Track Nationals

So its been a while but a lot has happened. After a wonderful time in Rossland I returned home to get ready for track nationals and worlds team qualification. The prep leading up to races was awesome. I was riding on the track twice a week with a lot of specificity on the pursuit. Even though I would ride a sprint race any day I am good at the pursuit and I seem to do okay when it comes to race day.  My coach and I both agreed that I need to ride a bigger harder gear for both the 500m and the 3 kilometer, but what I didn’t realize is how big he was thinking.  He left for some races with Greta and few other teammates up in the Chicago area, leaving myself and Clark to ride with Mark Tyson’s morning group.  My coach gave me a workout and I thought that the gearing I was on was for the 500m, 8 inches bigger than last year (in cycling that is a big jump).  Come to find out that the new was for my pursuit!  I thought he was crazy and out of his mind to think that I could ride that gear for that long of a time. I then asked another coach if that was my pursuit gear what my sprint gear should be and he told me an even bigger gear.  I thought they were both crazy.  There’s no way I should be able to ride that big of a gear. No Way!!

Well, come race day there was a pretty heavy wind and after previous discussion I thought I would drop the pursuit gear to be able to handle the gear in the wind.  I trust my coach and he told me that I would be able to handle the bigger gear in the wind.  I told flat out that he was crazy and insane to think that I could power this big of a gear in this wind, but I trust him and put the bigger gear on.  I was able to roll a pretty good time considering the conditions and the gear felt awesome. I was actually pretty impressed with what I was able to do.  My performance was good enough for second place in the qualifier, which meant that I was riding that afternoon in the gold medal round.  I didn’t feel it at all. My leg felt dead and tired after the morning’s effort.  The good news was that the wind and dropped and actually turned so it wasmore helpful for my start. I was able to run four seconds faster in the afternoon and that was with a really fast first kilometer.  On Sunday I raced the 500m and it was a blast. There was little to no wind and I was feeling okay considering the two pursuits I did the day before.  I went all out and it paid off with a new American record and a personal best by .7 seconds.

Now that nationals are done it is time to refocus on Road World Championships in Baie-Comeau, Canada. We leave August 13th and races will start on the 19th. First will be a 24ish kilometer time trial and then a 50ish kilometer road race.

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