Probably My Best Two Days on a Bike
Introduction – Summary of Results
As I said in my initial and brief email to CV President Carl, I had the best meet of my life at the 2018 SCNCA Masters State Track Championships, which were held in late June at the San Diego Velodrome. I raced in six events (five medal events) and won all six events, and with them five 2018 SCNCA State Championships.
It was one of those things when you just look up to heaven and think that you don’t deserve this, and are also thankful at the same time. I am truly grateful for these results and know full well that these kinds of things don’t happen regularly, and for that matter, may never happen again. It was a joyous and humbling experience at the same time.
As far as the races, I raced and won the 60+ 500 meter time trial, the 60+ scratch race (essentially a criterium on the track), the 55+ team sprint (a 1000 meter three man event for time against other teams), the 60+ flying 200 meter time trial (a non-medal event for seeding the match sprint), the 55+ team pursuit (a 3000 meter four man event for time against other teams), and the 60+ match sprint.
The Venue – San Diego Velodrome
To more fully understand these events, one must first gain a feeling for the setting. These events were held this year at the San Diego Velodrome which is located in Balboa Park on a little hill just above the San Diego Zoo. It is an outdoor, 333 meter velodrome, with moderately banked wide turns and limited straight-aways. By way of contrast, the L.A. Velodrome is a 250 meter indoor velodrome with tight and steeply banked turns.
The San Diego Velodrome experience is unlike the L.A. experience in so many ways beyond its length. First of all, you are out in the elements in San Diego so you have to deal with sun, temperature, precipitation, and wind. The surface is also very different. The L.A. Velodrome is wood and is smooth and fast. The San Diego Velodrome is made of asphalt, it is a bit bumpy in certain sections, and generally has a headwind and tailwind side. The San Diego Velodrome is less technical because the banks are not as steep and the riding surface is sticky. The shallow banks in San Diego take away some of the advantages enjoyed by the most experienced racers on tracks like the L.A. Velodrome. The sticky surface in San Diego makes it easier to go slow on the track, whereas at L.A., if you go slow you will most likely slide off the track. Finally, in San Diego the standing starts are all hand holds, where at L.A. there is a starting machine which holds your bike and releases on the gun.
The Racing – Descriptions of the First Day
The first day of the championships was cloudy, cold, and windy. You had to keep bundled up between events. Warm ups are done on rollers, and in the cold you would start out overdressed and then have to peel off clothing bit by bit until you were into it. Then once warmed up, it was back into the clothing to wait for your call, then strip the warm clothes off to go to the line.
For me, my entire approach and training was focused on the first race, the 500 meter time trial. If you win that race, then the entire event goes differently as the pressure is off and you can just have fun with the other races. I spent a lot of time preparing for this one event, with lots of practice starts and flying 375 meter motor chase efforts. I knew that a couple of the fastest guys in L.A. were not going to San Diego this year, but also that there would be solid competition from others, including the S.D. boys.
Because it was cold and windy I used a smaller gear than I normally use in the 500. For my race, I got off to a decent start that could have been faster, but was within an acceptable range. I easily beat my opposite (there are two racers on the track at the same time, just on opposite sides) and recorded a time of 38.73 seconds. That was not a bad time for the cold and windy conditions in San Diego that day, but was a long way off of my best time of the season which was around 38 flat. I then had to wait for the results to be posted.
While I was waiting, the coach of one of my competitors who was timing all of the riders told me that none of the riders there would beat that time in these conditions. That turned out to be a true statement.
After a wait of about 30 minutes from the end of the 500’s, the results were posted. I won by 3/10ths of a second over the second place rider, a very fast guy from San Diego. It turned out that my time that day would have put me on the podium in both the 55+ and 50+ races as well.
Next up was the scratch race. This is basically a criterium on the track. They start you, the group rides a prescribed number of laps, and then the winner crosses the line first. It is that simple.
Because I won the 500, I told one of my team sprint teammates (Deo Asuncion from Team Velocity) that I would lead him out. I had done this before for him and we actually got away from the bunch that year, so I sat up and let him go by for the win. This year, however, I told him that the fast guy from S.D. would be watching me like a hawk and he would not let us go. This meant that I could not slow down and that Deo would have to come around at the finish.
