My Chicago Velodrome Odyssey, July 23-27, 2012

With St Louis in a multi-week heat wave with unceasing highs above 105F, I decided to take the family to Chicago for a break from the heat.  Unbeknownst to them, my secret agenda was to hit the velodrome circuit around Chicago-Kenosha.  They would be able to sit at the beach and enjoy the cool waters of Lake Michigan, and get some good jet-flown fresh seafood.  The plan was to get a decent hotel in Evanston, home of Northwestern Univ, 10 miles north of downtown, strategically located 10 miles south of the Northbrook Velodrome.  One hour north to the Washington Park Bowl in Kenosha, and even cooler weather, I reasoned.  Then only 30 miles across town to the little 160m Chicago Velocampus in South Chicago.  Perusing all the online schedules, it looked like I could get track time and racing five consecutive nights: Monday night clinic at Northbrook, Tue night racing in Kenosha, Wed night clinic at Chicago Velodrome, Thu back at Northbrook, and possibly the Fri night Cat 4/5 races at Northbrook, hosted by the Garner Bicycle shop. 

Monday: Northbrook clinic

Ten 27 Bicycles (formerly Turin) is located smack dab downtown Evanston, so I called ahead and reserved a track bike for Billy (my 14 year old), who had never ridden the track.  They have a loaner program where they charge your credit card $500, but if you return the bike in good condition, there is no charge, so basically a free rental program to encourage racing at Northbrook.  Chris the owner has been running the clinics and race nights at Northbrook for the past 30 years.  About a 20 min drive from Evanston, through Skokie and Wilmette, with a little jaunt north on I-94, we found the Northbrook track situated in a nice residential neighborhood with a Whole Foods market and aquatic center next door.  The racing here is USA Cycling sanctioned so a license is required.  Showed up at 6:30 and a good sized crowd of 20 were there in various stages of warmup. Kevin Perez, a seasoned elite rider, led the clinic, which was a structured workout for the weekly crowd of citizen racers as well as a smattering of categorized riders up to Cat 2.  The night was also designed for first-timers, which split off on their own group, led by masters racer Harold, also associated with Ten-27 (Turin).  There was one other first-time racer, a young women road rider, so Billy basically had a private track lesson with Harold.  As a parent, you sometimes learn, that your child will take instruction better from total strangers, rather than his own mom and dad, so I let Harold do the instruction and I followed in our little group of four.  My secret plan was for him to have his first track experience on a nice smooth track, fearing that our own Mr Bumply would be too jarring of a first experience.  By the end of the night, after about 1.5 hours of instruction and practice, and a lot of encouragement and compliments from Kevin and Harold, who from the glowing comments, pegged him as a young track phenom, Billy said he really liked riding the track and could see how Dad was “really into it”.  So fingers crossed that I could get him to raced on Thu. 

In the big group, Kevin explained his philosphy of track training was to keep intensity out of the “dead zone”, which is the 75-85% intensity, which is also where most people tend to train.  At about 7:30, he started the main group with a 30-lap super slow pace line, just to get the new riders used to riding in a paceline, followed by a 3 lap all out sprint.  Then some rest and more instruction about how to pull up on the bars and push down on the pedals like a dead lift, and not rock the bike in the sprint.  The next set was a jump exercise, where they laid out orange cones to designate the line for the jump at the 200m line.  Compared to other tracks, Northbrook is flat as a pancake so there is only a tiny downhill to jump from off Turn 2, but we nevertheless did the drill.  Kevin split the big group into smaller groups of four of similar ability, with the pure beginners forming our own group.  The set consisted of two seated jumps and two standing.  They taught the best line was from the very top of Turn 2 down to the black line in Turn 3, and made sure each jumping group did a cooldown lap under the cones and blue ribbon while other groups were jumping, so in this manner they were able to accomodate four or five groups of four doing continuous jumps and cooldowns, a well-run group workout. 

The next exercise was to practice the skill of coming over the top of a large pack and slotting down on the front of the  the large pack of 30 racers.  They suggested forming groups of two or three racers to come over the top and slot on the front, then slow down so the pack would not continuously speed up and make it too difficult for slower riders to complete the exercise.  Then after everyone had a chance to rotate to the front a couple times, they would finish with an all out sprint for the last two laps.  The passing exercise went well so I decided to follow some of the faster guys for the sprint.  Five upper level riders went off the front and had their own sprint, while I followed some superfast 14 year old juniors, who I only managed to pass in Turn 3 because they had spun out their junior gears!  Doh.  I was running a 47x14 which is about 90 inches. 

This took us to about 8:30 and I could tell Billy was getting a little burned out so we decided to head out, and also to save my legs for the next day of real racing up at Kenosha.  So we thanked our instructors all around and said our goodbyes.  Kevin said the session would last till 9:30 and when we left, they were practice a two man match sprint drill where one rider practiced whipping around his partner.  All in all, a great way to start the night.  (Sorry no pics, left the camera in the car and didn’t want to waste time retrieving it). 

Tuesday: Kenosha

We headed up the 94 to Kenosha, about an hour drive from Evanston, arrived early and after asking around a bit, figured out the nearest beach with sand was in Racine, another 15 miles up the Lake Michigan shoreline.  Finally found North Beach and Zoo Beach.  Unfortunately, North Beach was closed due to high levels of E Coli from the massive storm that passed through the night before and caused some of the storm drains with stagnant water to dump into the beach area.  Zoo Beach was just a quarter mile north so we were able to enjoy some nice cool Lake Michigan water with air temps in the mid-90’s which felt like spring compared to the 105 sauna that is St Louis. 

Arrived at the track about 6:30pm for 7pm race start so everyone was warming up, but I managed to get a couple laps and a sprint before the program started.  This track is sanctioned by ATRA but I told the registration officials my experience and they were fine with me racing Cat 4.  Turned out only four Cat 4 and a couple Cat 5 beginners signed up so they combined the categories and a few fast juniors jumped in to make a good race.  The Cat 3 was the most popular race with about 15 racers, and an equal number in the P12 races.  To my eye, the Cat 3 at Kenosha looked about as fast as the A race at Penrose, except the Kenosha racers were all old, but superfast, forming a nice tight pack in the 3 lap scratch. 

The feature race was the Mayors Cup, a massive 75 lap points race on the 333m banked track.  The pack featured the pro Chad Hartley racing for Kenda, formerly of Jittery Joes, and two fast XXX racers, Liam Donahue and Johnny Moyer.  Moyer and Donahue took turns working over Hartley, but mid-race the three had formed a breakaway group that blew apart the field into small groups of 2, 3, and 4 racers, so split up that the officials announced there was “no field” just a lead group of 3 racers.  Donahue ended up with the win, Hartley second, followed by Moyer. 

The first race was titled “Sprints”, which was basically a 3 lap scratch race with fields of about eight.  Lots of junior racers such that each age group of two years (11-12, 13-14, 15-18) had 8 to 10 riders.  There were so many Cat 3, they had two heats of eight, then a final.  The Cat 3s looked as fast as the Penrose A racers, except they were all old, silver-haired, and chunkey, if not downright fat.  But those old mothers could race, roaring around the track in their tricked out carbon framed, deep-dish Zipp wheeled machines. 

