Schedule

Events I'm doing are in bold.

2007 ELITE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

Wednesday, October 3 -- Noon
Men Standing 250m TT
Women Mass Start Test
Awards Men 250mTT
Men Mass Start Test
Women 500m TT
Men 1km TT Final
Awards 500m & 1km TT
Men Team Pursuit
Awards Men Team Pursuit

Thursday, October 4 Noon
Men Pursuit Qualification
Women Pursuit Qualification
Men Sprint Qualification - 200m
Women Keirin Heats
Men Sprint 1/8 Finals (12)
Women Keirin Rep
Men Sprint Rep
Women Keirin Round 2
Men Scratch Heats
Women Scratch Heats
Women Keirin Final
Men Sprint 1/4 Final #1
Awards Women Keirin
Men Sprint 1/4 Final #2
Men Pursuit Final
Women Pursuit Final
Men Sprint 1/4 Final #3
Awards Pursuits
Women Scratch Final
Men Scratch Final
Awards Scratch Races

Friday, October 5 2:00pm
Women Sprint Qualification - 200m
Men 60 lap Points Race Heats
Women 30 lap Points Race Heats
Men Sprint Semi #1
Women Sprint 1/4 Final #1
Men Sprint 5-8 Final
Men Sprint Semi #2
Women Sprint 1/4 Final #2
Men Sprint Semi #3
Women Sprint 1/4 Final #3
Women Points Race Final
Men Sprint Final #1
Women Sprint Semi Final #1
Awards Women Points
Men Sprint Final #2
Women Sprint Semi Final #2
Women Sprint 5-8 Final
Men Sprint Final #3
Women Sprint Semi Final #3
Men Points Race Final
Women Sprint Final #1
Awards Men Sprint
Women Sprint Final #2
Awards Men Points
Women Sprint Final #3
Awards Women Sprint

Saturday, October 6 2:00pm
Men Team Sprint Qualification
Women Team Sprint Qualification
Men Madison Heats
Men Team Sprint Final
Women Team Sprint Final
AWARDS Team Sprints
Men Keirin Heats
Women Team Pursuit
Men Keirin Rep
AWARDS Women Team Pursuit
Men Keirin Round 2
Men Madison Final
Men Keirin Final
AWARDS Keirin & Madison

Packed

The bike and extra wheels are going MSP to LAX on Tuesday with my wife and father; the clothes, tools, and rollers are going MSP-DCA-ORD-LAX over the next 72 hours with me.  I'm carrying on the critical minimum--an extra pair of pedals, my shoes and skinsuit.  Everything else could be scrounged or borrowed in a pinch, including the bike, so it's all being checked.

But I don't expect problems.  At the end of the day, the Kilo is the only Wednesday event that I care about, and it's on Wednesday late afternoon.  By then, I will have worked out whatever problems I may have encountered this week.

Last Hard Workout

There are plenty of logistical needles left for me to thread, but I've done my last hard workout before Nationals, packed up my bike, and I'm ready to fly home to Minnesota tomorrow first thing.

So, my last hard workout as it turned out was at night in the rain in Central Park.  That wouldn't be such a problem, but a sprint workout is hard to do like that.  I was spinning my rear wheel on the road, of course, and 40mph in the dark, in the rain, has little to commend it. 

A Manhattan-dwelling raccoon with places to go and people to see almost ended my season, but we narrowly missed each other.  I don't remember any raccoons in A Cricket In Times Square, but there should have been one.  They're all over Central Park.

This ride also ends my global training tour, which has seen me hauling my bike to Australia, Canada, New York, etc., in the last month alone.  It's a stressful way to train.  The road bike stayed here in NYC over the last week.  I was able to ride a stationary bike in San Jose on Wednesday, then fly overnight to NYC where the bike awaited.  I haven't missed a day of training almost all season.

I felt really good tonight--track racing is a power sport, and I felt like I was going to rip the handlebars off the bike tonight.  I'm ready.  To prove it, my only current injuries are some nasty calluses on my hands, and a nagging ache in my right elbow.

13 Stone, 11 Oz.

So, I got on the scale tonight here at the Inter-Continental Barclay; I haven’t weighed myself in ages.  I’d given up on caring—finding it so hard to lose weight past about 190.  Last year for the marathon, I was hoping to be 180.  I was about 190.  20 mile runs just didn’t make any difference.

So, the scale says I’m 13 stone, 11 oz.  Then I found the little switch on the bottom to convert to kg or lbs.  I’m 197 pounds.

I’m really happy with where I’m at physically; my body fat % is likely at its lowest point since high school.  It’s just that the power training and workouts build muscle, and that’s what I’ve got.  I have about 7 pounds more of it than I had thought.  That’s half a bike—but it’s all good.  So I’ll be 197 pounds for Nationals.  I’ll be 205 by Christmas.

dgc

Dan Currell, Elite Nat's Bio

Sent to the announcer at Track Nat’s—he asked all the riders to submit the information below—

dgc

-----Original Message-----
From: Currell, Daniel
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 6:03 PM
To: 'beckbird@clearwire.net'
Subject: Dan Currell, Elite Nat's Bio

John,

Hey, thanks for the email.  Here’s my bio stuff—

dgc

Name                    Dan Currell

Nickname                no nickname for me—but see the note below on my two teammates’ nicknames; not to be missed!