As the race unfolded I covered a couple of early breaks and then once things settled down, I rode slightly up track at or near the front to control things. I told Deo that once we got to 2 laps to go he was to be on my wheel and to yell when he wanted me to go. Just before 500 meters to go he yelled and I jumped out of the group as hard as I could and dove to the bottom of the track and drove the bike for all I was worth. In the corners I could see that Deo was with me and that he had company behind him, so I continued to drive as fast as I could. I felt I still had good legs at that time. As I came into the last straight I sprinted for the line. As I approached the line Deo yelled that he couldn’t come around, but neither could our San Diego friend, who had to settle for third. I let up just before the line and cruised across the winner. I was now two for two.
I felt bad for my friend, but we still had two team events to get him a jersey.
Before the State Championships last year, Deo and I lost our third team sprint partner who stopped racing because of injury. We spent the entire season looking for a guy to join us. As we were about to give up and settle for a teammate who probably would not be fast enough, I received a text from a friend in an older age group who had a friend (Shon Halasi from Team Radsport) who was returning to track racing and was looking for a team. Bingo! We were in business.
We didn’t ride our fastest team sprint, but did just enough to beat the San Diego boys by 1 second. Deo got his State Jersey (and so did Shon) and I was now three for three. I was signed up for the points race in the late afternoon, but I decided that I had enough for one day, so I did not start that race.
The Racing – Descriptions of the Final Day
On Sunday the weather was much better, not as windy, and warmer with sunshine.
The first race of the day was the flying 200 meter time trial. Following that was the individual pursuit, which I was not going to race, and then the team pursuit. The individual match sprints would be inter-dispersed between and among the pursuit races.
Early in the morning I won the flying 200, not a medal event, but rather it was for seeding in the Match Sprint. Because I won the 200, I faced an interesting dilemma. I now was scheduled to race a match sprint immediately before our team pursuit, and then race another match sprint after we finished the team pursuit.
For the first match sprint, I tried to conserve energy and yet still win, which I did by just sprinting hard enough. Then I raced in the Team Pursuit with my composite team.
For the team pursuit, since I am more of a sprinter, I am not the main guy on that team, and neither is Deo, but we had a couple of guys from last year’s team who are pretty good in longer events. Unfortunately, one of those guys scheduled a vacation in Hawaii without checking the schedule for the State Championships and was not able to race with us.
This left us two sprinters and our remaining teammate (Jim Nelms of Team Radsport) who is much more of a pursuit rider. We went ahead and added our other team sprint partner Shon, even though he was more prepared for sprinting. So our composite pursuit team was set (Canyon Velo, Team Velocity, and Team Radsport).
Before the team pursuit I was a little nervous because, even though I rode my match sprint conservatively, I still had just done a sprint. But that did not matter because we were just then called to the line for the team pursuit (a 3000 meter four man event with the time taken on the third guy). When our team pursuit started, we went out nice and fast. Jim was on a very good day. He was flying on his pulls. With about 3 laps to go, one of our sprinters was having some difficulty and came off. I still felt fine and so did Jim. At that time Jim and I could see that Deo, who was still with us, was starting to dangle, but we had to keep going fast. It became a two-man pursuit with whoever of us was in the second position yelling back at Deo to hang on. Deo fought hard and stayed with us until the final turn, then he fell off, but kept coming as hard as he could to finish. We were more than a bit concerned, but we had done our best. It was now up to the other racers to see what they could do against our result.
In the meantime, I had to complete my match sprint. Even though I was tired, I knew this race was for the gold. When the starting chips were turned over, mine said #1, so I had to start at the bottom of the track. On a 333 meter track, the match sprint is one on one for two laps, with the first guy crossing the line to win. In San Diego the first half lap has to be ridden at walking speed, then anything goes. In spite of being tired and having to start on the lower block, I was still able to do a pretty fast sprint and won that one.
This match sprint, coupled with the news that the posted team pursuit results showed that we were the victors, gave me a five for five weekend.
Conclusion – In Hindsight
In closing, this Spring I began working with sprint coach Lee Povey once a week at his L. A. Velodrome Monday Night Structured Sprint Training, so I want to give him credit for helping me thus far. I plan to work more with him in the future. I also want to give God credit for allowing me to do my best at that time, after all, it is only our personal best that we can give.
Now that I am several weeks removed from these events, I have been thinking about a couple of John Wooden quotes that sum up what I now think about all of this. John Wooden said, “Focus on effort, not winning. Winning is a byproduct of effort.” I think that is true. I also think that maybe he said it best when he made the statement, “Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” Winning is fun to be sure, but in the end, it is not the truth.