This year has seen the return of racing to Hellyer Park's velodrome after over a year marked by closures and limited sessions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
I restarted training in November, 2020, with plans to focus on the 2021 Masters Track World Championships. I had raced at the 2017 and 2018 Worlds, and I was looking forward to getting a chance to improve on my results.
Last year's Worlds was to be held in Manchester, England but had been canceled due to COVID-19, not surprisingly. This year's was to be held at the VELO Sports Center near Los Angeles, in Carson City, in October. I figured the pandemic restrictions would be reduced enough to not get in the way by then.
For this season I even hired a new coach, Adey Dent, because my two teammates for the team sprint, Rich Rozzi and Martin Harris, were already coaching with him, and it made sense to have coordinated training. I was able to attend fairly regular advanced training sessions with them at Hellyer on Sunday mornings, plus race in several local races there.
For this year I was completely focused on team sprint, and secondarily the 500 m individual time trial (ITT). Read about these types of racing here. As much as I have enjoyed match sprints in the past, the tournament format is very exhausting and lowers my odds of doing well in the other events, so I've skipped them for now.
Elite Championships, 8/8/2021
A couple of weeks before our Masters Championships we had the Elite Districts, racing against all the young guys. We decided to enter that as a way to get training in official events, with proper holders and timing, in the team sprints, and also our 500 m ITTs. I skipped the match sprints which were on Saturday.
I was a little disappointed with my 500 m ITT (38.46 seconds), which has been consistently slow this year. But then again, my teammates also seem to be a little slower in the 500 m. Maybe we're just getting old? Or maybe it's that I only used my spoked warm-up wheels instead of my faster Zipp racing wheels?
After a restart caused by my right shoe not being clipped in, we were pretty pleased with our team sprint time, 1:11.31, which gave us a silver medal (gold time was an amazing 1:08.9!). Though it was slower than the 1:10.71 we set at a race in July, our time was faster than the 1:10.96 my previous team set in 2016, prior to us winning the National Championships in Colorado Springs, so I was very optimistic about our potential for Worlds.
Then we got a bit of a bombshell dropped on our plans. Worlds was cancelled, due to… COVID-19 restrictions of course. Travel to the U.S. was impossible for many of the foreign racers in any case, so attendance would have been low too.
So then my priority would have to be either Masters Track Nationals, in Pennsylvania, or our local races. Martin announced that he couldn't justify traveling to Nationals, so Rich and I were left with few options but to stay close to home. That meant our District Masters Track Championships were suddenly no longer practice races, but the whole bag of marbles.
Masters Championships, 8/22/2021
For Masters Districts, I again opted to skip the Saturday racing, with match sprints, so I could be more rested for the Sunday timed events. I hauled all my gear, including my Dixie Flyer with Zipp racing wheels mounted with tires suitable for the concrete velodrome at Hellyer, and drove over the hill to San Jose. Turn out is lower than previous years, but still respectable.
For the 500 m in the morning I used 51x14t (98.4") gears. I was up against local legend Larry Nolan, and Erik Salander. Even though my time was only 38.87, I still managed to win gold with that. I feel like my first lap is still pretty good, but two laps is just a little bit far for me at the moment, it seems.
Rich, Martin and I had a little time to rest and prepare for our team sprint. I used 50x14t gears (96.4") as man 1, Rich (man 2) had 98.5", Martin (man 3) used 102.2". My start was decent, and Rich and Martin were never far behind me, with only a small gap opening up behind me for part of my lap. I pulled off and watched Rich lead Martin for lap 2, then Martin finish our race, with a gold medal time of 1:11.72.
Me, Rich and Martin, with our gold medals.
So while my result was 2-for-2, gold in both events (bringing my total District Championships to 13), the numbers were a bit mixed for me.
