Track District Championships were action packed fun! I think I saw both Niki and Shelley at their worst and best! One minute Shelley and I are dancing around like Terrell Owens with the game-winning touchdown. A short time later, Shelley was on the ground, on her back, gasping for air after her nail biting close 3K pursuit against Tait Saito.
I was impressed that Niki even made it down there after caring for her ill friend all last week, looking after his wife & children and getting almost no sleep. But there she was Saturday morning, focused and ready to face the competition. We had some exciting and stressful moments Saturday, and after a very long day and a deep gash in her hand Niki headed home. I thought for sure she would not be back Sunday. BUT, there she was again! Thank you Niki for persevering and being there for your teammates!!!
So for me, it was very special just to have teammates there with me. I’ll always enjoy the individual TT events, but the team stuff is awesome! I have been dying to compete in the Team Sprint (aka Olympic Sprint) since I started track racing four years ago. And the Team Pursuit when done correctly feels like magic!
First up: 500M TT
Since Niki was using my disk wheel for her 500M, we asked the officials to space us far enough apart so that “team mechanic” Kelly would have enough time to switch out our wheels, including a cog change. It turned out we had about 2 seconds to spare. They were calling my name and waiting for me on the backstretch. I finally ran over (w/o my bike) and stood on the start line to avoid a DNS. Kelly calmly finished his job, then ran over with my bike… 30 second countdown... now GO! The key factor in this race was that Niki and I had agreed that whoever had the best time between us would have the honor of doing the Elite Team Sprint with Shelley. Game face ON! Got a good start and pushed for 1.5 laps, then waited for results. Kelly had me clocked at my fasted 500M ever, but the official time was slightly slower than last year. I’ll take it.
Next up: Team Pursuit
Niki, Shelley, Kelly Bartholomew and me had exchanged emails all week about our strategy. I thought we had a pretty good plan, but also figured a back-up plan was prudent as things tend to fall apart in this event. To my amazement, we executed the original plan to perfection. I guess it would have been more perfect if we won, but I honestly didn’t mind taking 2nd because we had great form and with a little more practice (and aero bars for everyone) I’m confident we can win it next year. Kelly B agrees!
We sat around all afternoon only to find out that Team Sprints would be postponed until Sunday. I didn’t really mind because I thought the rest would be good for us.
First Race Sunday: Elite Team Sprint
We got a really nice warm up in the morning and I was joking with Shelley that I felt so fast I was gonna drop her on the first lap… AS-IF! We got a really good start and I put everything I had into that first lap and Speedy-Shelly drilled it on the 2nd lap. That girl is
Amazing!! We waited and watched our strongest competition (Mary Maroon and Cece Altamirano). Yikes… they looked super fast too! Kelly walked over later; looking disappointed and told us their time. But then he smiled and said our winning time. That’s when the Terrell Owens dance broke out!!! “Sick!” as Shelley says.
Second race Sunday: Masters Team Sprint
This was basically a duplicate of the race above, with Niki drilling the 2nd lap. I heard later that I could have jumped the start a bit sooner, but it was enough to get Niki the gold, which made me very happy!
Final race on Sunday: Masters 2K Pursuit
They usually pair riders up with others in their age group, but for some reason they put Niki and me against each other in this race. Cool… since we’re in different age groups it didn’t matter who won the heat. That’s good because I wasn’t sure how much I had left in my legs. My realistic goal for how I felt was under 3 minutes, which I missed by 100s of a second. Slower than past years, but good enough for one more gold. I’ll work on endurance for next year J
Proman women ROCK! I’m so proud and happy to be a part of this team!
Thanks for reading.
LoJ
I was impressed that Niki even made it down there after caring for her ill friend all last week, looking after his wife & children and getting almost no sleep. But there she was Saturday morning, focused and ready to face the competition. We had some exciting and stressful moments Saturday, and after a very long day and a deep gash in her hand Niki headed home. I thought for sure she would not be back Sunday. BUT, there she was again! Thank you Niki for persevering and being there for your teammates!!!
So for me, it was very special just to have teammates there with me. I’ll always enjoy the individual TT events, but the team stuff is awesome! I have been dying to compete in the Team Sprint (aka Olympic Sprint) since I started track racing four years ago. And the Team Pursuit when done correctly feels like magic!
First up: 500M TT
Since Niki was using my disk wheel for her 500M, we asked the officials to space us far enough apart so that “team mechanic” Kelly would have enough time to switch out our wheels, including a cog change. It turned out we had about 2 seconds to spare. They were calling my name and waiting for me on the backstretch. I finally ran over (w/o my bike) and stood on the start line to avoid a DNS. Kelly calmly finished his job, then ran over with my bike… 30 second countdown... now GO! The key factor in this race was that Niki and I had agreed that whoever had the best time between us would have the honor of doing the Elite Team Sprint with Shelley. Game face ON! Got a good start and pushed for 1.5 laps, then waited for results. Kelly had me clocked at my fasted 500M ever, but the official time was slightly slower than last year. I’ll take it.
Next up: Team Pursuit
Niki, Shelley, Kelly Bartholomew and me had exchanged emails all week about our strategy. I thought we had a pretty good plan, but also figured a back-up plan was prudent as things tend to fall apart in this event. To my amazement, we executed the original plan to perfection. I guess it would have been more perfect if we won, but I honestly didn’t mind taking 2nd because we had great form and with a little more practice (and aero bars for everyone) I’m confident we can win it next year. Kelly B agrees!
We sat around all afternoon only to find out that Team Sprints would be postponed until Sunday. I didn’t really mind because I thought the rest would be good for us.
First Race Sunday: Elite Team Sprint
We got a really nice warm up in the morning and I was joking with Shelley that I felt so fast I was gonna drop her on the first lap… AS-IF! We got a really good start and I put everything I had into that first lap and Speedy-Shelly drilled it on the 2nd lap. That girl is
Amazing!! We waited and watched our strongest competition (Mary Maroon and Cece Altamirano). Yikes… they looked super fast too! Kelly walked over later; looking disappointed and told us their time. But then he smiled and said our winning time. That’s when the Terrell Owens dance broke out!!! “Sick!” as Shelley says.
Second race Sunday: Masters Team Sprint
This was basically a duplicate of the race above, with Niki drilling the 2nd lap. I heard later that I could have jumped the start a bit sooner, but it was enough to get Niki the gold, which made me very happy!
Final race on Sunday: Masters 2K Pursuit
They usually pair riders up with others in their age group, but for some reason they put Niki and me against each other in this race. Cool… since we’re in different age groups it didn’t matter who won the heat. That’s good because I wasn’t sure how much I had left in my legs. My realistic goal for how I felt was under 3 minutes, which I missed by 100s of a second. Slower than past years, but good enough for one more gold. I’ll work on endurance for next year J
Proman women ROCK! I’m so proud and happy to be a part of this team!
Thanks for reading.
LoJ
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