Track Nationals 2014

Track nationals. Definitely my favorite week of the year. I have looked forward to this event for the past year or so. This is my first year in the 17-18 year old category, and my first opportunity to qualify for the junior world track championships.  For a bit of background info, if you win a national championship (there are several events at nationals in which you can be crowned a national champion), then you get invited to the Junior World Championships (this year they take place in Seoul, Korea). USA Cycling (USAC) pays for some of the fees, but the athlete still has to pay a significant amount to attend junior worlds.  However, if you make the time standards (times based off the 5th place time in the past few years of worlds), then USAC fully funds the trip!

The last time I raced at the LA velodrome was actually at my first national championship I ever attended - in 2009.

This pic appeared in the IVBP news 2009.  On the left is me with
Connie Paraskevin - I actually rode my first nationals on her old bike!

Having a similar banking to the 200m Detroit track, I thought that it would be very similar to ride.  This was only partially correct. Although I was more than comfortable with the banking, the lines for the flying 250m lap/ flying 200m are completely different. The track also rode differently - having completely different sweet spots and having different spots that you should attack in.

The LA velodrome is definitely a really sweet track - world class 250 m.  Very smooth to ride and definitely very fast!

This pic was actually taken at midnight when I had to stay after
an event for a drug test

The day finally came! Day one of the US National Championships!  I originally registered for some of the individual sprint events. However, my dad said I would be “bored” doing so few events, and plus I have another year at nationals where I can focus on a few individual events. So I decided to register for the omnium (made up of six events), the points race, the scratch race, keirin, match sprints, and the team sprint (with Julia Sante).  This actually turned out to be a ton of events, and sometimes I had races back to back.  Literally one night, I had a match sprint and then rode to the other side of the track and did a points race, then had 5 minutes rest and did another couple match sprints, and then an elimination race. All in one afternoon session.  Although it was crazily hectic and exhausting at some points during the week, it was definitely fun and a great experience to do so many different events.  
I ended up winning the individual points race, scratch race, and team sprint.

Kate giving me some tips before I race 

My flying lap 

Keirin race - I'm hiding in this pic

Match sprint semi finals

One of the mass start races

Match sprint quarterfinals 

I ended up 3rd in the omnium, behind Kirsten Williams and Julia Sante.  My notable events in the omnium were my 500m - 2 seconds faster than I’ve ever done, my 2k pursuit - 9 seconds faster than I’ve ever done, and winning the 250m flying lap (where I broke the national record).

During the first day of nationals, I wanted to make the time standard for the flying 200m. I was unfortunately not fast enough.  After a few days of nationals, I was ecstatic to receive an invite to go to the junior world championships!! I would have to pay a significant amount to attend, but was still honored and incredibly excited to be invited!  The very last event of nationals was the team sprint, and together, Julia and I ended up winning the national title but we also MADE THE TIME CUT!!  We will both be attending the junior world championships in Korea, fully funded by USAC!  Needless to say, there was a lot of hugging and smiles as we could then start to look forward to our journey to Korea in early August!  

I was also incredibly excited for Alex Horvet, Dom Suozzi, and their team sprint partner for winning nationals and also making time cuts!!!! The sprint was just INCREDIBLE - you have to see this!!

My brother did incredibly well at this national championship! He was 7th in the omnium, 4th in the 500m, 5th in the 3k pursuit (they podium through to 5th place for ages 16 and under; they podium 1st - 3rd place for the 17-18s), 5th in the points race, 3rd in the team sprint, and 2nd in the team pursuit! He will now go on to race all three events at road nationals - good luck Luke!!

Luke 5th place

Nationals was filled with drug testing. I had four drug tests in three days. Drug testing is quite strict - once you get selected for a drug test, a USADA rep follows you around everywhere you go until you go to the actual drug test.  Once you go to be drug tested, you have to pee in front of a random lady and she has to be able to “see the sample exiting the body and going into the cup.”  Talk about awkward!! You then have to package your “sample” up into a box. You get a choice of which box you get - you have to pick the styrofoam box that makes you “most comfortable," (yeah I'm not really sure how one identical styrofoam box makes me any more comfortable than the identical one sitting next to it.. but okay whatever!). 