It seemed a waste of all that training to just call it a season, so we are likely to race in LA a few times. And it will give me a chance to try out the carbon FFWD wheels I bought specifically for the wooden track there, mounted with the ultra-soft tires needed to keep from slipping down the steep, 45-degree banking. LA’s track is always exciting, so that will still be fun.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I haven't been racing much the last few years, because I have been so focused on just District, National and World Championships. It's hard to train properly while also racing local races. But Masters District Track Championships are still a big deal to me, and a great way to gauge my fitness leading up to Masters Track Cycling World Championships. When I got home from Worlds last year I took a week off to rest, but then started training heavily (pun intended) at Santa Cruz Strength again, and over the next few months I set a number of PRs in various lifts, including bench press, squats, and deadlifts. I also started training with Tony Colicchio, another track cyclist that my coach, Jeff Solt, coaches. Having a training buddy helps to push me further. There is a link between strength and speed on the track, but it isn't a direct link. My hope was that my higher strength would fill in some performance gaps in my racing fitness. I skipped Nationals this year and last, because it was earlier in the season and I didn't want another long training season. That's what's required to properly prepare to be fast in early July (Nationals), then again in late August (Districts) and early October (Worlds), and I didn't want to burn out. In July I started to train more intensively on the bike with Coach Jeff, increasing my rides from 1 or 2 days a week to 3 days, then 5 or 6. At the same time I backed off on the gym workouts, from 4 days a week to 3 days, then just 2 days. Because of my shorter training season Jeff and I agreed I would mostly train right through Districts, held at Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose, so as to prioritize my preparations for Worlds. (You can read about the various types of races on the NCVA site).
Saturday: Match Sprints
I was skeptical I could do well in the match sprints but I signed up anyway, because you never know, and they can be very fun and exciting, even for spectators. But I had some tough competition: Bill Nighan, who I barely beat last year, had been riding really strong this year, and Rich Rozzi, who beat me in 2014 when we were both in the 50 to 54 age group, was once again in my 55 to 59 age group. There were only 4 riders in our group, which was disappointing.
For the qualifying runs, we did our usual flying 200 meter runs. It was a bit windy and cool, so not great for speed. But I managed to qualify fastest, much to my surprise, with a 12.15 second run, hitting 38.6 mph max (in 96.4-inch gears). Bill got a 12.34, Rich a 12.51, and returning trackie Craig Parker a 12.63. Our matches would be two laps, winner would be best-of-three heats.
Semi-Finals
Heat 1: I was matched against the slowest qualifier, Craig Parker. We drew numbers and he took the lead in the start, while Coach Jeff held me on my bike next to the rail at the top of the banking. He rode very slowly along the rail ahead of me, which left him vulnerable to attacks. I won by seizing the lead in turn 3 by jumping below him from behind, and into the pole lane. I then floated a bit into turn 1, did a bit of a jump on the back straight, but never hit 100%.
Heat 2: I led this heat, in my second round with Craig. I won by steadily increasing my speed, looking over my shoulder almost continuously; I just had to match his speed when he attempted to pass. But he always left too small a gap to run, or none. So I was never caught off guard and I advanced to the Gold finals round.
In the meantime, Rich beat Bill, so Rich advanced to the Gold finals with me, while Bill would be matched against Craig in the Bronze finals.
Finals
Heat 1: Rich and I drew numbers, and he got the lead at the start. We started slow, with me just slightly behind and above him, but Rich quickly accelerated until we were moving along at a fairly brisk pace. I dropped in behind him to draft, save a little energy, and coming out of turn 2 on the last lap I was able to drop down from the banking a little, run the gap, and pass him into turn 3. I held him off, hitting 35.5 mph max, for the win.
Heat 2: Me, Rich. I went as slow as I could reasonably do, zig-zagging a bit up-and-down track, and he followed fairly closely behind me. In turn 3 on the first lap, I was about halfway up the track and he was still going too slow and too close. Out of turn 4 I was able to use the banking to attack. He followed too closely behind me, and when he tried to pass me in turn 3 I was able to accelerate one more time to maintain my lead. As we exited turn 4 I knew he would try to attack, so I jumped instead, and held him off at the line. It's unusual that I have the legs to jump three times, but I felt good today. We hit 35.8 mph max.
Match Sprints Podium: Rich, Dennis, Craig
In an upset, Craig beat Bill to seize the Bronze. And I was the Champion for the 3rd year in a row. So, for me, the match sprints ended up being a super fun, exciting, and motivating experience.
