After a season of traveling, more racing than I've ever done, and several months of not getting any certain confirmations, I've been confirmed to start the Dortmund 6-Day this year. I leave on Monday for 2 weeks of training and racing at the Forest City Velodrome in London, Ontario, and depart directly from there for Amsterdam. On November 1, I'll get to test my legs in the European 6-day scene.
If I'm lucky, we'll be able to leverage the Dortmund start into an invite to the Munich 6-day the next week. After that I'll be racing a 3-day in Geneva before moving on to Gent. If I get to race there, that would be amazing. Otherwise I'll stick around, meet up with Bob Williams and Bill Nicholson, and take it in as a spectator.
Tentatively, after coming back to the US for a couple weeks, I'll be off to the Burnaby Velodrome in Vancouver, British Columbia for a 6-day that runs from December 30 to January 4. Forget the cross season as being epic, the 6-day scene is where the real action is!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
One last nationals note...
It's a while past, and you may have already heard, but the final day of nationals was a bit of a disappointment. Hanz, Franz, and DGC rode a good team sprint, but came up with 6th, one spot out of the medals (This is familiar; Ferris, Richter, and I finished in 6th in this event two years ago). They had done considerably faster before, so I think they were a bit down about this one. Regardless, they had a solid ride.
Ferris and DGC also raced the kierin, and put in a pretty decent showing. Ferris set the new nationals fashion trend by wearing not only padded Japanese kierin shorts, but a full set of BMX chest, shoulder and arm pads. Keep an eye out for this one to crop up all over the National Track Racing Calendar next year. Neither qualified through their first rounds, and they both ended up in the same rep. You had to win to advance, but they both came up short. Oh well, they rode well, and both stayed upright.
My luck on the day didn't improve from the rest of the week. In fact, it got considerably worse. I pumped up my rear wheel before warming up, only to find that it had gone flat. Fortunately, DGC was willing to let me ride his disc in the madison, which was conveniently at the end of the session. On to that... I started in the race. My partner, Steen, was beginning on relief. I made the first few laps, and didn't see him. At first I thought he had just hesitated in leaving the rail, so that he could position himself in an open part of the track. But I still didn't see him. So I started to think I had missed him. By now we were about 6 laps into the race, and I was getting confused. About 8 laps in, I saw him walking along the apron, his bike being carried by someone else. So he crashed. Maybe he would get back in... I kept riding. By 12 laps into the race, it was clear he wasn't coming back. I dropped out. We didn't even get in a single exchange. Lame.
I walked down the stairs to the infield, and encountered a half-frantic Ferris, carrying Steen's jersey, with the other set of madison numbers still pinned to it. Apparently he had seen Steen crash, and when he realized Steen wasn't able to keep riding, ran up, told him to give him the jersey, and implored the officials to let Chris race with me. They would have none of it though. Bummer, but a nice try on Chris's part. It would have been awesome to get to race, at least in some capacity. It turns out some other relief rider, riding too slowly through turn 4, slid out, and hit Steen and Mike Friedman on the way down. Steen got the worst of the deal, landing on the first guy's handlebars, and getting some deep-tissue bruising on his hip and back. He's out for the season.
Now I've had some pretty raw luck all season. It definitely didn't go unnoticed, though. Earlier in the week, Scott from Fixed Gear Fever had told me to make sure to stick around after the madison awards, that he had some special award for me. I was a bit nervous about just what this would entail, but hung around regardless. It turns out I was awarded the jersey for the "Unluckiest Rider" on the National Track Racing Calendar. No kidding, they actually made up a special jersey, and presented it to me along with the other--and in most cases, more legitimate-- awards.
What's really amazing is that I managed to garner the award prior to the madison failure at Nationals. So I guess it's only fitting that my luck, bad as it may be, continue unabated through my last American race of the season.
Ferris and DGC also raced the kierin, and put in a pretty decent showing. Ferris set the new nationals fashion trend by wearing not only padded Japanese kierin shorts, but a full set of BMX chest, shoulder and arm pads. Keep an eye out for this one to crop up all over the National Track Racing Calendar next year. Neither qualified through their first rounds, and they both ended up in the same rep. You had to win to advance, but they both came up short. Oh well, they rode well, and both stayed upright.
