Monday, October 1, 2012

2012 Track Nationals

Mostly in pictures...

It's been a busy schedule the last 4 days.  5 events (racing 7 times), lots of driving, and not enough sleep.

Individual Pursuit- the bane of my existence.  I continue to see improvements but still question my sanity every time I am on the starting line for this event.  Why?  I ended up 3rd missing the Gold medal ride my .4 seconds.  The girl who beat me by .4 seconds ended up winning the Gold.  So close, yet...

Team Pursuit... oh how I love this event!  Added bonus was the team that Exergy TWENTY12 put together.  Lauren Tamayo fresh off a Silver medal at the Olympics.  And, Jackie Crowell who is strong like bull but had never raced the event before.  Lauren and I took over the pace setting and thinking and just told Jackie to hang on.  A little rough around the edges but GOLD none the less.

The winning Team Pursuit team!

Scratch and Points- I love racing my bike!
I ended up working for a teammate in the Scratch and she took Silver.  The Points was a bit of a mess but I ended up Silver with a teammate in Gold.


 I can't believe I actually get that low without thinking about it.  Weird position!



 And, for my favorite event ever... the Madison!  It is a race with a partner.  Imagine a track and field event where 2 runners sprint for 400m and hand the baton off to their partner who then sprints for 400m and this happens for 25 kilometers.  Well, basically, this would be the Madison.  It's a tag team event where you are sprinting for points like a points race.

 I was SO fortunate to have my good friend and local Colorado girl agree to fly into LA to race this one with me.  Katie Compton is the most accomplished cyclocross racers in the world and arguably the most versatile cyclists in our country.  She and I love to beat up on each other in local Colorado racing so we decided to join forces and represent the great state of CO!  Thanks to Pearlizumi for the custom Mach 5 Speedsuits.

Katie in action... no brakes, no mud, no gears, just speed!  She went from winning a cyclocross races Saturday/Sunday of last week, Wednesday, Saturday... flying to LA Saturday night and racing the Madison on Sunday.  I say 5/5 wins in 8 days deserves a day of rest tomorrow.

 And... we took home the GOLD!

Thanks, always, to our sponsors.  The best deserve the best and Exergy TWENTY12 has the best- Felt Bicycles, Zipp, Catlike, Oakley, Pearlizumi.



Also, a HUGE thank you to Nicola Cranmer, Neal Henderson, and Mark Tyson for all your help this week.  I would be lost without you!