Sunday: Timed Events The weather continued with cool, windy mornings, which isn’t ideal for high speeds.
500 meter Time Trial
This standing-start time trial is just about 1.5 laps at Hellyer, but still a pretty cool race. For the competitors anyway. Our bikes are held by an official, and we strap ourselves into them, get a countdown timer, and try to channel all of our anger into forcing the bike up to speed when the clock starts. I apparently had more anger than the others, because I not only got Gold in my age group, but also set the fastest 500m of all the age groups that day, out of 26 riders, with a 37.06-second run. Rich got 2nd, with 38.02, Larry Nolan 3rd, with 38.08. My legs did feel good, throughout the run, but I was still not at my PR level.
500m time sheet.
I used a lower 92.6-inch gearing for this as an experiment, resulting in a max cadence of about 130 RPM, in case you were wondering, based on some research I’d done on the pedaling cadences (pedaling RPM) of Pro track racers. There is an optimum cadence for power, and I believe I may have been geared too high in the past… while I’m still not certain, this event shows that perhaps I was right to “gear down” this time.
Team Sprint
Earlier this year, Rich Rozzi, Bill Nighan and I had decided to form a team for the team sprints. But a couple of weeks before Districts, Bill dropped out to join a different team. That was disappointing. But we were able to get Kurt Bickel to join us instead, and we got to train together a little before this race.
There were only four teams competing, of which just two were in our 55 to 64 age group. We were "Team 1," and felt confident we had a good chance against "Team 4," which had strong riders: Ray Gildea, George Miranda, and Larry Nolan. In other times some were my teammates, and almost were this year too. But putting together a team is complicated. I was man 1, the starter; Rich was man 2; Kurt was man 3, the “anchor.” My start felt great, my legs felt strong throughout my lap, and as I pulled off after lap 1, my job done, I was very happy to see Kurt closely following Rich. They continued around until Rich pulled off, and Kurt's lap 3 looked good to me. Our main concern had been that Kurt would not be able to stay right behind Rich, because standing starts aren't his specialty. But Kurt had a nice start, only getting gapped for part of lap 1.
But while we managed to beat two of the other teams with our time of 1:13.29 (my lap 1 was at 35.6 mph max, in 94.5-inch gearing), we ended up losing to "Team 4" (with 1:11.97). And since they were in our age group we ended up with Silver. Our lap times tell the story:
Rider:
Lap Time:
E.T.:
Team 1:
Dennis
25.61
Rich Rozzi
23.27
48.88
Kurt Bickel
24.41
1:13.29
Team 4:
Ray Gildea
26.35
George Miranda
22.59
48.94
Larry Nolan
23.03
1:11.97
Unexpectedly, it was our lap 3 that hurt us, though admittedly Larry's lap 3 was pretty amazing. When I won TS at Districts in 2016, our time was 1:10.96… and I know we can be faster. So, if we wanted to be competitive at Worlds, we had just 6 weeks to do it! So my long off-season and short training period didn’t hurt me at Districts, that I can tell, and I’m hoping my current training will add even more speed to my legs for Worlds.
I can't say that I ever envisioned myself competing in the World Championships of anything, much less cycling, even less track cycling. But this race is usually held in foreign countries, so when I heard Masters Track World Championships would be in Los Angeles this year I decided I was going to do it. I decided to skip Nationals this year, for several reasons, and to focus on LA Worlds instead. I think it's fair to say this race was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me.
My Coach, Jeff Solt, supported me in this, and my local successes motivated me. And I have been able to race and train at LA’s indoor 250-meter wooden track, the The StubHub VELO Sports Center in Carson, about a dozen times over the last few years, so I'm fairly comfortable on it.
Track rash from an August race
(not shown: hip hematoma).
But on my most recent visit there, in August, I had a problem with my tire choice, and ended up sliding down the 45° steep banking during a slow portion of my match sprints on that day. Tire grip becomes critical at low speeds, and my tire choice turned out to be less than optimum for that. So I still had a bit of a chip on my shoulder for this track when I came down for Worlds.
