USA Cycling Masters Track National Championships, 8/26-9/1/2019

By Dennis Pedersen

This year, because the UCI Masters Track Cycling World Championships are in gray, industrial Manchester, England, I had no interest in going there and focused entirely on the USA Cycling Masters Track National Championships, held in Carson, near Los Angeles, at the amazing indoor wooden track there, part of the Dignity Health Sports Park.

As I mentioned in my Districts race report, I trained pretty much from right after World's last year through the end of August. I was coached by Sy Shaddox for my weight training (at Santa Cruz Strength, and Jeff Solt for my cycling. I lifted weights three times a week and rode twice a week over the winter, shifting to lifting twice a week and riding three or four times a week starting on May 1st. No breaks at all during those months… luckily I enjoy working out. I also entered a few LAVRA races at the LA track (Carson is just north of downtown Los Angeles) for specific training on the 45-degree banked track with tight turns. I also had Craig at Spokesman Bicycles glue up some sticky Vittoria Pista Speed tires, specifically for use on wooden tracks like the LA velodrome.

This year I was again able to bring my wife, Margaret, with me to Los Angeles. We drove down on Sunday, spent a little time in Disneyland, and had some nice dinners by the ocean too before the racing started at Nationals on Tuesday. Life is short, and I don't want to miss out on living life too. I didn't become a racer to live like a monk.

Tuesday, August 27th, Match Sprints

My first day of racing started on Tuesday morning: Match Sprints in my age group, 55 to 59. I felt very comfortable, and felt barely any nerves at all, a huge contrast to Worlds in 2017, and somewhat in Worlds in 2018, where I had some trepidation about this event. Margaret was there to help me and encourage me.

Qualifying

Warming up for the 200m
(Photo: Margaret P.)

As always, Match Sprint tournaments start out with a timed flying-200m qualifying ride to determine "seeding" of the riders in the tournament. Setting a fast time improves your odds of advancing into each successive round, as the faster qualifiers are usually seeded (matched) against the slower qualifiers.

I selected 99.7 gear inches (48x13t), based on previous luck with this gearing. I had considered renting a front disk wheel, but in the end settled for my usual vintage Zipp 808 front wheel and Zipp 900 rear disk. I did my best to build up speed in the wind-up, just as I had last year at Worlds, to avoid using too much energy. I felt pretty good when I rushed down the banking to start the 200m timed section, and thought I did a decent job of powering through the turns, which is always difficult. But you never know how well you do until you see your time in the results. Fortunately, this year I was able to set another PR (personal record) in my flying 200m, hitting 40 mph max, stopping the clock at 11.877 seconds! That was awesome. I had qualified in 6th place; what a great way to start the week! I then switched to lower 96.4-inch gearing (50x14t), rested, and prepared to do battle in the actual sprints.

1/16 Finals

Lining up against Shon
(Photo: Margaret P.)

For the 1/16 finals I was matched against Shon Halasi, from El Segundo. I knew nothing about him, except that he qualified 13th, at 13.116 seconds. We drew numbers on a tablet, and I drew a "2," meaning that I could start after him, and higher up on the track. At the end of our first very slow lap (out of 3 laps), he slowed way down to force me ahead of him, hoping to gain the benefit of my draft, and ended up stopping completely for a "track stand." He was so focused on getting his balance just right, that I sensed a huge opportunity. I jumped and opened a massive gap, then rode at a tempo pace for 2 laps, hitting just 33.6 mph max for an easy win. I thus advanced to the ⅛ finals.

⅛ Finals

Blocking James in turn 1
(Photo: Margaret P.)

