Aguascalientes Six Recap

I know it is a bit much for one post but trying to update the blog when it was in Spanish was a nightmare. Enjoy. Links to pictures are at the end.

After getting an invite three days before the event, we frantically worked with the promoter to get our team to Aguascalientes, Mexico by Monday. My coach Mark Tyson and I tried to find another competitive partner for me since my usual partner, Ryan Luttrell was out with an injury. We came up with, Jackie Simes IV, who rode with Taylor Brown in Ghent, Belgium last November when we raced the U25 Six. Jackie is a young rider with racing in his blood, who we knew would be up to racing competitively at the Six. So with a partner and confirmed tickets, I was set to go try my hand at my first elite six-day race.

Before I left I did some quick research on what to expect based on past results. I came up with results on last years race. And saw that there were a few well know European six-day riders who attended. Thus my expectations were set on racing the hardest six of my life. This would be a big step above the U-25 category in Ghent and would be a good step on the way to the next winter sixes in Europe.
Along with finding out that the competition should be top notch, I learned that the format would consist of four to five races per night. This turned out to be the case, as every night there were two Madison chases, one to start the night and a longer one at the end of the night, with an elimination race for all riders, and either a scratch or a points race for one rider from each team in the middle. Therefore the volume of racing, between 55km and 95km, was considerably more than in Ghent where there was only one Madison each night, between 30km and 40km. I welcomed this chance with vigor, and felt ready to race as the last four months of training went very smoothly.

The start list was made up of 7 international teams and 5 Mexican teams. The international contingent was as follows: two teams from Spain, one from Argentina, Canada, and Chile, Jackie and I on USA1, and the Brown brothers on USA2.

Day One
The main goal for the first night was to race conservative and get a feel for the rest of the teams. The first chase was a struggle for everyone since the altitude was around 7000ft and most of the racers were from sea level. I was coming off a bit of rest so I just wanted to get the legs opened up and prepare to throw down on the following days. Jackie and I held our own and had no problem riding together, which was nice since this was our first time.

The day was a lap fest with Chile, Spain 1, Spain 2 and Canada taking a lap in the first chase and then Chile taking another lap on everyone in the second chase. We ended up 6th by the end, with USA2 in 8th.

There was a decent crowd and to my surprise throughout the first chase one section kept cheering on our team every time we passed them. After the race two teenage girls called me over to the stands to talk. I have to admit my Spanish is very bad, but I ended up meeting them on the infield where they wanted my autograph. This was a first time experience for me, and a very pleasant welcome to Mexico.

Day Two
Racing went smoothly. The legs were open, and most of the riders had started to adjust to the altitude. We ended up taking a lap in the first chase with Argentina. Jackie and I were running on all cylinders and had no problem gaining the lap. The standings after day two were: Chile in the lead with Spain 1, Argentina, Canada, Spain 2, and USA1 all two laps down, leaving USA1 in 6th and USA2 one lap behind in 8th.

The crowd was again very supportive of all the racing, and the two girls from the night before brought out their whole family, about a dozen people, to watch the racing. I enjoyed having a cheering section for us tonight and we tried our best to give them a show.

Day Three
After day two I thought that we would have the rest of the racing under control. But every time you relax in Six-Day racing, the race bites back. There was no sign of it coming but Jackie’s legs did not show up for racing today. I guess he had some nausea and at one point in the first chase got a touch of light-headedness and had to end the race pace. I could not believe it while this was happening, as I was unaware of his state until we fell off the back of the field. I was doing my all to throw him into the race with the most momentum so that he could try to maintain the pace with ease, but every pull he was hurting and would come to running pace by the end of his pull. I would ride around as slow as possible to keep his turns as short as possible and even skipped his turn when the pace was easy. But in the end all our efforts added up to us losing our lap that we gained the day before. This left us in 7th place, with the only hope of his sickness being a 24hr bug.

On a better note, in my 20 lap scratch race, where only the black numbers from each team were racing, I ended up attacking with World Madison Champion Miguel Alzamora with 12 laps to go. We railed the pace for 4 laps putting us 3/4 lap up on the rest of the field with 5 laps to go. From there on we just paced the field and it came down to a sprint finish with him just nipping me at the line. At the time it was by far the most exciting race of the night and the crowd was behind us all the way.

Day Four
Day four was both a welcomed event, since we could almost see the end of the Six, and a dreaded day since we were unsure of how Jackie was going to come out of his stomach bug. As it turned out, he felt a little better although not 100%, but I was feeling great so we managed to keep our position. The chases were uneventful since we could not attack and just had to keep our position in the field and ride efficiently.

I had another great night in between the chases. We were racing the elimination. All the riders started this race every night and each lap the last one across the line got pulled out of the race. I acknowledge this is my least favorite track race as not only is the pace extremely fast for the entire race but every lap the back of the field tries to squish themselves into the front of the field, which leads to some close calls and very aggressive racing.

However, on this night, Antonio Miguel Parra, of Spain1 decided to attack the race, a very uncommon move in this event, and ended up breaking away. Since I don’t like riding in the field in the elimination, this was a great opportunity for me, and my legs agreed in this case. I came flying over the field to go chase down the solo break. When I caught him, we had a good 1/4 lap on the field. We put our heads down and hoped for the best. As each lap past, no one made an effort to chase us down and the race was still happening behind us. With the field slowly shrinking, each pulled rider gave me a boost of excitement. By the time anyone finally caught up with us there were only two left in the field, thus four of us left in the race. Unfortunately, as the two riders passed over us, I was stuck in the back and got pulled finishing in 4th, my best place of the six in that event.

