So, no one reads this any more, but in case it's like a time capsule, and it gets unearthed in say, 100 years, I'll write this.
Last week at the 2018 USAC Masters Track National Championship at Trexlertown, I met @
IBOHUNT, @
gsteinb, and I raced really hard. Meeting those two has been a six year long dream, and what a treat it was! Don't ever let IBOHUNT tell you he's a "dumb redneck" - ever!!
@
Racer Ex took really good care of me. I had brain fade in one of my match sprint matches, and it caused me to loose the match and the jersey, and I know disappointed him. We had beaten the World Champion in the first match, no one had ever done that, and I was close to the top step and jersey. I just had to stay engaged and focused. That's all I had to do. At Worlds, I will, Ex - promise.
My results? 500 M TT, third/bronze medal with a PB time of 43.7, to the world record holder's 43.6, and the winner's 43.1. We were fast! In the flying 200, I rode an awful line coming off of the banking and matched what I did at Worlds, a 14.72. I was shooting for the 13 second range and I had WR on my mind. In the subsequent match sprints, I won one of three, for a silver medal. In the Individual Pursuit (Ex didn't want me to ride it, but I insisted) I cruised to a silver with a (slow) time of 3:24. In the Team Sprint, BJ and I rode a perfect race and laid down a 58.2, and we had thought we had won the Championship until the team who did ultimately win was allowed a reride after we assumed they'd been DSQ'ed for having improper equipment on their bikes. They were ten and twenty years younger and only beat us by 1.5 seconds. The silver was a bitter pill, but it was a hard lesson, too. And I am so proud of how we rode.
It was a great week! Three silvers, one bronze. I'm knocking on the door of the top step.