.  Prior to coming to LA, I had actually sawed off the front of my saddle, because I was unable to get it into a legal position otherwise. 

Sidney helping Peter make my saddle UCI legal

Since I hadn't competed on my bike in it's current position, the first thing I did when we arrived Friday morning was have my bike checked to  make sure it was legal.  The officials will do this as a courtesy, but you still need to get it "officially" checked immediately before your event.  I was told I was good to go.  When it was time to go, Jason G took my bike over to the bike check and I went and sat in the waiting area.  I could see there was trouble, and I saw Jason G and Jeff getting tools and adjusting my seat.  I was so grateful for their help and I did not get nervous.  Had I been involved I would have been completely frazzled.  Apparently my seat was not horizontal, and the officials had changed their mind on whether or not I needed to have it fixed to compete.  

Jason G finished the adjustments and had my bike ready within minutes of my start time!  In the starting gate I thought of everyone that helped me get there, and all the effort it took.  I was ready!  But when the gun went off even though I'd practiced a ton of standing starts, I still messed it up.  Bleh.  I ended up getting passed about 2K in and when she went around me I was able to kick it up a notch and match the pace she was keeping....obviously I was not going hard enough in the beginning.  I think she was also using me as a carrot and probably slowed a bit after she passed me.  But I was in a tough spot, as it's illegal to draft or repass someone after they pass you.  When my competitor's race ended on the opposite side of the track, I still had half a lap to go.  Instead of pulling up track and out of the way, she sat up and slowed down, blocking my path.  I was yelling at her to get out of the way (if I really was doing a pursuit effort where did I get the breath to yell???) and finally at a quarter lap she pulled up.  I was mad, but mainly I was mad that I'd gotten passed.  I should have been going harder from the beginning.  Even with those mishaps I still posted a 4:10 which was good enough for 11th place, and it was 8 seconds faster than my last pursuit.  

about to get passed in the pursuit
photo courtesy of Erika Fulk

Next up was my scratch race, the race that I felt most confident in.  I've raced a ton of scratch races in my life and it's also the race most like a criterium, which is what I consider my specialty.  However, it's also a mass start race which means there's tons of riders on the track, and the possibility for crashing.  Crashes happen all the time in bike racing, and I feel way more confident about how to avoid them on the road.  I'm getting better on the track, but I still have some very real fear.  I was feeling good until 20 minutes before the race, and then the panic set in.  Somehow I got to the line, and when the race started I was able to settle in and be ok.  The race was fast and I rode hard.  I did have some some good efforts where I tried to bridge up to two riders who were off the front, but I was unable to close the gap, and spent the second half of the race unable to move up and finished at the back of the pack.  I was disappointed since I had had high hopes for this race. 

Scratch Race: If only that was the finish line :)
photo courtesy of Erika Fulk

My final event of the week was the points race.  Jason G had gone over a plan for the race with me and I felt really good about it. Going into the race the fear was there and I couldn't shake it.  I followed the plan as best as my legs would allow, but my legs felt terrible.  About 30 laps into the 100 lap race, I felt the fight go out of me.  About a lap after that there was a crash and 3 or 4 riders went down.  In a mass start race, they allow 5 laps for crashed riders to jump back in, and after I rolled around a couple times watching them on the sidelines, not getting up right away, I just decided to quit.  They all ended up being fine and jumping back in the race, but I pulled myself from the race and ended my nationals experience disappointed but safe.

Jeff and Jason G rode well in all their events, but most exciting was their medal in the Team Sprint!  

Jason G and Jeff and their Oregon guest rider Dan Birman winning Bronze in the Team Sprint

Liam Donoghue, John Tomlinson, Tom Briney, and Dave Moyer from XXX did Chicago proud in the team pursuit, and Liam had fantastic rides in the Individual Pursuit and Points race, earning a silver and bronze respectively.  Chicago rider Danny Robertson from WDT won bronze in the Keirin, and silver in the team sprint. Great job Chicago!  Only thing missing was more Chicago women!

Hanging out with Jennie Reed

Another highlight of the weekend was getting to meet Jennie Reed, who most recently won a silver medal in the Team Pursuit in London this summer, and was a super good sport about getting her picture taken with me :) 

And I got to see my old friend Laurel who is from California and one of the people who got me into this whole bike racing thing in the first place.  She was there competing in the team pursuit. 

In the end I was pleased with my effort but disappointed with my scratch race results, surprisingly happy with my pursuit, and just plain bummed by my points race.  I learned a lot and gained a TON of confidence.  I am hooked, and I definitely want to train harder and come back next year! 

