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Hopping The Pond

Day 11- September 17th, 2006

We woke up early and were on our way to the airport with time to spare. Good thing too as our usual easy check-in at the Manchester airport was anything but! The lines were long and they were weighing the bikes to make sure they were under 70 pounds. Anything over and they couldn't be shipped! I was a couple pounds over and had to open up my bike box and transfer a couple items to my luggage. Wil wasn't so lucky. He had already sent on his luggage and his bike was 16 pounds too heavy. So they found him a cardboard box and he had to transfer his stuff to the box and then pay for an exta piece of luggage. Then the security lines were incredibly long. We did make our flight on time but barely. What started to be a 3 hour time buffer turned out to be necessary. All said and done it was great to be on the plane.

I am now on the east coast spending a couple more days with my wife. My bike didn't arrive with me so I am sweating out waiting for it. An easy couple days here and I will return to Colorado on Wednesday and start getting back to it and prepare for Elite Nats in a couple weeks. I will be going to race with Cari and Randy. I am looking forward to doing Team Sprint with Randy and watching both Cari and Randy do very well there.

See you all soon! Thanks for sharing the journey with me this year.

Team Sprint

Day 10- September 16, 2006

The day had arrived! We had been talking about this day since our ride at Masters Nats. The buzz around the velodrome here in Manchester this week was the four top Teams were:

Everyone felt good in the morning. My legs had recovered quite nicely from my sprint on two days ago and we were focused and ready. We all got in a very good warmup and were able to time it nicely as the team sprint was first on the schedule for the day.

We had the home straight and set up ready to go. The gun went off and Mark took off well and set the fastest start lap of the day. My lap went well and so did Wil's. We had the top time with all the heavy hitters still to go. One by one our time of 50.2 held up until the last heat where the Brits got us by .3 seconds. We were ecstatic as we were in the ride for gold in the evening session! We felt we could make up that time too. My second lap and Wil's third lap were the fastest of the morning.

We hung around the track for the rest of the session, had lunch in the cafeteria and just relaxed. The evening session started at 6pm and again we were the first race on the schedule. Another good warmup and we were ready to go. This time we were on the back straight. We lined up very focused and determined to make it happen. A gold medal was ours if we could just go a little faster. Well, we went a little faster but not enough. We finished .25 behind the British Team of Steve Cronshaw, Ivor Reid and Dave Robson. Though disappointed to not come home with a World Championship, it was awesome to stand on the podium with Mark and Wil with the Silver Medal.

George Hertner did the Murrati Cup. It is a very prestigious scratch that they have held for many, many years. 50 or more? [since 1899 -- ed.] Anyway George rode strong and finish 3rd!! That was just awesome! It made his trip worthwhile.

We spent the rest of the evening packing up and saying goodbye to old friends. Some perhaps for the last time as many will not be making the trek to Sydney Australia next year.

After arriving back at our rooms we cleaned up and just hung out in the lounge drinking beer with the Australian Team and talking about the week of racing and the racing to come next year in their "hood". It sounds like the event next year will not be one to miss. Start making plans now!!

News Flash #2!

September 16, 2006

I have very little time and have to start packing so a short news flash until I get back to the states. A full report tomorrow or Monday.

We went faster during our final ride but still didn't make up the difference and we took Silver. We lost by .25 seconds. It is so bittersweet. It was Marks first Worlds medal so that was awesome standing on the podium with Mark and Wil. Yet having a World Championship so close and not get it was dissapointing.

There is a going away party tonight as this is the last year in Manchester. We are going to say good bye to a lot of friends I have made over the years. That will be hard.

More details tomorrow or Monday.

News Flash!

September 16, 2006

Our Team Sprint qualified 2nd and we are in the Gold medal ride tonight.

The top 4 Teams:

Chillin' part 2

Day 9 - September 15, 2006

Today was a get up and go to the Track to spin the sprints out of my legs day. Mark and Wil did some efforts to get ready for the Team Sprint. I spun on the rollers. Other than that we just chilled all day.

George Hertner had his points race qualifier in the morning so we hung out with him. Good thing we were there, as he was taken down about halfway into his race and wrecked his tri-spoke. I pulled mine off my bike, threw it on his bike and off he went. George did qualify for the final in the evening. After the race we looked George over to make sure he wasn't hurt too badly. Lots of road rash and a chain mark across his back was all we could find. He did find his broken collarbone appeared to have more breaks in it than before! He says he is supposed to have shoulder surgery in two weeks and wanted the doctor to earn his $$ so he is giving him more work to do. George is one tough guy!

We went to the Bandstand for dinner. This is one of our traditional places to eat when we are in Manchester. The food was good and the prices are right! Buy one meal, get one free. That works for me.

In the evening George did the points race final and finished 14th, I believe, and in one piece! George looked real good and very strong during the 120 lap race.

