Well, we all have bad days. Unfortunately, my most recent bad day was on a very important one. To begin with, my 200m. time was pretty slow for me. In retrospect, I had too big of a gear. Noted: 96" is too big. I guess that's good information for next time. My first ride was against Anna Lang. I rode a decent race overall, but didn't quite make it around in time. I lost by a nudge. My second ride was the last chance to stay in the game. It was a 3 up against Cari Higgins (lost to her at master's nationals) and Shelby Allen (whose gotten faster since beating me last year at nationals. Fast or not, the problem wasn't my legs, but between my ears. I left my balls in Oregon I suppose, finishing last of us three. So, I think I got about 9th overall. Shelby went on to the semi finals tonight. I'll find Cari later and see if she wants to go get a beer (Haley, delete that last sentence for the students.)

Tonight, Deano (Moses) and Stevo get to pop off their kilo. Let's go boys! Tomorrow night is my 500m. Stomp and go.

Photos from Master's Nationals

Well, it's funny because there are no pictures of my actual racing, but here are some of my favorites.
Between the 200m. TT and 500m. TT we had a long break. It's not that there was a break in racing- just lots of racers. Here we have Darell, Donna, and I taking a rest under the tent.

Master's Nationals 2006
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Well, silver isn't quite as nice as gold, but such is racing sometimes. It took me a while to settle on that. For the first hour after racing, I kept hearing Ricky Bobby, "If you're not first, your'e last!" Considering I knew little about what to expect when I came to this race, one gold and one silver aren't so bad.

Cari Higgins got a buy first round, since she qualified 1st and there were only 7sprinters. Even the first round was determined best 2 of 3, so I would have at least 6 rides this afternoon.

Round #1 was a good opener, getting used to the track. I won in 2 against Hammer Racing Team's, Jodi Walzer. Round #2 was against Brooke Wilson. I went up against her at nationals last year- she'd gotten faster the past year, but I rode a good race and won in 2 again. So, now I was in the finals

The track was HOT, I was getting tired already. I needed to find some cool shade, which I did in the stands. My first ride against Cari, I wasn't as aggresive as I could be. I couldn't get the position I wanted- something to work on this month. She got the jump on me and we rode together in the last lap. I started to come around, but barely missed catching her at the finish line. I just needed about 2 more feet. It was a photo finish and we didn't know the verdict until we had both rolled off the track.

In the second ride, I rode a little smarter, putting on tighter pressure, but she got under me and this time I was unable to close.

It didn't work out how I had hoped. It's weird that 3rd place is almost easier to take than 2nd. At least with 3rd, you won the last ride. With 2nd place, you lost. You leave the race mad. As you leave the track to the quiet and coolness of the grass outside the fence, you duck away from everyone who either wants to compliment your ride or who you overhear tell the other girl how awesome she did- in the next tent. Hopefully you have a little time to chill and have a laugh before the awards ceremony.

Today, I'm tired. I don't feel motivated to get ready for elite nationals in just 7 weeks. I'll be without my track bike until next Friday when Donna comes down for masters state championships. How funny is that- to do state championships after nationals. That happened last year with elites. I'm tired of race, race, racing every weekend, but I give it about 5 days and I should be ready to go again

Master's Nationals
Colorado Springs, Colorado

So far, I'm seeded 2nd in the 200m. TT. I took a BAD line, which cost me 1-2 tenths. I actually took an excellent line for Alpenrose. However, the 200m. line is about 1/3 down the straightaway and I didn't get full advantage of the corner 4 banking. My time was 12.54 and I was really hoping to be in the neighborhood of 12.2- 12,3, but I'm OK with it. The first place girl, Cari Higgins got a 12.40. Hopefully the two of us will face off for gold and it should be a good ride.