This time I drew a "1" against James Nakae, who qualified just behind me in 7th, with a nice 12.058. We slowly rode along, until he went up-track to the rail, with me following closely next to him. He tried to come around me a few times, but I was always there to block him. After 1-1/2 laps, we entered turn 3 still at a fairly low speed, and I thought I still had him blocked pretty well. However, he took a massive risk and dropped behind and below me, surprising me and missing my rear wheel by just 1 inch according to people who were watching. But he then sprinted all-out down the home straight and into our final lap, with me in hot pursuit in his draft. Coming out of turn 2 in the final lap, I could tell he was tiring and I was able to get next to him in turn 3. And coming out of turn 4 higher up the banking than James I had momentum in my favor and won by about a bike length.

¼ Finals

With the slower riders now out of the race, I was matched against the third-place qualifier, Rich Rozzi, who also happens to be my team-mate in Team Sprint. He qualified with a very nice 11.707 seconds so I knew this race would be difficult, just as it had been for me at our Districts, where he beat me in the semifinals. Because we're also teammates, we shared a space in the track's infield, with his girlfriend and my wife becoming great friends and being supportive of us all. So it was a little awkward for them when we raced against each other. But it's all in good fun, right?

Ride 1:
I drew a "2" against Rich, and went high up the track, forcing the pace higher, and surprised him in turn 3, with over one lap remaining, by riding hard above him, and sprinting quite hard for most of the last lap. But as I neared the finish I sensed him gaining on me, and though I was at 100% by then I lost by a few agonizing inches at the very end. Darn.

Ride 2:

Rich and me rolling up to the start line (Photo: Margaret P.)

This time I started first against Rich. I zigged a little ahead of him, then went high on the back straight to force him ahead of me. His momentum carried him past me at first, but then he slowed way down. I faked a track stand, and when I noticed Rich looking to his left to locate me, I jumped 100% over his right, opening a huge gap, and then went hard for 2-1/2 laps, looking back at him to gauge the effort needed to maintain my lead. But in the end we finished just like our ride 1, as I again lost by inches. I kept wondering: did I go too hard at first? Or should I have gone harder sooner? I'm still not sure, as it's hard to gauge your effort over that long of a sprint. All I know is that I tried to keep ahead of him and it didn't work. So I was now out of the medals. Sigh.

Minor Finals

It's a bummer to be so close to the Gold medal round, only to be demoted to the minor finals where 5th through 8th place are decided in a 4-up race, but such was my lot. The minor finals were held during the evening session, so we had plenty of time to recover from the morning's sprints, where I had raced six times. I must admit, I wasn't that motivated at this point. To me the difference between 5th and 8th didn't seem that significant, so I went into this with a little less energy than usual.

My poor minor finals start (Photo: Josh Burton)

I drew "3." I was up against Bob Francis, starting in 1, Darrell Farlow in 2,and Tim Gaidis in 4. My holder wasn't Jeff like the last few years, and I probably should have coached my holder a little on the best technique for holding. As it was, when the whistle blew the other riders all got a nice push, and that's important in a 4-up race, as these usually end up being at a much higher average speed than 2-up races. I caught up and drafted Tim who was up-track from the others, and blocking Darrell in the pole behind Bob, for a bit, but Darrell started to push, literally, Tim up-track so he could pass, and after some bumping around he surged forward, though a final flick made Tim veer, almost hitting my front wheel just as I started to ride over him… I was pretty much out, and finished behind them. So I finished 8th overall, while Rich finished in 2nd.

Friday, August 29th, Individual Events

For me, this day was for racing my 500m ITT (individual time trial); a standing-start drag race. I used 96.4-inch gearing again and a rented front FFWD disk wheel for better aerodynamics, especially in the second lap. I'd won this event at our Districts, so I thought I had a good chance at a podium finish, and if I could PR I might even win, who knows?

In the start gate for my 500m ITT
(Photo: Margaret P.)

I was the 15th starter out of 18 total. I got up onto the apron with my bike and handed it to the official who clamped it into the starting gate which is connected to the timing system. I strapped into my pedals and focused on the countdown. I tried to channel my anger into the pedals at the "0" tone, and rode my heart out. I clipped a few of the foam pads lining the edge of the track with my left pedal in my careening haste, and thought "I must be doing well." But it's so hard to keep the power up in the tight turns at the LA track, and I caught myself a few times letting the power drop. So I wasn't sure how I had done when I crossed the line, even though I was cautiously optimistic.