Age                     35

Family                  Wife Sara (she’ll be at Nat’s), daughter Annika (5) and son Tollef (3).  They’ll be at home with grandma.  My dad will be at Nat’s too—Bob Currell.  He hauled me around to a lot of junior racing back in the day.

Team/Sponsors   Bianchi-Grand Performance

Original hometown       St. Charles, IL.  Grew up racing in Illinois.  Raced Junior Nationals in 1988 in Reading/Allentown/T-Town.  Then I went to law school and got fat.

Where you live now      St. Paul, MN

Race placings           Won some omniums this year at Blaine, and qualified for the sprint and endurance events for Nat’s.  Won the kilo and team sprint; took second in the scratch.  But I’m basically just a consistent rider up at Blaine . . . I don’t have any particular event that I’m best at.

Profession or major subject of study and where:  Law/consulting.  I’m with a company called the Corporate Executive Board.

Other sports or hobbies:  Chasing toddlers.

Most embarrassing thing your friends would want everyone to know about you:  My driver’s license photo . . . I was a very unflattering 230lbs about three years ago.  Then I got back on the bike.

The Whole Story, Sort Of

At Nationals, I'll be riding the sprint events—1000 Meter Time Trial, Match Sprint, Keirin, and Team Sprint. I may also ride the scratch race, and perhaps the points race. I'm best at middle-distance races—not the really short stuff, and not the longer stuff. Basically, I'm reasonably good at the Kilometer and Team Sprint. In general, Nationals will be dominated by folks we'll see again next summer in the Olympics, but people like me are there to keep them honest.

So here's a little more on the events I'll be riding in L.A. First, the individual event I'm best at is the 1000 meter time trial—the "kilo". A very simple race—one kilometer, as fast as you can. It takes a little over a minute. Here's a video of my qualifying ride last weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Gb5q7W_2Y

Based on last year's times at Nationals, it's plausible that I could get top 5 —but I could also get 30 th. I rode a 1:10.3 last weekend, and last year silver and bronze at Nationals rode low 1:08's. So it's in reach, but two seconds is an eternity in an event like that, and there are loads of riders who figure they can ride a 1:08. We'll see.

Match sprint is more interesting—I'll ride it, but it's very short, and I'm better at middle-distance events like the kilometer. You've likely seen the Match Sprint in the Olympics—it's the one where the riders sometimes come to a dead stop in the middle of the race, a bizarre fact that earns the event a tiny slice of network coverage every fourth summer. A more complete discussion of Match Sprint is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_%28cycling%29 .

Next is Keirin. It's actually the main betting sport in Japan, just like betting on horses here in the States. It's hard to assess my chances at the Keirin, but if there were betting at Nationals, I'd pay off very, very handsomely if I won. That said, hope springs eternal. A few years ago, an Australian guy won Olympic gold in short-track speedskating because literally everyone else crashed. Things like this happen in the Keirin, so my strategy is to keep the rubber side down and hang on for dear life.

The last event I'll ride is called the Team Sprint, and that's where our chances for the podium are best by far. It's a three lap event--750 meters total--akin to a relay. It's contested by a three-man team, usually composed of two big sprinter types and one middle-distance (i.e., kilo) rider. I've teamed up with a couple of really great sprinters here in Minnesota, and I'm more of a middle-distance rider, so the three of us are riding the Team Sprint at nationals. Last weekend, we broke the district record, and the time we turned suggests that we could plausibly make the bronze or even gold medal round at Nationals. The time we turned on Sunday would have gotten us fourth at Nationals last year. This is our ride last weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNDlTWzP69c

We rode a 49.64, and it was pretty windy. Because Nationals is indoors, we figure we can ride a high 48 or better, and last year that would have gotten us bronze. Gold will likely go to some combination of professional and Team USA riders, but getting into the gold-medal round at this point isn't impossible. We're outsiders, but we could give the top riders in the country a run for their money.

How the Kilo Really Should Be Done

Best Kilo rider in the world right now is a British guy named Chris Hoy. It won't take you nearly as long to watch him do it as to watch me do it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meTomy4M8dw

Kilometer TT National Qualifier Ride

This is my Kilo ride--I rode a 1:10.2 or so; Chris Ferris got second, and Brian Crosby was third.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Gb5q7W_2Y

Team Sprint Qualifier Ride

This is the Loon State team sprint ride; we rode a 49.64 and qualified for nationals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNDlTWzP69c

Scratch Race Qualifier

So, this is the last ten laps or so of the Blaine national qualifier scratch race. Chris Ferris won, I got second, and Andy Kruse got third.

http://smithersmpls.com/2007/09/14/2007-cat-1-2-3-state-scratch-race-championships/

Ramping Up for Elite Nats

So, I'm creating this blog to track events at Elite National Track Championships at the ADT Velodrome in Carson, CA, October 3-6th 2007. The blog is meant to be more of a project than a perpetual thing, but it's the way I'll provide updates to those who've asked for them.

dgc