My Report from TTown
August 27-31 ~ US Masters Track Nationals ~ You know you are at Master’s Natz when…..the athletes race without their teeth in? ...and tuck their beards into their skinsuits? .... Believe it, or not.
What a crazy/great time we had in Trexlertown, PA at the world renown velodrome affectionately known as TTown. http://www.thevelodrome.com./
The last weekend in August, my husband and I left the kids at home with grandma and other assorted kidsitters and flew ourselves, our track bikes, race wheels, rollers, pump, spare tires, team kits and the kitchen sink out of LAX bound for Philly on the Saturday night red-eye. It’s pretty obvious why it is called the “red eye”. Anyway, we were blessed with an uneventful albeit sleepless flight arriving 3 times zones east of California just in time to see the sun rise. After retrieving all of our luggage (which is way more than several other athletes could say…) and picking up our rental van, we enjoyed a beautiful 1 hour drive through the green rolling green hills of PA as we headed west. Did I mention how green everything is there?
I’m still not sure when we actually arrived in Trexlertown, but we easily found our hotel just off the turnpike in Foglesville as the map indicated. Unlike So Cal, in Pennsylvania you sort of drive from corn field to corn field till you come to a couple of houses centered around a single “STOP” sign immediately followed by more cornfields. Every STOP sign indicates that somewhere behind you passed thru one town/ville/burg and are approaching another town/ville/burg but you can’t recall ever having actually seen the previous town/ville/burg.
Athlete Packet Pickup was on Sunday afternoon at the host hotel in Foglesville with racing scheduled to begin in Trexlertown early Monday and run thru Friday evening with daily sessions at 8:00am and 5:00pm. In between the race sessions the track was open for anyone and everyone with generally about 6-8 folks showing up each day.
As it turned out, neither of us was racing on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning so we headed down the turnpike to Gettysburg to enjoy more green rolling green hills and to visit some lifelong friends. We thoroughly enjoyed driving through such historical landmarks imagining what life here must have been like for the early settlers and the civil war soldiers.
The weather for the week was nearly perfect. It was a bit too hot early in the week with temps in the 90+ range and the humidity at 3000%. But as the week progressed, the temps and the humidity continued to improve so that by Friday it was very comfortable in the mid-70’s with no humidity. I am sure there is wind in PA from time to time, but there was absolutely no wind at all all week for us, not even a breeze to make the flags flutter.
The racing was fast and furious throughout the week. All 4 Southern California Ladies raced exceptionally well throughout the week. Cathy Keeley placed well in all of her races and won the National Championship Title in the Sprint finals and the Omnium in her age division. Kara Vidaca also placed well in all of her races and won the National Championship Title in the Omnium in her age division. Kara & Cathy teamed up in several events and, with Tim Ferriera as their coach, they were a formidable duo in deed!! Great Great Job Ladies!!
Now the thing about track cycling is that compared to running a marathon or completing a Full Ironman, most track racing events only last a few seconds or maybe a few minutes at the most. More often than not, your warm up is miles longer than your race. You could spend most of a day at a track race and race 3 five minute long events or you may spend a full week at a track race and race 30 seconds one day, 3 minutes two days later then 15 minutes two days after that to finish off your week. So who in their right mind would fly 3000 miles and spend $2000+ to race less than 19 minutes? Not many…
But that is not why I do it and that’s not why most of the folks at Masters Natz do it. We do it because that’s what you do and where you go to feel the heartbeat of track cycling. And the best way to feel it is to experience life on the infield in the tent city that is erected before the first day of racing and is kept up until after the final race has been contested. As everyone mixes and mingles with each other throughout the week you get to meet men and women from all over the US and beyond with all kinds of stories and a variety of experiences. Especially at Masters Nationals you will have the opportunity to meet and build relationships with amazing and wonderful folks who have lots of track cycling puzzle pieces for you to glean. By the end of the week, it truly feels like a family.
Whether someone was being awarded a championship jersey or a 5th place medal, whether they finished last or crashed out of an event, whether they were so old there was no division old enough for them or they were so young they competed in the most recent Olympics…everyone there fully supported everyone there. Hugs, handshakes and applause were as common as cicadas. Offers to help or share equipment were as plentiful as corn stalks and disagreements during a race were resolved over a post race beer...even if the parties involved agreed to disagree.
There is no bike racing event that can compare to Masters Track Nationals. So if you aren’t quite ready to fly 3000 miles for a 30 second race….then don’t…cuz you’ll miss the whole point anyway.
August 27-31 ~ US Masters Track Nationals ~ You know you are at Master’s Natz when…..the athletes race without their teeth in? ...and tuck their beards into their skinsuits? .... Believe it, or not.
