You can spend your time, waste your time, or invest your time. It's your choice.The next Ladies Only Track Session (LOTS) will be at 12:00-2:00pm on Saturday November 17th at the LA Velodrome.
Somewhere over the Rainbow ~
In her own words, here is Lauren Jacobson’s World Record & World Track Championship Winner’s Story
As my coach, Antony Galvan, and I strolled up to the race official’s table at Australia’s Dunc Gray Velodrome to see the start list for the Master Women’s World Championship 50-54 500TT, there it was at the top of the page, marked with a number 1. My name, first to race.
With a somewhat surprised look on my face I said to my coach “I’m first to race? Really?” His response was “this is the best position you could be in”. And so it was.
We have been training together for 2 years now and it is with rather vivid accuracy I remember our first few training sessions. I had hired him to help me gain some endurance for recreational rides and improve my rather pathetic bike handling skills.
On about the second or third training session, he told me I was going to get up out of the saddle and sprint for about 50 meters. He told me what to do and how to approach a sprint. Off I went like a shot, zig zagging all over the bike path, as he put it “like a chicken with its head cut off.” From that point I was adorned a new nick name: “Turbo Chicken.”
Soon, I was ridding and racing on the road and my coach insisted I try the track, especially if I wanted better bike handling skills. “With only one gear and no brakes, what better way to improve?” he’d say. So, I headed down to the Carson ADT velodrome and became certified by none other than Roger Young, former Pan Am Gold Medal winner and Olympic contender. That was all good, I knew what to do but I was terrified of going up the wall, especially since I had heard if you did not carry enough speed down to the bottom of a two-story wall you slid! I had my coach help me but it was in the advanced group sessions and even though we only swept the back, I could not get comfortable ridding out there with the big boys.
Fortunately, Julia Cross, one of the female track riders had put together a women’s only program where you could not only get certified but had a whole day each month to go ride with the gals. A LOT less intimidating! There was not as much draft as riding behind the guys, but there isn’t much draft anyway if you can’t stay within a half a bike length of their back tire, and that was not easy as a newbie. Julia’s program was a huge help in gaining confidence out there.
Swish pan 2 years later, (hey, I live in the film capital of LA) my coach decides we will see just how fast I am or I am not with my first timed 500m effort out at the Encino Velodrome. By now I am better at controlling my bike but I’m thrown literally a new curve: sprinting on a banked oval track.
I pedaled as fast as I could go, then rolled in to the infield after I had recovered thinking “oh my god, it was absolutely glacial, like 2 minutes right”? My coach said ”let me explain something; you just did a 45:95 effort. You have crappy wheels, a baggy jersey, no concept of track racing, so you are all over the sprint lane, you’re wearing a road helmet, you’ve done zero power or speed work for sprinting, in essence nothing in your favor and you rolled in at 45:95. Chicken, you’re going to the World Championships”!
Collecting my gaping mouth off the infield, I went home and looked up the world record for my division. It was 40:202. For those of you that race against a clock where the race is won or lost by one thousandth of a second you can appreciate the Herculean effort of taking off 6 full seconds. Since I had no concept of what that meant, I jauntily pedaled into my next 6 months of sprint specific training.
Let me help you visualize sprint training: you do what my coach proudly recalls from HIS sprint training as “The Way”. Yes, by all means, ask the question, I did. What is The Way?
Well, when you ask my coach” how do I win a World Championship”? The answer you get is “this is The Way”. It’s a bleed at the eye socket set of maximum effort intervals where you exist somewhere between throwing up (in a hopefully nearby trashcan) and or passing out. I quickly learned to show up with an empty stomach or you will get one anyway!
Each week, each race, I cut time off my 500TT. Finally I hit the magic number 40 seconds. Now, I just needed to put it all together in one perfect ride and I would hit sub 40 seconds, my goal for Sydney. This miraculous time cut of 6 seconds occurred in just 6 months.
Can I get some ‘oos’ and ‘ahs’ for my coach Antony Galvan! Hello, he holds the current World Record for the 30-34 KiloTT. It just don’t get any better than that.
And now a word from the Master himself:
“I will add a very interesting tidbit of info to this story: when we arrived in Sydney, other athletes made their way straight to the track to get all “ready”. I purposely had Lauren NOT ride the track. We just did some leisurely spins on our road bikes and talked it through. Even as her event approached we were outside the velodrome riding calmly and discussing what she had and how she was going to deliver it…the work was done before we left California. It was all a mental game the minute we landed down under and major props go to our girl for buttoning down an airtight mental game; THAT was THE REASON for her success. THAT is the sign of a true champion. I couldn’t be more proud”.
So, as we leave the officials table at Dunc Gray, Antony says, “no worries (remember, we’re in Sydney folks), you just lay down a world record and trust me, you will mess up the brains of your competition so badly, they won’t be able to think!”
Without a moment of hesitation, without an ounce of nervous tension, I came out of that start gate with no other goal than to hit a record. As I crossed the finish line the time came up on the board and the new world record was announced 39.7.
It very officially messed up everyone’s brain.
For me, all I could think was ‘thank god I did my job and delivered’. I was unable to feel any other place than first, starting 6 months ago. There were no options. I now totally understand that zone athletes get into and need to get into. You cannot have any doubts or hesitations, you just see the win…that is all.
So now I’m back in the USA, collecting mega congrats from all. It is a great feeling. I owe my coach, I don’t know…a house? How do you even compensate someone for all their personal time and focus? Antony went ballistic when I crossed the finish line, screaming, jumping, crying, howling and any other human emotion possible that one could elicit in this kind of moment.
We have shared a journey that many will never experience.
I have been extremely lucky.
I have also been fortunate to sport a rock’n pair of get-a-way sticks! Yeah babe!!!
WC Chicken
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The Next Ladies Only Track Session (LOTS) will be at 12:00-2:00pm on Saturday November 17th at the LA Velodrome.
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Saturday November 10th ~ The Prostate Cancer Prevention Project and the LA Velodrome Invite You to Form a Team to Participate in the: 2007 Black Tire Affair™ Corporate Challenge to Prevent Prostate Cancer. Registration opens at 11AM. Racing begins at 1:00pm. This event will consist of 4 person teams racing the Italian Sprint. Four riders start with one rider dropping off each lap. Each team rides twice, with their final time being an average of the two runs.
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Friday November 16th 7:00Pm ~ Track Tool Clinic ~ Learn How to ‘tool’ your own track equipment. Do you know how tight all the various bolts should be on your track bike? Which ones should be ‘finger tight’ & which ones should be ‘as tight as possible’? How do you change your rear cog? What tools do you even need?
Bring your track bike and any tools that you do have to Ted’s Bike Shop in Manhattan Beach for a hands on Track Tool Clinic.
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The Next Ladies Only Track Session (LOTS) will be 12:00-2:00pm on Saturday November 17th at the LA Velodrome.
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Have a super week Ladies!!
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Julia
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