Team pursuit final Olympics Trials
Dave Bailey
So tonight was the team pursuit final. US National
rode vs. Atlanta Velo and broke the national record,
1. US National 4:18.458
2. UPS 4:27.540
3. USPS 4:33.484
4. Indy Velo 4:38.266
I rode on the USPS team for the bronze. An hour and
a half or so before the start, I was sitting around in
my postage stamp skinsuit feeling cool, and I decided
to go get something to eat. I settled on a couple of
Dove Bars at $2.50 a pop. I brought them back to the
infield and started munching away. As I sat there with
a goofy grin on my chocolate-rimmed mouth, my eyes
wandering over the infield crowd, I suddenly noticed
this old dude with glasses glaring at me like I'd done
something really bad. It was none other than Eddie B.
himself, USPS directeur sportif and recent inductee to
the bicycling hall of fame! I felt like a total dork.
Nevertheless, I finished off both the Dove bars (thinking
about how Eddie B. had called America a 'land of fat people')
and rode on the rollers a little to assuage my guilt
and overall feelings of lameness.
After the ride, he shook my hand and said 'good ride'.
Gave me eye contact and everything, as if to say, 'I forgive
you for being such a moron and having such shitty eating
habits while wearing one of MY skinsuits in MY presence,
you little punk'. I felt exonerated, and spent the rest
of the evening basking in the glow of wearing the same
uniform as Rebecca Twigg. I even got to meet Mark Gorski,
but nobody offered me a pro contract or a job at Montgomery.
--
Dave Bailey
dba...@leland.stanford.edu
Arthur Walker
In article <4pdltf$d...@amy12.Stanford.EDU> dba...@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dave
>
> So tonight was the team pursuit final.
> I rode on the USPS team for the bronze.
> As I sat there with
> a goofy grin on my chocolate-rimmed mouth, my eyes
> wandering over the infield crowd, I suddenly noticed
> this old dude with glasses glaring at me like I'd done
> something really bad. It was none other than Eddie B.
> himself, USPS directeur sportif and recent inductee to
> the bicycling hall of fame! I felt like a total dork.
> After the ride, he shook my hand and said 'good ride'.
> Gave me eye contact and everything, as if to say, 'I forgive
> you for being such a moron and having such shitty eating
> habits while wearing one of MY skinsuits in MY presence,
> you little punk'.
More likely as if to say "If had old pedals
and double straps in qualifying round, would be caught in final
by US team boys anyway. Maybe is not such moron, such spaz after all.
But still is little punk."
Anyway: Tom, Ric and I don't forgive you for wearing one of Eddie B's
skinsuits instead of one of ours (you little punk). And that goes for Ma-Ne
too. How did they let you ride for USPS anyway,
seeing as how you neglected to pick up
a release from Stanford/Montgomery-Wheelsmith?
Art Walker
a...@egret0.stanford.edu
Kevin Metcalfe
Dave Bailey (dba...@leland.Stanford.EDU) wrote:
: So tonight was the team pursuit final. US National
: rode vs. Atlanta Velo and broke the national record,
: 1. US National 4:18.458
: 2. UPS 4:27.540
: 3. USPS 4:33.484
: 4. Indy Velo 4:38.266
We were much happier with our ride in the final. Since we had ridden a
4:37 back in San Jose our morning 4:41 was pretty lame. We had hoped to
ride around 4:30 and maybe be in the hunt for second. The UPS guys rode
great though and their 4:27 kept me from wondering about "what could have
been".
Rebecca Twigg really opened it up in the women's pursuit final after
cruising through the rounds. She rode an odd gear in the final, 56x17.
I guess maybe she knows what she's doing...
The men's keirin final was also last night. Marty Nothstein absolutely
demolished the field in the final. He took off at the bell and opened up
several bike lengths at the end. Absolutely unbelievable! On his cool
down lap he threw his helmet into the crowd and they went wild. I wonder
what the officials were thinking when he did that. :) I'm sure that they
feared for their lives had they disciplined Marty for riding on the track
without his helmet.
--
Kevin Metcalfe
metc...@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us
Davis, CA
Glenn Stauffer
> The men's keirin final was also last night. Marty Nothstein absolutely
> demolished the field in the final. He took off at the bell and opened
up
> several bike lengths at the end. Absolutely unbelievable! On his cool
> down lap he threw his helmet into the crowd and they went wild. I
wonder
> what the officials were thinking when he did that. :) I'm sure that
they
> feared for their lives had they disciplined Marty for riding on the
track
> without his helmet.
<The night I missed that I shouldn't have missed...>
Another rider tossed his helmet off at the end of a ride (into the
in-field) and made the 'victory' lap without it. I didn't realize they
could penalize you - I don't think they did anything there either. An
official walked over and got the helmet. I think it was the rider who won
Friday's points race.
I wonder if Marty is going to do the Pro Keirin circuit after the
Olympics. What about New Mexico opening it up to allow betting on Keirin
races?
Glenn
FastGunn
It was Zach Conrad who wrecked, not Christian Vande Velde.
TeamNolan
Kevin Metcalfe
metc...@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us
Davis, CA wrote:
In last nights points race it basically was a battle between the national
team (and their allies) and Shaklee (and their allies). Several groups
lapped the field including Adam Laurent (US National) and Brian McDonough
(Shaklee) who took two laps. In the first race, Laurent was 5th and
McDonough was 6th. With the olympic points schedule, whoever won was
going to get the olympic spot. Laurent had a pretty good lead on points,
but towards the end McDonough chipped away at his lead. With two laps to
go one of the US guys (Conrad maybe?) got hooked on Mike McCarthy's back
wheel and crashed.
*******************************
Unlike my teammate Kevin, I didn't have a access to my e-mail while I was
in Trexlertown. Here's a belated Olympic Trials story:
I was spectating during the Olympic Trials Points Race Final on Friday
Night with ~6000 other cycling fans, when the above "incident" happened...
the Lehigh County Velodrome brought in portable grandstands for the week
and I was sitting way up at the top between corners 3 and 4 and had a view
of what happened after the crash... From my vantage point Christian Vande
Velde went down just below the stayers line in corner 3 (how?). On the
steepest part of the track (28 degrees) Mike rolls down the banking in
corner 4 with Christian's bike hooked to his (Christian's handlebar
wrapped around Mike's seatpost). It was an amazing display of Mike's bike
handling ability. Too bad he missed the final sprint!
Larry Nolan
U.S. Postal Service Masters Cycling Team