My luck on the day didn't improve from the rest of the week. In fact, it got considerably worse. I pumped up my rear wheel before warming up, only to find that it had gone flat. Fortunately, DGC was willing to let me ride his disc in the madison, which was conveniently at the end of the session. On to that... I started in the race. My partner, Steen, was beginning on relief. I made the first few laps, and didn't see him. At first I thought he had just hesitated in leaving the rail, so that he could position himself in an open part of the track. But I still didn't see him. So I started to think I had missed him. By now we were about 6 laps into the race, and I was getting confused. About 8 laps in, I saw him walking along the apron, his bike being carried by someone else. So he crashed. Maybe he would get back in... I kept riding. By 12 laps into the race, it was clear he wasn't coming back. I dropped out. We didn't even get in a single exchange. Lame.
I walked down the stairs to the infield, and encountered a half-frantic Ferris, carrying Steen's jersey, with the other set of madison numbers still pinned to it. Apparently he had seen Steen crash, and when he realized Steen wasn't able to keep riding, ran up, told him to give him the jersey, and implored the officials to let Chris race with me. They would have none of it though. Bummer, but a nice try on Chris's part. It would have been awesome to get to race, at least in some capacity. It turns out some other relief rider, riding too slowly through turn 4, slid out, and hit Steen and Mike Friedman on the way down. Steen got the worst of the deal, landing on the first guy's handlebars, and getting some deep-tissue bruising on his hip and back. He's out for the season.
Now I've had some pretty raw luck all season. It definitely didn't go unnoticed, though. Earlier in the week, Scott from Fixed Gear Fever had told me to make sure to stick around after the madison awards, that he had some special award for me. I was a bit nervous about just what this would entail, but hung around regardless. It turns out I was awarded the jersey for the "Unluckiest Rider" on the National Track Racing Calendar. No kidding, they actually made up a special jersey, and presented it to me along with the other--and in most cases, more legitimate-- awards.
What's really amazing is that I managed to garner the award prior to the madison failure at Nationals. So I guess it's only fitting that my luck, bad as it may be, continue unabated through my last American race of the season.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Points Race Disappointments
The points races and the conclusion of the sprint tournaments were on the schedule today. Things didn't feel very good for me, right from the start. All through warm-ups, I felt just alright. Nothing more, not bad, but just alright. The biggest concern was that I couldn't get my heart rate up to anywhere near my LT. Efforts on the track, sprints on the rollers, I just couldn't get it within 10-15 beats per minute of where it should have been. Some serious rest in order when I get back to Minnesota.
My heat did not go well. It was a similar story to how I felt in the scratch race yesterday. My legs didn't hurt, they weren't loading up, and my lungs weren't burning. I just couldn't go fast. To sum it up quickly, I didn't qualify. The race was fast, but I should have been in it. I guess this is what happens when you try to train through Elite Nationals. You get taken to task for not being absolutely on top of your game.
DGC didn't have a particular lot of luck in his heat, either. At least his was a lot more like a points race, with lots of attacks and good sprints, the pace going up and down. Mine pretty much just stayed strung out, more like a scratch race. Not that exciting...
Probably the coolest thing to watch was the final of the men's sprint tournament. Michael Blatchford took the jersey this year, beating Ben Barczewski in two rides. Blatchford's speed is amazing, but the really stunning thing is how powerful his jump his. When the two jumped side by side, Blatchford just pulled away. All the more amazing, considering that Ben has no lack of jump himself.
Tomorrow we round out Nationals for this year. I'll have the madison with Steen Rose, Ferris and DGC will be racing the keirin, and Hanz, Franz, and the DGC will be chasing hardware in the team sprint. It looks like the last day of racing holds the best possibility for the Minnesota contingent this year. One last shot.
My heat did not go well. It was a similar story to how I felt in the scratch race yesterday. My legs didn't hurt, they weren't loading up, and my lungs weren't burning. I just couldn't go fast. To sum it up quickly, I didn't qualify. The race was fast, but I should have been in it. I guess this is what happens when you try to train through Elite Nationals. You get taken to task for not being absolutely on top of your game.
DGC didn't have a particular lot of luck in his heat, either. At least his was a lot more like a points race, with lots of attacks and good sprints, the pace going up and down. Mine pretty much just stayed strung out, more like a scratch race. Not that exciting...