Lap 1 of my 500m ITT (Photo: Josh Burton)

I had finished my first lap in 20.926, and finished the two-lap race in a total of 36.610 seconds. Not great, not even as fast as I'd gone at our Districts on a slower track. I was not too happy, but philosophical, as my final 5th place was about what I had expected. Had I equaled my previous PR I'd still only have finished in 3rd place. 5th was still good for a podium appearance and a token Bronze medal. My Team Sprint teammates, Martin Harris and Rich Rozzi, finished 1st and 2nd, which boded well for our Team Sprint chances!

Sunday, September 1, Team Events

I rested thoroughly on Saturday, and had a big pancakes and eggs breakfast to prepare for our 55+ Team Sprint, in the Sunday afternoon session, my priority race for the whole season. Rich, Martin and I had trained for this a lot, but the field was stacked with 24 fast riders from all over the country. I thought we were definitely in the running, though perhaps not the obvious favorites. Margaret and I entered the lap splits from all of the 500m results into a spreadsheet for each 3-man team (most Team Sprint entrants raced the 500m too), to guesstimate how all eight teams compared. I was optimistic, but there was one team that looked really fast on paper, but I thought perhaps their assumed starting-order would hurt them.

After warming up and getting everything ready (I kept the 96.4-inch gearing), we awaited our heat, heat 2 of the 4 heats (they started two teams at a time, from opposite sides of the track), which came at about 2:15 pm. We lined up in our start order, with my bike clamped into the start gate, and Rich above me to my right as our "man 2," and Martin above him as our "man 3," both held up by officials. I focused and breathed along with the countdown timer, and at "0" I went as hard as I could, gapping Rich a little for the first half lap before he came even with my rear wheel. At the end of my lap I came out of turn 4 and shifted slightly above the red line at the top edge of the pole lane, thus allowing Rich to start to sneak past me on my left for a head-start on his lap 2. I swung up-track and breathed while Rich and Martin continued on, close together. So far everything looked good. As Rich pulled off too, Martin looked fast and finished lap 3 strong. It was with great amusement that I heard the announcer say, "New Best Time sets a new best time" ... our team was named "New Best Time" as a fun joke.

Me, with Rich and Martin following, in lap 1 of our Team Sprint
(Photo: Josh Burton)

We watched the other 7 teams do their rides, each time hoping to stay in the lead, and each timed we breathed a sigh of relief as our time held. Until the last heat, when team "Medium Sausage Pizza" beat us by just 0.417 seconds. Argh! I had thought they'd start in a different order, but they were able to stay fairly close together, barely, and eke out the small margin of victory. Oh well, winning Silver ain't bad either, especially given the quality of competition we had faced.

In a post-mortem of our Team Sprint, I saw that while Martin and I both were third-fastest in our respective laps, Rich had ridden the fastest lap 2 of anyone! So I was bummed about not going any faster, but my 20.842-second lap 1 was pretty decent for me, and my best all year, though still not a PR (I had hoped to best my old lap-1 PR of 20.523 from 2017 Worlds). Had I done so, and had Martin been just 0.1 faster, we would have won. But that's Monday-morning quarterbacking, and I will just have to hope that next time I will be able to reach my full potential.

Martin, Rich, and I with our Silver medals
(Photo: Margaret P.)

Final Thoughts

So, was I happy with how I had done this year? Partly. I was pretty happy to have set a PR in my flying-200m, for sure, and I thought I rode well during the Match Sprints too. But I won't deny I was disappointed at being somewhat slow in my 500m ITT, and in my Team Sprint lap 1.Still, the season went pretty well for me, even as I got older, and I am certain I am stronger and a faster rider than ever. And I am so happy not to be burned out at the end of this season, unlike some past years. I am looking forward to competing next year, though my plans hinge mostly on where Nationals will be held in 2020. We shall see.

