A Tragic End to Our First Six
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 not sure if my tire blew first or if I hit the blue band first and then the tire blew when I was coming back onto the track. But nonetheless, I went down and that ended our effort to gain the elusive lap that would have catapulted us in front of 4 teams and into the final.
As for our first experience in the European U-25 Six-days, we feel that we were well prepared for the technical aspects but that we are lacking speed for many reasons. We were able to fit right into the racing action, and ride to our limit on the toughest, shortest track on the Six-day circuit. But for many reasons we are short on top end speed. For starters, most of the other teams have raced the circuit for a few years and have at least two other Sixes in their legs from this season. Second, we are one of only a few madison teams in the US and finding competition to race against does not come often. However, we were as prepared as we could have been and are looking forward to hard training in the months and season to come. We plan on coming back in the next year, hopefully more than once, but we are also looking to develop our power and speed in some pro road racing in the first half of next year. As for now I am just resting up for the rest of my final semester at CU Boulder and dreaming of a pleasant Christmas holiday.
Thanks for reading during my first European trip, and be sure to check back soon. Our next trip is to LA in second half of January, for the Second Round of the World Cup Track Series.
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 not sure if my tire blew first or if I hit the blue band first and then the tire blew when I was coming back onto the track. But nonetheless, I went down and that ended our effort to gain the elusive lap that would have catapulted us in front of 4 teams and into the final.
As for our first experience in the European U-25 Six-days, we feel that we were well prepared for the technical aspects but that we are lacking speed for many reasons. We were able to fit right into the racing action, and ride to our limit on the toughest, shortest track on the Six-day circuit. But for many reasons we are short on top end speed. For starters, most of the other teams have raced the circuit for a few years and have at least two other Sixes in their legs from this season. Second, we are one of only a few madison teams in the US and finding competition to race against does not come often. However, we were as prepared as we could have been and are looking forward to hard training in the months and season to come. We plan on coming back in the next year, hopefully more than once, but we are also looking to develop our power and speed in some pro road racing in the first half of next year. As for now I am just resting up for the rest of my final semester at CU Boulder and dreaming of a pleasant Christmas holiday.
Thanks for reading during my first European trip, and be sure to check back soon. Our next trip is to LA in second half of January, for the Second Round of the World Cup Track Series.