I WON THE 500m. TT FOR MY AGE GROUP (30-34). I'm a Master's National Champion. There were 9 riders. I was in the 4th heat (of 5) riding against Cari. Going in, I hoped my gear wasn't going to be too small. The start was good- almost too good. I was worried that I might spin out. The first half lap, I kept tellling my self "this isn't good enough- go harder." Once I settled in and got as aero as possible, I realized it was a perfect gear. I felt great and was able to keep spinning in the last quarter lap, which according to the folks watching was the difference between 1st and 2nd, My 38.38 time was a huge P.R over my time late fall in L.A. of 39.51. Kari's 38.7 was close! I'm very excited. PIctures to come :)

Donna is he absolute stud. She broke a national and world record today! The old record in her 50-54 age group was 40.2. She shattered it with a 39.8. I jumped up and down, screaming when she finished. Jumping up and down in cycling cleats is not smart- almost fell.

So, Brian got to see 2 of his athletes squeeze into stars and stripes jerseys at the awards ceremony. That was pretty cool for all three of us. It was much more fun to celebrate, with Donna also winning. Then we- Donna, Brian, Allane, Steve, and Darrell went to Old Chicago for Pizza and beer, and to Michelle's for Sundaes. The beer float in my tum-tum, didn't settle well, but I survived (whew).

When we got into bed tonight, Allane fell asleep right away. Donna and I laid there in the dark, silently for about 5 minutes. Out of nowhere, she giggles and says, "I'm a world record holder!" We busted up and I eventually fell asleep.

Sprints are Friday. There are 7 women. Will keep posted.

Field Trip to Nike

A little before lunch time, the Godfrey fraternity teammates picked me up in the van. We headed to the nike campus to meet Norrene. She escorted us to Sample Town to meet Delores. She gave us a little tour of the mini factory, where the samples for every piece of apparel are constructed. One wall was full of everyl fabric currently used for Nike clothing! I was impressed and it was a treat to get "backstage" of the worlds most popular sports apparel and footwear company. Delores also gave us our new booties, so I expect to go fast next week at Master's Nationals. The booties are one of a kind- well, 20 of a kind, actually. We'll call it limited edition. They are not a Nike retail product- just made especially for us.

Next, Emily met up with us to treat us to lunch with Ian, also from the Nike research lab. They've been working with the kids, using them for testing. Hopefully, Kirk's tail quits growing- wouldn't want it to get stuck in the rear wheel. Kidding. We ate at a restaurant right on campus. After lunch, Emily whoed me around the lab- pretty cool.

FSA Grand Prix
Group Health Velodrome, Redmond, Washington

Well, I think mother nature crammed all of the summer heat into last weekend. We had to use arm and leg warmers over this July weekend. 4 Rubicon riders, 1 Chuck, and a side of Adam made the trip up to ride on the un-banking of this 400 track. This track is excellent for beginners and on a calm day, would be excellent for beginners and timed events, due to no corner transitions and smooth surface. It's nice a wide, so there's enough safe room for warm ups and being able to move through the race pack. But for those of us born on Alpenrose, the track isn't that fun. 400 meters is LONG. It's hard to cheer for folks from the infield because it's hard to hear, and there's no banking, so no sudden movements out of corners 2 and 4.

Some other reasons that Alpenrose Velodrome is way more cooler....
1. Free Parking
2. Free for spectators
3. More spectator space
4. Open gate that allows riders get on the track more than 90 minutes before their event
5. Grocery store about 1/2 mile away
6. SPLINTER WREN!

ref: #6.... Many of you know that Splinter has the craft down. He can make paint drying and grass growing sound like the damn superbowl. He knows the riders- and if he doesn't, he'll use the rider profiles we took 5 minutes at registration to fill out. He'll talk up every rider, no matter their resume. And throw in a little Dave Campbell, you have the best announcer team. We are really spoiled. Luciano, Steve, Gary, others- you're awesome as well. I offended the husband of Friday's announcer, when he overheard us commenting on her style (think Ferris Bueller's teacher taking attendance.) "She makes a near track record sound boring." Well, I was put in my place by him informing us, that she's a 5 time world champion. HUH? Whoopie! Because, ability on the track is in direct relation with being able to announce a track race- and it was pursuits for goodness sake. Splinter rescued us from sheer ear boredom from Friday evening and Dave came Saturday.

So, about the racing. Friday afternoon, I was camp helper. Chuck did a pursuit and did well, only 2 seconds off his best (and only other) time. With the wind, other riders experienced 2-5 second losses as well.