The Cat 4 race was no joke either, as fast or more fast then Penrose B race.  Some young fast dudes in this race.  I was able to follow the moves in the first two laps.  With two to go, the pace had paused for a moment, stacking the field across the track.  I had to decide whether to go low behind two guys or stay high with a chance of passing in the final.  Coming around for the bell, the pace went up a couple notches, and I was still on the back.  The inside guys took off, and by Turn 3 I was still stacked high on the track as the sprint started in earnest.  With no chance of reaching the front, I shut it down and enjoyed the front row seat from the track. 

Next up was a miss-n-out.  Some of the guys had checked out but some juniors jumped in so we had a nice little group of six.  I lined up at the back, and at the rollout, one of the juniors looked over his shoulder to assess the field and promptly ran into the guy in front of him, unclipped, and nearly went down.  I decided to get in front of this kid.  This was shaping up to be a short fast race with the six of us echeloned across the track with me in the top back position.  At the start bell, the fast fit dude shot off the front, no one reacted, then “POP-POP”, two shots from the starting gun.  I initially thought the official was restarting the race for some reason, but then the rain started to fall and they announced an end to the nights racing.  So a little disappointed to drive all that way for a shortened night of racing, but that is part of racing too.  That track would have been super-slick in the rain.  Have to tell myself “there’s always another race”. 

Wednesday: Chicago Velodrome Campus (CVC)

I was really excited to check out the little 160m high banked wood track in South Chicago, founded by businessman Emanuelle Bianchi.  I posted on their facebook page, asking about certification, and they said to show up around 3:30pm to get before the 6pm clinic.  My GPS took me from Evanston straight down Lake Shore Drive (Hwy 41) to South Chicago and into a pretty dicey looking neighborhood, lots of run down buildings, abandoned lots, then all of a sudden . . . a velodrome appeared out of the weeds on an abandoned lot.  I later learned that US Steel leased the land to Bianchi for $1 per year. 

Met Joel in the trailer, who also works as a bicycle delivery rider with Jimmy Johns, who got me registered, $10 certification and $15 clinic fee for the night.  Headed out to the track and watched him do some laps.  The track is visually very intimidating because of the nearly vertical-looking turns.  Most tracks are scary going fast.  This track, it is scary going slow because it feels like you might just drop off the track onto the asphalt infield.  So the experienced riders can go as slow as 12 mph but novice riders tend to go too fast, burn out and have to pull off after a few laps. 

Certification started out with learning how to get on the track, basically riding the blue plywood ribbon, which is joined to the sprinters lane by a sharp, nearly 70 degree white taped joint.  The thin plywood is very dipping so can’t go to fast on it.  So you ride the blue plywood, then go up track and get up to speed pretty fast on the short straight before Turn 1.  The first task is just to ride the red line for six laps, which is no easy task since your momentum pushes you above the line in the apex of the turns.  The trick, which really works, is to look well through the turn as you enter, so you are constantly craning your neck up and to the left, peering under the top of your helmet.  It really feels like an amusement park ride, due to the Gs experienced in the turns, and the sense of danger, waiting to fall off the track at any moment to certain death or serious injury.  Several guys that night recognized my kit and knew about Kevin and Tylers visit several weeks earlier.  However, no one spoke of the events of their visit and I did not care to bring it up. 

Next up was riding the blue line, which looked about six feet higher than the red line, towering above the infield.  The only concern was the wind off Lake Michigan, picking up in the late afternoon and sending the flags lining the top of the track straight out.  Coming out of Turn 2, you get a blast of wind in the face on the straight that is lower than the high banked turns.  By that time, I was building confidence and Joel seemed to have faith in me so I entered the track, did a couple quick laps on the red line, then stood up to get some speed to climb the wall up to the blue line, much easier than it seemed from the infield.  I was able to control the bike keeping a line just below the blue line, just above the blue line, and took it all the way up to the white dashed line about a foot from the top of the track, then swooped back down to the red for a couple laps to slow and exit the track on the dippy blue plywood.  I actually preferred riding up near the blue line because the turns were slightly more gradual, and not as nervous riding in the sprinters lane just inches from the sharp angled joint onto the plywood. 

Final test was the flying lap.  By that time, Emanuelle showed up to certify another first time rider so I wanted to ride well with the big dog in attendance.  Also in attendance, his son Samuelle Bianchi, 14-year old junior racer, who had competed at junior track nationals and recently won the Illinois state RR at OFallon several weeks early.  Sam is a big strapping boy nearly six feet tall and shoe size already at Euro 45.  We learned his shoe size because he was selling his “old” Vittoria shoes (free from sponsorship) because he had outgrown them while they were being shipped.  !  Sam had a couple of his junior friends, first time track riders, doing laps inbetween me and Joel. 

Joel demonstrated the flying lap by gradually winding up to the top of the track with two slow laps, then actually standing in Turn 3 through 4 and swooping down to the sprinter lane in Turn 1, made it look easy.  Well, it wasn't that easy.  I entered the track, grinded the pedals up to speed, up track, up, up, up to the dashed white line.  I told Joel beforehand I probably didn't feel comfortable standing on the banking but gave it a little go and swooped down across the line into Turn 1, compressed into my saddle by the G force, then immediately flew well out of the lane at the apex of the turn, swerving back into the lane at Turn 2, terrible!  Stood on the backstretch to keep my speed, then again flew several feet out of the lane in the turn.  It would take me several more runs to get my balance right so I could control the bike at near top speed, again practicing looking through the entire turn, and starting at half, 75%, 80%, 90%, laps, not trying to gun it as fast as possible the first time through.  It really had the sensation of a roller coaster, when they go down the hill and into those tight turns, pressing your body into the seat.  Fun and a little scary!  Emanuelle later deadpanned in his Italian accent, "looks like you went a little high in the turn".  Haha.  But they passed me anyway, saying that everyone swerves out their first time.  That's why they have a certification and don't throw you into a race right away. 

Took a break to get a sandwich before the clinic.  Just head down 87th, left on Commercial, then find the Subway at 91st.  This was the first Subway Sandwich shop I've every seen with one inch bullet proof glass between the servers and the order line, though I felt perfectly safe here, having experience in other inner cities like South-Central LA. 

Back at the clinic, perhaps 15 guys had trickled in, a mixture of first timers, curious citizen racers, some citizen riders trying to get good enough to race on Sundays, and a smatter of 3s and 4s.  Some elite XXX guys led the clinic, the second guy was Liam Donahue, who had won the Mayors Cup the night before up in Kenosha.  They split us into groups of four, and had us practice pacelines, then a bridging exercise with six riders, three going off the front and lapping the group, practicing integration into the lapped riders, then the lapped riders go off the front and gain the lap back.  The idea was to get a good workout and teach track skills as well.  And most importantly allow everyone to get comfortable with this challenging track.  They are working toward a Madison so have been practicing Madison skills like exchanges and one-handed drills.  Several of us agreed a Madison would be chaos on this track!  The mix of riders this night was too novice to do actual exchanges so we broke into two groups and practiced one-handed drills, which was no easy skill.  Liam lead the group slowly around the track and held one hand on the top of the handlebar with the other hand off the bar in various positions, right elbow bent, right arm straight out, right arm straight up, then repeat on the left, with everyone else playing copycat.  Then finished off the night with a practice scratch race, no crashes! 