Speaking of the future, I haven’t yet decided what my 2020 season will consist of, but I will restart my weight training next week so I will be as prepared as possible for whatever comes along. My hope is that the 2020 Nationals will be in either LA again, or Colorado Springs. Training for Colorado's track would be simpler as it is so similar to Hellyer, but LA is such an awesome track that I’m OK with either.

Thanks for reading!

Masters NCNCA District (State) Track Championships, 8/3-4/2019

By Dennis Pedersen

My District Track Cycling Championships this year were very similar to last year's Districts in many ways. Once again Districts were not my priority, though still a very important milestone, more just preparation for my main goal. Unlike last year, though, I wasn't going to race at the UCI Masters Track Cycling World Championships. This year my only goal was racing in the USAC Masters Track National Championships.

Like last year, I trained right through our Districts, using the races that weekend as training and reference points on my training progress. For this season I hired a different strength-training coach, Syon Shaddox, also at Santa Cruz Strength. He did a fabulous job of helping me build strength through the winter and spring, and maintain my full strength from that point on through the present. That's pretty amazing.

On May 1st I shifted my training emphasis from strength-building to on-the-bike training, once again with my trusty Coach, Jeff Solt. One of the interesting, to me anyway, things I've learned from my training is that the less I ride and the more time I spend in the gym the faster I get on the track. Jeff has been trying to teach me that for a long time, so Syon's help has been invaluable to that end.

Saturday, Match Sprints

On the morning of our Sprints (you can read about the various types of track races on the NCVA site), at Hellyer Park's Velodrome in San Jose, I did a nice job of warming up and doing two flying 100m sprints to gauge my legs. Unfortunately, they felt really weak. So I ended up going for 96.4" gearing (50x14t) instead of the 98.4" I had planned on using for our qualifying flying 200m timed runs. It was also a bit windy. And, because my Zipp wheels have tires only suitable for the indoor wooden track in Los Angeles, not on Hellyer's oval concrete track, I only had my warm-up wheels for this.

My flying-200m qualifying run (photo: Jeff Vander Stucken).

Though the defending Champion, for the previous three years, I ended up with a startlingly slow flying-200m qualifying time of 12.54 seconds. I don't remember the last time I was that slow, so that was extremely disappointing. This slow time seeded me as 4th out of the five riders there. That meant I had to start off with a ride against the 5th qualifier, so that the final rounds could be between four riders. Several people commented on my odd choice of wheels, and fortunately Tony Colicchio loaned me his deep dish wheels for the actual races.

So, as the only ride in the semifinals, I rode against Joe Atmore. I drew number 1, so I led the two-lap race out. I did a decent job of holding Joe off, and prevented him from getting a nice run at my draft, and was able to beat him with a nice gap. My goal was to not burn more energy than I had to, and I think I succeeded.

My first ride against Joe Atmore (photo: Jeff Vander Stucken)

For the finals, I was now required to race against the fastest qualifier, Rich Rozzi (also my teammate for the Team Sprints, by the way). Rich had qualified with a very nice 11.91 seconds. So I knew I had my work cut out for me. In our first ride, Rich led the race out, and did a nice job of slowing down when needed to prevent me from getting a gap to run a nice fast run around him. I wasn't able to surprise him, and I probably didn't do a great job of trying to open up a gap. In the end, I tried to come around him on the last lap and was never able to.

In my second ride against Rich I led the race out, bumping his elbows a little, BMX-style (Rich is also a longtime pro BMX racer). I did a very similar job to what he had done, and when I jumped with 3/4 of a lap to go, I did a good job of preventing him from being able to run around me with a surprise attack. Unfortunately, as we came through turns 3 and 4, the exit from turn 4 benefited him more than me, because he was higher on the track, and he beat me by inches at the line. So I was out of the Gold round.