Friday evening, I won my first Keiren round. Our heat only had 4 riders and 2 went through to finals- Annette and myself. The final ride didn't pan out as well. I made a few mistakes and finished 5th.

Saturday morning, the wind guaranteed no track records. My 200 meter time was 13.15- a northwest P.R. for me, but I really wanted to drop under 13. Luckily, this time was good enough to seed 2nd behind Jennie's 12.6 (?). The 500 m. was another story. The word on the street/ infield is that whatever you ride at Alpenrose, to gear up 2" for this track. I stayed with my 94" for the 200m. , due to the wind and chill. By later in the morning, the wind had died a bit and it was a little warmer. I decided to gear up for my 500m. When I called Brian I said, "I'll try this gear. If it's too hard, I'll know for next time and if it's just right I should go fast." The 94" was too hard. I think I would have been easily under 40 seconds in a lower gear. 40.01 placed me 4th of 15, by 0.2 seconds. Miranda threw down a 39.2 to win. The top 3 qualify for nationals. A 500m. on this track is a lap and a quarter. Donna made the point later that this puts you in a head wind twice and tail wind only once. So, I needed a little longer to get over this than the keiren.

Thanks Amara for the photos below. www.wheelsinfocus.com

On to the sprints- my game. Sprints on this track are 2 laps. My first sprint was against Kele Murdin. She's super strong on the road, so has endurance. I fully expected the long run. I told Mike, my holder, to throw me the heck out there, so I'd be ready for the long run. But she was willing to play match sprint. It was a good race. I jumped out of turn 2 and held off for the win. My second ride was against Jen Tripplet. So, getting to know her in the last year, I've shared a lot with Jen about my racing, including some secret strategies. I really have to quit that. When we rolled off the line, she busted out the almost-track-stand, knowing that I couldn't. How did she know? I told her. Luckily for me, the official told her to speed up. I guess you have to ride a steady pace until the back side pursuit line. On the Alpenrose track, you have to roll out at least 12 mph to avoid owies. Jen rode me similar to Kele. I kept her on my outside and matched her pace, until my attack. With a bit more of a jump, Jen was able to ride my wheel the last 200m. But I was able to cross the line first, although it was close.


My final sprint that evening was against Jennie. In the 3 other times, I been in tournaments with her, I've seeded 2nd to her, but haven't raced against her. I think I did a good job overall with my tools. She's just hecka fast and has a bigger tool box. In our first ride, I protected my space as best I could. I was never controlled by her. In the final lap, she jumped out of turn 2- over me from the outside. I bridged up to her wheel and began to come around. She rode just as fast as she had to. I'd get to about her bottom bracket and she surged a little. I dug, she surged, I dug, she surged, I dug, she won. Ride 2 was pretty similar, but her attack was on the inside this time. Why didn't I attack? I don't know- I guess I was into the whole "try-what-didn't-work-last-time-and-see-if-it-works-this-time." Funny, how that rarely works out.

So, I qualified for nationals and make a couple bucks. Here's a bulleted version of the rest of the evening.
1. Pulled 3rd or 4th from miss-n-out. I have to quit thinking that I'm going to squeeze between two girls in lanes 2 and 3.
2. Was dropped (yes dropped) from the scratch race- missed a wheel- looked back- no more wheels. I hung in, hoping one of those road riders would take a flyer, catch me and pull me to group? No such luck. I quit with about 4 laps to go, when the group caught me.
3. Packed up in about 6 minutes and began the 3 hour drive home- at 9:30.

Oregon State Track Chamionships

Let's start with the weather. HOLY SOUTH FLORIDA! On Friday night we had the 500m. It was HOT out and the air was heavy. All things considered, I was happy with the 40.4 time I had, beginning my collection of gold medals.

Saturday was the pursuit. I joked with Brian about doing it, secretly hoping that he'd say no. So I did it in a 86" gear. This turned out to be a good thing because I had almost perfect lap times. So what that the time was around 25 seconds. Ha ha ha! My time was 4:30, which is about 6 seconds off my best time, but it's no big deal.