Thursday: Northbrook Race Night

Thursday night at Northbrook put the spotlight on the juniors with the second annual 30 lap points race, featuring a national champion (Brad Coke?) and the winner of last years inaugural race in a two man break, but with plenty of primes to keep the field of 20 junior racers interested, notably water bottles filled with a $20 dollar bill is enough to make a 15 year old sprint.  The top two were tied in points coming into the last lap, but Coke took the sprint and the trophy. 

The Pro/1/2 field was stacked with a pair of pro Columbian racers who were in town for a big week of crit racing; one of the pair had participated in the 2008 Olympics.  They were up against a strong field, including the pair of XXX racers, Liam Donahue and Johnny Moyer, who had cleaned up at Kenosha two days earlier.  The 30 lap points race turned into a strategic race of the two Columbians vs the two fast XXX guys.  The Columbians were racing on borrowed old Schwinn steel bikes, while the XXX had fast carbon machines.  Donahue took a mid-race flyer with Camillo marking the move.  The two worked together with a third rider bridging up, while the field sat up, Moyer and Perez, the other Columbian, setting a false tempo on the front.  The three worked together for several laps until Donahue darted off the front and took about a couple laps to bridge to the slowing field, taking 20 points on the field.  The pattern repeated itself in the 20 lap scratch at the end of the night, except that Donahue integrated into the field with two trailing riders.  At that moment, the two trailing riders became the leaders of the race and laps counted according to their position on the track, to the confusion of several racers in the field who gestured to the official that the lap counter was incorrect.  Fortunately, the PA announcer kept the spectators, about 100 in number, apprised of the situation on the track, adding to the enjoyment and excitement of the racing. 

The 4/5 race was pretty fast, perhaps a little better field than the Penrose B race, also stacked with some fast junior racers.  If it’s one thing I learned this week, juniors are force to be reckoned with on the track.  They don’t have the endurance to race with older guys on the road, but the short format races on the track play to their strength: speed!  14 and 15 year olds are fast enough to dust old guys like me in the sprint, and that is exactly what happened.  Our race started with a miss-n-out.  13 racers, six eliminations, then a three lap sprint for places.  I found myself on the top back of the pack coming around for the first elimination so a couple quick strokes of the pedal and scooted across to catch someone else out.  Fast pace but the same exact thing worked for the next four eliminations.  But I was getting tired standing and sprinting each lap at the line.  Final elimination lap.  I was on the back, tailing 14-year junior phenom Sam Bianchi (and son of CVC founder Emanuelle Bianchi), with a guy boxed on his inside.  Coming into Turn 3, the guy gestured to Sam to let him out, Sam slowed just enough to let him slip up track so I knew I had to step on the gas, with the pack spread out ahead it was a two man sprint to the line with Bianchi nipping me at the line.  Even if I had made the elimination, I was gassed and would have dropped out.  There was no slowing down the final three and the fast guys showed their speed in the sprint. 

The night wore on with the long points races for five groups of riders, juniors, P12, 3s, 4/5, and women with a special masters tempo race thrown in for good measure.  Cat 4/5 did a 20 lap points race, and I was happy to sit in and follow wheels.  Temps dropped to the mid-70s, which felt great, but with all the humidity in the air, everything was wet with a layer of dew, so had to wipe off the tires before racing.  With the time headed past 10:30pm, they had to shorten the last few races.  The final race of the night, a planned 15 lap scratch was shortened to 5 laps, which was fine by me.  I jumped with the pink suited Cutting Crew dude to lead out the first lap, and again was able to follow wheels, but too gassed to make the sprint.  Jason, former Penrose racer in the Wheelfast jersey, now racing in pink for the Cutting Crew, had a good showing for the night, as well as all the fast junior racers who sat in and did well in the Cat 4/5 race, including some Fraley disciples like Mark Ryan, identifiable by their Serenity bikes.  Met lots of guys and had a great time.   

Friday: Northbrook Garner Cat 4/5/citizen racing

Decided to get one last night of racing in at Northbrook before leaving Sat morning.  I had met a few of the Garner guys at the Thu night race so decided to check out the racing on Friday under the lights.  I arrived at 8pm just as the junior races were finishing, and these were the “little tyke” juniors, age 6-12, on all sorts of bikes, doing one and two lap races.  The adult racing starts at 8:20 and goes till about 10pm, depending on who shows up.  The night was advertised as Cat 4/5 and citizen level races, with separate races for those with track bikes and road bikes.  About 8-10 guys showed up with track bikes, all the way from newbie juniors to out-of-shape masters, with quite a few first time track riders, including two college racers from Indiana Univ who had just done the Little Indy and wanted to try out the local track. 

Racing started with a 15 lap scratch race.  This was a much more dicey race than Thu, slower, more chaotic paceline with guys coming out of their pedals and wandering up track.  There was no instruction for the first-timers other than “pass on the right” and “don’t look around, keep your eyes front”, not sure I agreed with that!  After four straights nights of riding clinics, practice races, and all-out real races, I was pretty cooked but thought I had a chance to do well in this group that felt much like the Penrose C race.  Wrong!  Some of the first-time roadies and the Little Indy guys had good legs, just hung onto the tail end of the sprint.  Since no one brought road bikes and the announcers were itchy to get back to the Olympic opening ceremony, they gave us a short 5 minute break and moved on to a 10 lap tempo race for track bikes (thankfully, they don't race road and track bikes together).  Great!  Same group of four guys got off the front and I paced around in the second group with the guy from Albertos.  10 minute break for the final race of the night, a 20 lap points race.  I decided to just try to sit in this race, which turned out to be fairly easy because the pace slowed down to a crawl between sprints so I was able to eke out a couple points and finish fourth in the final sprint.   All in all, it was worth the $15 to race on a smooth track for the last time this summer, before heading back to Mr. Bumpy. 

For pics of the certification and clinic at the CVC . . .

http://thebillhgenericracepicsblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-chicago-velodrome-odyssey-july-23-27.html

Frazier Junior Cycling Camp, Bristol, TN, Jul 13-17, 2011

Camp Frazier, Jul 13-17, 2011

“This is NOT a democracy”, belowed the coach.  “The coach is ALWAYS right”, said Coach Frazier of Frazier Cycling.  Thus began the 2011 Camp Frazier junior bicycling camp in Bristol, Tennessee, nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee, hosted by King College, a small Presbyterian school with a varsity cycling program.  We had driven from St Louis to Atlanta for my grandmother’s 95th birthday celebration, where I raced at the Dick Lane Velodrome.  Then we made the six hour drive northeast, through the Smoky Mountains to King College.  Billy, Analyn, and I attended the camp, which was designed for junior cyclists from the ages of 10-17, although children as young as 7 were in attendance.  Parents were allowed to participate in all activities, and the camp held breakout sessions for USA Cycling certified junior coaches, all of whom were parents of children in the camp.  Fifty junior cyclists, divided evenly between girls and boys, attended the camp with about 15 parents/ coaches. 

