Potatoes, Potatoes, Potatoes and Mystery Meat: Story of the 2011 UCI Track Junior World Championships

Moscow, Russia. 5885 miles from home, just being there was sure to be an experience let alone racing at the Junior World Championships! Going into the trip I could not have been more excited, except for the flight that seemed never ending. I am completely and entirely thankful for the support from Team Specialized Racing, The Northern California Cycling Federation (NCCF), the Northern California Nevada Cycling Association (NCNCA), the Northern California Velodrome Association (NCVA), in addition to the numerous individuals who made this once in a life time experience possible.

After surviving the roughly 15 hours of flights it was utterly amazing to be able to ride on one of the fastest tracks in the world along with experiencing world famous land marks such as Red Square and the Kremlin. The track in Moscow is a true 333 meter track made of Siberian Pine with banking of 11 degrees in the straights and 41 degrees in the turns. The track also features fairly short straight-aways for its size, creating very wide and smooth turns which contribute greatly to the speed of the track, along with the 10 meter width and the mid-turn, several stories drop  from the rail to blue band. But enough with the geeky technical information of the track, as some are probably asleep. Just understand this track is fast. The 200m record was set here (~9.5 sec)

I was in Moscow for the points race which would be 72 laps of fast, hard, active racing with sprints every six laps and to prepare for this I spent more time than I would ever want looking at the back of my dad’s scooter helmet and back than I would like. This proved to be extremely helpful as the race averaged a brisk pace of roughly 32 miles per hour, realize that that was for 24 kilometers with sprints every 2 kilometers.

Typically in a points race, the racing starts off a bit conservative but this was throttle on from the gun. I made it my goal to stay within the top 7 or so through out the race because the only direction this race was going was forward. The way racing should be. I also planned on keeping a cool attitude for the first half, roughly, to avoid having a weak finish as the last sprint in all points races serves as the tie breaker. However with a group of four getting off the front within the first 7-10 laps and cooperating and eventually taking a lap and gain 20 points along with the points they picked up along the way. This meant having to start racing aggressively a bit sooner than planned. However with the racing being so active and most break attempts not succeeding, choosing the right time to make the aggressive moves was tricky and required patience and precision, it was a track race after all. Then with roughly 34 laps to-go I went down (only my second crash on the track in seven years, perfect timing huh?), but thankfully was able to get back in with just some wood burn. By the time I got back into the pack it was roughly 27 laps to-go and another small group was off the front, and they would soon take a lap making seven people total taking a lap. I ended up finishing in the pack at the final sprint.

Although my result was nothing extraordinary, the experience most certainly was. It was fast as hell (pardon my French), aggressive, extremely tactical, and one huge adrenaline rush, along with one big continuous fight for position, resulting in a lot of close riding, huge emphasis on close.

Cheyenne Canyon Time Trial

Last weekend I raced the Cheyenne Canyon Time Trial in Colorado Springs.  It is one of my best results to date.  Second in the Pro1/2.  The climb is 5 kilometers long and the beginning isn't too steep.  But it gets steeper halfway up with the last kilometer over 10%.  I've won this race 2 times before (SM3 2009, 2010).  Bettering my time each time, this time I did the race in 15:30. Tom Danielson has the record and it is 13:34. The winner is a cat 1 and won the other hill climbs this year (Mt. Evans, Lookout Mountain and others).  He finished in 14:50. This happens to be the same climb that is used for the power tests at National Camp at the Olympic Training Center.  This is one of my favorite climbs anywhere and it was a pretty good race.  Every year I get closer to the record! 

-Dean Haas

Some Time Off The Bike

I am kind of going off the cycling topic for this blog, but
I have not been able to ride for the past couple of weeks because of a hip
injury.  Although it is disappointing
that I cannot finish up the racing season, it has been nice to take a mental
and physical break.  During this rest
period, I had the opportunity to go to  Maui.  It
was a very special trip because 12 members of my extended family all got to go.
 This is the first time that the 12 of us
vacationed together.  We stayed in North
Kanapali at the nicest hotel I have ever been in.  Every day, we all had a great time doing all
the typical tourist activities like snorkeling, going to a Luau and eating a
ton of food.  On one of the days we went
to the Grand Wailea for the most amazing brunch any one has ever seen.  It was impossible to go there and eat less
than 4,000 calories.     My
favorite thing about the trip was seeing some incredible sea life, while
snorkeling.  On every outing we saw at
least one huge sea turtle.  One time, I
even swam next to one for a solid 10 minutes or so.  This was a trip of a lifetime and it is one I
will never forget.

As far as my hip, I should be able to do some hard riding
soon. I have a Doctor's appointment tomorrow to get a MRI and I will know more
after that.

Kyle

Mt. Evans Hill Climb

While the 17-18s were racing the 43rd Annual Tour de L'abitibi, I was at home in Colorado racing one of my favorite races, the 46th Annual Mt. Evans Hill Climb.  Mount Evans is one 54 14,000 foot mountains in Colorado and it has a road that goes all the way to the top.  The climb is 28.5 miles long and although it is not steep it is extremely difficult and it can be below freezing at the top and snowing in the summer time not to mention the fact that the summit of the mountain is at 14,264 ft making it the highest paved road in North America.

Mt. Evans has been won by the likes of Jonathan Vaughters, Scott Moninger, Ned Overend and of course Tom Danielson who holds the course record.  This means that every year the race is going to be hard and it was just that this year.  The climb starts in Idaho Springs, a town just west of Denver, the climb starts with 7 miles up a canyon and then another 7 miles of steeper grades until the pay station for the Mt. Evans highway.  The second half of the climb is the hardest part because the pay station is at 10,000 feet.  Another 4 miles past the pay station is where the treeline ends and 5 miles from the summit is Summit Lake where there is snow all year round off the road and there is permafrost under the road.  After Summit Lake the starts to get hard because of thin air and cold temperature and steeper grades.  This is when road is actually on Mt. Evans and the road soon turns into a series of about 15 switchbacks in 3 miles that get extremely difficult a mile from the top.  Mt. Evans can be likened to Alp d'Huez with its switchbacks except harder.

 A few miles from the summit high winds are common.

Switchback at 13,000 feet.

Summit Lake 12,000 feet 5 miles from the summit.  

Training ride at the top.

Enough about the climb and about the race.  There aren't a lot of tactics in a hill climb especially one this long it is pretty much just being the strongest rider.  The climb up the canyon was very fast and when got to mile 7 there was an acceleration and until Echo Lake where the pay station is the race was fast and gets a little bit steeper and riders were getting dropped.  That day it was windy, windier than usual and the wind was coming from the South mostly instead of the West making some nasty headwinds.  The race stayed steady for past treeline and the road goes mostly South for awhile and stayed hard and although I was suffering I was staying with the front off the race until Summit Lake where there were some attacks.  After that the road becomes steeper again, it is pretty flat even downhill by the lake and I couldn't hold the speed.  Around a kilometer later I could see that race pretty exploded and there wasn't really a group anymore.  I finished 16th in the race in 2:01:27 slower than my time the year before when I won the cat 3 race in 2:00:30 and the winner did 1:57:37 making the times this year very slow.  Peter Stetina won in 1:50:00 last year and Tom Danielson has the record of 1:41:20 a record I would like to beat one day.

-Dean Haas