Friday, July 26 – Trexlertown, PA
“7-Eleven” is one of my old nicknames. It may have something to do with the amount
of diet coke I buy from the store(?)
Today was a 7-eleven day, not because of my favorite soda (which I am
trying to wean off of) but because that’s how long I was at the Trexlertown
velodrome today. Up and at ‘em for the 2013
Track National Championships at 6am, over to the track and 13 races later I’m
back at the hotel showering and then posting pictures to Facebook.
No complaining here, I love this stuff! Really, today was a very special day to be a
bicycle racer, to be a Team Specialized teammate and to be the director of a
small team of dedicated and driven cyclists.
Three quick stories…
Jules Gilliam (14) had an upset stomach before his scratch
race qualifier and in his final. Safe to
say, that’s a loss of power. He qualified
easily top-ten late in the “morning” session (3pm!) and then waited for hours
for his scratch race final. We ate a
light dinner as a team between sessions and returned to the track, where Jules
promptly attacked his 19 competitors after just four laps of racing and went
solo all the way to the line, getting caught by the winner just at the
line. 2nd place tonight plus
his 4th last night has him sitting 3rd in the omnium going
into his points race qualifier and final tomorrow. He’ll need a big result to pull out a national
championship.
Way back in 1991 our masters team petitioned USA Cycling to
add the team pursuit to Masters Nationals.
Our team has since ridden to twelve team pursuit national
championships. Fast forward to 2013 and
a 15-16 year old championships is added for the four-man team pursuit. With Gage and Grant already planning to go to
track nationals I persuade Jack Maddux to join us for the team pursuit. He agrees, spends a solid week of training
and racing on the track and becomes more than proficient as a track rider. That’s my point of view. Jack’s point of view is that he’s having a
blast! As soon as Gage popped up on the
omnium scoreboard (placing to just five of the top places, of 52 starters!)
Jack and Grant have been faithful teammates to Gage’s effort to win a National
Championship. One event remains. If Gage comes top four he should win his
first track title.
Oh wait, we have a team pursuit to win first thing in the
morning!
Matthew Valencia (17) won the 15-16 Track National
Championships in 012. He bested 41 starters
over four events. It was very impressive,
and it’s even more special to him this year.
Matthew has really good form this year but was not able to win his first
event - the international omnium, six events over two days, an Olympic event. Matthew was very good in the events he spends
less time practicing (flyer one lap – 4th, 3km – 5th, kilo
– 2nd) and he gambled a lot with his strong events (miss and out –
4th, points race – 9th, scratch race – 7th). He ended up 5th on the
omnium. He’s not complaining, or reminiscing,
but sometimes not winning helps us to appreciate when our efforts pay off with
a victory.
Off to bed as we have team pursuits in the morning. Maybe a nap in the afternoon(?). Cheers, Larry Nolan, Team Specialized Junior
Director
100’s of pictures posted to our Team Specialized Facebook
page!
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