Probably the coolest thing to watch was the final of the men's sprint tournament. Michael Blatchford took the jersey this year, beating Ben Barczewski in two rides. Blatchford's speed is amazing, but the really stunning thing is how powerful his jump his. When the two jumped side by side, Blatchford just pulled away. All the more amazing, considering that Ben has no lack of jump himself.
Tomorrow we round out Nationals for this year. I'll have the madison with Steen Rose, Ferris and DGC will be racing the keirin, and Hanz, Franz, and the DGC will be chasing hardware in the team sprint. It looks like the last day of racing holds the best possibility for the Minnesota contingent this year. One last shot.
On the boards
Today was the second day of racing out here. Yesterday Hanz, Franz, DGC, and Captain Midnight took to the track, the first 3 competing in the 250 m standing lap time trial, and the latter 2 doing the kilo. The starting gate was none too friendly to Hanz and Franz, one jumping it, the other hesitating as to avoid just that issue. DGC seems to have it nailed though, and in the end, they all ended up with times within 5 hundredths of a second, in the neighborhood of 20.2 seconds. Ferris overcame his kilo demons of last year, and pulled off a 1:11.7, while DGC came up a bit short of his goal of going under 1:10, with a 1:11.1. All in all, not a bad day.
The session today was a massive one. Unlike past years, which have usually had a morning and an afternoon session, everything is being done in one fell swoop. And I don't really like it. We arrived at the track at 10:00 AM, got ready, and warmed up for a noon start. First was the men's pursuit. Then the women's pursuit. Then some women's kierin rounds. Finally we came around to men's flying 200 sprint qualification. Nevermind that this was at 3:00 PM, over 3 hours after warm-ups on the track had ended. DGC turned an 11.89 (I think), Franz was disappointed with a time that was in the low 12's, and Ferris was less than thrilled with his high 11. Was there any redemption, you ask? Quite. Hanz (aka Taylor) threw down an 11.4 and qualified in the top 10. That's more like it. He didn't fare so well in the heats, being dispatched by Ryan Nelman, but still, he made it into the rounds, and with a very respectable time at that.
After a few rounds of match sprinting, we finally got to the scratch race heats. While all sorts of reasonable logic would have the scratch race heats go early in the program, with the final at the end, but USA Cycling has forsaken that sort of thing. So the first heat took to the track just before 5:00 PM. Being in the third heat, I had to wait through 2 40 lap races before I would take to the track. DGC was in the second heat, and perhaps the rigorous slate of racing he made up for himself was taking its toll, as he left the race partway through. When my heat came around, my head just wasn't in it. My legs felt stale, and I had anything but a killer instinct going. I actually felt kind of drowsy. Not the state you want to be in at nationals. In any case, I made a few feeble attempts to get into breaks that would hopefully lap the field, but all came up fruitless. Only one rider made it around to take a lap, an in the mean time, I sat at the rear of the pack wondering what was wrong with my legs. The sprint came, I didn't have it in me to shove my wheel to the front (they were only take 8 of the 20+ riders in each heat) and I missed out on qualifying for the final. Oddly, I'm not too upset about it. The average speed was just below 50 km/h, and I hung in without much trouble. The problem is, I should have been doing much more than just hanging in. I know I can ride far better than I did today. Oh well, it's only the scratch race. The points race is tomorrow, and the madison is on Sunday, both of which I enjoy more than the scratch. Hopefully I can get my scheduling worked out, and not spend more than 8 hours at the track this time.
The session today was a massive one. Unlike past years, which have usually had a morning and an afternoon session, everything is being done in one fell swoop. And I don't really like it. We arrived at the track at 10:00 AM, got ready, and warmed up for a noon start. First was the men's pursuit. Then the women's pursuit. Then some women's kierin rounds. Finally we came around to men's flying 200 sprint qualification. Nevermind that this was at 3:00 PM, over 3 hours after warm-ups on the track had ended. DGC turned an 11.89 (I think), Franz was disappointed with a time that was in the low 12's, and Ferris was less than thrilled with his high 11. Was there any redemption, you ask? Quite. Hanz (aka Taylor) threw down an 11.4 and qualified in the top 10. That's more like it. He didn't fare so well in the heats, being dispatched by Ryan Nelman, but still, he made it into the rounds, and with a very respectable time at that.
