It was quite the busy weekend of racing at the recent national championships and it seems the week following has been a lot of rest and relaxation after a really long season. There has also been some school work that I have been trying to get caught up on over the past week and a half that had been lingering from all the time I have taken off of school to get ready for nationals. Maybe that's why it has taken me so long to get around to writing about this blog. I guess I should just stop making excuses and finally tell you about all the great racing from the past weekend.
The Team Sprint qualifier was first up for me on Friday morning. A lot of work over the winter had gone into preparing for this event so we were really hoping for a good result and we were fairly confident that we could win. Our goal heading into the race was to go sub 50 seconds which would give us the Canadian record so all that we had in our minds was to go as fast as possible, which is basically the whole point of the race. After a bit of a struggle getting into my toe straps, we needed to have a restart because I was late to the line. As soon as I got that out of my head and began to refocus, the clock started the countdown. With a clean start, we were off to the races...a strong first lap thanks to Lucas Taylor and we were already in the lead by half a second. We crossed the line in a total time of 49.495 seconds with a speed of 54.5 kph breaking the previous Canadian record by a full second. We were very happy with this ride but we were also very confident that we would be able to go faster in the finals later that afternoon. Going through the full warm-up for the finals, we were very excited to go fast once again and we were able to cross the line in a time of 49.268 seconds, breaking our own record by two tenths of a second! This wrapped up racing for day one and after podiums and receiving our jerseys, we were able to leave the track a little after 4pm which was quite unusual for us, but a nice treat none the less. Day 2 seemed to start just the same as the first.. ...early wake up, big breakfast and pack the cooler and kit bag for another day at the track...except there was a little more pressure on today since it was the sprint tournament. First up was the 200m TT which was the qualifier for the sprint tournament but also one of the main qualifiers for sprinters to go to junior world championships. This was all business for me so I had to be sure that my preparations were 200% spot on. After about a 2 hour warmup, I was sure that I was ready to go and it was almost time for my start. As Rob pushed me onto the track I quickly went over the task at hand in my head. The time standard for worlds is 10.998 seconds so I knew I needed to go under 11.0 seconds. I crossed the line in a time of 11.286 seconds which I was slightly unhappy with at the moment because I did not hit the time standard, but all in all it was a good time since it was a personal best by over a tenth of a second and it put me into third position, which is a great spot to be in heading into the sprint tournament. The 1/8 final was extremely easy because my opponent did not show to the start line so I got an automatic win and a place in the quarterfinal ride. For the quarterfinal ride my opponent did show and this was best 1 of 1 so it was either win and go on or lose and go home. I was up against teammate and friend Lucas Taylor so I did know many of his tactics and I was able to win the quarterfinal and advance to the semi-finals later that afternoon. After a nice lunch and visit with friends and family that had come out to watch, it was time to head back down to the infield to get ready for the next round. I was up against another teammate and friend who was Adam Lefebvre. The next two rides were very tough races but I was able to take the semi-final in two straight rides. Onto the gold medal final..... I knew that it was going to be nearly impossible to beat Stefan Ritter since he was nearly 0.6 seconds faster than me in qualifying earlier in the day, so ultimately I knew it was going to be me heading out there and trying to make it as interesting as possible and attempt to learn a few new tactics. In the first ride I tried to attack a little earlier than I was comfortable with and although I opened a gap very quickly, it was not enough to hold him off as he came around me with half a lap to go like a freight train and taking the first ride. The second ride was not nearly as interesting. Stefan basically caught me sleeping and he had already started to open a gap by the time I reacted to his attack, which ultimately gave him the second win and the Canadian title. After podiums it was off to get dinner and then off to bed for a good night's sleep to be well prepared for the kilo first thing Sunday morning. The one big goal I had heading into the kilometre time trial on Sunday morning was to better my time from provincials back in early March. The time I needed to beat was a 1:09 and after 4 solid laps on the track I was able to put down a final time of 1:07:834, beating my time from Provincials by nearly two seconds. I'm going to credit that to the huge block of training over March Break. :) After the lunch break it was time for the Keirin. This event is always a wildcard where anything can happen. This event didn't exactly go as planned for me as I was edged out at the line in the first round placing third and having to go to the repecharge instead of getting a direct spot in the semi-final. The repecharge was 4 riders and the top three advance. I was comfortably able to finish second and qualify for the semi-final. As I said, this race is always a wildcard..... it proved to be yet again as I made a bit of a tactical error in the semi-final and was again edged out at the line to finish fourth, placing me into the 7-12 final. By this point I was completely used up and I just wanted to go into the last race of the weekend and give it everything that I had even though it wasn't very much. I think I rode this entire race on adrenaline and it was enough to win the small final by about half a wheel length and placing 7th in the keirin event. Looking back at such a great weekend of racing, I really cannot thank all of the volunteers, commissaires, other race officials and organizers enough for putting on such a great event. Another huge thank you goes out to all the friends, family, teammates, coaches and mechanics that helped out and supported us all weekend long.....we wouldn't be able to do it without you! After a hugely successful #cantrackchamps, I am super happy to come away with a gold and silver medals as well as a new Canadian Record! Cant wait for next year! (Check out pictures section for some great shots of the weekend of racing) Cheers, Nick
T.Ans
4/16/2016 10:00:56 am
Love the blog, Nick. Thank you for sharing your experience.
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