I'm happy to say that Margaret also accompanied me on my trip down, and made the whole experience more fun. She was also a great support to me, helping with all the little details and keeping me entertained and occupied. But since this week of racing was bookended by her birthday and our wedding anniversary, I had to sweeten the deal a bit and promised we'd have fun in between the racing, and a weekend at Disneyland afterwards. I had no problem with the thought of that in any case.
We drove down on Sunday, I checked into race registration, then our hotel, then got ready for a nice birthday dinner in Redondo Beach. It was quite nice and it took my mind off of the racing. I must admit I had butterflies and had a hard time not stressing out about the high level of competition and my own challenges. My sleep was never of a high quality on this trip.
This race is the only UCI I have ever entered, but was of course similar to USA Cycling Nationals in many ways, given that USAC is affiliated with the UCI. But the level of officials and organization was certainly higher and more bureaucratic. I also had to pay extra to get a USAC/UCI racing license. Masters race by age groups from 35 up, and I was in the 55-59 age group, representing the USA, one of at least 31 nationalities competing.
Monday: 500 meter Time Trials
My first race was on Monday: a standing-start timed race for just 500 m that emphasizes massive power… basically a drag race on a bike. I got to ride on the track for a 15-minute warmup during the 1:30-3:00pm break, and was still a bit nervous. But it went well and I knew tire grip wouldn't be an issue for the 500 m TT anyway.
I then sat around a lot, changed to my race wheels and gears (50x14, 96.4”), rested some more, and rode on my rollers to stay warmed up. Coach Jeff was always there to prompt my next task, and that helped a lot. He read the start lists to get an accurate sense of when I needed to be ready, which would be a bit after 5:00pm. He also reminded me that I needed to get my bike checked by the UCI officials just before my race… stuff that's easy to forget until it's too late and they slap fines on you, in Swiss francs!
As the time approached, Margaret helped me suit up, pinned on my number, brought me water… so supportive! A few minutes more on the rollers and then I waited on the chairs near the start gate for my turn. Jeff helped me get locked into the start gate, which is a complicated mechanism that holds your bike upright and releases you when the timer counts down.
Locked into the start gate for my 500 m TT
(video here, starting at 2:32).
As the timer counted down, a Brazilian rider getting off the track fell over just behind me, but I stayed focused and got a nice jump out of the gate. I powered through turn 1 and 2, just above the sponges along the edge. I sat down on the back straight, and tried to extract 100% from my legs while staying low.
Coach Jeff, contemplating my 9th place.
Invariably my legs started to fail, but I still held on and managed a nice time for me: 36.262 seconds, which is a tie with my previous PR from two years ago. I was quite happy with that, and my first-lap split of 20.523. While this put me in 2nd place, succeeding riders were seeded faster, and soon I watched my position drop, ending up in 9th place overall out of 34 riders. Two Aussies took 1st (34.491) and 2nd, a Brit 3rd. Best US rider was 4th (35.461).
To beat these guys would require cutting 1.8 seconds off my time, and even Bronze would have required 1.6. Afterwards I always feel like maybe somehow I could have done more. A lot of it's mental, but maybe not that much! Another point is that some of these guys, including the winner, used aerobars... but I am not convinced that's a major factor in this short race as there's a real trade-off.
Jeff ordered me onto the rollers again to cool down, and I chatted a bit with my teammates for the Friday team sprints. I also contemplated my approach to the Wednesday match sprints, especially the flying 200 meter qualifying time trials, where I'd need to get comfortable again with riding along the rail, two stories above the bottom of the track’s banking.
Wednesday: Match Sprints
After a rest day on Tuesday, my nerves returned on Wednesday morning. I was still not sure how I wanted to approach the flying 200 meter time trial that's used to qualify and seed the riders before the racing itself starts. I knew that no matter how well I did it would be difficult to qualify against 23 of the fastest riders from all over the world. Only the top 12 riders would advance into the match sprint finals. And I still didn't have confidence in my tires.
