Back From Track Nationals, Posted by Rick

At the beginning of the season, I was happy to hear my coach tell me not to climb to many hills, and spend as much time as I can behind the motor scooter. I hate hills and I love motor pacing.

I had 4 events. The First was the individual pursuit on Wednesday. It is only 2000 meters, I only pulled off an 11th. Way to Short. The next day I had the 60 lap point race. I tried like hell to plant myself in a break. No luck. I duked it out for a couple sprints and earned 4 points. On the final sprint I was almost knocked down and ended up with nothing. I was 10th place in that event. Peg got some good photos in this race....

I was a little bummed about the points race, luckily I have a day job. Next was the 24 lap scratch race on Saturday night. Sprinters love this race because it is short enough they can hang out and then spank us endurance guys in the sprint. I decided since I was sprinting pretty good, I would hang out on Bruce Donaghy (7 time national champion and Olympian). In the first half of the race he was getting frustrated with me. We did chase down a couple of breaks though. At about 10 laps to go I decided I was going to bolt up the road and try to catch a loan rider who was up the track about 100 meters. I came up on him pretty fast and decided I would try to fly right by. About a lap later I was sure I was alone until I peaked behind me and saw him glued to my wheel. We worked hard together and almost lapped the field with 3 or 4 laps to go. At this point I knew we had 1st and 2nd wrapped up. I even smiled up at Peg and the kids as we went by. At this point I figured I caught this guy with ease and I'm pulling way harder than him. Not only that but he stayed on the front for the entire final 500 meters! I figured I would come around him in turn 3, which is a little early, and then bask in the glory as I cross the line with my hands raised. I went for it, got even with him, then he hit the gas. I couldn't believe how much that dude had in the tank. His name is Kent Menzel and he deserved that jersey. I think he got a standing ovation...

A couple of guys from California needed another rider for the team pursuit. In all my years on the track, I never competed in this event. It is 4 guys (timed on the 3rd rider) going 3000 meters and fast as they can. Dave and Kelly were the brains behind the operation. We had a couple of practice sessions and they taught me a lot. We ended up a solid 2nd place. It was a ton of fun and I would love to do it again.