Sunday began not super duper hot. I was excited because the boys were posting some good 200m. times. I was hoping to get under 13 seconds. I did a few things in my approach that affected my 13.2 time that I can fix, but I'm basically done "performing on the Alpenrose track for this year. This is a P.R. for me. (starting to get hot) There were only 3 women (Miranda, Andrea, and I) sprinting today. I played smart and controlled my 2 races to win gold. (it's hot out)The keiren had 4 women, including the 3 sprinters and Kayla. (HOLY HOTTNESS!) I rode second behind the motor and Miranda. It was a fairly uneventful ride and I finished my gold streak.

Deano won his keiren and Caset got 3rd. RIGHT ON BOYS! Chuck won the kilo and pursuit in his category. He won by A LOT, so he's obviously motivaed to actually practice these events. SWEET JOB, BABE.

Alpenrose Challenge
Session #5-6
July 9, 2006



The morning began with the 200m. TT for seeding into the sprint tournament. My time of 13.34 seconds was acceptable, since it's my faster clocked time. Last year I had a 13.38. I didn't take the best line off the bank. This placed me second behind Becky's 13.2ish. The first round sprint was against Kele Murdin, a very esteemed road rider. I won this round and hung out to see who would repacharge through. My next victory sprint was against Andrea Fisk. I was going to be in the semi finals and at least in 4th place.

The afternoon began with the semi- final ride. I was matched with Auna- Brit. I was stoked to ride against another sprinter- one that wanted to play the game. I felt in control in teh first two laps. Coming around for our last lap, I purposely stayed out of the sprinters lane, which allowed me to move up to prevent a come around. This time however (unlike my race is C-Springs) I kept a close watch on the inside. When my opponent disappeared from site, I hooked up coming out of turn 4. I dug and dug to the finish- about a half wheel ahead! YEY!

"We have an announcement from the officials. Heather has been relegated for dangerous riding. The win will go to Auna-Brit." HUH? What followed was a little stress, a talk with the chief official, the thought of protest, the reading of the rules, and finally cooling off and accepting his judgement that I had made a sudden movement of more than the allowed 90 cm. with my hook.

Okie dokie- so I would be sprinting against Annette Hansen for 3rd. This time I rode a similar race, I stayed right on the red line and took the lane going into turn 3. There would be no calls against me, since now I was stuck in the lane. I won this ride, earning 3rd place overall.

At this point I was in contention for 2nd place in the omnium. I was originally going to ride the scratch race to pick up a few dollars in lap points. But Norenne pointed out that if we could finish me in front of Annette and Auna-Brit, I should finish 2nd overall. All I had to do was follow her around the track for 30 laps.

In the process, I picked up some dollars in lap points. Kele attacked us and eventually took a lap, so she would be the winner unless someone else went, which they didn't. With 6 or so laps to go, one rider went down. I was heading right for her, visualizing how I would fly myself. Luckily for both of us, she kept sliding further off the track, and I only barely clipped her helmet as I went by. Race still on, I continued behind my leader. Like we had rehearsed it, Norrene pulled up in turn two and I drove on, with Becky on my bum. She had to like the nice lead out as well, and overtook me easily I'm sure. I finished 3rd in the race, earning 2nd overall in the omnium. Norenne got the cash for the win, since essentially she won the race for me and I was happy with the omnium prize!

But wait, there's more! The flying lap was only about 30 minutes away. I rounded up a disc wheel from Donna, threw on Chuck's new swanky TT helmet and rolled out. With the cheers of my friends and teammates and the clickers in the crowd, I was ramped up enough to pull out a 18.22, which was a PR (over last year's 18.57) for me and a win.

I have never had so much fun and success at one event. I feel more confident in my skills and speed, less afraid of bumping and tight quarters. Granted, we were missing Jennie and Erin, but the supportive cheers on my home track provide memories and movitation to keep training and driving hard for the qualifier in Seattle in 3 weeks and Nationals in October. It's still a long road, ehr, track. Thanks everyone for your encouragement, cheers, compliments, and anecdotes. I picked up a lot of philosophy and various opinions, especially Sunday! This is much food for thought and tools in my bag.

Racer and announcer, Dave Campbell produced a nice write up for the Fixed Gear Fever website:
http://www.fixedgearfever.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=408&mode=&order=0&thold=0