For the windup in a flying 200 m, the best approach is to use as little energy as possible getting up to speed. On this track, that's tricky because the steep banking also includes steep transitions from the straights into the turns. And it requires some effort to get up the transitions without losing speed. So I discussed various options with Coach Jeff. But in the end I essentially agreed to follow a fairly conventional line during my windup. I also decided to use two of Jeff's wheels that he had glued new tires onto. The tires he mounted are a bit stickier than the ones on my race wheels, so I gained some confidence from that. That was awesome of him to do. We also decided to use 48x13 gearing (99.7”) as that's what I'd used here when I set my PR.
That morning, I got to the track soon after the 7:30 a.m. open track started, and managed to get in some additional time on the track. I also managed to ride at the top of the banking to rehearse my line for the 200 meter windup. I felt a little bit more comfortable, but I was still looking forward to getting it done. I had to wait for over an hour for the pursuit riders to finish their heats. During that time I also rode on my rollers a bit to stay warmed up. Jeff and Margaret again did an awesome job helping me out, bringing me water, pinning on my numbers, etc. It was great having them there.
UCI bike-check jig (and
start gate in the background).
When the time came, Jeff took my bike to the UCI check-in, and I followed him there to wait for my name to be called up. I sat there and focused, breathed deeply, and was looking forward to the actual run, because I knew I would be calmer then. And sure enough, when they called my name Jeff and I went up to the apron, and waiting in line for my start I felt pretty good. At this point we are strapped into the bikes and are held up.
When my heat, 7 of 17, was called up, Jeff pushed me up to the rail and then I was on my own. I had to get my bike up to speed fairly soon, as this put me into the turn 3 transition at a low speed. Since speedometers aren't allowed, I had to go by feel to make sure my speed didn't drop too low and my tires slide out.
I then tried to gradually move up-track and with 1.5 laps to go I was on the rail and going fast. Coming out of turn 4, I stood up to give it that last hard kick, but I knew then my windup had been too fast, as my legs didn't have any snap left. I sat down and entered turn 1 at whatever speed I could manage at the 200 m start line. My run felt fairly good otherwise, and I ended up with a 12.254. That's not bad for me, but not even as good as my most recent 200 m at this track, a 12.12. I was disappointed, but I was second-fastest so far and was still hoping I could qualify, as there were 21 guys who could still be slower than me.
But it was not to be. As succeeding riders clocked their times, I gradually moved down from 2nd fastest, ending up in 14th place. Sigh, so my racing was done for that day.
The fastest rider, an Aussie, rode an amazing 11.146 seconds... if I had qualified, I would likely have been matched against that fastest rider. While I sometimes suffer from self-doubts, I race better than I qualify and who knows if I could have somehow won on my tactics. Coach Jeff always tells me to believe in myself.
We quietly packed up, and planned for the next race. What else can one do? Well, I cheered myself and Margaret up by driving the short distance to Disneyland and having a little fun there. That was therapeutic.
And then on Thursday, I noticed a slight scratchiness in my throat. Yes, it seems I was coming down with a mild cold. I stayed in the hotel room as much as possible while Margaret and a friend went to Universal Studios, but I still had to go back for a an open track session to prepare for Friday. I didn't worry too much though, as I was pretty sure the sore throat wouldn't affect how my legs performed in the short team sprint.
Friday: Team Sprints
Ever since my win at the USAC National Championships last fall, I was pretty sure my best chance at a good finish at Worlds would be in the team sprint. Unfortunately our team from last year couldn't be reassembled for various reasons, so I ended up with a new team. Fortunately, both of my teammates were very strong riders with proven records. George Miranda, who raced with me at Districts, and Andy Dobson of Virginia, who came highly recommended. On Monday, I watched Andy record a nice 20.7-second first lap in his 500 m TT, And as for me and George, I knew what we were capable of, so I felt great about our chances against the 11 teams in our 55-64 age group (team events are grouped in 10-year age increments).
On Friday morning I felt confident and my legs felt good (in spite of the slightly sore throat). But of course, there were some butterflies in my stomach as I prepared for the racing. Just as on previous days, Jeff and Margaret were there to help me get ready and keep me calm and focused. I did some warm up on the track, and maintained that on my rollers on the infield. They got my number pinned on, and had my bike checked in with the UCI officials again.
