Day Seven: Team Sprint

Thursday October 18

Today was Team Sprint day and Scratch races in the evening. We all did the Team Sprint and Randy is doing that and the Scratch race. I had high hopes for the Team sprint but underestimated the quality of the field. Mark started with a very fast 20.3 lap, which was faster than last year. I followed with a 15.0 lap and that wasn't quite as fast as last year. It was .3 of a second slower. Steven Hill then blasted a 14.4 lap and had to pass the other Team. Our time of 49.8 was .004 from making the final. I really believe we would have made it if Steve hadn't had to pass. That was very disappointing. The Australian Team beat the Brits in the final for Gold.

Mike and Randy rode with Victor Copeland in their heat. Vic started well and Mike followed with a 15.3 lap and Randy finished strong with a 15.4. Their 52.006 was a very good time. I am not sure where that placed them though.

Tonight Randy is riding the scratch race. I'll have that report for you tomorrow. It may be late however as we all are sprinting all day tomorrow and all day Saturday. My 200 qualifier and first round is in the morning. Mark, Mike and Randy have their 200s and first round in the afternoon and we all come back for the 1/8 round in the evening. Saturday then is quarterfinal, semifinals and finals -- all best of 3. So a long two days of sprinting is ahead of us. I'll let you know how things are going as soon as I can.

Day Six: Randy wins Silver!!

Wednesday October 17

Wednesday had Randy doing his first race which was the 3K Pursuit. Randy's plan was to go out strong and try to hold 17.7 splits, hopefully getting him a 3:40. He was in the second to last heat in his age group and by the time he was up the top time was a 3:50. He went out fast as he wanted and was able to stick pretty close to his schedule. He ended up with a 3:41, which ended up be the second fasted qualifier and put him in the Gold/Silver final ride in the evening.

In the final Randy rode a great pursuit, but came up just a bit short. He finished with his first Worlds Medal taking the Silver!!!!! Randy is looking good for the rest of his races. Attached is a picture of Randy warming up on the track and of Mark outside doing his Team Sprint openers.

Tomorrow is Randy's Scratch race and all four of us will be doing the Team Sprint.

Day Five: Testing The Legs

Tuesday October 16th

Today (Tuesday) was the first day of racing. I had my 500TT and Mike Paulin had his 750TT. Mark and Randy decided to pass on the TT's to be better prepared for their later races. This was my first 500 of the year as I hadn't been able to do many standing starts with my back issues. It showed as my first half lap time was well under past races and I finised in 7th place. Dave LeGrys just keeps getting faster as he set a World record with a 34.1 beating Roy Simonson's record that had held for 5 years! Roy, time to come back and get that record again! My time of 36.4 was disappointing but not unexpected. I am hopeful for a better placing on Thursday in the Team Sprint with Mark and Steve Hill.

Next up was Mike Paulin in his 750M TT. He had a good start and a very good second lap. He hung in well on his third lap finishing with a very respectable 54.563 and 16th place out of 45 riders from all over the globe. Not a bad start to his first international race.

Day Four: Stuff Starts To Sort Out

Saturday October 13 2007

Without bikes and gear we all were still able to get our openers and workout in by sharing bike and gear. Mike rode Randy's bike and used my pedals and shoes. Mark rode my bike and fortunately had his pedals and shoes in his carry-on. All the time there were many hours of phone calls to the airlines and their gear was found arrived on Monday eve, just in time for Tuesdays racing.

Hopes are high for a trouble free week of top level, world class racing.

Day Three: Mark and Mike Join The Fun

Friday October 12 2007

Before you award me the traveling horror story of the year award, you'll have to wait and give that to Mark and Mike. They were supposed to arrive Saturday morning but didn't. Their flight to San Francisco was late and they missed their connection. So they spent the night, and in the morning were informed that they would be on stand-by for the next days flight to Sydney. That wasn't an option, so they were offered flights through Vancover, Shanghei, Bankok, Honalulu or Hong Kong. They took the flight through LA, then Honalulu and arrived on Sunday morning....without both of their bikes and Mark had no luggage either. Randy arrived at the same time and they were all able to share a cab ride from the airport to the room. After their arrival we went over to the Track.