Frazier Cycling is a dynasty of junior cycling based in the Atlanta area, started about nine years ago by Ralph and Cathy Frazier, when they formed a group ride for their children as they came up through the junior ranks.  Daughter Zoe is a two time junior national champ.  Ralph is a former Cat 1 cyclist and computer engineer with a passion for cycling.  Passion is an understatement.  They live, eat, and breath cycling, 24/7.  The intensity level of this camp was about 100 times more than I expected.  After the orientation I was really worried and thinking “what have I got ourselves into here!  Well, we are stuck here for four days, so might as well make the best of it.”  Coach Ralph makes no apologies when he describes himself as a dictator, and runs the camp like a Marine drill sergeant.  He made it clear from the start that he was in charge and he did not want to hear any whining from campers and especially parents about what group he put their child in, the program, nothing.  “No whining!”  Later, he shared that he had learned from experience that it simply does not work to negotiate his program with parents.  He simply tells them it’s “my way or the highway”.  If they don’t like it, they can go somewhere else.  But guess what, there is no other place to go, so if they are serious about junior cycling, they eventually come back and submit to his will.  And his results speak for themselves.  Every year they come back from nationals with a slew of medals, podiums and national champs in the junior ranks.  Many of the national champs were in attendance at the camp, especially among the girls.  In fact, the girls practice crit was a national caliber race with the current junior girls 15-17 national camp taking the win.  She also just received a cycling scholarship to none other than King College, so you can see the connections in place.  But Frazier Cycling is not just a racer factory, they take all comers and pride themselves in developing them to their fullest.  Their regular program in Atlanta area offers classes every night of the week for all levels with two 50 mile training rides and one 20 mile ride on the weekends.  Their top juniors are on the bike six days a week, putting in upwards of 100-350 miles per week during the season, and 50 miles in the off-season, with weight training programs for those past puberty.  Most of the 13-14 yr old juniors have power meters.  It’s pretty amazing to hear 13 year old juniors chatting, “Wow, I did 300 watts up that hill!”  The coach likes to tell the story of a women’s P123 road race where a pro racer was talking trash to the Frazier cat 3 junior girls in the race, saying they should stay at the back because they won’t be there in the end.  The pro jumped off the front with 2K to go, a Frazier girl dragged the entire peleton to within meters of the pros wheel, yelled “Go!” and Stephie the junior national champ, jumped and slungshot by her for the win.  Many stories centered around Frazier teamwork vs individual “stars” on other teams.  The program is so rigorous that kids will be suspended from the team for three races for breaking team rules like chasing down a teammate in a break.  All the kids were super polite and respectful, calling adults by “Ma’am” or “Sir”.  Adults were named by “Mister” or “Miss” tacked onto their first name.  I was called “Mr William” instead of “Mr Bill”, thankfully, and Analyn was “Miss Analyn”.  The coaches were addressed as “Coach” so-and-so.  I was told this was a southern thing, and that even public school teachers expected to be addressed as “Ma’am” or “Sir”.  By the end of the camp, I was really starting to buy into this military/ southern thing, even though it’s not my default style.  The zeal for cycling, and high performance was really contagious.  By the end of camp, Billy was asking, “so Dad, can I get into racing”, which alone was worth the price of admission.   

Day 1: 5K TT

The camp was structured around four races or rides, a 3.1 (5K) individual TT, the criterium, the road race, and an endurance ride, plus tacked on for good measure a “fun ride” on the last morning, where “fun” was defined as an all-out gut-busting 5 min hill climb up to the dam.  Day 1 was the time trial.  Each day started at 8am with breakfast in the campus cafeteria, usually scrambled eggs, bacon, usual Aramark college campus food, all you can eat.  Nine am was plyometrics and stretching in the gym.  And when coach says “9am” that means Nine am.  He was sitting in the middle of the basketball court looking at his watch, and at exactly 9am he blew the whistle and began roll call.  If you weren’t there when your name was called, there were consequences, which usually included some form of good-natured public humiliation, especially for the Frazier kids, and especially for the top kids, and most especially his own bio kids, Nick the 19 yr old, who served as an assistant coach, and his 16 yr old daughter Zoe, the two time junior champ.  Phew, I would not want to be his kid!  Stretching consisted of 3 or 4 key hamstring, calf and arm stretches, for which he insisted on perfect form.  If you were slacking, you got the opportunity to come up front and demonstrate the stretch, like poor little Jack.  Jack was slackin.  Jack couldn’t keep his back in a perfect L shape with the floor.  Each stretch was held for 5, 10, 15, and 20 seconds with numerous groans and cries of pain from the older teens.  But all in good fun. 

Then it was off to the TT course, held in a beautiful park along the Hoilston River and Dam, a 1930’s TVA project.  According to Coach Ralph, we were going to find out “who’s fast, and who’s not so fast”.  We met at 10am to head over to the TT course.  We were divided into several riding groups according to known and perceived riding ability and experience.  Billy had never ridden a paceline so the ride over was a challenge, all rolling hills, and a long downhill, reaching speeds up to 35 mph, which is a challenge for a 74 lb kid.  Oh yes, and these Frazier kids rolled out the most amazing carbon, zipp-wheeled, aero bars, skin suits, and TT bikes I’d ever seen kids ride.  “Blue” was a popular bike in this crowd.  Evidently, the 5K TT is a popular race at Frazier, they do them regularly to benchmark progress in “the engine”.  Results are announced in team meetings and celebrated or jeered.  Coach Ralph keeps stats on every kid, for every year Frazier has been in existence.  He is a stats nut.  It’s rumored he rides his bike every day of the year, and has been known to get up at 3am or ride at 11am to get in the days ride, in any and all weather.  He said he’s never missed a day journaling his rides. 

TT was done in two groups, with the experienced group escorting the less experienced group to preview the course, a flat out and back along the river.  This was a professionally run TT, timers, starters, holders, run as good or better than any USA Cycling TT.  During the morning, the inexperienced group practiced starts from the holding position, instructed to start in the big ring and a couple cogs down so not to drop the chain.  Billy ended up with a 10:22 with his new friend Devin killing it at 8:36.  Devin had just started riding but was strong as a horse.  Coach Ralph asked how fast I could ride a TT.  I blanked on my most recent time and answered I did a 9 mi TT in 23 min, trying to remember my Tour of STL Columbia bottoms ride.  That worked out to something like 27mph.  Not!  Coach Ralph looked at me, got in my face and charged, “I don’t think you can do 27 mph.  I don’t think you can even do 25mph”!  OK, just put me in there somewhere, I responded.  Ralph must know what he’s doing because at that moment I wanted nothing more than to prove him wrong.  So out on the course, I busted my ass to get the best time I could.  Steve, a bike shop buyer from Tampa Bay, tatooed, 30-something parent of 8 year old Eva, showed up with full TT bike, helmet and gear, and did a 7:46.  All I brought was my carbon road bike, and ended up with a decent 8:04, gaining time on the kiwi and fit 50-something “Mr Roger”, holding off my 30 second man 13 year old Devin, and Coach Duco, the prof from Vanderbilt, behind him, Duco with a 8:16.  This was enough to earn me a spot in the fast group for the next days crit.  Unfortunately, Billy’s poor time ended him in the “kiddie crit” with the under 10 crowd. 

