Chasing Medals – Gold at Track Nationals

     Day 1 of track nationals was the 500-meter TT for jr. 13-14 boys.  There were thirty-two of us and I was second to the last to start.  I warmed up and listened to the times that the other kids did until it was my turn to go.  I knew that I had to beat the time of Chazmichael Morales of 38.? seconds. Before the start, I took a few deep breaths and looked at the start timer and then took off.  I finished the day in 3rd, but most importantly I got points for the overall omnium.

     The next day was the qualifying and finals scratch race. There were only 12 spots available to move on to the finals in my qualifying heat.  I took it easy to save my energy for the finals, but still made sure I qualified. Our final scratch race was held in the evening and all twenty-four of us tried to get a good spot on the rail. We rolled out as a group waiting for the gunshot to begin the 12-lap race. The referee pulled his trigger and the race was on.  Daniel Parks made the move as soon as it started and I followed. We had a little gap but it wasn't big enough. The rest of the race was slow with some attacks.  I knew I had to keep an eye out for Chazmichael during the whole race.  It was then the bell lap.  I was in a perfect position, sitting third wheel.  Grayson Brookshire made the jump and I was in his slipstream.  In turn 3, I started my sprint coming over the top of him but I was still tied with him.  Out of turn 4, I took the lead and held it the whole way. Getting first place was great because I got my first gold medal and it also moved me into 2nd place in the omnium, 2 points behind Chazmichael.

     The points race didn't look too good on the third day because it was storming all morning and the races had to be pushed back to the afternoon.  After a morning of confusion, it was finally my qualifying heat for the points race. Each heat qualified twelve racers to the finals.  Since my heat had only twelve of us, I went easy because I knew we would automatically move on to the finals. Then it was the finals race and all twenty-four riders were anxious to get the race started, including me.  I knew I had to beat Chazmichael by at least two places in order for me to take the overall win.  This race was 30 laps with sprints at every 6 laps. I got points early on in the race, but after one of the sprints Daniel Parks jumped.  Riders tried to get on his wheel but left too big of a gap that I couldn't close it.  Daniel Parks won the points race and I came in second.  I didn't care about the second place finish because my interest was on Chazmichael’s placing. There was no news for at least 5 minutes and then we finally got the results.  Chazmichael had gotten 4th and I got 2nd, which meant I had become the track national champion! 

     I’m glad I went to track nationals this year.  It definitely was redemption for not getting gold at road nationals.

-Matthew Valencia

National Criterium Championship

It was a 20km race, with lots of turns. Matt and I didn't get the best possible start at the line, but we were o.k. There was a crash right off the line before the first corner. I got stuck behind the crash. I had to chase for the whole race, but then I found myself in fifth wheel. I stayed here for a lap because everyone was yelling at me to stay. We came up to 2 to go. I waited, until right after the second corner I attacked, not knowing how close the group was ahead of me. I was almost there, probably 2 seconds off. I talked to Dylan Drummond and Matthew post race and they said there was somebody chasing me from behind so they didn't change their pace so I could get on. I was at my limit during the attack, putting everything I had into those pedals. I started the race in 70th place and finished 7th. After the race, I couldn't even drink a coke without getting nauseous. Every race I did at Nationals, put me at my limit. It was a great time. I want to say thank you to Larry for the team talks, and to Billy for working on both my road and TT bikes.

-Jack Maddux

Track Nationals - Day 2 to Day 4

Hello from a very comfortable RV traveling at a smooth 65mph down highway 80 in lovely green Indiana! Track nationals are now over, and two new red, white, and blue jerseys are already back in NorCal! Here is what happened in days two, three, and four of track nationals.

Day 2:

For the 17-18 boys, the points race was on the schedule. This race was probably the best suited race for me. However, I knew it was going to be extremely tough, but it was nationals. If it wasn’t there would have been a problem and who likes an easy race anyways? In the qualifier I planned on doing as little work needed to qualify, no point in killing your self if you do not need to just to qualify for a harder race. A group of two rolled off the front so only the top ten from the pack qualified. My chances were getting smaller, but not too small. I was able to bridge up to them with out totally killing myself. If the break stuck I would automatically qualify. Another guy bridged and we eventually lapped the field. A little much? Yes, but the pack just sat up and did not care, which made sense it was only the qualifier. I was able to help Ryan Gadow (San Jose Bicycle Club) score points and qualify. In the final I hoped to repeat my points race at nationals last year and roll off the front and win the race, but last year my race was much shorter and this year I raced like the extra distance did not make a difference. The race was 78 laps with sprints every 6. This meant the chances of going off the front were high because of the closeness of the sprints and the amount. However, in my multiply attempts to stretch the rubber band of the field I did pay attention to how much I was stretching mine. Right around half way through the race I found out how much I stretched my rubber band and I snapped it! Not the best thing to find out but that is racing. I got dropped and eventually pulled, but that is all apart of racing unfortunately and you have to be able to win gracefully, but more importantly LOSE GRACEFULLY. Daniel Fahrinha on the other hand rode a great race and ended up 2nd place, missing 1st place by three points and beating the 3rd place rider by over 20 points! The same day Matt Valencia was in full hunting mood for omnium points in his scratch race, the second out of three events for him, and boy is he a darn good omnium points hunter! Matt won his race putting him only two points behind the leader of his omnium!

