This past weekend, I raced in the Alpenrose Velodrome
Challenge in Portland. This was my first time at the event. This is a popular
yearly event for Category 1/2 track racers throughout the pacific north-west,
due to great organization, a diverse mix of events and generous cash prizes for
top finishers. I entered the Sprint events (Keirin, Match Sprints, and Team
Sprint), the Miss-and-Out, 10-Mile Scratch Race and the Flying Lap. Having focused
my training on developing my track sprint since January, I was hoping to
perform well at this event.
Travel Day
I drove down Friday with my friend and coach, Kelyn Akuna.
We intended to arrive in Portland around 5pm and participate in the weekly,
Friday night Sprint Tournament. We figured this would be a good warm-up for
Match Sprints in the main event Sunday. Unfortunately, traffic was so bad
around Seattle, we didn’t arrive until about 9pm. Even worse, after a quick
stop for food on the way down, I ended up with a case of food poisoning.
Overall, I wasn’t off to a great start.
Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge
Day 1
By Saturday morning, I was feeling somewhat better, if a bit
weak. Kelyn and I went for a warm-up road ride with our host, Carl, who was
kind enough to take us on route only a local would be familiar with. This
helped further settle the stomach and even build a bit of an appetite. Our
first race wasn’t until 2pm, so we had time to eat a light lunch before heading
over to the velodrome.
The two events I was entered in for the day were the Keirin
and the Miss-and-Out. I decided that since I was still somewhat weak from the
food poisoning, I would skip the Miss-and-Out if necessary to better recover
for what would be a much busier Sunday. There were several Keirin heats, with
the top two from each advancing to the finals. Those who did not advance in the
first round would have a second chance in the repechage race, where the top
finisher would advance.
I was in the second heat with, as I would soon learn, some
very strong sprinters.
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| Intensity builds sitting behind the motor* |
I was sitting in third spot when the motor pulled off
and what caught by surprise when the riders behind me jumped immediately. Track
awareness, something which is critical in bike racing in general but even more
important in sprint events specifically, is something that I am continually
working on. I still struggle to keep track of the other racers in the Keirin
and this was made worse by my lack of familiarity with the Alpenrose velodrome
as well, which is very technical in the turns. I was, perhaps, a bit too
focused on holding my line into the turns, so much so that I missed what the
other racers were doing. All of that aside, the other sprinters were very
impressive. The physicality of what I was seeing in front of me was something
that I was not used to. With the riders in second and third position throwing
elbows and leaning into each-other, I was sure I was about to witness a
high-speed crash. The skill and experience of the other racers, however, helped
to ensure that the race finished without incident. I was the second-to-last
finisher in my heat though; off to repechage for me!
I intentionally took the back position in the repechage
heat, hoping to be the one to lead the attack and catch the other racers
unaware. I believe I timed my attack well, but I hesitated as I approached the lead
rider, coming alongside him as I mistakenly didn’t want to take the lead
position.
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| Almost, but not quite committing to my attack* |
I know now that if I’m attacking from the back, I will need to fully
commit and take the front. I may not be able to hold the front all the way to
the finish, but my attack will have a better chance of success versus trying to
hold the higher line at speed. In the end, I didn’t make the Keirin final, but
it was valuable to have raced against that calibre of a field. Kelyn did make
the final after he managed to control second position in his first heat. He
ended up coming fifth overall, after being well positioned in the final rush,
but he hesitated momentarily and let the eventual race winner, Steven Beardsley,
escape being boxed-in.
The Keirin is an unforgiving, but extremely intense,
high-energy race. It is probably my overall favorite type of bike race, on
either the track or the road.
I decided to skip the Miss-and-Out due to the tough Keirin
racing and afternoon heat. I wanted to be fully rested and recovered from my
food poisoning heading into Sunday. The sprint field was looking very strong
based on the Keirin and I knew I would need to be at full strength for Match
Sprints.
Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge
Day 2
The weather forecast for Day 2 of the Challenge was the same
as Day 1, extreme heat. Luckily, we started a bit earlier, with Match Sprints commencing
at 10am. One of the biggest challenges for me would be the Flying 200, which
was to be used for seeding the event. The Alpenrose velodrome has an unusual
geometry, with extremely steep banking in the turns and very shallow banking in
the straights. This is compounded by rough surface patches scattered over the track
surface. Before leaving for the event, I finally broke the 12 second flying 200
barrier, riding an 11.9 second 200 at the Burnaby velodrome. I knew I would
need to ride one of my best 200s to seed well in this strong field. To make
matters worse, it was announced that there were 13 riders entered in the Match
Sprints and only the top 12 would qualify to race. My flying 200, unfortunately,
was not my best time. My wind-up began too late, and my descent line was too
high heading into the start. My back wheel skipped in both turn 2 and turn 3 of
the velodrome, scrubbing speed. My time was 12.6 seconds; I wasn’t sure if I
would be racing Match Sprints today. I managed to qualify in the 12th
spot. Looking back, though they announced 13 starters, there may have been only
12 that actually started, as that is the total number listed in the official results.