As Andy, George and I waited in the chairs near our start line on the back straight, we all fist-bumped each other and smiled. Even though we weren't the favorites, we all felt good about our chances of at least qualifying for the finals; we needed to be 4th place or better to qualify for the finals.
When we got called up, there was a slight delay as we waited for somebody's rerun from a false start. But I think we all stayed focused. Jeff helped me get strapped into the bike and pushed me up onto the track when it was our turn. As man 2, it was my job to follow Andy who was our man 1 and was placed in the sprinters lane at the bottom of the track’s banking. George, as man 3, was above me further up the banking. In team sprint only man 3’s time counts. So it was Andy’s and my job to lead George out to ensure he got a fast final time.
Andy, as man 1, was clamped into the starting gate while George and I were held up by officials. Because they don't want us to have any advantage in the start, we aren't allowed to use our coaches to hold us.
The countdown timer started its beeps, and we started to focus and breathe deeply. I felt very little pressure or tension, and looked forward to the race. When the timer hit zero, we jumped forward. And I looked to my left to make sure I could drop promptly into Andy’s draft. But I soon realized that was not working correctly. George and I were both moving along smartly up-track, while Andy was lagging behind us a bit. Oh no, the start is so critical, and we were losing time. George and I both had to soft-pedal to allow Andy to gain ground on us, after which I was able to drop down into his draft in the sprinter's lane. But we had already lost a lot of time, and we weren't getting up to speed like usual. (See video here, and here.)
Andy put in his best effort but started to fade a bit, and at the exchange (the point where he is done and pulls off) I might even have hesitated slightly to take advantage of the new rules in which we are allowed to drop below the guy ahead of us during the exchange. Even so, I had plenty of energy to accelerate under Andy and try to make up some of the lost time. It's hard to say if I put in 100%, but I like to think that I tried at least, and that we were able to regain some of that lost time. I also tried to make sure that when I when I came around to finish my lap, that George was able to get maximum benefit of my draft. The way to do that is to just gradually move up-track just above the red line that marks the right edge of the sprinter's lane, and stay there as long as possible while George accelerates below me.
George impressed me with his lap 3. Out of all of us, I think he did the best job of trying to salvage our run. Even so, with Andy’s lap 1 of 21.892 seconds, my lap 2 of 15.550 seconds, and George's lap 3 of 15.964 seconds, our combined time of 53.406 seconds was not good enough to qualify. We finished 6th out of the 11 teams and needed to be 1.6 seconds faster to qualify. And I know we were capable of at least that much. I was bummed.
Andy explained that he had been nervous about his start as he wasn't used to the mechanical starting gate (this was only his third time). He didn't want to start too early which itself causes big problems. It is tricky to get it just right, I know that from experience.
To win we’d have needed to be 4 seconds faster! Yeah, a win was highly unlikely, but we didn't come there to not qualify. At the same time, though, I felt I did a good job of doing my part for the team and could go home feeling proud of our effort.
The End
So that was the end of my racing at the Masters Track World Championships. Part of me was relieved, part of me wished I could go back and redo some of the things I had done, part of me just wanted to go to Disneyland and celebrate the end of my season, which is what Margaret and I did.
The end of the season always brings to our minds a retrospective view of this season, and a consideration of our next season. How did we do? What are our next plans?
For me, this season was not a given. Because of the health issues I had early in the year, and a number of colds during my training, plus a two-week vacation in July, it was entirely possible that my season could have been a complete dud. Instead, my results at our NCNCA District Championship were an unexpected and awesome bonus. That my results at Worlds were less impressive was less of an issue for me, though still quite disappointing. I had always had realistic expectations for Worlds, while at the same time always believing in myself and my ability to rise to the occasion. I guess we need that when we are at high-level competitions, don't we?
So what are my plans for next year? Even I don't really know. On one hand I could probably back off a little bit and still do well at Districts, on the other hand I could probably redouble my efforts in training and equipment to improve enough to also get good results at Worlds. I haven't decided. There is a completely separate world out there that has nothing to do with cycling, and maybe I need to spend more time in that world. We shall see. For now, I've decided to continue my efforts in weight training over the winter.
Thanks for all of your support! I could not have done this without all of the people out there who have made this possible for me.