Day 3:

Scratch race and team pursuit was on the schedule for me.  Both of the races I was very excited for. The team pursuit I was doing with Ben Barthel (5th in the individual pursuit) Neil Shepherd (4th in the individual pursuit) Matt Lipsocom (2nd in the individual pursuit) and myself (6th in the individual pursuit). With high hopes of taking down the “dream team” National Team with the alien, Texas creature Lawson Craddock, Ryan Eastman, Nate Geoffrion, and Benny Swedberg. We knew it would be tough, but we knew it was not impossible. Thankfully we went off after the national team. After seeing them go are hope got higher and higher. In the second half of their pursuit their team just blew apart. Nate and Benny were gassed and only Ryan and Lawson were together. They ended up doing a 3:42:something. This was a lot more reasonable than we were expecting. However, we were too worried about dropping each other that we went .5 to .7 seconds slower than we were supposed to each lap giving us a final time of 3:45:something. Although we were happy that we stayed together, we were frustrated that we did not go as fast as we could. We finished 3rd, with the Young Medalist Team winning with a time of 3:39:something. Then in the scratch race final I planned on trying to get away, but also I was going to make sure I did not kill myself before the finish of the race. With only 30 laps in the race it was going be short and fast. Myself and a couple of other tried to get away multiply times but nothing was getting away. I attacked with four to go but was quickly pulled back in and countered by a young medalist rider who almost stayed away but when Matt Baranoski started to sprint, nothing was faster. He finished first with Chazz Martin 2nd and the Young Medalist rider 3rd. Matt also had his points race in which he raced a very aggressive race and placed second to Daniel Parks and won the omnium by one point!! Ruth Winder (Peanut Butter & Co. 2012) did not stop attacking in her scratch race and eventually stayed away to a very well deserved victory!

Day 4:

No racing for Matt or myself, but Daniel Fahrinha participated in the Madison with Colt Peterson and boy was it an exciting race. Daniel and Colt both made the race very hard. The race came down to the last sprint and Daniel and Colt needed to win it but the sprinters still had some gas left and Benny Swedberg and Jesse Marans ended up winning the race and Daniel and Colt came in 3rd.

Over all it was a fun, exciting, educational, and hard track nationals.

Thanks for reading,

--Andrew

Track Nationals - Day 1

Hello from lovely, hot humid, and terribly uncomfortable Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. Today was the opening day of junior track nationals. Matt had his 500m ITT today and I had my extremely painful 3k individual pursuit. Matt had a very good ITT pulling off a 38 something placing him 3rd giving him 3 very valuable omnium points! In my pursuit I had a stress filled warm up as I had to do last minute mechanical work to my bike, but thankfully I was able to warm up on my road bike while my dad dealt with the issues. The bike was race ready with plenty of time and I passed the jig and weight test on the first time which was a huge relief as it took three times to pass at road nationals. I was in the 11th heat and boy was I ready. Legs were warm and I knew what I had to do. I had what I thought was a good start but later learned was quite slow. Although for the remaining eight laps I was able to keep a steady pace and gradually accelerating faster and faster each lap. Below are my splits recorded by my dad:

• Lap 1 - 29.14
• Lap 2 - 24.72
• Lap 3 - 24.82
• Lap 4 - 24.28
• Lap 5 - 24.26
• Lap 6 - 24.45
• Lap 7 - 24.23
• Lap 8 - 23.94
• Lap 9 - 24.58
• Total Time: 3:44.42**

**Time recorded by my dad. Official time was 3:45.051

This put me 6th over all.

Next race: points race

Thanks for reading,

--Andrew Jr.

Natz

Nationals was easily the hardest race of the year. Bend was hot, although not as hot as last year, and Craddock won everything.

We had a great showing, and we raced together really well.

Together in the crit everyone managed to finish unscathed, but still with some troubles. Turn 3 constricts the course from a 3 lane road to a one and a half lane wide road. Early in the race I was at the front taking advantage of it. Each lap the leaders would charge into the corner forcing everyone behind to chase hard. At the front, I buried myself to keep the pace high and force separations. Unfortunately going into the sketch-corner, some jokers attack on the inside, the group is seven wide, we are going to crash. Right then people crashed. I saw it coming and managed to just have to unclip and drop a chain. I took a a free lap, but USAC doesn't put me in at the front third of the field where I was. The official lets me start halfway through the bunch which means by the time I am up to speed I am holding on to the back for dear life. Two laps later, another crash. Two more, I flat. Same procedure for being put in. At this point any plan we had was crashed, scraped, and flatted apart.

The road race consisted of frenetic attacks and more chaos. 200 meters into the race I heard scraping and snapping and a spoke flying by my head. I see Torey on the ground, and a Specialized S-Works tumbling down the road. And then there were seven. Every rider fought to get to the front, only to get there and realize that nothing was happening. The first two laps followed this pattern, the second two were chaos. My plan was to roll off the front with one and a half laps to go to draw out some of the team's threats. I rolled off, got a gap, and riders bridged. We were working well together, until all of a sudden the group was there. Up the first of several climbs a rider attacked. I tried to follow, blew up and sank like a stone. Getting back into the group up the climb took everything I had. Unfortunately by then Craddock attacked again and the field was completely strung out. Andrew Lanier and I got caught in the second split in the group. We tried to pull back our group single handedly, which didn't work. Eventually, with a half lap to go, I got people working. The two of us got a breather, but were still gassed. Organization blew apart in the last kilometer. We thought it was unsportsmanlike like to sprint. Others didn't. From puling the group for 18 kilometers we were blown and couldn't sprint. So much for sportsmanship.

In the end the racing was good, and we worked well together. Every success was a team effort, I just fell on bad luck.