Elite Track National Championships: Points Race 10/2/2010

The Points Race was on Saturday afternoon, and the first thing I had to do was race in a qualifying heat. The heat was 40 laps, with sprints every 10 laps, and the top ten qualified for the final. We only had 13 starters, so most of us would advance. My goal for the day was just to make the final. The heat started and we went fast! I think it was the fastest track race I'd ever been in, since I've pretty much only raced with the B men at Hellyer. I also found out quite quickly that although I was energetic and excited before the race, my legs were rather tired from all of the pursuiting. Fortunately I was able to get near the front on the last lap and got one point on the last sprint, which was enough to qualify me for the final. Then I got to wait 2.5-3 hours for the final, which was good actually, since my legs needed time to cool down, rest, and warm up again. It was also enough time that I could eat some food.

Since I was still feeling fairly tired, and I also have very little experience doing points races (especially in a fast field), my goals for the race were simple: don't get dropped and get at least one point. The final was 100 laps, sprints every 10 laps. The pace was fast, but it seemed less frantic than the qualifying heat, maybe because it was a longer race. I also had a bigger gear, so it may have been just as fast but I got used to it and wasn't spinning out. In any case, I was conservative for the first 50 laps, since I wasn't sure of my legs and also needed a bit of time to get comfortable racing in a pack of fast-moving women. I learned quickly to stick to the wheel in front of me lest it get stolen, but I also ended up in the back a lot because the wheel in front of me wasn't trying to get to the front. With 50 laps to go, there was actually a crash on the home stretch, but luckily I was far enough behind that I could go up and over. I'm not sure how many people went down, but the race was soon neutralized and we were allowed to stop (and get water). Two girls were injured enough that they didn't restart, but several ladies who did go down (including Beth Newell) got back in when we restarted.

I was feeling a little less tired in the second half and started being a bit more active in the race, going with a couple of breakaway attempts, but nothing stuck for more than a lap or two. I still wasn't great at moving up through the pack, but when I did get near the front I responded to several attacks. Luck was with me in the last few laps, because when Cari Higgins and Hanan Alves-Hyde went off the front, I had the opportunity to bridge when the girl in front of me decided to go for it (otherwise I was blocked in). I made it to the front group, though we ended up with almost no separation. There ended up being five of us strung out in front of the pack, which was close behind but so strung out that they weren't about to overtake us. Cari and Hanan were taking good pulls, but the other two girls pulled off after half a second on the front, so I took a good fast half-lap pull to keep us out there. I can't remember how many laps we were out there, but with about a lap and a half to go all I remember was trying to hang onto Hanan's wheel as she and Cari accelerated. She pulled away from me very slowly and I just kept fighting to stay on her wheel, having no idea who was behind me or how far, just knowing that this was my last chance to win any points. Luckily, I think everyone behind me was suffering just as much and I got 3rd in that final sprint, netting myself 2 points. I got 12th in the race, which I think was pretty good for a beginner. Also that last sprint was awesome! I'm looking forward to coming back next year with a little more experience and really kicking butt in the points race.

Elite Track National Championships: Individual Pursuit 10/1/2010

Friday afternoon was the individual pursuit, but my legs weren't feeling as good as they were the day before. It didn't help that not only did we have little rest between team pursuits but we were kicked out of the track right after awards so we had no time to cool down. Since I'm new to track cycling, they weren't able to seed me properly and I was in the first heat (the fastest four were in the last two heats). I had a pretty good start, and I floated the second and third laps just like I planned. Then I thought my legs were feeling pretty good, so I upped the pace and did a couple of sub-19 laps, but unfortunately I couldn't hold it for long and ended up fading by the end, though I did still pass my opponent. I clocked a 4:01.298, which is a PR, but I had been hoping to break 4 by a few seconds. I think if I'd been feeling fresh I would have been able to, but I'll never know. I then had to wait for everyone else to finish to find out if I'd made the finals (top 4) or the podium (top 5). Unfortunately another unknown showed up in the 3rd heat and beat my time by one second, then all four ladies in the last two heats beat her, so I ended up 6th. Haley and Andi both put in solid performances: Haley did her first ever Individual Pursuit and Andi improved on her 3k time from Elite Districts.

Elite Track National Championships: Team Pursuit 9/30/2010

About two weeks ago we finally got together a team for the Team Pursuit at Nationals: me, Haley, and Andi. We all went down to the track a couple of times and practiced our exchanges, and we felt pretty good about it. Coach Dan and I drove down to Carson on Wednesday afternoon with a full car, since we were carrying Andi and Haleys' bikes, wheels, and rollers. Andi and Haley flew in Thursday morning and in the afternoon it was time to race. We had our order set, our strategy ready, and our communications agreed on. Unfortunately, it didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped. The plan was for Andi to start and take one-lap pulls, followed by me taking two-lap pulls, then Haley taking one-lap pulls. Our start was okay, and I floated the second lap at 19.0 seconds, then apparently Haley and I were both feeling really good, because we went much faster than we'd planned, with me doing my second lap at 18.1 and Haley holding that pace exactly. Andi was feeling the pace a little, but she did her lap well and then I was on the front again. I'm not entirely sure how it happened after that, but sometime during my two-lap pull Haley and I gapped Andi, and I heard her say "down down down" as we'd agreed. Unfortunately, shortly after I first heard it I heard something else (it may have even been a spectator saying something), and thought that she was back on, so I kept going after an brief slowdown. Once Andi was off the back even a little, it was harder for her to get back on, and I didn't realize how much we'd gapped her by until I'd finished my two laps, going at what I thought was a conservative pace. I pulled off to let Haley through and saw how far behind Andi was - not really all that far, but enough that she wasn't getting a draft at all. Unfortunately, I failed to properly communicate this to Haley, so it took us another lap and a half for us to all come together again. I stayed on front for 3 laps to spare Andi (since she'd been in the wind going full speed for 3 laps) and Haley led us through the final lap. Despite our many miscommunications, which were all of our faults, we still managed to clock a 4:00, which is not a bad time in its own right and I think downright amazing considering we spent a chunk of the race apart.