After a few rounds of match sprinting, we finally got to the scratch race heats. While all sorts of reasonable logic would have the scratch race heats go early in the program, with the final at the end, but USA Cycling has forsaken that sort of thing. So the first heat took to the track just before 5:00 PM. Being in the third heat, I had to wait through 2 40 lap races before I would take to the track. DGC was in the second heat, and perhaps the rigorous slate of racing he made up for himself was taking its toll, as he left the race partway through. When my heat came around, my head just wasn't in it. My legs felt stale, and I had anything but a killer instinct going. I actually felt kind of drowsy. Not the state you want to be in at nationals. In any case, I made a few feeble attempts to get into breaks that would hopefully lap the field, but all came up fruitless. Only one rider made it around to take a lap, an in the mean time, I sat at the rear of the pack wondering what was wrong with my legs. The sprint came, I didn't have it in me to shove my wheel to the front (they were only take 8 of the 20+ riders in each heat) and I missed out on qualifying for the final. Oddly, I'm not too upset about it. The average speed was just below 50 km/h, and I hung in without much trouble. The problem is, I should have been doing much more than just hanging in. I know I can ride far better than I did today. Oh well, it's only the scratch race. The points race is tomorrow, and the madison is on Sunday, both of which I enjoy more than the scratch. Hopefully I can get my scheduling worked out, and not spend more than 8 hours at the track this time.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
On the road again
I've had about month back in Minnesota, and now it's time to keep moving.
Next stop: Elite Track National Championships in Los Angeles.
I'll be racing the scratch race on Thursday, points race on Friday, and the madison on Saturday. The first two races are important, but what I really want to do is rock the madison. But yet again, I'll be riding it with someone I've never met, this time with a racer out of Texas named Steen Rose. He seems like a nice guy, and has some good results, so hopefully everything will come together.
Also going out this year from Blaine are Captain Midnight, Hanz, Franz, and DGC. It should be a fun week.
Bob and Bill have been doing a ton of work driving the motor for me, and plenty of other riders have come out to help me train as well (Sickboy and Dubay especially). It would be awesome if I could transfer some of that training into decent results this year at Nat's. Time will tell.
Next stop: Elite Track National Championships in Los Angeles.
I'll be racing the scratch race on Thursday, points race on Friday, and the madison on Saturday. The first two races are important, but what I really want to do is rock the madison. But yet again, I'll be riding it with someone I've never met, this time with a racer out of Texas named Steen Rose. He seems like a nice guy, and has some good results, so hopefully everything will come together.
Also going out this year from Blaine are Captain Midnight, Hanz, Franz, and DGC. It should be a fun week.
Bob and Bill have been doing a ton of work driving the motor for me, and plenty of other riders have come out to help me train as well (Sickboy and Dubay especially). It would be awesome if I could transfer some of that training into decent results this year at Nat's. Time will tell.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
My two cents
Apparently the hot topic of the week is the kickoff of the annual debate: Is the track collapsing, how quickly, and what are we going to do about it?
I don't have a solution. Bob and Dave have a fix that will hold us over for some time more. $10 million will get us a new track, with a roof to boot.
So what is this all about? I just wanted to clear up two misconceptions I've seen flying around.
1. "We have the best damn facility in the country."
(dis) hit the nail on the head with his response. No we don't. T-Town does. We may have a smoother track, but they have far better facilities. A locker room with showers, a full cafe, manicured grounds, a press box, permanent stands, storage buildings, the list keeps going. We have a cluster of port-a-potties, two big brown containers, and bleachers I wouldn't want to be within 100 meters of when lightning starts up. And don't say that the NSC has dorms, showers, etc, because we can't use them, so they may as well not be there.
2. "We have the best track in the country."
Sorry again, but that belongs to the ADT Center. They may have superior facilities, too, despite all the gripes about how they could have done so much better.
Does this mean I don't think Blaine is awesome? Not in the least. But we need to actually look at what we do have going for us. When it comes right down to it, we do have an exceptional track that we can use any time, on little more than a whim. We're never left fighting for space on the boards or time to schedule training.
Even if we did end up getting a facility like the ADT Center, would we really want everything that comes along with it? Take a look at their fees for riding. $20 per session?! Even if you get the 10 ride pack for the bargain price of $160, that's still more than we pay for an entire night of racing! Having a roof over the velodrome would be brilliant in the winter, and would certainly save a lot of headaches when the weather turns foul in the summer, but come on, there's something to be said for the appeal of having an outdoor track on a pristine June night.
