Straight from Captain Pelletier to you!
It
was my honor to represent USA at the UCI Masters Track Cycling World
Championships this past week in Manchester England, my second
appearance at this event in three years. For 2014, 33 nations sent more
than 430 riders, many with coaches/handlers/souigneurs though I
traveled self-supported as usual.
I
had planned on competing in the individual timed events only, but was
recruited a week prior to the championships to join a US pursuit team in
need of a fourth man. It was a thrill to find out that my one-time
coach and good friend Kurt B had also joined the US squad.
Unfortunately, upon arrival in Manchester Friday morning I
was informed my bike had not been forwarded from London and would not
arrive until later that evening. With my Team Pursuit event scheduled
for the following afternoon, this was a major problem. The UCI assigned
me a driver to take me to the velodrome during the day to sign-on to
the championships and receive my accreditation and race numbers. I was
then driven back to the airport in the evening to retrieve my bike, then
to the velodrome once again to assemble it, and finally to my hotel for
a late night check-in and a quick sleep. It all got done.
Saturday morning I
was shuttled to the velodrome for an early training session, getting
some pre-race laps and dialing in my equipment with only a few hours of
sleep on the books. Manchester's velodrome is one of the premier
facilities in the world; a 250-meter board track with 42-degree banking
and an exceedingly smooth racing surface. I nearly slipped off the wall
in training, my tires just not sticky enough to maintain proper
adhesion at lower speeds, but I wouldn't be needing lower speeds once
the racing began as my events were all full-on efforts from the starting
gate to the finish line.
After
training I met up with the other US pursuit team members and we
discussed our plan for the event later that day (94.6" gear,
conservative start, 18-second laps, fanned-out finish). Team Pursuit is
a very technical race similar to a Team Time-Trial on the road; It is
as much choreographed dance as it is flat-out blast. Exchanges are
executed on the steep banking in tight formation at over 30mph,
brakeless. To throw together a team at the last minute, never ride
together, and show up at Worlds to race for the championship is rather
brazen (or foolish), but that's exactly what we did. And we rode well,
turning the 3000-meter distance more than 20 seconds faster than I'd
ever gone alone (3:39.938, 30.5mph, 49.0kph). In the end we were 5th
place, very satisfied with our performance and happy with what we had
achieved together.
That night I slept quite well.
On Sunday I returned to the venue to race the 3000-meter Individual Pursuit. I got an excellent warmup on the rollers and was literally dizzy with adrenaline as I got through bike-check, seeded
in the first heat against a Guatemalan rider. I decided to run a
slightly larger gear than normal (93.5"), given that my form was good
and I felt I could keep it turning. I made a fast start, settling into
lap-times exactly as planned with the help of an Australian coach that
I'd asked to shout splits and give visual cues to my pacing while I
orbited the stadium (these cues are known as "walking the line"; the
coach stands on the track's apron and moves forward or rearward of the
finish line to indicate lap-by-lap whether the rider needs to
increase/maintain/decrease speed in order to ride to the targeted
schedule). With more than a kilometer to go I had gained a half lap on
my opponent, overtaking him on the steepest part of the track and
leaving him behind. I ended up setting a personal-best time of 4:02.216
(27.71mph, 44.59kph); good enough for 18th place but still shy of the
4-minute goal that I had set for myself in training this year. After
the race I thanked the Aussie coach and gave him my first-edition Comp
Racing team cap in recognition of his generous help to me.
My
final event of the championships and my 2014 racing season was the
750-meter Time Trial on Monday. The TT is a short 3 laps, raced from a
gated start at maximum effort for its entirety. It's an unfamiliar
distance for me (in the US the TT is a full kilometer), though I'd raced
it once before in Europe. I ran a 93.5" gear against an opponent from
Great Britain, going really good for 2 laps but just dying on the 3rd.
I held on as best I could and was relieved to see my time on the
scoreboard, 57.539 (29.16mph, 46.92kph); my fastest time to-date by
more than 1/2 a second. I watched the remaining riders complete their
races, and ended up 20th, only 3/10 of a second behind the next two places.
With
that I was free to pack away the bike and enjoy the remainder of my
trip relaxing and supporting the other US team members and
internationals who I'd befriended in their remaining races, returning to
America two days later. 3 Top 20 finishes, 3 personal-best
times...satisfied.
I'd
like to extend a sincere thanks to my team, Comprehensive Racing, for
helping me return from injury and prepare for this year's racing
schedule. In addition I am thankful for the sponsors, friends, and
families that generously support our team. It's been a challenging and
rewarding 2014 season and I look forward to 2015 eagerly.
-Stephen Pelletier
Grand report Capt Pursuit! Great read.
ReplyDelete