Either way, I was last seed.
Qualifying in the 12th spot meant that I would be
facing the top seeded racer. I was up against Stephen McLaughry, a talented veteran
sprinter who had recently set a sub 11 second personal best Flying 200 in Colorado.
He was riding in a large gear and was known to attack with an aggressive, hard
jump. I took the lead and tried to razor him, increasing the speed throughout
the sprint without taking the sprint lane, in an attempt to eliminate his jump.
I was not, however, able to raise the speed high enough to eliminate his jump
and he was able to come around me in the final lap. I was once again to face
repechage.
My second sprint was in a group of three, with the top rider
progressing to the quarter finals. I found myself in-between the two other
racers. I attacked in the second lap during a moment of hesitation by the lead
rider. The racer behind me also attacked and ended up taking the lane. Speaking
with Kelyn after the race, he told me that I should have taken the lane, as my
attack was good and I had quite a bit of space on my competitors. In the
moment, it seemed like the rider behind me actually got the better jump and I
didn’t have space to get in front of him. Once again, this proves that I need
to work on track awareness. I closed on
the lead rider’s wheel, but was unable to take the win and stay in the
tournament. Official results have me finishing 9th of 12.
Congratulations to Connor Klupar for winning the event.
The 10-Mile Scratch race was up next. After hard sprinting
in the morning, I knew this would be a tough event. $3 for 1st place
and $2 for 2nd place in each lap was on offer for this race,
ensuring that the pace would be high. My goal was simply to take a lap and earn
a modest $3! When it came time to go to the rail, I didn’t end up in the best
position, starting near the back of the pack. As expected, the pace was fast
right off of the start. Though the tempo was high, it actually wasn’t too hard
to simply sit in the pack. My plan was to sit-in during initial attacks that
were bound to occur, while everyone had fresh legs. I was hoping to attack
around the half-way point in the 60 lap race and take my lap. Unfortunately, I
was not to be successful in achieving my goal. The heat was so extreme at 38
degrees Celsius that I began to feel physically ill about 20 laps in. I was
seriously worried about potential heat exhaustion and I just couldn’t continue
once I was close to 30 laps in, I had to pull out of the race. Several racers
pulled out of the race around the same time; it was an impressive feat simply
to finish. Steven Beardsley took the win after a close sprint with Zach
Kovalcik; an exciting finale.
The Team Sprint was my last major event. Kelyn and I had
decided to enter as a team, but we needed a third rider. We were able to
recruit Steven Beardsley to ride with us.
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| On the start line of the Team Sprint* |
I was to start, Steven was to ride
second and Kelyn was to ride as anchor. We were the first of three teams to
ride. We had a false start on our first attempt, as Kelyn pulled out of his
pedal. Our second start was clean and I was able to execute one of my better
standing starts. I heard the announcer say that a sub 1 minute time was a good
team sprint time for this track. Our finishing time was 56.92 seconds. With no reference
point, I thought this could be a competitive time. Unfortunately, we ended in third
after strong rides by the other two teams. Though we may have finished last, it
was still third place, and I won a cool $15 for my effort. At this point in the
weekend, I was willing to count that as a success.
The weekend ended with the unofficial event, the Flying Lap.
I was exhausted, but happy to have competed as I was able to find better line
on the track versus my Flying 200 earlier that morning. I will use that
knowledge when I return to Alpenrose.
Overall, this was a very challenging weekend. I did not get
the finishing results I was hoping for, but it was worthwhile to compete in
such a strong field of sprinters. The jump from Category 3 as an endurance
rider last year to Category 1/2 as a sprinter this year on the track has been a
large one and events like this help to show me what I need to work on to improve
as a racer. I look forward to returning to Alpenrose, with a little more
training and experience, in the future.
Official Results:
*Note: Asterisked photos provided by unknown photographer, publicly shared in the Facebook event page. Please contact me with your name so that proper credit can be attributed.
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