Team Sprint tomorrow!!

Sprints!

Day 8 - September 14, 2006

Mark and I got up and had breakfast early today with a goal of being at the Track by 8am. It was a very rainy day today and we got soaked just going from the hotel to the cab. My warmup went perfectly and I felt pretty good, not great but very good. I was the second to last to go in my age group so I knew what I needed to do. Gordon Singleton had an awesome ride showing why he was an elite world gold medalist when he was younger, blasting out an 11.3something. Steve Cronshaw and Mark Zaschke both went 11.9something. I had a great windup and finished with an 11.587 which was my personal best ever in Manchester and the 2nd seed. I was quite happy with that!

The first heat was a 3-up againt two Brits. That went pretty easily and I got to sit down for a couple hours waiting for the repechage rounds.

The second round was against Bart Nels from South African and Tim Montagne from San Jose, California. I was boxed in with a lap to go and Tim move up track just enough to let me through and I took that heat to finish out the morning and get ready for the semi-finals in the evening session.

The semis had me go against Tim Montagne again as he made it through his second repechage round and it was a good sprint. I did take him at the line sending me into the finals!

Gordon Singleton of course made it through all his rounds and so did Steve Cronshaw setting up one awesome final!

Gordon led out the final and I went underneath him on the backstraight to take the front which was my plan. Steve Cronshaw (who took silver in the 500 on Monday) took a flyer from high on the banking with 2 laps to go. I shut the door, but Steve was carrying too much speed and went underneath me. Before Gordon and I could blink he had over 10 bike lengths on us. I chased with Gordon right on my wheel and caught him going into turn 3 after chasing for overy a lap and a half. I went around Steven and Gordon went around me. Gordon won, I took silver and Steven took the bronze. I was quite an exciting race!

In addition to some of the best sprinting I have been in, it was so great hanging out with a legend like Gordon Singleton and racing with him. He is truely a class act all the way. This was for me one of the most memorable Worlds sprint I have been in. Thanks to Gordon Singleton!!

Another highlight of the day for me was when Gordon took me over during the break to meet Chris Hoy. He is one big guy! He impressed me very much as being quite approachable and humble. He took a couple minutes out of his workout to chat with us.

George Hertner from the Excel Team arrived today. He will be points racing tomorrow and we will be here cheering for him. Great to see a familiar face from Colorado way out here.

Chillin'

Day 7 - September 13, 2006

This will be a short report as not much happened today. It was a day off for all of us. Wil and his cousin took a trip to Liverpool and did the Beatles tour. I got up early and went to the Track to get on it and do my openers for my Sprints tomorrow. Mark slept in and got some well deserved rest.

Mark showed up at the Track later in the morning and we just hung out, chilled and watched the races. At the start of the evening session Vic, Karen and Kirsten Williams arrived and we watched the points races with them. It was great to see them and see Vic doing so well!

Mark and I headed back to our rooms early so I could get to bed and hopefully get a good night sleep. Sprint are tomorrow!!

News Flash-

It is between sessions and I am in the semi-finals. I qualified 2nd behind Gordon Singleton with an 11.587 my best ever 200 in Manchester!! Gordon went 11.3-- He is way fast!!

Rich

Mark and Wil Sprint

Day 6- September 12, 2006

It was a long day yesterday. With all my hedgehog (gopher) chores I didn't have time to sit down and write the day's report. So it is actually 2:30am (Denver time) on Wednesday, September 13th. I am at the track, where I have done my openers for my sprints tomorrow. So here are my recollections from yesterday.

We all got to the Track around 8:30am and set up for the day. Wil got on the track for his warmup and Mark chose not to do battle with the masses and warmed up on the rollers. Mark had slept only a couple hours the night before and wasn't feeling too chipper. Mark's age group went first. Mark had a good windup and ended up with a 6th place seeding with a time of 11.944. Not a bad seeding looking at who finished ahead of him!

Next went Wil's age group. Holy cow! These guys were fast too! Wil was feeling pretty good as he had gotten a decent night's sleep. He really looked good in his 200 and ended up with a 4th place seed with a time of 11.304. Just to show how fast these guy were, Stephen Hill, who had clocked a 10.5 just a few weeks ago at Masters Nationals, was seeded 2nd. The top 6 were:

In the first round Mark took a flyer just a bit early and got nipped at the line by Keith Williams. Wil won his heat easily.

In Mark's repechage round, he race brilliantly coming around his opponent for the win.

In round two, Mark had Al Whaley and Al beat him. Wil won his heat easily again.

Mark had a 4-up repechage and finished second in that to Ivor Reid and was done for the day.

