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.