One of my favorite parts of nationals was seeing all of my great friends - it’s really enjoyable to mix with people my age who share the same passion as me.  I got to meet new friends, recount endless hilarious Johnny Kuhfahl Home Depot stories with my Chicago Velo friends, eat Chaz’s carrots and learn about all the magical music lotions and sprays he uses, say exactly three and a quarter words to Alex Horvet before the morning session started on the first day then run away before Travis noticed (or quickly walk. Sprinters don’t actually ever run anywhere..), pretend like I actually know how to race a keirin when giving some coaching to Rachel Cross, and be professionally pinned and receive some race advice from Kate Wilson. 
Unlike road nationals (where everyone goes to race, stays for an hour or so and mainly talks to teammates, then leaves), track nationals is very different. We are all in pens right next to one another and are pretty much there all day together.  So trust me, you get really close to the people who you are exactly 4 feet away from all day!

Johnny was our podium "candy"

Every year, I only get stronger and faster due to hours of training on my bike, but mainly due to a TON of support by countless selfless individuals who enable me to be the best athlete I can be!  Thank you Mom and Dad for all of your encouragement and unending support you give me. Thank you Luke for training with me and thank you for even dropping me at times (attempting to chase you down has definitely made me a lot stronger).  Coach Christian - I couldn't do this without you!! Machine Star and Brant Hendler - joining Machine Star has been one of the best choices ever - you guys are awesome and I take pride in riding for such an great junior development team!  Thanks to Michigan Youth Cycling for giving me a lot of support.  Thank you to Dave Hicken, Martin Vecchio, and Rob Good for pushing me to the limits during training this year. Thank you Cullen for motor pacing me and letting me borrow wheels.  Thank you Bob Keller - the most awesome bike builder/ mechanic (http://bobkellerframeworks.com/)!!  xLast but not least, a big thank you to Dale Hughes for helping me get into the sport of cycling.
To everyone else who has done so much as to like a Facebook status or wish me luck - it is also greatly appreciated and makes me even more determined!

What's next?  Now I'm onto road nationals (racing the crit and TT in Wisconsin) and am going to then be working hard on the velodrome until I leave for Junior Worlds!

Update on My Life

Needless to say, these past few months of my life have been insanely busy!  By the way - people who say that JUNIOR year is the hardest year of high school are completely wrong.  Senior year has been the toughest, busiest year ever, but I’ve loved it :)
Seeing that I just passed a major milestone in my life, I wanted to update my blog and write about what has been happening in my life since I last blogged…

In 2013, I raced for Jet Cycling, a women’s junior development team based out of California.  California’s season is much earlier than that of Michigan, which meant that I got a lot of early season racing in. Some of the races that I got to do were San Dimas, Redlands Criterium, Valley of the Sun, Sea Otter, and the Tour de Murietta.

At one of the races, we had all of the team come and race which was a really great experience to be able to ride with such a big team.

I was also training hard back in Michigan. One of my favorite rides is the “D Ride,” ridden by the not-so-secret secret group called the D-linquents where we ride to Detroit and back (yeah I ride through Detroit. I guess you can say I’m pretty bad ass). I also rode a charity ride to Detroit, and was so cool because I’ve never seen a pace line that long before!! 

Before the school year ended, our marching band had the opportunity to march in a parade through Disney! It was so incredibly awesome to be able to lead the band (as a drum major) through Disney World (in Florida).

From L to R - Joe Pink, Maria, Me

I also went to junior prom (juniors only. Seniors have a separate prom).

Then was the big week - road nationals!  Unfortunately, I am no hill climber and the road race course was incredibly hilly this year.  My best event was the crit, where I got 4th place.

Crit.

Road race.

Crit Race.

Road race

As soon as road nationals were over, I had the most amazing week of my life.  I got the opportunity to train at the OTC (Olympic Training Center) in Colorado Springs. Yes. I repeat the OLYMPIC TRAINING CENTER! It was just a dream to walk down the hallways and think “oh my goshhhh all the American Olympians have walked down this hallway!!” Not only was it amazing to get to train there, I met some really awesome people and trained under the direction of some really awesome coaches (a big THANK YOU to Travis Smith and Brian Abers)!  The whole week was full of intense training, hard work, and learning, but also a lot of FOOD (the food at the OTC is the BEST!!), smiles, and laughs. 

