Monday, August 1, 2011





The final days at the T-town Track Nationals were event loaded. The 60+ men had Points Races on Saturday night and Team Pursuit Sunday morning. Mostly, it was a total success. The one bummer was Twitch got caught up in a crash with 7 laps to go in the 65+ Points Race. He got bang pretty hard, but bounced up without anything obviously broken, but was certainly out of the race. It appeared he was headed to some major hip and hand swelling. Wish him well.

Lars went one-on-one in the 65+ PR with a top rider from California. Post crash circumstances and a badly timed trap down (getting surrounded by other slow track riders and being unable to sprint) push the fastest man into a second place finish.

Steve, Paul, and Barry had a breakaway as plan A. With a short race, 30 laps, and no success with plan A the team made an impromptu shift to plan B - Steve sprints the field 6 times. Teamwork, especially on the setup laps (one before the sprint), enable Steve to win two sprints, take 2nd on two, and 3rd on one. This was enough for the GOLD medal. Barry ended in 4th and Paul 7th. This race was probably our best. The field was expecting the Vic's oriented pursuit team to go for breaks, but we quickly changed plans and beat them at the sprint game. How good is that??

Team Pursuit was our known entity, because we hold the 60+ National Record. Nevertheless, we did a maximum effort ride. It was excellent in all forms and fashion - perfectly matching kits, tight formation, crisp exchanges, and a fast time - 3:44 (only 1 second slower than the National Record). A very nice GOLD medal for Lars, Paul, Barry, and Steve.

A few pictures are attached here. Keep an eye out for a future posting that will direct you to a full set of photos for the event. We will try to round up everyone's and some professional photos we had taken. Over and out from the speed merchants.

Ever seen a minivan doing laps on the track? This is a good one. Marty Nothstein - track manager and ex-pro track rider - did high speed laps with the mini-van to help dry the surface after a rain storm. They take racing seriously at t-town.


1 comment:

Twitter: Anita@Body Optimal said...

Kudos to all. It's not the pride we all have in all you guys, but you all are highly respected by others statewide and nationally. Good on yas!!