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2009 Master’s Track National Championships Recap

October 19, 2009, 9:34am by electromute

One thing about being a Master’s racer is that for the most part, racing is just a small part of your life. You hardly get a chance to reflect as your life and daily responsibilities don’t stop, even for National Champions.

I pulled this Facebook post from Nick, my coach at BIC, who I convinced last minute to do the Individual Pursuit. I registered him the night before and he drove up that morning. Here’s what he posted after he got home that day:

I also fell right back into my routine after Nationals and barely got a rough draft of this post in when it’s been almost 2 months! Well, finally, here is a recap of my unexpectedly amazing Master’s Nationals experience!

The first race was the individual pursuit on Wednesday 8/19/2009. I was in one of the last heats of the morning so I had a lot of time to get ready, prep and honestly, the main goal was to keep from getting too hot and to keep hydrated while warming up on the hot infield. I pulled a personal best time (mostly because I can’t remember my times from 1992*) of 2:39.7, which earned me the silver medal.

I missed the gold by .25 seconds to Renee Eastman, not too shabby. That girl is fast (and little like me!)

Thursday the 20th were the Match Sprints, an event I did not participate in as a junior back in the early 1990s. So, I was out here just to have fun. I felt a little under-geared in the 200 meter TT, but pulled out the 3rd fastest time at 12.6 seconds, so far my fasted recorded time. Here I am about to dive down and kill it:

The match sprints are some of the toughest events on the track. Especially when the competitors are evenly matched. I could no longer rely on just my leg speed and talent, I had to use tactics and I was outsmarted by more experienced riders. I was proud to get 4th, especially since sprinters and pursuit riders often stay away from competing in each other’s events. Here’s I am, barely winning one of the rounds in the semis:

Another thing that is difficult about match sprints is that they last all day. So, you spend the day trying to stay warm, yet rested and hydrated. Fatigue is definitely an issue if you’re out on the infield all day preparing to sprint. Then, dealing with recovering mentally when you lose a sprint can also be tough. I did have a great time. Here I am on the podium. As you can see, match sprinters are tall:

The Women’s 35-39 points race was originally scheduled for Saturday morning, but got moved to Friday night to be combined with the Women 30-34 riders. Thus, I didn’t get the rest day I was hoping for after the grueling day of Match Sprints. I barely hung on the entire race and didn’t take any points. I made it in at 9th in the end. Here I am at the top of the track:

Finally had a rest day on Saturday, and ate the best recovery meal at Cherry Cricket in Denver. The plan was to drive back to Colorado Springs on Sunday morning for the team events, but I got the call that my dad had broken his collarbone in the points race Saturday night–he was at the bottom of a major pileup just as he had bridged back up to the main field. So, a quick bit of packing and hotel reservation away and we were back in the Springs for a late night. Here’s my dad doing his first pursuit:

The next morning, I had 2 final events, Team Sprint and Team Pursuit. Without much practice, Carol Kauder and I did the Team Sprint together. In the team sprint, each rider does one full lap. With just 2 riders, you’ve got a total of 2 laps as fast as possible. It’s crazy how close to Carol I thought I was in this picture, just after the start (she lead the first lap) but in reality I’m pretty far off her wheel. I bridged the gap, but a bit more practice will make us a tighter unit for next year:

Finally, I was asked to be on a Team Pursuit team with Renee Eastman and Kate Gracheck last minute. Thanks to Amy Creed for giving up her spot for me. We didn’t get a chance to practice much, but with Renee and I having the two fastest Individual Pursuit times of the competition and our prior experience with Team Pursuit (albeit mine being 17 years old) we knew we’d have a great time riding together. It was a total surprise that we won!

Finally! A National Championship jersey of my very own! And, we set the National Record for Team Pursuit!

(On a side note, I had some silver medals from Nationals as a junior, but never won a jersey. And, I was on the first junior women’s team pursuit team to set the national record in 1992, but as it was not an official event, we didn’t get jerseys. We did get our names in the record books though! The junior women’s record has since been broken.)

So, of course I had a lot of amazing supporters during this somewhat tumultuous year. Maybe someday I’ll write about all that, but for now, a generous thank you to (and I’m sure I forgot a ton of folks..)

Andy Carlson for taking time off work during Nationals to be my loving and supporting right hand man. Not to mention his expert Team Pursuit advice (he’s a former Junior World Team Pursuiter)

Steven Herzfeld for being an awesome face for BIC and letting me borrow his fast wheels. They made all the difference.

Nick Traggis for being my unpretentious coach at BIC. I say unpretentous because I spent most of the year wearing a t-shirt and struggling to get back into shape.

Emanuel Alongi, my dad, for trying out the track and doing Nationals with me!

Don Powell at Panache Cyclewear for letting me adopt his company as my unofficial team. Heck, I just wanted to look good! The results were icing on the cake.

Jud Valeski for being a stellar friend and supporter.

Chris Echelemeier for bugging me to get back on the track last winter, even when I kept saying no or postponing a million times.

Cari Higgins for being really encouraging and a wonderful pro rider to look up to.

David Tiemeyer for making some comment about I should consider setting a Master’s record even though I was fat and out of shape in February when I went to get fit for my bike. Glad he saw something that I did not.

Rob Johnson for texting me on January 2nd to make sure I had signed up for the Triple Bypass, even though I was out of shape, discouraged and didn’t want to do it.

Eddie O’Neil for being a really fun training partner and coworker.

Carol Kauder for getting started on the track racing in February. We make a good team!

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