Elite Track Nationals 2011

Well, that was a quick championships.  Maybe after coaching the marathon that is master's track nationals...racing elite track nationals seems simple ;)  Shoot, I mean, somebody carried my bike around for me all week - how easy is that (thanks Mr. Baranoski!)?  Granted the thing only weighs 6.89 kg, but still,  it makes life easy!

As usual, track nationals were up and down.  This year there was not as much of a focus going into them for me as in years past, so I wasn't quite so sure what to expect.  But, I confident I could pull off some good rides.  I competed in three events - the individual pursuit, the scratch race, and the points race.

The pursuit was a solid third place finish for a bronze medal.  I was unable to defend my national title from 2010, but being beaten by the rainbow stripes of world champion is not much to be disappointed in.  Congrats to Sarah Hammer and also Beth Newell who, in addition to having an outstanding pursuit, had an absolutely outstanding week.

Skipping to the points...my nationals points race voodoo curse lingers on.  Somebody please pull the pins out.  They've really been in there long enough.  Infection is starting to set in.  Enough said.

And then back to the scratch, which was definitely the highlight of the championships for me.  3 world champions past and present were in the field - lots of horsepower.  The scratch race is one of my favorite events because anything can happen.  And it did - I was able to counter-attack a good early move and gain a lap solo on the field with 15 laps to go in the 40 lap event.  There was no rest to be had once gaining the lap as attacks fully capable of regaining the lap immediately went off in search of doing so.  I quickly realized it was only going to be me to minimize their distance up track, so to the front of the field it was to settle in to pursuit-like mode.  I was able to successfully pull back the threatening breaks and minimize the last strong one by myself before the sprint set in with 500 meters to go when I hung in as close to the front of the group to make absolutely certain I would not loose my lap.  Yeah, I was pretty jazzed.  This win is actually my first mass-start national championship as an elite rider; all others have been in the individual or team pursuits.  Pretty neat stuff.

Now that the championships are all wrapped up, I go straight into a national team camp, also here at the Home Depot Center in California.  More from camp.