When training at the OTC was over, we drove down to Trexlertown, PA to participate in the 2014 Track Cycling National Championships. Well. This was the best national championships ever. I’ve been chasing that stars and bars jersey for a few years, never been fast enough to get one.  However, this was my year.  Everything played out to my strengths and I ended up winning the match sprints and scratch race, going on to win the omnium. My team also won the team pursuit, and Emma Fickle (who lives in my home town) and I came 2nd in the team sprint!   It was also great to see my friends from the OTC getting great results at nationals - Dom Suozzi winning the men’s 15-16 national championship, and Edward Alex Horvet who podiumed in the 17-18 sprint, flying lap, and team sprint!

Our team pursuit.

Team pursuit team 

Me and Dom Suozzi - pretty cool that we both
went to the OTC camp and then got the stars and bars. 

Edward Alex Horvet, a good friend from the OTC camp

Emma Fickle and I. Both from the same town in MI. Team sprint partners. 

The omnium podium

After that, I attended the Tour de Rimouski, a junior’s international stage race in Quebec. Our team finished 2nd in the TTT.  This was one of the only times I've ever even done a TTT and we had a fast team! The most intense stage for me was the crit because I wanted the win so badly!! After an incredibly fast crit race with a climb in the course every lap, I actually ended up winning the stage.  I really liked having my brother at Rimouski this year, though. It was great to be able to race and then watch my brother have the same experience, too.

Me, my teammate Tori, and the Chicago Velo Campus boys (the team my brother rode for) 

Maddie Boutet from Alaska, Mille, me, Tori

In one of the stages, I actually got a call up because I just won track nationals.
Now THAT was really cool :)

The Crit race

The whole Jet team - members from Oklahoma, Missouri,
Canada, Mexico, California, Alaska, and Michigan

First time I've ever done the arm thing. SO glad I didn't fall haha

The season ended with some really fun races locally in Michigan.

August eventually rolled around and my senior year of high school started.  Which means… College apps, college apps, and more college apps.  If you ever would like to read an essay on the meaning of zero (University of Michigan’s app) or on my “favorite Bazinga moment” (Lehigh University) or on how I could “enrich the diverse and inclusive community of the University of Colorado Boulder, and accomplish [my] hopes and dreams there,” feel free to contact me!  Doing the IB program on top of that meant that academics this year were incredibly challenging. However, I definitely learned a lot and think it payed off in the end.

I did band camp in August and was excited to start a new marching band season with my two favorite Joes - Joe Isaac and Joe Greene! We definitely all bonded a lot over the course of the marching band season. 

Soon there was senior homecoming…

cyclocross season….

varsity ski team…

We also had our last band concert…

where I was presented the John Phillip Sousa award.

All the seniors. I'm in the middle

In the middle of all this, I also had to make an important decision - where I am going to go to college next year! I applied to 11 different colleges all over the US and narrowed it down in April to the University of Michigan, Furman University (which I really didn’t know much about), UCLA (Uni of California Los Angeles), and Marian University. However, my mind was soon made up after a visit to Furman University (SC) where I fell in love with the smaller school, beautiful campus, new but growing cycling team (under the direction of Coach Rusty Miller), incredible pre-med program, and great music program. It was a perfect match! 

Senior prom also came around which was by far the BEST dance I’ve ever been to!

Me and my brother Luke 

My bestie Tess, her date (my brother), me, and my date Joe Greene

Me and the Mullis men :)

Before I knew it, I graduated a valedictorian and was then an alumni!

This was the start to my summer, where I decided to finally make some money, too (seeing as I didn’t have online classes or the extended essay to write) and am now mainly tutoring calculus 1.

This season, I am riding for Andrie Machine Star, a junior development team out of Grand Rapids. We did some great races together, like Mount Pleasant and Glencoe (part of the NCC calendar and my first professional race). I upgraded to a cat 2 for this season.

Signing in for my first pro crit

I also raced as a cat 2 on the track in Indianapolis in the Midwest Challenge (part of the NTC calendar).  I gained a lot of experience riding with some of the fastest women on the track in the US.

So what am I up to now?

Well. I leave for the junior track cycling national championships tomorrow and race Wed - Sun. Then I fly back to MI an spend Monday at home and then leave on Tuesday for the road national championships (where I’ll be racing the TT and crit).  Updates will follow, but right now I’m going to be sprinting my butt off against the best junior women in the USA!