Track National Championships - podium!

2007 Elite Track National Championships: Mass Start Test, Scratch Race, Points Race, Team Pursuit

I had been waiting for this week to come for a very long time. I felt that I was very well-prepared both mentally and physically to do well in these championship events, particularly the points race. Matt Martinez did a great job securing beautiful houses for all of us Hellyer-folk and some more good people from up north. We would be staying in these houses for the entire week. Rob and I made the trek down on Tuesday and arrived late that night.

My first event was the Mass Start Test, (second attempt), at noon the next day. We arrived at the velodrome around 10:00 a.m. with plenty of time to warm-up on the track before the event started. I got a good warm-up and felt like I was ready to perform the test. I got a pretty good start with a fast first lap and heard Rob telling me from the sideline that I was right on track. I tried not to ease up at all and to carry the same speed into the second lap in an effort to finish the first 500m in under 33 seconds. I wasn't sure if I had made it and wasn't getting any splits from Rob for the rest of the 6 laps, so when I finished the test I waited to hear my time over the loud speaker. When I heard my time, my heart dropped. I had worked so hard in my training and truly felt like I was going to make the time or at least improve on my previous attempt. Well, neither one of those things happened. I actually had a slower time than the last time I attempted the test, which was performed with no specific training and very little rest. It was a huge disappointment. But hey, what are you going to do? You can't just stop trying. I picked my head back up and immediately began focusing on the Scratch race the next day.

There were only about 25 girls registered for the Scratch Race and so we went straight to the final without doing any qualifying heats. I had a good sense of who would be my biggest competitors within the race, so I tried to keep my focus on them. The race started out pretty mellow with Julie Granshaw hitting the front first to string it out. After a few more laps went by and a few attacks had gone and come back, I saw an opportunity to attack from the top in the corner at turn 1. I got a good gap on the field and looked back to see that 3 very strong riders were making the effort to bridge up to my wheel. Becky Quinn, Theresa Clif-Ryan, and Catherine Fiedler made the move up to my wheel so I moved up track to try and get them to help continue to separate ourselves from the rest of the field. This was a move that should have stuck, but unfortunately no one besides me was interested in committing to the break. Girls were sandbagging the break, pulling through at 75% and causing the break to lose steam. With about 12 laps to go, the break was brought back and I found myself at the top of the track at the back of the group. I saw a strong rider put in an attack at the front of the group and I remember thinking, please chase her someone. I was not in a position to start the chase immediately because I was way out of position, which was a big mistake on my part. No reaction came and by the time I was at the front and pulling the group back to the break, everyone behind me seemed content to let her go. With about 5 to go I moved off the front and tried to slide back into a good position for the sprint, but I was too far back and had lost track of the lap cards. When I looked up I saw the 1 lap to go card and knew I had blown my chance. I jumped in turn 1 and sprinted to the line only to move up a couple of places and miss 5th place on the line by a couple of inches. There was so much to learn in that 15 minutes of racing. I made a few big mistakes, but I did some good things tactically as well. On to the points race....

My favorite race, the Points Race. Again, there were not enough girls to justify having qualifying heats, so it was straight on to the final. The field would consist of the same women who competed in the Scratch Race and again, I knew who to keep my eye on. I learned a valuable lesson in the Scratch race, and that was to be constantly aware of the lap cards and my position in the field. In fact, I was specifically told to repeat 3 things in my mind every lap. Those three things were laps, coach, and position. Position and laps were particularly important as this was a 100 lap race with sprints for points every 10 laps. I lined up for the first couple of sprints and tried to refrain from going too hard for the early points and just be in good position to go for it if the opportunity presented itself. I picked up a couple of points early on and quickly realized which women would be contesting the sprint every 10 laps and which girls were looking for a break away. I didn't really have a preference, although I would have liked to have the legs to launch an attack late in the race and possibly gain a lap on the field. Not today. I made my most detrimental mistakes at the 60 and 50 lap sprints. I was riding in 5th position going into the bell lap both times and waited until turn 3 to jump and sprint for the points. Both times I was 5th and, therefore, received absolutely no points after putting in a huge effort. This is, both mentally and physically, very draining. I struggled hard to recover in the final 40 laps , but finally found my legs again with 2 sprints to go. I had decided at this point that my best chance at winning the sprint would be to lead it out with 1-2 laps to go. It's called a "razor" in track racing and it is quickly becoming my favorite move. I have been watching tapes of last years women's world cup races and this move seems to be very effective for certain riders. I am coming to realize that I am a stronger sprinter from the front and so I will try to play to my strengths more in future races. Now it is down to 2 laps to go and I am feeling good again, so I get on the front and start winding it up. I stayed on the front and with one lap to go, I had separated myself from the rest of the field. Becky Quinn was sitting in 2nd place overall and needed to win the final sprint to take the National Championship. With 2 teammates left in the race, Becky put them on the front and let them chase me down until the final 2 turns where Becky jumped across the gap and caught me just before the line to claim the National Championship in true champion-fashion. I was very happy for her to win. She deserves it and is by far one of the smartest female riders I have ever had the pleasure of riding with. It wouldn't have made any difference in my final placing if I had won the sprint, but by taking 2nd in the final sprint, I moved myself from 10th place to 5th overall! Although I made a lot of mistakes and still have a great deal to learn about track racing, I was proud of my result and grateful for the experience.

Finally, the Team pursuit. Sarah Hammer was present the whole weekend, but not racing. She would only compete in the men's and women's team pursuit. Her women's team consisted of Jennie Reed (world class sprinter) and Dotsie Bausch (world class roadie). They were definitely set to break the national record, if there even is one. The other big team was the South Bay Wheelman Team with Becky Quinn, Neva Day, and Christen King, all of whom have competed internationally. My team was a composite team. A last minute plea to let us race allowed us to attempt the event as a team that had never once practiced or raced together. My teammates were Kele Murdin (now my current world cup and road teammate), and Heather Albert (second place in the points race the night before). We practiced a bit in the 2 hours leading up to the session start, but it was evident that it was not going to be smooth and we could not expect to be perfect with such little time together. We went 3rd and it was going pretty well until about 4 laps to go, Heather started to fade a bit and wasn't latching on closely to the back of my wheel after our exchanges. On the go, we decided to switch it up so that she was only doing 1/2 lap pulls and with 1 to go, Kele stayed on the front and drilled it to the line. Our time was respectable considering our limited experience and training. The Southbay Wheelman Team finished 10 seconds faster than us and Sarah Hammer's team was 10 seconds faster than them. At the end of the day, I received an award for being the "Most Exciting Rider to Watch." The award came from Fixed Gear Fever, who puts together the National Track Calendar and keeps track of all the track riders across the country throughout the year. It was quite an honor to receive the award and I got a super-cool jersey with binoculars on the front and a bunch of people in a crowd watching a bike rider on the back.

What's up next? Things are getting really serious and I can hardly wait for the end of November to come around. Niki and I will be traveling with my new teammates Kele Murdin and Dave McCook to a couple of new countries to race in the first two World Cup Track Race events in Sydney, Australia and Beijing, China. Yup, that's right. I will be racing on the very same track that the Olympics will be on in the summer of 2008. This is so much bigger than anything I have ever done in my life and I am so lucky to be surrounded by such class-act people who will be joining me on this journey. Also, I am incredibly fortunate to have the support of so many of our team sponsors and I continue to be absolutely humbled by their generosity. I am living a dream right now and I can't thank you all enough for helping me make my dreams a reality. I will be sure to share my experiences with you all.

Thanks for reading -Shelley