When I think about it how many people helped me get out there,  I get a little choked up.  Just know that I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

And finally, if you have 3 hours, here's a Video of Saturday night's session

Gateway Cup, St. Louis MO

Sarah and I and our gracious hostess Marsha, who lets us crash at her house every year, and has been known to drive people to the dentist when necessary 

Gateway Cup is a 4 crit series in St. Louis, MO.  Not part of the NCC or USA Crits,  it's a very well attended long standing regional series coming at the end of the year, with equal payout for men and women. These races are super fun and a perfect way for us in the midwest to end our seasons.  Sarah and I were excited to be racing together and didn't even care that hurricane Isaac was predicted to cause huge rainstorms all weekend.  We drove down Friday afternoon through tornado warnings and intermittent storms and arrived at Lafayette Square for our nighttime crit in a torrential downpour.  I was nervous, and waiting around to start it was easy to see everyone felt the same.  I'd raced in the dark and the rain before, but never together.

The dark rainy crit Friday night
When the race started the rain subsided to a light drizzle and everyone behaved themselves and rode very well.  Early in the race I attacked and got a gap.  I was solo for a couple laps until Kenda bridged up.  We were soon caught and a couple other teams threw down some attacks.  It was so awesome riding around in the field seeing Sarah confidently taking those slippery corners.  Mid race I attacked again, and Sarah countered!  It was awesome.  She and another rider had a gap but it was chased down.  Things were going great until three laps to go when I hit a bump and got a flat.  I had lowered my tire pressure so much because of the rain that I got a pinch flat.  So much for tubulars!  Bitterly disappointed but glad to be safe and sound, I got to watch the finish and see Sarah ride a stellar finish in the money, avoiding a major final lap crash that took out half the field.  I honestly had no idea when it was happening, but apparently when I was off the front I got a prime!  It was a great surprise and almost made up for getting a flat.

I had a little bit of history with the next day's race and didn't really want to race it in the pouring rain.  But that is what we did.  It rained so hard during our race that I couldn't see at times, and there were puddles that grew into actual inches of accumulated water.  I know that in these conditions you've got to be aggressive and attack and get off the front, but I was very timid and rode with extreme caution.  The absolute highlight of the race was at 2 laps to go Sarah took a flyer.  It was a beautiful move.  Unfortunately Kristin Lasasso was there to chase her down, but it was one of those gutsy risks that can payoff big when they work.  Sarah was caught at about 1 to go, but still was able to collect herself and finish in the money.  So impressive!  I finished in the money too, and while I wasn't super thrilled with my result I was thrilled to finish with all of my teeth.

Keeping my teeth!

Sarah and I at the start of the Giro Della Montangna race on the Hill

"The Hill" is an old italian neighborhood in St. Louis, that has been hosting this bike race for 26 years.  It was one of my first cat 1/2 races when I started racing and I think of it fondly.  The neighborhood people are awesome and the crowds are great.  There's long straightaways with one long slight uphill and tight corners.  After 2 days of racing with no breakaways, we were ready to try again.  The field was together until the last third of the race.  I knew we had a $200 prime coming up and my plan was to attack and be away when they called the prime.  Unfortunately they called the prime exactly when I attacked.  I got a gap, but was a little bit uncertain of how to proceed.  Hindsight being 20/20 I should have just gone for it.  What's the worst that could happen?  I wouldn't get the prime and I'd get dropped.  As it was I slowed down and tried to conserve a little.  Kristin Lassaso chased me down, came around me and sat up.  I passed her, but again I hesitated to go all out--the final straightaway was long.    Kristin started to sprint and it wasn't until then that I went all out.  I neared the line thinking I had it, only to get nipped at the line by my Colombian nemesis Diana Martinez!  To make matters worse for me Gwen Inglis from Kenda and Laura Van Gilder countered the prime and got away.  I could not hang on and was dropped.   But on the positive side, I got to see the finish where once again Sarah held her own and finished in the money!

Sarah and I were racing well, and I was proud of our efforts, but we were hungry for some better results. We had a plan going into the final day and we executed it!  Monday's course is awesome.  It's really long, with a long grueling though slight up hill, and lots of twisty corners that you could absolutely fly through.

I was taking the corners super fast and loving it!

We communicated really well during the race and at one point Sarah was going to lead me out for a prime.  Unfortunately Diana was on my wheel so we shut it down.  Sarah continued her aggressive riding and tried some attacks.  At 5 to go Kristin Lassaso attacked and she and I had a gap.  We traded pulls, and then she attacked me.  I caught on, until several others including LVG caught up.  There were multiple attacks and the pace stayed high.  I maintained my position and felt great.  At one to go, Kristin took over and started her lead out for Laura.  I was on Kristin's wheel and she took me to the final corner. I went from the corner and got passed by LVG and Skylar Schneider and ended up in third.  Finally a podium!  Sarah and I were very happy.

 Awesome capture of Sarah's aggressive riding during the weekend stolen from Steve Tilford's blog

Even though we would have liked to have done better overall I thought we rode very well and am pleased with our efforts.

 Benton Park Podium:  1st.  LVG, 2nd Skylar Schnieder, 3rd Spidermonkey!!