Suhr the Blur

Click the title for a good story about an ESPN reporter trying to find her ticket to the Olympics, through any sport. The first part is how it feels to ride a track for the first time.

The last two days have been sobering to say the least. After not making the finals in the U25 race we went back the following night to watch the racing. Just after midnight in the second madison of the pro’s race, rider Isaac Galvez of the current world champion madison team was tragically killed in a freak accident. He passed of internal injuries after running full speed into the guardrail with his chest. It has been exactly 50 years since another rider was killed in a Six. The rest of the riders were very saddened by the loss of one of their family and the Six was cut short with no racing on Sunday. For the full story go to: Cycling News Story As for our last race, we put up a hard fight; gaining a lap to the team we needed to beat but then having them pull it back after we were the only ones working to keep pace on the front of the field. Then with a quarter of the race left, I put in one final attack, only to make it about a quarter lap up before crashing on my own. We are ...

It has been a hard three days of racing thus far. We feel that we have been riding conservatively since we are still getting used to riding at this tempo and with this caliber of riders. But I have a feeling this is going to pay off tonight. The top 6 teams in each heat are going to the final two days of racing and we are currently in 7th. However, last night we saw two teams loose their legs and both lost a lap. Now there are only 5 teams on our lap and two supper star teams ahead on laps. So tonight we are going to go throttle the race and see who is next to go. Ryan, my partner, feels like he is getting his legs under him, since we have been mostly on the road for the last two months it has taken some time to get the track speed back, but he feels it is there now. I am feeling good, ready to race for everything. We came here to make the final and tonight we will prove it. Below are some pictures of the start of the first night of racing, just to give you a little idea of wh...

Sorry I have been a bit out of touch on the race updates but we just found out yesterday that the hotel has internet, well one cord that ten teams get to share. But it is good so here comes some updates! Click on the title for the story.

This afternoon we headed down to the 6-day track in the middle of Gent, Belgium. Bernard plugged it into his GPS and 30 minutes later we were there. We arrived at the velodrome right as they were finishing painting the last signs on the track. Since it seemed like we were the only ones there, I was not sure if we were going to get to ride, but after about 20 minutes they said it was fine to ride. We were more than ready and ended up being one of only three teams on the track. It was very nice to get used to the track without any traffic and get in the exact work we were planning on. Ryan and I got in some throws with our friends from PA and with one of the top Pro Madison teams, riding for Capri Sun this week. After getting the legs opened up and putting in some decent work, I tried out the race wheels. Everything felt good and I sure could feel a difference between the race 404's and the Training/track specific overbuilt 404 Zipps just sent to us. They will be great to tr...

Today is a special day for all because it is pouring out. It has rained every night that we have been here and the last to days it has rained during the day, so we will be on the rollers for a nice spin this morning just like yesterday. Later today we are going to the 6-day track to get some training in. I am very excited! The track is only open for the 6-day every year so we are expecting it to be very busy. I will write on the track tomorrow but just as a teaser, it is a 167m track with I think 49degree turns, but I will have to check on that. We are finally on a Belgium sleep schedule, which is just in time to have to change to the 6-day sleep schedule. But that shouldn’t be too hard since it is just staying up later and sleeping in. The Cycling Center run by Bernard Moerman and Ann Dusauchoit has been a wonderful way to be introduced to Belgium and a nice place to start off my first trip to Europe. Before arriving here, two of my roommates gave me some insight to the center...

Today was a pretty eventful day overall. Woke up at 7am, and ate a wonderful breakfast made by Ann, Bernard’s wife, consisting of eggs & bacon, granola & yogurt. Then at 8:15 we were off to the Eddy Merckx Track in Ghent. It is in a national sports facility with 2000m rowing lake among other venues. The track has been redone in the last two years making it indoors and doing overall improvements on it. It was very nice indeed. We ended up riding during the kids program so we were staying above the blue line, riding different pace-lines for about an hour. It felt amazing to be on an indoor track again, after freezing our butts of in the springs the last couple of weeks and having some stressful midterms at the beginning of this week. Riding the track is very meditating especially when you are tapering for a big event, just spinning the legs and riding in circles. Just a side note, one training session a couple of weeks ago in the springs was in the low 40’s with a bit of...

Wow this trip to Belgium is already off to a bang. Since I am a wonderful procrastinator I have slept 6 of the last 49 hours, for my normal sleep schedule this would be more like 18 of 48 or more. But since I had a paper due the same day I was flying over here, I decided to pull an all-nighter before catching my flights. So getting that paper done at 7 am and catching a bus to DIA at 7:30, then flying to DC, and then on to Belgium arriving this morning at 8:30am, this has been quite a ride. Luckily all the travels went well. Then after we got here, Bernard from the Cycling Center, where we are staying for the first four days before we go to the race hotel, picked us up from the airport. Then the rest of the day was filled with eating and riding a bit. In summary I have been doing things for the last 49 hours with a two long naps on the planes. I guess this is kind of what it would be like for med students fulfilling their residency. But I have to say; I have not actually felt ti...

Here is a link to some photos of going to the Ghent 6-day as a spectator. They just make me really excited! I can't wait! Four days until I leave!