Each night after dinner, we had a recap and analysis of the days racing.  This went on for about an hour of in depth interviewing of each racer in each race, with analysis, encouragement, and good natured kidding from Coach Ralph.  This was probably the most entertaining and valuable part of the camp.  You could tell Coach Ralph was clearly in his element, doling out quick-witted and pertinent analysis.  For the TT analysis, he replayed the TT times for the two groups by reading times one at a time in race order.  He made it clear that 15 minutes was too slow.  All the Frazier kids knew their 5K times because they practice this race periodically as a benchmark for progress.  Coach Ralph knew the PRs for each Frazier kid and best times for each age group.  Arvin, Coach Duco’s son, was only 10, but a good foot taller than Billy, was in group 1, the supposedly slow group with the young riders.  Duco’s family had the tall gene.  His father was 6’ 9”, mother something like 5’ 8”.  At 6’ 3”, Duco is the runt of the family with brother 6’ 10” and sister 6’ 2”.  His 14 yr daughter at 5’ 11” and is already being recruited by college volleyball programs.  Anyway, Arvin had the best time in the young group at 9:30 and change.  “Arvin is fast”, stated Coach Ralph.  Each subsequent rider was asked, “Are you faster than Arvin”?  Nope, Arvin won the first group TT.  When Billy’s time was read, he mentioned Billy was the “fastest in toe straps”, yeah, he was the only kid in toe straps.  Billy was asking me for clipless pedals the next morning.  Then we started into the second group.  Most of the Cat 4 juniors were well under 8:00, around 7:32.  Tyler, a Cat 2 had the best time at 7:01.  Course record for older juniors is 6:30 and change.  When he got to me, he started with “Wow, Mr William got an 8:04”, then quickly recovered and said one of the 15 yr girl juniors also had the same time.  Nice!  The 5K TT would be used to seed riders in future races throughout the week so if you plan on attending Camp Frazier, practice your 5K TT before camp!  Don’t show up out of shape or else everyone will know you are slow.  After all, it is the race of truth.  And as Coach Ralph stated, “We found out who is fast and who is not fast”.  “Who here wants to be slow?”  No one raised their hand. 

Day 2: crit

Day 2 was the practice crit.  They had set up a .6 mile course around the King College baseball field, which included a long uphill gradual climb with a little kick up the last 20m, then a little flat to the finish and then fast downhill through two tight turns with some rough pavement in the best line.  But first we had to practice pacelines.  Coach Ralph split us into groups and sent us around the course with instruction to count to 10, pull off left, then flick the elbow to indicate the next rider should pull through.  After that, we practiced lining up for a race.  Again, Frazier kids practice this all the time.  Coach Ralph sent us about 200 meters to the bottom of the hill in the “staging area”, then called out “racers to the line” and blew the whistle.  The idea was to make it to the front of the line.  But the Frazier kids were jamming the front line of the staging area!  They were jammed shoulder to shoulder, backing their bikes in.  Man, I would not want to race against these kids.  They are aggressive and tough.  In fact, that was one of the lessons of the day.  “It’s OK to be tough”, stated Coach Ralph.  “It’s not Bible school out there!” was my favorite line.  When you think about it, kids are taught to be polite and nice, share, etc in school.  But bike racing is different.  He taught his kids to win.  “You think it’s not fair to elbow someone out on the line.  Well, let me tell you something, BIKE RACING IS NOT FAIR!  Get that in your heads, just like life!”  So he sent the groups down to the bottom of the hill again and again.  Each time the kids and parents who made it to the start line first were allowed to rest in the shade.  The slow and slackers were sent down the hill again.  In addition, to the lineup lesson, the secondary lesson was aggressive racers work less.  The slow guys and girls had to do upwards of 6 hill repeats.  The fast guys only had to do two.  Evidently, there was one local crit where the staging area was a good quarter mile from the start, and when the official blew the whistle to line up. There was a 30 mph sprint to the line!  I later learned that Frazier cycling dominates the junior racing scene in the southeast.  They show up at races in force with upwards of 20 juniors and a team strategy, and aggressive tactics like the lineup at the front.  Unattached juniors have no hope.  Talented riders on others teams are worn down by team tactics.  Some races, there are so few other juniors, Coach Ralph divides up the Frazier kids into two teams so they have someone to race against. 

Afternoon was the practice crit.  Billy’s slow time, small size, and toe straps earned him a spot in the kiddie race.  Later Coach Ralph said this was a mistake since he was racing against under 10 kids.  Unlike the flat TT, the hill climb crit favors Billys style.  Indeed on the warmup lap, Coach Ralph yelled at him for riding too fast, he was just blowing the field apart.  Coach set up four races with two teams in each race and assigned a team leader who was responsible for developing a team strategy.  Boys and girls raced together but were scored separately.  Billy said his job was to block for the leader, but the hill ended up blowing everyone up so he ended up chasing down the breakaway by the other team and shooting past them on the last lap.  Only two girls were 20m ahead.  I got in the fast crit with the Cat 3, 4 juniors, Joe the Cat 2 dad with a back injury, and Steve the Cat 4 tatoo guy.  I’m too heavy to climb well but hoped I could make up time on the descent.  Our team leader Nick, the coaches son, didn’t want to set a strategy because “it never works out anyway” and just go with the flow.  I stuck with them the first lap.  Then JJ, the fastest junior, attacked the climb on the second lap and I was off the back.  So I backed off and set my own pace up the climb with the pack gradually gaining time on me.  I was thinking, “the hell am I going to get lapped by a bunch of juniors!”  So I killed myself to stay ahead by 500 m.  Mr Roger the kiwi, who was only 15 sec slower on the TT than me, but got put in the lower 10-14 race, said he thought I was going to die.  I was doing it for pride and to show Coach Ralph I had some grit.  Together with Billy’s win, maybe he would get moved up to faster race the next day for the road race. 

Day 3: RR

Before the road race in the afternoon, Friday morning was bumping practice.  We were all looking forward to this.  Again, the Frazier kids practice bumping all the time during the year so they had this skill down.  In fact, Coach Ralph was taking delight in pairing kids who really got into bumping, just like prizefighters slugging it out.  We all dressed in long shirts and pants in case we hit the deck, but we were riding in grass for the same reason.  Before bumping proper, we did an exercise to just get used to riding close together.  We were paired up and told to ride with one arm on the shoulder of the rider next to us, out about 50 meters, around a cone, and back.  No problem.  Billy did nicely.  Then the top juniors were asked to demonstrate two at at time bumping.  These kids were really going at it, not just bumping but leaning and riding each other off the course, head butting, the whole nine yards.  Man, I don’t know what kind of races these juniors are doing, but I’ve been racing Cat 4 for 10 years and haven’t been bumped once!  I made more contact in this drill than in ten years.  Billy and I also got to do the touching exercise, which was some nice father, son time.  Now three at a time bumping, a biker sandwich.  Coach Ralph paired up some of the older aggressive juniors with less experienced riders to show them the ropes.  JJ went with Anna and another girl, and ended up crashing them out.  Anna ended up with a broken collar bone and the other girl with a mild concussion.  Again, these Frazier kids are tough as nail.  About 1/3 of them had road rash from recent races so they are riding hard and aggressive.  Later, Billy said this was his favorite exercise.  He really got into it and didn’t back down when paired with the bigger kids.  Good to see a little grit in Billy. 