Day Five
After the great racing of the past two days, I was excited to start the second to last day and felt decent and now knew we were going to make it through. But as I said before if you get comfortable in a six it will always reawaken you. This was no exception. I was all set to try to take our lap back as Jackie said he was ready to go again. So we were in the first chase on the front of the field and I was coming in off relief for our second exchange of the chase. When all of a sudden I hear a “pop” and “fissss…fissss…fisss”! I immediately abort our exchange, and grab my bars. I knew it was one of my tires that blew. Jackie flies under me, and the rest of the field diverts high. I focused in on quickly learning how to control this new contraption that my feet were connected to! Luckily I only had to guide this squirrelly mess a few feet down the track to the seam between the flat apron and the banking. This was the only place on the track that would help guide the bike through the rest of the turn and allowed me to keep my skin.

After my short adventure, Jackie was able to ride the rest of the chase following another rider in and out as a measure of where we would have been racing. He did a great job of riding solo and I was able to get my spare wheels ready to take on the rest of the evening.

We ended the night in 8th as another Mexican team overtook us by 4 points. USA2 was in 10th.

Day Six
Our last day of our first Six, was horribly unspectacular. Jackie was back to as close to 100% as you can get after five days of track racing. But I felt my worst of the week as my legs simply did not want to go race pace, let alone attack. The Mexican teams had their day and kept the racing fast and hard. I guess they were just saving it for us, but after every race we looked at the Spanish and shook our heads in disbelief. Jackie and I held our position and the competition shaped up with the international teams taking the top five and the US teams battling the Mexican teams for the rest.

Final standings were:
1. Chile
2. Spain 1
3. Canada
4. Spain 2
5. Argentina
6. Mexican - Chocolate Mayordomo
7. Mexican – Chivas
8. USA 1
9. Mexican – IPN
10. USA 2
11. Mexican – Jalisco
12. Mexican – Aguascalientes

As for my reflections, I am glad Jackie and I were able to come together as a team and ride at this new level. Most of the troubles we had were not from the speed or technical demands of the Six but came from outside the races. His stomach bug, my flat, all part of the sport but to win any race you have to have a bit of luck in lining up all the details. Racing is not just about performing on the bike, but performing is at the end of a long equation. It was nice to get through the first one unscathed and we will both be more prepared to take on the races in Europe this winter. As for me, I am hoping to see great gains in fitness, similar to what I experienced after Ghent, and I am sure to bring my A game to all the national track racing for the rest of the summer.

Pictures:
Aguas Album 1
Aguas Album 2


Thanks for reading,
The Blur

Craziest 24hrs of My Life

Well just a day after my last blog my world got turned upside down. I had just finished my last VO2 intervals workout of my five week training block, extended to seven weeks since I came down with that cold for two. (VO2 intervals are the hardest intervals you can do on a bike for an extended amount of time, i.e. over 30 seconds. My last workout consisted of 8 intervals of five minutes each.) So I was happy that I had made it over some of the toughest training there is each year, and was planning how I was going to tackle the two races this weekend.

But my plans were suddenly broad-sided by a call from my coach with the news that we got a last minute invite to a Six-Day race in Aguascalientes, Mexico that starts on Monday, and how he was going to try to find me someone to ride with, since my usual partner, Ryan Luttrell, is laid up with an IT Band issue. Anyway, we worked all evening and ended up calling up Jackie Simes out of Trexlertown, PA, who had ridden the Gent Six with us. He was as happy as I to receive the news and agreed to go. So over the last two days we have been working with the promoter to get us all settled with travel itineraries.

Yesterday I went driving all over the state to collect all the race equipment. After Gent everyone stored some wheels; my bike was in the Springs at the track since we were training a few weeks ago; borrowed a bike box from a fellow CU cyclist; Vermarc, old clothing sponsor of SPiKE, came through with a few racing kits for us. Anyway everything is ready for packing and I am flying out on Sunday.

The racing starts on Monday and goes through Saturday. The Six is part of a week long city festival with crowds up to 4000 nightly, all looking for a little bit of track racing excitement and a good show. I did some research on the Internet last night and came up with last years home page, so for some more info about the event go to '06 Aguas Six. After looking through the results form last year it turns out that there should be some big European six-day racers coming, so we will have to hold on to our pants. This is going to be a step up from the Under 25 category that we raced in Gent and about as close to a Pro Six that we are going to get on this side of the globe this year. It should be a manageable step up and will definitely be a hell of a lot of fun.

I will try to update from Mexico but I will be sure to get some good pictures, and will post anymore online results or info I can find online.

Until then, the road awaits.

It's Been Awhile

Sorry to keep you all hanging. Over the last three weeks we have had some excitement in Boulder, though not in racing. I ended up coming down with a good chest cold that sacked my energy and took a good two weeks to subside, thus making life a bit of a drag and racing useless. I was also at the peak of an intense training block, which lead to me taking some good R&R. In the meantime keeping things interesting, my roommate broke two vertebrate in his back while skiing, and thus is forced to do just about nothing for 6 to 12 weeks. I hope for his speedy recovery.

As for me I am looking forward to intense training on the track coming in May. And I can't wait! Although, I did get a taste of the track last weekend. We ended up training on it both days and I ended up doing some sprint training in our final session. This was a completely new experience. The workout was to do accelerating motor 500m. This entails sitting on the back of the motorcycle in the draft high on the track, taking a couple of laps to gain speed then dropping down the banking to the pole lane and then completing a lap and a half while the motor is still accelerating a bit. This was by far the fastest I have ever gone on a track as we were ending them around 42 mph! At this speed, on the track in the Springs, the bike starts to drift up track because the track was not built for this type of speed and you have to change the way you steer in order to ride at this speed. I was unfamiliar with this and was kind of spooked but at the same time really excited to have a new challenge in the sport I love.

As for now I am headed out to do some more VO2 intervals, hopefully before the rain.