While Rich went on to race against Bill Nighan (2nd qualifier, at 12.07) for the Gold medal, I was racing against Jim Lawrence, of Colorado Springs (3rd qualifier, at 12.3), for the Bronze medal. I didn't know out-of-state residents could compete here, but I guess he was eligible to compete but just couldn't win a State Championship.

Anyway, for the first ride, I led Jim out. It ended very similarly to my ride against Joe. For our second ride, Jim led the race out, and I jumped over him in turn 3 when he slowed too much. I looked back and I had a nice gap because I had surprised him, and I just went pretty hard. As I looked back I saw the gap become huge, and at that point I just slowed down and soft pedaled for half a lap to the finish line. I had noticed that my legs felt better as the morning progressed, but beating a faster qualifier was still somewhat of a surprise, and very welcome. Bronze wasn't my goal, but then again, I didn't really have any goals for our Districts this year.

Sunday, Timed Events

A somewhat unexpected contrast to my Saturday morning warm-up, I felt pretty good on Sunday morning during my warm up. A few minutes before my start, I did a few box jumps onto the podium as part of my warm up too. In fact, my legs felt electric with energy. I know that sounds weird, but it was true. I stuck with my original choice of a 94.5" gear (49x14t) for my 500m Individual Time Trial.

As always, the 500m ITT is from a standing start with the riders being held up while strapped into their bikes. I got a good start after the timer countdown. Pedaling hard through the corners is always a bit of a challenge, but I managed to do so. I even got that tunnel vision that happens when I'm really on it, and noticed my legs completely exploding for the last half lap, so I suspected that I had given 100% when I crossed the finish line.

Yes, my 500m ITT was good, with a PR tying time of 36.23! I won Gold, beating my Team Sprint teammates Martin Harris and Rich Rozzi by several tenths. This definitely made up for my poor Saturday performance, and I was super stoked. Going from a low to a high like this makes racing exciting. Wow. That also asserted my place on our team. I started my training later than they had, so I perhaps had more to prove, and this helped.

Martin Harris, me and Rich Rozzi on the
500m ITT podium (photo: Jeff Vander Stucken)

We had several hours of waiting around in the 86-degree heat for the Team Sprint to start. It's this way every year, and it's kind of draining. Finally though, it was time for us to race. I warmed up on the rollers a little bit, plus on the track with a rolling start for warmup.

Just to add a bit of drama, our former teammate, Bill Nighan, managed to form a team to race against us. Brian Moore, my teammate at Nationals in 2016 (where we won Gold), plus George Miranda, my Team Sprint teammate at Worlds in 2017, joined Bill to race against us.

As we lined up for our Team Sprint start, I felt pretty comfortable. I'm the starter, or man 1. One point in my favor for our start was that my holder didn't prevent me from rolling backward when I prepared for the end of the countdown. As a result, I had a couple of inches to run into to get a head start on the timer. This is not against the rules, as it's not my fault, and I did not cross the start line before the timer finished it's countdown. So I exploded out of the start, gapping Rich, who was followed closely by Martin. It took Rich the entire first lap to catch me, but that gave him a really nice run into lap 2, and Martin stayed close to him the whole time. That was awesome to see, as it is critical for our speed when we go to Nationals. Interestingly, Rich had tired legs on Sunday, while I had the tired legs on Saturday.

So, we ended up with a 1:11.67 time. That was pretty good, especially considering the windy conditions, though still a bit short of my Team Sprint in 2016 of 1:10.96. And we beat Bill's ad hoc team pretty handily, at 1:14.54.

So, Districts was pretty good for me, and yielded me two more Golds for a total of 11 District Championships I've earned over the last few years. Definitely motivating as we lead up to Nationals, in Los Angeles, August 26 through September 1. The field is already stacked, so we will need to be at our best.

If you've read this far, congratulations!