What a crazy/great time we had in Trexlertown, PA at the world renown velodrome affectionately known as TTown. http://www.thevelodrome.com./
The last weekend in August, my husband and I left the kids at home with grandma and other assorted kidsitters and flew ourselves, our track bikes, race wheels, rollers, pump, spare tires, team kits and the kitchen sink out of LAX bound for Philly on the Saturday night red-eye. It’s pretty obvious why it is called the “red eye”. Anyway, we were blessed with an uneventful albeit sleepless flight arriving 3 times zones east of California just in time to see the sun rise. After retrieving all of our luggage (which is way more than several other athletes could say…) and picking up our rental van, we enjoyed a beautiful 1 hour drive through the green rolling green hills of PA as we headed west. Did I mention how green everything is there?
I’m still not sure when we actually arrived in Trexlertown, but we easily found our hotel just off the turnpike in Foglesville as the map indicated. Unlike So Cal, in Pennsylvania you sort of drive from corn field to corn field till you come to a couple of houses centered around a single “STOP” sign immediately followed by more cornfields. Every STOP sign indicates that somewhere behind you passed thru one town/ville/burg and are approaching another town/ville/burg but you can’t recall ever having actually seen the previous town/ville/burg.
Athlete Packet Pickup was on Sunday afternoon at the host hotel in Foglesville with racing scheduled to begin in Trexlertown early Monday and run thru Friday evening with daily sessions at 8:00am and 5:00pm. In between the race sessions the track was open for anyone and everyone with generally about 6-8 folks showing up each day.
As it turned out, neither of us was racing on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning so we headed down the turnpike to Gettysburg to enjoy more green rolling green hills and to visit some lifelong friends. We thoroughly enjoyed driving through such historical landmarks imagining what life here must have been like for the early settlers and the civil war soldiers.
The weather for the week was nearly perfect. It was a bit too hot early in the week with temps in the 90+ range and the humidity at 3000%. But as the week progressed, the temps and the humidity continued to improve so that by Friday it was very comfortable in the mid-70’s with no humidity. I am sure there is wind in PA from time to time, but there was absolutely no wind at all all week for us, not even a breeze to make the flags flutter.
The racing was fast and furious throughout the week. All 4 Southern California Ladies raced exceptionally well throughout the week. Cathy Keeley placed well in all of her races and won the National Championship Title in the Sprint finals and the Omnium in her age division. Kara Vidaca also placed well in all of her races and won the National Championship Title in the Omnium in her age division. Kara & Cathy teamed up in several events and, with Tim Ferriera as their coach, they were a formidable duo in deed!! Great Great Job Ladies!!
Now the thing about track cycling is that compared to running a marathon or completing a Full Ironman, most track racing events only last a few seconds or maybe a few minutes at the most. More often than not, your warm up is miles longer than your race. You could spend most of a day at a track race and race 3 five minute long events or you may spend a full week at a track race and race 30 seconds one day, 3 minutes two days later then 15 minutes two days after that to finish off your week. So who in their right mind would fly 3000 miles and spend $2000+ to race less than 19 minutes? Not many…
But that is not why I do it and that’s not why most of the folks at Masters Natz do it. We do it because that’s what you do and where you go to feel the heartbeat of track cycling. And the best way to feel it is to experience life on the infield in the tent city that is erected before the first day of racing and is kept up until after the final race has been contested. As everyone mixes and mingles with each other throughout the week you get to meet men and women from all over the US and beyond with all kinds of stories and a variety of experiences. Especially at Masters Nationals you will have the opportunity to meet and build relationships with amazing and wonderful folks who have lots of track cycling puzzle pieces for you to glean. By the end of the week, it truly feels like a family.
Whether someone was being awarded a championship jersey or a 5th place medal, whether they finished last or crashed out of an event, whether they were so old there was no division old enough for them or they were so young they competed in the most recent Olympics…everyone there fully supported everyone there. Hugs, handshakes and applause were as common as cicadas. Offers to help or share equipment were as plentiful as corn stalks and disagreements during a race were resolved over a post race beer...even if the parties involved agreed to disagree.
There is no bike racing event that can compare to Masters Track Nationals. So if you aren’t quite ready to fly 3000 miles for a 30 second race….then don’t…cuz you’ll miss the whole point anyway.
To view a slideshow of some misc pictures of Masters Nationals in TTown, click on the following link ~ http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Aasm7Fy2YuHlg&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5
To view a slideshow of some of my SBW Teammates at Masters Nationals, click on the following link ~ http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Aasm7Fy2YuHhw&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5
To view a slideshow of some of my SBW Teammates at Masters Nationals, click on the following link ~ http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Aasm7Fy2YuHhw&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5
Cheers!
Julia Cross
~~~ Do you need need Health Insurance? Please visit my website http://www.crossins.com/ and ask me for more information. ~~~
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