Afternoon was the RR back at the park and dam where we held the TT.  They set up a four mile course, about 1.5 mi of which was the TT course, fairly flat, but there was a long climb on the other side, which would be a real challenge for me.  The same races as the crit were set up so I got in the fast race again.  Billy’s performance on the crit earned him a spot in the 10-14 “slow” group.  Some of the kids his age were riding with the 16-17 junior girls race, along with Devin, the fast but inexperienced 13 year old.  I told my team they better use me early because I doubted I could survive 20 miles with this fast a group, especially with a climb.  Billy’s group would do four laps, or about 16 mi.  Our race started first.  Nick and Duco got on the front.  Again, Nick refused to set a strategy other than “go with the flow”.  Before the race he told me they wouldn’t expect an attack from me, the slowest rider in the group.  Soj I got on the front, initially with the idea to keep Nick out of the wind, but Nick and Duco shut down the pace to a crawl and I found myself off the front by about 50 m but still wtihin sight.  Then I got the idea I should try a break.  From the ride over, I knew there was a sharp turn that was blocked by trees.  I soft pedaled looking back, asking someone to come with me.  No response, slow as snails.  Rounded the turn, and waited till I was out of sight, then HIT IT!  BAM, gave it my full sprint for 200m then sat down into a fast tempo to stretch out my lead.  Looked back and no peleton.  Outta sight, outta mind.  Then I was on the climb, which wound around with a couple turns.  Had to dial it down.  Looked back around each turn and no sight of the peleton.  Reached the top and screamed down the hill to the start finish.  Then Coach Ralph came up in the Frazier car, leaned out and said “You’ve got a good lead”.  I had been watching the Tour with all the breaks and so fancied myself in a solo escape.  As I went by each course marshal, oh yeah, this RR was also professional run, with course marshals, follow vehicles, the whole thing, as good as any USA Cycling race I’ve done.  Passing each course marshal I put on the show of dumping water on my head, taking a drink and spitting it out, standing, then lifting the speed to sit back down in my tuck with hands on top of the brake hoods.  Lap 2: I was out in front the whole 4 mile lap, up the climb down the hill, across the line.  Looked back at the base of the climb and sighted the peleton far back down the road, but they saw me and got a time gap, not good.  Lap 3: still had a lead, stood up and stretched it out, around the base of the dam, towering 300 feet up to my left, then onto the TT course.  Around the turn halfway into the lap where I had attached, that made two full laps off the front, then on the flats on the way to the climb, looked back and, uh oh, there was the peleton, closing on me.  I was cooked, so started up the climb, then bam, Nick stood up and attacked up the hill with Greg on his wheel.  During the evening recap, learned that Nick was reeled in and the pace was shut down till the final climb on the fifth lap where there was a series of attacks with JJ headed down the hill in his junior gears with parent Greg on his wheel, Greg said he saw 48 mph on his speedometer and was spinning 120 rpm, which we guessed put JJ at 150 rpm, said he was going so fast that he hopped a wheel coming around the final turn. 

Enough of me, what about Billy, this is his camp.  Well, he hung tough through the final lap.  He said he attacked up the side but then was blocked and forced into the grass!  I told you those Frazier kids are tough.  There was a break that formed but Billy missed it.  But later Billy said he really enjoyed the road race the most. 

During the RR analysis after dinner, one funny incident happened during the 15-17 yr junior girls race that had several national level caliber riders among the girls, sprinkled with some of the most talented boys from the 13-14 group, one of whom was Zach, a triathlete from Florida.  Stephie, the national girls crit champion, flatted during the road race so helpful Zach stopped and offered her a tube.  !!!   At this point, Coach Ralph, stopped, did a double take, leaned in and shouted with a smile, "Zack, wait a minute, let me understand this, the leader of your team, Stephie, has a flat, and you offer her a tube!  Zack, this is a BICYCLE RACE, we don't take time to stop and change flats!"  He went on to interview Stephie, who described the interaction from her perspective, which basically consisted of her demanding Zach's wheel and him giving it to her.  Then Zach's mom a triathlon coach from Florida defended him, saying, well that's what they do in triathlon.  News flash to Zach, this aint triathlon, it's BICYCLE RACING.  :) 

Day 4: Sat endurance ride

Phew, finally made it to the endurance ride.  I was taking Advil 24/7 to keep my body going, but was starting to feel it.  Coach Ralph gave me the choice of the fast 40 mi ride up into the mountains with the fast group or to ride with Billy in the slower 10-14 group.  I knew that that fast ride would turn into a race, plus the whole purpose of the camp was to spend time with father-son, so I chose to ride with Billy.  Good choice because the 40 mi fast ride turned into an epic ride with a rainstorm in the mountains, and a treacherous decent where Coach Duco was chased down the moutain road with a semi truck on his wheel, no slowing, blinded by the rain.  Fortunately, everyone made it back safe.  Our group consisted of Mr. Roger, the kiwi, his daughter Sophie, Mr Steve, the wrestling coach, whose son Blake was on the faster 10-14 ride and rode a Blue, two solid girl juniors Kaly and Katie, Jack “the Slacker” who was made an example in stretching class, Billy and myself.  Jack and Billy were pretty well matched in size, experience and ability.  We headed the 5 mi down the main highway to the park where we started every days ride, and would turn early onto country roads for a 30 mi ride, which would be Billy’s longest ride of his life, previous long ride was a 16 mi ride in St Louis County roads out to Wildwood, Clayton Rd, Outer 40, ride.  Almost immediately Jack flatted!  Our support car got confused and followed the other 10-14 ride, on our same route but with a 10 minute head start.  So unbeknownst to us, we were on our own.  Roger was the only one with directions.  And this area was all new to the Frazier parents since they are from the Atlanta area.  Jacks tire was super tight but finally got it fixed and were back out on the road.  This camp was Billy’s first experience with a paceline and he was a little nervous riding close to the wheel in front.  He started dangling about 10 feet off the wheel, creating a gap, so we would ride up next to him and tell him to gradually close up the gap.  By the end of the ride, he was riding comfortably 3 feet from the wheel.  The next day on the fun hill climb, we were in a tight paceline on the fast downhill to the park, and he was riding close on the wheel in front when he ran over something in the road which gave him quite a bump, and sent him a couple inches in the air.  I was on his wheel in a tuck, feathering the brakes, and fortunately just slid up to his left, while he sat up, caught some air and thumped back down.  Fortunately, he didn’t overreact and grab the brakes.  Anyway, back on the endurance ride, this was a really pretty ride, all rolling hills through Tennessee countryside, farms, river running along the road, out to a small town called Bluff City.  The ride was uneventful, except for a wrong turn by Mr. Roger, which added another mile, to put us over 30 mi.  Billy did a great job, although he and Jack were getting fatigued at the end.  Sophie was sliding off the back on the uphills so an adult would fade back and wait for her, then at turns the group would wait.  Made it back about 3pm, with a 1pm start made for about a 15 mph average, not too bad for Billy’s first long ride.  That should build a lot of confidence for the future. 

