Baby Puke

Seems people are being shy, but I don't mind showing off: My team sprint squad of myself, Tim Montagne and Bobby Walthour IV came second in the 45-49 category. After the final team had ridden, the announcer read out the results in reverse order-- I thought we were fourth, and I was at the airport before I finally realized we got silver!

Hida Yanra

I didn't get to meet any of the bf'ers out there, but at least on Saturday there was some great racing.
I was the door guard at the beer garden and couldn't wander about, and few/none of the racers came over after riding- but I heard some familiar names.

Nice work all.

Baby Puke

Haha, Hida Yanra-- I got a beer on Saturday and outfoxed you by sneaking it into the infield!

carleton

Congrats, man!

Dalai

Nicely done Baby Puke!

Hida Yanra

I heard that one or two had gotten past me~
it happens.

congrats on the silver as well as on the free-range beverage

Hermes

My wife and I raced Masters Track Nationals in Redmond, WA on the 400 meter concrete track located in Marymoor Park. I drove from NorCal and brought 4 bikes two sets of race wheels and training wheels plus rollers and a trainer and outdoor chairs. All photos by Hermes or Mrs. Hermes.

Results: Masters 65 - 69.

500 meters: Bronze 4th of 12
2K Pursuit: Bronze 3rd of 7
Team Pursuit: Silver 2nd of 3
Team Sprint: Bronze 3rd of 4

For those that have not attended a track national championship, it all starts by getting space in the infield and setting up a tent city that is home for several days of racing and socializing. Since we race at Velo Sports Center in Carson, CA, we joined a group from SoCal and we all chipped in to purchase a couple of pop up canopies for shade.

The infield



I arrived on Sunday and went to the track to get a feel for the surface and the banking. Marymoor is flat on the straights but has a more abrupt rise entering the turn than Hellyer, Carson or Trexlertown. I called it the Marymoor climb. I found myself wanting to get out of the saddle entering the turn at the relief line and even more so at the rail. The sprinters lane was flat and not a problem but due to the banking, I felt that drifting up to the red line and then "diving" off the banking to the black line offered a way to get a couple of seconds of recovery on each turn during the pursuit.

500 Meters... At Marymoor, the 500 is started on the track apron and one enters the track before the half lap line. Our age group did two ups. I started on the home stretch.

Here is BF @Allegheny Jet starting on the apron getting ready to go on the track.



Coming into turn 4



Heading to the finish.



500 Podium

Hermes

2K Pursuit...I am used to doing 8 laps on the 250 track with lap times called every lap. At Marymoor, we decided to get 1/2 laps called. We use Roger Young as a coach when in Carson and Roger attended the championships and provided advice and assisted with timing. I decided on my schedule and gave it to Roger. It seemed like most everyone who had done pursuit was a little slower so I increased my lap times and figured if I had any juice left, I would light it up with 600 meters to go. I hit my 1/2 lap times and turned it on with 1 1/2 to go. My opponent was up by 3.8 seconds in the first kilo and I won by .9 seconds to grab the short podium.

This was my first pursuit podium and my fourth time at nationals and once at worlds doing pursuit. Roger was very happy with my execution. He said that he rarely sees schedules that are that well executed. He thought I could not have ridden it any faster.

The start



Getting getting times



Team Pursuit... I did not have a team going into nationals and I was approached by a racing friend to join him and two other racers to do the 65+ 3K team pursuit. I do a lot of team pursuit. However, ad hoc pursuit teams do not win at nationals. You race and have fun doing it. The problem is team pursuit needs a lot of practice to get close and race fast. The other guys did not have time to practice and so we lined up and raced. One other glitch was that our fourth decided not to race team pursuit and save himself for team sprint. So we did it with 3 men versus the other teams have 4.

We had one strong, one medium and one weaker racer. We decided that the strong guy would always do one lap pulls. I would take a full lap pull my first pull and all the rest 1/2 laps. Our "weaker" (not really true but we did not want to take any chances of breaking apart), took all 1/2 lap pulls. We had good execution and finished together. And got the silver with 3 men.





Team Sprint... The short IP podium 1st, 2nd and 3rd individual pursuit racers (included me), got together to do team sprint. I have done team sprint many times but the other two races had not. I was unsure about this because although team sprint looks easy, it is hard to hold the team together and get the gearing and order correct.

We decided that I would start and Roger would be at the curve and signal me that the other racer was on and then I was to light it up. It sort of worked but you can see in the pics that we had some gaps. However, it was an amazing first effort by my teammates doing team sprint. If we practiced, we could do much better and I should probably go second.

Start



First exchange...you can see the gap behind me.





I had a great time racing and socializing. We had fabulous weather and Marymoor was an excellent host. The hotdogs were to die for and what is with the beer sequester? I had to leave my beer with this lovely woman when I left the yellow chain area.

carleton

That's awesome!

Dalai

Nice report and results Hermes!

VanceMac

Great job Hermes, AJ, and Baby Puke!

gtrob

Thanks for the photo report, looks like an awesome event. Very jealous how strong the sport is in the US, I think I will have to make an effort to make it to your Nationals next year.

I see what you mean about banking, the straights look practically flat!

Hermes

Congrats to all that did nationals and thanks for the comments.

I suspect the local racers at Marymoor are used to the flat straights and transition to the banking. It was only noticeable at slower speeds. At race pace, you do not even feel it other than it does pop the legs with a surge of power.

carleton

Was it easier to maintain speed on the flat-ish track as opposed to a standard 250M 44deg track? Or no change.

For me, being a big guy, riding a 250 feels like I'm running into a brick wall every time I slam into turns 1 and 3.

Hida Yanra

easier to hold speed down low than on a "better" geometry short track, but up high it gets trickier b/c of the mentioned "wall" where the banking goes up from the straight.

burnaby & 7-11 both felt quite a bit more consistent for "power to hold speed" at the rail vs on red line,

Hermes

Every track has its nuances. Carson has short radius turns. If I ride the black line through the turns, it wastes energy. It is better to ride the red line in the straights with full power and float the turns by shooting the apex and then allowing the bike to float back to the red line. If I hold the black line, I can scrub speed and many times find myself overshooting and ending up on the blue band in the straight. However, my times are always faster at Carson than Hellyer or T-Town.

I found Marymoor about the same as Hellyer in the pole lane with the proviso that the abrupt transition from the straight to the turn seemed to offer the opportunity to ride off the banking from the red line and float a couple of pedal strokes. Maybe if I rode Marymoor again I would change my mind.

I thought it was a fun track and would definitely go back to race again.

And they definitely have the best beer and hotdogs and let's not forget the coffee truck.

Hida Yanra

Any of you that didn't get an affogato from the truck while you were here.... well, that was a bad decision on your part.

Baby Puke

In my opinion Marymoor was a very nice track to ride. The banking was appropriate to the length, so it was far easier to ride the lane at high speeds than it is at Hellyer, which has inadequate banking.