Walking into Dunc Grey Velodrome for the first time is an experience I can't really fully describe. The indoor 250 wood track is just beautiful and stunning. What an incredible facility. Ask Mike what it felt like to see it for the first time...breathtaking!

Sunday evening we all took a cab to downtown Sydney and walked around the Opera House and the surrounding area. I had been here in 2002 when I came out for the World Masters Games. It was nice to see it again. We had dinner a few blocks away and headed back to our rooms. Randy and Mark were nodding off in the cab and I kept Mike awake with my yakking. Soon we were back and hitting the sack.

I have attached a picture of Mike sitting in the front of a cab driving without a steering wheel, he is really good at it! Also a picture at the Opera House.

Day Two: Just Dealing With It

Thursday October 11 2007

Without a bike I was able to rent one at the Track and get in a good workout. I met old friends and later scouted out the local eateries. I staked out a spot on the infield with Pat Gellenau and Steven Hill. It was strange seeing all the old faces in a place on the other side of the World. I said hello and caught up with Steven Cronshaw, Dave LeGrys and Ivor Reid from England. There was Dominique Sioul from France, and all the Aussie friends that we have made over the years. Mike Goldie, Michele and Darren King, Dave Willmot, Jeff Stoker, Rob Upton, and many other Aussie friends. Every year it's like a big family reunion!

The US contingent took over one corner of the infield and soon were sharing tools, pumps, and anything else someone may have forgotten to pack. There was Vic Copeland, Scott Kasin, Aron Seiker, Delroy Walters, Reid Schwartz, Jim Host, Brent Emery, Ann Marie Love, Billy Thompsen, Steve Hill, Mike Gladu, Terry Roach, Cindy Goodman, Matt Diefenbach and many other US friends. Worlds is an experience like no other!

Day One: Travel Day

Wednesday October 10 2007

First of all I want to apologize for not getting these reports out in a more timely manner. But if you need excuses...I have a million of them! First of all we have had absolutely no internet access and we tried to get some..... lord knows we tried. Everything from the room offering dial-up which turned to mean you could use the phone line, to trying to get wireless access at the track, to even walking around downtown Sydney and sitting outside Starbucks trying to hook up with their network. So I now have access and am sending the first report.

I took off from DIA on Wednesday evening and flew to LAX. It was an easy flight and on time. The same was true of the flight from LAX to Sydney. I was at ease after seeing them load my bike and luggage on the plane. What could go wrong now?

The flight was good and I slept 8 good hours. Upon landing I collected my luggage and little did I know that thing were going to change. I could give you all the details and bore you so I give you the lowlights. No bike arrived, and after being sent back and forth it was discovered that it never came off the plane. Well 2 days and 30 phone calls later (no exaggeration) and getting Janet to make many, many calls from the US where she was able to "gitter-done" , my bike and gear was found and delivered. Thanks Janet!!

Those airlines don't know who they're dealing with....

Sunday October 14 2007

Rich still hasn't been able to find a good Internet connection, but he will be preparing daily reports that he can send to us later.

It is about 7:45 on Monday morning in Sydney. An easy way to convert our time to Aussie time is to subtract 8 hours from our time and add one day.

Rich said the first few days in Australia have been kind of tough. His bike was lost for two days, he has it now. Mark and Mike missed a connection on their flight to Sydney and were re-routed. They arrived okay, but were informed upon their arrival that their bikes were still in LA. (Racing starts tomorrow.) Rich loaned his bike to Mark for workout, Randy loaned his to Mike. But, as we all know, riding some one else's bike just isn't the same as riding your own. Hopefully the bikes will arrive in time for Mark and Mike to get in some riding on their own bikes before the competition starts. I guess lost/delayed gear happens to almost everyone one if they do enough international competitions, but I'm sure I'd be super stressed out if I were in their shoes. Hopefully they are taking it better than I would. :-)

Jim

PS - Rich said that Pete Floyd had an accident at the track yesterday and thinks he likely broke his collar bone. Bummer.

coming soon...

Thursday Oct 11 2007

The Hämmer riders (Randy McLain, Mike Paulin, Mark Pelletier, Rich Voss and Wil Zegers) have arrived in Sydney, but are experiencing technical difficulties in sending updates. They should get them sorted out soon.

In the meantime, here are the schedule and results.