The NSC has a ton going for it, and the program keeps growing. We should keep enjoying what we have, and doing everything we can to maintain it for as long as possible. All the while we should be keeping one eye to the future, but not at the cost of worrying to the point that it ruins the pleasure of what we have now. And as we plan for what will eventually replace the NSC Velodrome, don't try to force it into the mold of being the next T-Town or ADT Center. Let it be a track that fits with the character of the Twin Cities, and with the people who make riding here great.
I don't have a solution. Bob and Dave have a fix that will hold us over for some time more. $10 million will get us a new track, with a roof to boot.
So what is this all about? I just wanted to clear up two misconceptions I've seen flying around.
1. "We have the best damn facility in the country."
(dis) hit the nail on the head with his response. No we don't. T-Town does. We may have a smoother track, but they have far better facilities. A locker room with showers, a full cafe, manicured grounds, a press box, permanent stands, storage buildings, the list keeps going. We have a cluster of port-a-potties, two big brown containers, and bleachers I wouldn't want to be within 100 meters of when lightning starts up. And don't say that the NSC has dorms, showers, etc, because we can't use them, so they may as well not be there.
2. "We have the best track in the country."
Sorry again, but that belongs to the ADT Center. They may have superior facilities, too, despite all the gripes about how they could have done so much better.
Does this mean I don't think Blaine is awesome? Not in the least. But we need to actually look at what we do have going for us. When it comes right down to it, we do have an exceptional track that we can use any time, on little more than a whim. We're never left fighting for space on the boards or time to schedule training.
Even if we did end up getting a facility like the ADT Center, would we really want everything that comes along with it? Take a look at their fees for riding. $20 per session?! Even if you get the 10 ride pack for the bargain price of $160, that's still more than we pay for an entire night of racing! Having a roof over the velodrome would be brilliant in the winter, and would certainly save a lot of headaches when the weather turns foul in the summer, but come on, there's something to be said for the appeal of having an outdoor track on a pristine June night.
The NSC has a ton going for it, and the program keeps growing. We should keep enjoying what we have, and doing everything we can to maintain it for as long as possible. All the while we should be keeping one eye to the future, but not at the cost of worrying to the point that it ruins the pleasure of what we have now. And as we plan for what will eventually replace the NSC Velodrome, don't try to force it into the mold of being the next T-Town or ADT Center. Let it be a track that fits with the character of the Twin Cities, and with the people who make riding here great.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Briefly, by request
This week was the last night of racing at the track for the season. Some clown races, odd kits, and the shortest possible Black Jack Points Race (less than 15 laps!). If ending it quickly wasn't enough, it also pissed off Super-Rookie. Double plus! I crashed in a track-stand competition trying to ride circles around an armoured Chris Ferris. I guess that's fitting. Two wins, one funny crash, and I tied up the TROY competition. Pretty successful.
Also in racing this month...
Ferris and I teamed up and won the state madison, taking the race on points from Sickboy
Kruse and Ben Dubay, the latter having stepped in to take the place of a shoeless Ben Richter. The next night it was the Big German and I up rode together in the first ever Friday Night Grind madison races and walked away with wins in every event of the evening. Sweet. It wasn't until the next week that I realized I had raced both nights in an 86 inch gear. This made Sickboy mad (or at least frustrated). With two nights of wins, does that make this a triple plus? I think so.
Track repairs tomorrow, then back to training. Rumors abound that I may get to race the madison at Elite Nat's with Adam Bergman. That would be awesome. We'll see what happens.
Also in racing this month...
Ferris and I teamed up and won the state madison, taking the race on points from Sickboy
Kruse and Ben Dubay, the latter having stepped in to take the place of a shoeless Ben Richter. The next night it was the Big German and I up rode together in the first ever Friday Night Grind madison races and walked away with wins in every event of the evening. Sweet. It wasn't until the next week that I realized I had raced both nights in an 86 inch gear. This made Sickboy mad (or at least frustrated). With two nights of wins, does that make this a triple plus? I think so.
Track repairs tomorrow, then back to training. Rumors abound that I may get to race the madison at Elite Nat's with Adam Bergman. That would be awesome. We'll see what happens.
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