After the afternoon break, the racing started at 7pm and Wil had a 3rd round. He had so many in his age group they had to add an extra round of racing. This is the first time I have ever seen that! Wil again won that heat easily sending him to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals Wil came up against Shigekazu Maruyama, a Japanese Pro rider. The 200 time that Shigekazu rode was obviously slow for him as his racing showed. He was the defending World Champion too. Wil rode him well, but Shigekazu just had too much speed and sent Wil to the minor final for 4-6th place. In that final Wil rode a tactically brilliant race and won, giving him 4th place for the day.

We got back to our rooms too late for dinner as the stop serving at 9:45pm. So we ordered out for pizza. We sat in the lounge eating pizza and drinking Worthington's and talked about the days racing. A nice way to end a good day at the track!

Racing Starts!

Day 5- September 11, 2006

Well, it's showtime! This is why we are made the trek to Manchester. Today Wil and I have our time trials. We met in the hotel restaurant for breakfast and discuss our schedule for the day. Pete Floyd joined us and joined our taxi for a ride to the track.

Wil and I got on the track at noon and the warmup felt very good. Then the long, long, long wait until our races. 3 hours later my age group came up. I was in heat two and had assumed I would be later in the age group. You know what happens when you assume, yes I did and had a total warmup on the rollers of 15 minutes before I got on the track for my 500 meter time trial. No excuses though as I knocked out a respectable 35.468. Scott Butler went during my heat as they were 2-ups and did a 35.288. Already I was in 2nd place. That 2nd place held through all 14 heats until the final heat of the age group. Here I was bumped to 4th place. I did come out ahead of Mark Zaschke and Gordon Singleton so you can see how deep and competitive the age group was! (Sorry John, I had hoped to at least get on the podium today).

Wil had another hour and a half until his 750 meter time trial. He had 50 riders in his age group and they were flying. Wil had the final heat of the age group and looking like a rocket took the Silver Medal with a very fast 50.27 time. Woohoo! Hammer's first medal of the week.

Tomorrow I get the day off and will be domestique/hedgehog ( or is it a gopher or raccoon) for Wil and Mark as they have their Sprints.

Steak and Ale Pie or Cheeseburgers?

Day 4- September 10, 2006

We woke up a little late today around 9am. Mark and I went up to Wil's room at 10 to get him for breakfast. He was sound asleep and wasn't ready to wake up. He didn't sleep at all last night and had just fallen asleep. Poor guy! He still got up and joined us for breakfast. We had a pretty big breakfast and then headed to the track for our training session.

It felt so much better on the bike for me today than yesterday. That helped my head and gave me some confidence for the racing which starts tomorrow. Wil really looked strong and said he felt very good. I did a couple standing starts and they felt good too. Mark did some standing start one lap efforts to pick out a gear to use in the Team Sprint next Saturday. He settled on the one we thought would work best.

Today more friends arrived. Reid Schwartz, Mark Zasche, Geoff Cooke and Stan Gregg arrived. It's great to see everyone!

By the way, I mistakenly told you that Jaqui Lockwood broke the hour record yesterday. I was given wrong information. Turns out she didn't quite get it.

After the workout we headed back to our rooms to clean up and have dinner. For dinner we ordered Steak and Ale pie for Wil and I, while Mark had a cheeseburger. Now you all know what sprinters eat! The secret to speed is Steak and Ale pie OR Cheeseburgers.

We sat up quite late talking to the Aussies and reminiscing about past track races over a pint of Worthingtons. Ahhh, it doesn't get any better than this. (Except perhaps sitting at dinner with my wife discussing what color to paint the living room). :-)

Tomorrow Wil goes in his 750 meter Time Trial and I go in the 500 meter Time Trial. I think we are ready to go. Wish us luck!

What kind of hotel is this?

Day Three- September 9, 2006

Good morning! After almost 13 hours of good solid sleep, I woke up on this fine Saturday morning. It was time to wake up the Big Guy and get over to the track to meet Mark Pelletier who was arriving this morning. Wil was shocked when I told him it was almost 9am! He had slept like a baby. A quick breakfast and off to the track we went. Mark arrived just before 10am looking like we did yesterday morning. That's not saying much. After getting Mark set up we got on the track for a short training session. Mark and I just spun around for a while and Wil did a couple standing starts. I timed him for a lap and his speed was very good! The times were very good too. Old friends started arriving. We said hello to Scott Butler and his group from T-Town, We had a nice long talk and shared a taxi ride with Gordon Singleton. We saw Annette Hanson and Kenny Williams. Dominique Sioul is here as well as Pat Gellineau, Delroy Walters, Jaqui Lockwood, Steven Hill, and Gerard Robert.

After our workout we were off to Piccadilly Gardens to buy a calling card and get some lunch. It was a nice warm sunny day in Manchester today. This is a kind of day we haven't experienced many times in Manchester. After lunch we headed back to the track to watch an attempt at the hour record. Jaqui Lockwood was attempting the Women's 40-44 hour record. We had to leave before she finished, but I heard later that she broke it! We left to go back to was our hotel for dinner.