In the evening after the RR and endurance rides, we had presentations from various people including a sports psychologist and Mr Krige, the professional wheelchair and cyclechair racer.  The psychologist talked about “the energy room” that gets filled with positive energy when we think positive thoughts and visualize positive results and energy gets subtracted when we are negative, illustrated with plastic golf balls in a bin.  We have an average of 10,000 thoughts per day and roughly 80% or 8000 of them are negative, which is thought to drain energy.  She also talked about relaxation exercises to reduce anxiety before races, which can be either debilitating if too much, although some people are too relaxed and need to rev up the energy level and use anxiety as “rocket fuel”.  She is a paid consultant for Frazier cycling, which shows their commitment to performance enhancement. 

Mr. Krige told the story of how he lost his legs.  He grew up in South Africa and was serving his 2 year mandatory military service in Angola fighting the communists.  His platoon was bombed by enemy jets, and one bomb landed about five feet from him.  He has a memory of being lifted up in the air by the blast and his legs getting folded up to his chest and his foot landing on his upper chest.  Both legs were amputated at the upper hip.  He had been an athlete before the loss, and sport was his salvation during rehab.  He did everything, but ended up as a professional wheelchair racer in running events and cycle racer in bicycle events.  This is his full time job since he receives sponsorship from a German bank as well as minor sponsors for parts.  He had his two boys at camp, both under 10 and super cute, one with a Zipp wheel from his dads sponsor.  He went on the share stories from some of his races, crashes at 50 mph, and how difficult it is to maintain success, one having obtained it. 

Day 5: am fun ride, aka gut-busting hill climb TT!

Sun morning, we had time for one more ride before having to check out by noon so we all met a 9am after breakfast.  Coach Ralph divided us up into two groups to ride over to the park where the dam loomed a good 300 m above the river, holding the lake above it.  An access road winds up to the dam through the trees.  At the park, Miguel, a 15 yr junior and the revelation of the camp, 13 yr Devin were chosen as team leaders, and allowed to pick their teams.  Within teams, groups of three were pitted against each other, who would form six man races up the climb.  My team consisted of 10 yr Arvin, son of Coach Duco, but a good foot taller than Billy due to the tall height genes in that family, and Alex, a 14 yr junior who can track stand one-handed for as long as he wants.  We were up against young Blake son of Mr Steve, Mr Steve, and Anthony, who raced in the fast 10-14 group.  Billy was in the first slow group, riding against two 15 yr junior girls and a Frazier parent who had arrived to pick up his son Fletcher, who races Cat 4 as a 14 yr junior and holds his own.  Billy ended up fourth in his group.  I took fourth as well behind an attacking 5 min race with Arvin, Anthony, and Blake duking it out in a three man break, with Anthony taking the win at the line with Arvin second.  At the top, we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the lake above the dam, and the valley below. 

Conclusion

We asked one of the Frazier Coaches, Coach AJ, what he recommended for Billy and he said rather than a specific training schedule, just work on his love of cycling, look at the entire arc of his cycling career, from now to age 23.  Key is to find friends his age who cycle.  Coach Ralph said later at a parent meeting that it might be fun for us as parents to enjoy riding with our children, but for them it’s like riding with “old people”, like if we went to a retirement center to play checkers with the real old folks!  Especially has kids get into older adolescence, the 15-17 yr olds.  Unfortunately, in St Louis, the junior 10-14 group is pretty splintered, only 4 kids in the state race this year, including Billy.  We later heard from Coach Ralph about how parents who believe their child is the “next Lance” are the biggest impediment to their childs progressive in cycling.  Even if the child is talented, and Billy is certainly way behind the best Frazier juniors his age, who have been training 6 days a week for three or more years, with power meters and professional coaching, racing junior nationals, and placing well, and also racing Cat 4 against adults, and beating them!  So the distance in training and performance between Billy and the top juniors his age is about the same between me and elite Cat 1, 2, which is a pretty big gap.  That “reality check” alone, was worth the camp admission price.  But that doesn’t mean Billy can’t enjoy cycling, just that we don’t have to apply a lot of pressure to train and race.  We left camp with Billy super motivated to race, and especially get some clipless pedals!  Unfortunately, days after arrival back in St Louis, Billy’s road bike was stolen, which pretty much nixes race plans for a youth triathlon.  But it opens the door for purchase of a better bike next spring, perhaps he will be ready for 700 wheels, and another crack at Camp Frazier 2012. 

here's the pics . . .

http://thebillhgenericracepicsblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/frazier-junior-cycling-camp-bristol-tn.html

Dick Lane Velodrome, Atlanta, GA, Zipp Need for Speed Sprints, Fri Jul 8, 2011

My family was headed to Atlanta for my grandmothers 95th birthday in Peachtree City about 30 mi just south of Atlanta so I decided to combine a little pleasure with business and check out the Dick Lane Velodrome just south of downtown Atlanta.  Yes, it’s the only velodrome with a name that sounds like a porn star!  Checked out the schedule and as luck would have it, there was a special Zipp Need for Speed sprint night the night before the bday party.  We usually plan on about 12 hours with stops, plus the one hour time difference from central to eastern so I figured we needed to get there about 6pm eastern time for a 7pm race start, which meant leaving at 5am St Louis time, ouch!  I had left all the packing till the night before so went to bed at 11pm to get up at 3:30am to finish packing, spin a little and stretch to endure the long drive.  The drive was uneventful except for a few spot showers, and we hit Atlanta just during Fri rush hour, headed right through downtown and came to a screetching halt on the 10 lane wide highway 85 in downtown.  Then the rain came down hard.  I was thinking no way we are going to race, but I’d still like to see the drome just the same after driving all that way.  The original plan was for Analyn to drop me off at the track, head to Peachtree City for a family dinner, and then pick me up after the race, using the GPS to find the track again.  Plan B was just to check out the track, take some pics, and then head to the dinner.  Sat and Sun were full of family events so no other time to race. 

The track is located in a residential neighborhood, not quite the slums, but just south of downtown and just north of the big Atlanta airport, small residential housing, something on the order of Maplewood or a near downtown hood in St Louis.  The track is tucked in a park with a tree and river running through the infield, a big iron entrance gate that locks with big iron fences all around, a small pavilion where racers were seeking shelter for the rain, a bathroom, and about 10 rows of concrete bleachers for fans, a roofed platform in the infield with speakers for the announcer. 

We arrived about 6:15pm and the first person I met was “Bill” who turns out operates the scooter for motor paced races.  I asked him if the race was canceled, assuming it was, and he said, “Oh no, this track dries off pretty quick, there’s a little sun coming out, we’ll race for sure!”  Sweet, that got the old heart pumping.  So we switched back to Plan A, unloaded my crap and Analyn headed off for the dinner.  There were about 10 racers hanging out, some serious looking dudes with serious bikes so I introduced myself where I could and found out most guys ran about 110-120 psi.  I think I was the only one there with a steel bike.  I had written Jeff Hopkins the organizer, an Aussie, who did the announcing, about my experience at Penrose, that I was in my second season, and pretty much a mid-pack B racer at Penrose with a 13.86 flying 200m and 1:23 kilo, and thought I’d try to sit in the C race at Dick Lane.  He gave me the green light.  When I went to register, I told the guy the story and he looked me up and down and gave me the OK.  Asked what gear C racers use, said I run an 88 at Penrose, he said C race is usually 90-92 but I should stick with the 88 till I got used to the steeper bank.  $15 dollars for four races was quite the deal.  About 40 racers showed up, guessing around 10 A racers, 5 B, and 20 C.  Dick Lane has a lot more control over what race you do and talking with Jeff Hopkins later, he said they were ready to move several of the C racers up to the B, but usually didn’t do so till mid-season.  C race definitely turned out to be the race for me, the B race looked small, slow and lame.   

