It has been just under two weeks since the 2017 Junior Track National Championships wrapped up in Milton at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre. I am writing this blog a few days later than I would have hoped but I have been struggling to put such an incredible weekend into words and somehow get all of my thoughts and feelings to make sense on paper. It was an incredible weekend of racing, highlighted by winning my first individual national title in the Keirin and my third consecutive national title in the Team Sprint as well as a new Canadian Record in that event. Nationals has been the target of our program throughout the winter and to end on such a high note is more than I could have asked for.
Friday was an afternoon start and only a single session day, so my day started out with some quick dynamic movements to wake up my body before breakfast. First up for me was the Keirin that afternoon, for anyone that did not know, the Keirin format was recently changed from 8 laps down to 6 and the derny (pacing bike) pulls off at 3 laps to go rather than 2.5 laps to go. One other major change is that you are no longer allowed to fight for a position behind the derny, rather you must slot into the place that you draw at the beginning of the race. We pulled into the track a little before 1pm to get all set up and settled in before it was time to get things rolling for warmup, thankfully or wonderful coaching staff had everything ready to go for us and all we needed to do was get our bikes set up. At this point the excitement and nerves were quite high and I was eager to get underway with the first round of the Keirin. For the first round, I was in heat number 2 and pulled the number 2 starting position at the line. I was quite pleased with this since it meant I would be right near the front of the race. I was very confident in my abilities and knew that I could comfortably advance into the 1-6 final. As soon as the derny pulled off I was forced to the front and ended up riding all three laps on the front, I did win the heat and advance to the 1-6 final. This win was a huge confidence booster for myself since I had really been struggling with the tactics and confidence in my abilities over the past few races. We had about 2 hours between races so there was lots of time for recovery and to get ready for the final. I pulled the number 6 starting position for the 1-6 final so I knew exactly what I needed to do, I went to the line with the mindset of knowing I can win as long as my tactics were correct. I made my move as soon as the pace bike pulled off, coming from the back and going all the way over to the front, at two laps to go a Quebec rider came over and opened a gap which I was able to close in the final lap. I won the race by just over half a bike length, securing my first individual national title which was a huge honour. I was super happy with this result and was looking forward to taking the confidence from this win into the individual sprint tournament on Saturday. Saturday was quite the early start, we were at the track by 7am for a 9 o'clock start and I was quite tired to be completely honest, I did not sleep too well the night before and I'm guessing that it was most likely due to all the adrenaline from the Keirin win so I'm going to say the two cups of coffee before warmup were very much needed. My legs were feeling alright by the time warmup was finished but there was definitely some fatigue from the previous days racing. Skinsuit zipped, helmet on, straps tight, it was finally time to start the second day of racing. First up was the 200m TT which was qualifying for the individual sprint, I crossed the line in 10.925 seconds which put me into second place behind teammate and good friend Je'Land Sydney. We had about a 2 and a half hour break until the quarterfinal ride so we had lots of time to recover and get refueled before racing again. I was able to advance through the quarterfinal by a comfortable amount, we again had a long break to the second session and the semi finals. I was not too happy with my performance in the morning session, I felt like my 200m was slower than what I was capable of and I felt like I rode a sloppy race in the quarter finals and was not as alert as I should have been and that I did not execute as well as I know I am capable of, I knew this would need to change heading into the next rounds. In the semi finals I was feeling better, riding both races from the back and timing my acceleration just right so that I was able to come around in the final bend just as planned, I took the semi final win in two straight rides and advanced through to the gold medal final against Je'Land. It is always a tense atmosphere in our pit when the two of us race together, we often don't talk at all throughout the rounds, but I guess that is to be expected when a national title is on the line. Je'Land and I train together all the time so we both know each others strengths and weaknesses very well which I think is both a good and a bad thing. I knew that I again had to go to the start line with the mindset that I was going to win. Je'Land beat me in two straight rides to win the title, they were two very aggressive and fast races and we put on a show for sure, unfortunately I just didn't have the speed on the back end to come around in the end. Looking back on the races there were definitely some changes that I could make tacticly to have a better chance at the win next time. But ultimately it came down to the fact that Je'Land was the stronger and faster rider on the day and I am incredibly happy for him to take the win. A silver medal is nothing to complain about and even though very fatigued I knew that there was one more big at of racing to tackle with the Team Sprint and Kilo still to come. The final day of racing started out with a photoshoot of all the athletes representing Ontario in the team events. Again, a solid warmup was key to get us ready for the team sprint qualifying, We were the second heat to go and our goal was to break the Canadian record in qualifying and to get into the ride off for gold later in the day. In the qualifier, Lucas Taylor was the starter, Je'Land Sydney man 2 and I was man 3, we rode a time of 48.393 which broke the previous Canadian record by just under a second so we were for sure pretty pumped up about this. We beat the second place qualifying team by 2 seconds and were very confident heading into the gold medal final. In the final we switched out our starter to Justin Correa since Lucas had just finished a Team Pursuit ride and was a bit tired, the rest of the order was kept the same. After a bit of confusion at the start line we were finally give the countdown, we rode another very solid time of 48.175 seconds which bested our Canadian record that we had set in our qualifying ride. We were all very happy with this ride and super proud to have our names in the record books for a little while. Onto the kilo in the afternoon. By this point in the weekend I was absolutely exhausted and I wasn't sure how I was going to manage to ride this kilo since its 4 laps of absolute pain. My only motivation for this ride was that it was the last race of the weekend and another shot at a medal, and that we were getting burgers after! Kilos are not my favourite race on the track, nor am I the best at them, but I was determined to give it my all one last time to finish the weekend on a high note. My coach Joe told me in the starting gate that I needed to have the best start ever because there was no way I was going to build speed in the back half of the race. I did just that and oh man was he right because I quickly started to fade in the second half of the race and by now I was in so much pain that I was having a hard time seeing straight, kind of scary to think about! I crossed the line in a time of 1:08.073 which I far from my personal record but again was very pleased to have given it all I had and left everything out on the track! I finished in fourth place, narrowly missing the podium for the bronze medal by just one tenth of a second! Super close! This closed out a stellar weekend of racing! I could not be any happier with the way my final National Championships as a junior played out and I could not have asked for any more! Two national titles, a silver medal, and a Canadian record is incredible and I'm very pleased. A huge thank you goes out to my two incredible coaches Joseph Veloce and Samantha Eyles, there is no way I could do any of this without you guys behind me 100% , also thank you to all team staff for helping out and making sure everything ran super smooth. A big thank you as well to the Ontario Cycling Association and Michael Suraci for all their support over the last year and making sure we had all the support we needed to be the best athletes possible on race day! And a final thank you goes out to all friends and family who have supported over the years. This has been an incredible journey so far over the last 5 years and I cant wait to see what the future has in store! Onward! Cheers, Nick
Bob Schelstraete
4/15/2017 10:51:37 am
Great blog Nick!
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Rob Melnyk
4/15/2017 11:31:28 am
Congratulations again on your accomplishments over the weekend! In addition to riding/racing, you also write very well. I appreciate you sharing your experiences in this forum and hope you will continue to do so. Keep up the good work -- on and off the track!
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