Back at our room we found our room hasn't been made. I went to call home and...that's interesting, no phone in the room. So I went to the front desk and was told there are no phones it the rooms. There was no phone in the lobby. The desk phone is only allowed to be used for emergencies. There no phone at the gas station next door. We ordered dinner and were told the cook wasn't in yet. We ordered a beer and were told the tap wasn't working and had to have bottled beer. When the cook came in we ordered the roast chicken. Of course they had no more mashed potatoes as they were out of everything except for "chips". Of course if we wanted ketchup for the chips/fries we would have to go next door to the gas station and buy some for ourselves. This list goes on and on. We feel like we are in the twilight zone of hotels! We get a room with a bed and that's about it. No phone, no food, no service.... I think you get the picture.

Well, we will make the best of it. I told Mark and Wil, we will look back at this someday and laugh about it. In the meantime Mark passed out, literally. I still haven't been able to call home (the track pay phone is broken too) and I am writing this on Mark's laptop in the hope I can send it out pretty soon (oh yeah, the track online access is broken too).... Ah yes, someday we will look back and laugh about this. At least tomorrow is a new day. We have our team track time, hopefully a good workout and a dinner somewhere that actually has food!

No Cheesesteak

Day Two- September 8, 2006

My flight to Philly was uneventful. While waiting for my flight I heard some buzz going on and looked up and there was the Dad and his two sons from "Orange County Choppers" walking by on their way to their gate. Wow! They looked the same in person as on TV.

I met Wil at the Philadelphia airport gate with only a short time to board as he came in a little late, so no cheese-steak for us. I told Wil he would have to wait until the return flight. Wil accepted the raincheck and we boarded the plane. The flight to Manchester went well for me. I had an empty seat next to me and I pretty much slept the whole flight. Occasionally I would wake up to the sound near the front of the plane of a crying...no not crying, it was a SCREAMING, baby. It was that blood curdling scream that most children could only do for a short time. This child screamed for 6 of the 7 hours we were in the air. I thought to myself how lucky I was that I wasn't near the baby and how terrible that would be for whoever was there. Guess what? Wil was sitting right next to the screaming child and didn't sleep a wink. Poor guy!!

We landed and met up with Pete Floyd and headed for customs and then baggage claim. No issues here as everything had arrived. Al Whaley was there and wasn't so lucky. His bike and wheel-safe didn't arrive with him. We are hopeful for Al his stuff makes it in time for racing.

A short taxi ride to the track and we arrived at the Velodrome! I savored the moment as we entered hallowed ground. This would be the last time I experienced this as the event moves to Australia next year. We found our little piece of track space and set up camp. This would be our spot at the track for the next week. We unpacked our bikes and all our gear and set up the rollers that Wil brought along. After a half hour on the rollers Wil is done and I took my turn. Riding on the rollers after very little sleep and a lot of jet lag takes a lot of concentration, but by golly, we got it done!

Then it's another taxi ride to our rooms to check in. We are staying at the Manchester Sportcity Travelodge. This used to be known as the Comfort Friendly which we stayed at in years past. It is quite different now and newly remodeled. We checked in, cleaned up and had dinner. By 8:00pm we are hit the sack and passed out-- literally! I didn¡¦t know Wil could make his eyes go in separate directions like that. Turns out he didn't either. I guess that's what intense fatigue can do for you.

Cheesesteak Vigil

Thursday afternoon- Sept 7th, 2006

I am here on the east coast waiting to go to the airport for my trip across the pond. I came out last Sunday to visit my wife who is here for work. We had a very nice visit as I hadn't seen her for a couple weeks. I am planning on stopping here on my way back to Colorado to see her again for a couple days. While she was working I rented a bike and went to the gym to get in my workouts. They went very well and I am feeling well prepared for the coming week of racing.

I will be flying first to Philadelphia where I am meeting up with Wil Zegers. After buying him a promised Philly cheesesteak we will board the plane to Manchester. We take off at 8:30pm and will land in Manchester at 8:30am tomorrow morning. With the 5 hour time change from the east coast that puts the flight at 7 hours. Hopefully 4-5 of those will be asleep.

The plan is just like past years. We will land in Manchester, stand in line for customs, grab our baggage and then a taxi to the velodrome. The part that always worries me the most is making sure the bikes make it there and in one piece. Once I see my bike box and see that it is intact I always breathe easier. Once we get to the track the plan is to stake out our area and set up. We usually get on the rollers for a spin, then pack up and head to our rooms for a badly needed shower. This year we are staying at the Travelodge Sportcity. This used to be known as the "Comfort Friendly" which in past years was the host hotel. I have not stayed there for a couple years. Mark Pelletier will be arriving a day later and will meet up with us at the track on Saturday morning.

Time to head to the airport! I can taste that Philly cheesesteak already!!