There were only four teams registered, which meant that all four teams got to ride again for the finals - 1 vs 2 and 3 vs 4. We ranked 3rd. Since there weren't any other events going on that afternoon besides the Men's Team Pursuit, we only got about 30-40 minutes before we had to race again, but even though we were tired, we were glad to get a second chance. We got off to a bit of a slow start, and we were definitely tired, but we knew the other team was tired too. Coach Dan decided that since Andi had been forced to chase us for a couple of laps, she should take half-lap pulls, and it was my job to avoid any abrupt accelerations so that she could stay safely in the draft. For the first few laps we were actually a quarter lap behind the other team, but we held it together and picked up the pace a bit, while the other team got tired and fell apart. By the end we were more than a quarter lap up on them, not far from catching them. Our time was 3:58.742, and we beat the 4th place team by nearly 8 seconds. We were all pretty thrilled to have won a bronze medal at Elite Nationals! I was lucky to have Haley and Andi on my team, they were fantastic.

Friday Night Racing 9/17/2010

This was the last Friday Night at the track for the year, and it turned out much better than the one three weeks before when I crashed hard. The fields were Men 1/2, Women 2/3/4, and Open 3/4, which turned out really nicely for me since it meant I could race in the reasonably small Women's field while the Cat 1 Women raced with the men. I decided to race not only the Omnium but also the Sprints, since it seemed like fun. My first race of the night was a match sprint against two men I didn't know. I wasn't running a very big gear since I knew I might not have time to change it before the next event, so I decided to take them by surprise and go long - I started with over 1.5 laps to go. I held them off for a while but one of them came around me on the home stretch, so I ended up 2nd.

Next up was the Power Mile, which was just a 5 lap scratch race. I think there were eight or nine of us, so it was a nice sized field. We started off a bit slow, and on the second lap I heard Coach Dan yelling at me from the warmup circle to punch it and see what happens. I made a bit of a move, but not enough to shake the field, so I backed off to rest for a bit before taking the last two laps hard to win it. My next race was another scratch race, which was only 12 laps long. We all traded pulls for a bit and some small moves were made but nothing too exciting happened until I powered off the front going into the last lap for another victory. Right after that race I was called to the ready for my next sprint, which would be after one other pair went. Oh, and I just happened to be sprinting against my boyfriend, Jose Soltren. Well, we'd done this against each other before, and I pretty much knew I didn't have a chance, but I went for it anyway, attacking with just over a lap to go, hoping to catch him off-guard. It didn't work and he passed me pretty quickly, but at least I tried. I was getting fairly tired by this point, having come to the track that morning for pursuit training. Luckily I got a bit of a rest as we waited for the Kiddie Kilo and the 50 lap points race to finish before our 20-lap points race. If I'd been fresh I would have considered trying to lap the field, but since I was tired I decided to be conservative and just sprint every 5 laps. I ended up winning the first 3 sprints and got 3rd in the last one, so that was my third victory. Right after that, I was called again for a match sprint, but luckily the other guy scratched so I ended up 7th out of 12 without having to race a 3rd time.

The last race was the Miss 'n' Out, which was thankfully very short due to our field size being down to 6. I burned a fair amount of energy staying up above most of the laps to avoid being caught at the line, so when Heather attacked on the last lap I was a bit slow to follow and couldn't quite pass her at the line. Since I won most of the races, I also won the Omnium, which was cool. I had a lot of fun racing and I wasn't very nervous about riding in a pack again, though I did witness some close calls in some other races. I think next year I'll come to a lot more Friday Nights since I had so much fun this time.

Tuesday Night Racing 9/14/2010

This was my first race back after my crash a few weeks ago. It was also my first time riding my shiny new red Langster which replaced the one that died in the crash. I raced in the 3/4 category (since I'm a 3 on the track) and first up was a scratch race. I quickly realized that although my body had healed from the crash, I was scared of crashing again and didn't want to ride to close to people. Unfortunately, it was a moderately sized field (15-20 riders?) and there was a lot of aggressive riding going on, including crowding and passing underneath, so I was rather uncomfortable riding in the pack. To make things worse, Taylor Meilahn crashed with 11 laps to go. I don't really know how it happened, but she ended up with a concussion, a cut above her right eye, and lots of road rash. I hope she heals as fast as I did. We finished the last 11 laps and I spent most of them riding a meter or two off the back, because the wheels in front of me kept moving side to side quickly and I really didn't feel comfortable staying close. The points race was more fun, because it was 25 laps with sprints every 5 laps. I decided to take a chance and attacked right at the beginning, coming out of turn 4 after the whistle was blown. I got quite a lead on the pack for a while, staying half a lap ahead for several laps and even getting as far as maybe 2/3 of a lap ahead, but after I won the first sprint at 5 laps in, I think the pack realized that they needed to get it together and chase me down before I lapped the field or won too many sprints. I stayed out for another 2.5 laps or so before I gave up and got caught by a chase group, but unfortunately I'd pushed myself too far trying to stay ahead for so long, and I was unable to join the group. In fact, I think I really overextended myself, since I think I ended up getting lapped by most of the field and didn't even have the energy to latch on and draft. At least it was a safe race and I gave it all I had.