The evening featured four races, a flying 200m to seed for the matched sprints, top 12 plus two from the sprint repechage for a total of 14 racers.  Then a 5 lap scratch, 10 lap scratch, and a motor-paced 20 lap scratch for the A and B racers. 

http://www.dicklanevelodrome.com/sites/default/files/11theomniumflier.pdf

Sweet!  Took a couple laps and the track felt fast.  I was running a 90 inch gear (47x14) and felt like I was just spinning it out.  I had bought some Vittoria Evo Cx tires especially for this race and took some slow laps to see how they gripped and they did just fine.  Track was concrete coated with weather proofing material, much more steeply banked and narrow feeling than penrose, but wonderfully smooth!  Funny, the local racers thought it was bumpy because you could slightly feel the seams between the concrete slabs.  One guy said it was built by sidewalk contractors, and true it had tiny seems between the slabs like a very very smooth sidewalk, but not one crack in this track.  Another feature is that the back stretch is a slight downhill because turns 3 and 4 are four feet lower than 1 and 2 so if you dive down from the rail into turn 3, you have the sensation of flushing down a toilet bowl. 

They ran the flying 200m in reverse order of reg for C, B, and A racers.  You ride slowly around this little oval track in the infield till they call you up.  Guys before me were riding in the mid-13s, I hoped to crank out a 13.5, maybe a 13.0, cranked it up at the rail, then dove down to the white line out of turn 2.  The track is 321m with turns slightly tighter than Penrose but similar enough where guys were launching their flying 200s about the same place.  Dove down into turns 3 and 4, and was spinning like crazy.  Cranked it down the stretch with a slight wobble and across the line.  Didn’t hear my time but the guy after me had 13.3 a “new best time” so I was definitely above that.  Another C racer cranked out a 12.3!  The A racers looked fast, best time was in the low 12s, like a 12.2.  Posted the results and I was about 2/3 down the sheet with a 14.14, argh, embarrassing.  All the C racers who missed out on the sprint got a chance to do a five lap scratch race to fill out the 13 and 14^th seed in the match sprints, to go against the top 1 and 2 times, woo hoo!  Don’t think any A and B racers who missed got to race the rep race.  Anyway, another chance to race, about 12 guys in this race.  We all lined up on the rail, which felt pretty cool.  There was about a foot of flat concrete at the top to steady your bike on.  Another detail is that they rang the bell in turns 1 and 2 of the first lap if everyone was together so no long slow neutral lap, which helped move things along.  Ding ding, we were off.  Fast pace.  One lap, two lap, then an acceleration, bam and I was off the back.  Geez, couldn’t believe it.  Went back to the infield to sulk, chat with some guys.  Several had connections in St Louis, including a guy named Wayne who used to race for the clubbers and knew guys like Mike Murray of the old Cyclones that I raced for just before they became Dent Wizard.  Took a couple warmdown laps around the infield track.  Looked at my bike and happened to notice some numbers on my rear cog.  Wait, my 14t does not have any numbers.  I took a double take and saw the numbers “16t” . . . GAAAAAAA.  I still had my commuter/ warm up gear on!  I had just done a flying 200 and 5 lap scratch in a 79 inch gear, doh!  Guess that’s what I get for 4 hours sleep and 12 hour drive.  So got out my chain whip and wrenches to switch out the gear only to hear Jeff announce “C racers to the line for the 5 lap scratch”.  Damn!  No time to switch it out.  Lined up expecting the same result as the 5 lap rep, and yep, off the back with the first acceleration.  Kicking myself for wasting 3 races on a smooth track.  The gear chart says a 14.05 flying 200 in a 47x16 (79 in) gear is about 135 rpm.  135 rpm in a 47x14 (90 in) is a 12.29.  Not saying I could have done that, but I will never know till the next time at Dick Lane.  Maybe Grandma’s 100 bday ! 

Finally switched out the gear and got on the track, dejected, for the 10 lap scratch, not my best event due to lack of endurance this year.  Lined up 3^rd position behind this fast dude in black and this woman with kick-ass huge thighs.  I mean one of her thighs was a big as my waist.  This time it felt like normal racing.  First five laps were pretty uneventful, with a couple half hearted attacks.  Then lap six, the guy in black took off, for the first big acceleration.  I decided to follow and tucked in third wheel, looked back and we had about two length gap.  He pulled off and I took a pull down the stretch to keep tempo, then pulled up track.  This race felt a little more aggressive than Penrose.  Guys were a little more sketchy than I expected.  I was on the front slowing things down just a hair to save some gas, riding right on the sprinter line.  Then the big-thigh woman decides to come through under me!  I turned my head just slightly which moved my bike just into the lane and she had to back pedal and cursed a little.  Then I shoulder checked right, moved out of the lane to let her pass but she hung back.  Went up track the next turn, lap 8, and everyone seemed to follow me up track, doh.  Looked down and the dude in black made a huge acceleration in the lane, I wooshed down track but the gap had developed and it was game over.  Lucky I was off the back because in the sprint a dude touched wheels and went down.  No broken bones thankfully. 

Notes from the other races.  I was pretty pre-occupied with getting my own stuff together and chatting that I didn’t watch things too closely.  Only to notice that the B race was exceptionally lame.  Only 5 guys lined up for the 10 lap scratch.  The first five laps were as fast as neutral laps so Jeff had to chide them on the PA system “this is a race guys!”  They saved it for a sprint finish.  Jeff later said they were going to move up some of the C racers in a couple weeks, yeah, like the guy who cranked out a 12.3!  There were 5 or 6 guys in the A race that were superfast, like Eddie, Devin and Russ type of fast or better.  I only caught one name “Dan Harm” who raced in yellow and was announced as a silver medal in the mens elite pursuit nationals last year.  The match sprint came down to Dan Harm vs somebody named “Valentino”.  Valentino had won all his sprints with a huge acceleration in turns 3 and 4, whipping around the lead rider, always coming from the back, in a textbook sprint that left him at least one or two bike lengths in front coming into the stretch, where he appeared to sit up and make hand motions to the crowd and announcer, pointing and celebrating while his competitor put on a dejected sprint to no avail.  The only time I saw him race down the stretch was the final against Dan Harm, who he held off for the win.  Sprinters, geesh.  No sign of Steve Hill.  I asked Jeff Hopkins later if he was there and said he didn’t see him.  I said I heard he’s quite a character to which Jeff dead-panned, “That’s an understatement”. 

Also hung out for the motor-paced 20 lap scratch.  Pretty cool to see the pack all strung out in keiren style.  Bill got them revved up but after about 3 laps, the skies opened up with thunder, lightning and rain, and they had to call the race.  Too bad, would have been fun to see the full race. 

Hey Grandma, hang on for 100.  I want to race at Dick Lane again! 

pics . . .

http://thebillhgenericracepicsblog.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html