By Stephen Hall
While only three events remain in the World Series of Bicycling, this week marked the return of both the UCI events and some of track cycling’s biggest names to the Valley Preferred Cycling Centre. Not only were UCI points up for grabs in the men’s and women’s Sprint / Scratch Races but the WSBC: Golden Mile / Champions of Sprint event was also the penultimate race in the National Track Calendar (NTC) and one of the last opportunities to snag points towards the season long competition. Heading into Friday night I was still the number one ranked track endurance cyclist in the USA and eager to defend the prestigious title!
The week got off to it’s usual early start with my Monday morning coaching session however the weather turned with only a few kilometres remaining and I was absolutely drenched by the time I pulled into the velodrome. The session was cancelled for obvious reasons and I had a wet and miserable ride back home after a fruitless effort to wait out the rain in the bike shed. It’s the first time in about 3 months I’ve been rained on so I can’t complain although I was a little disappointed that the kids missed out on a session. A few weeks ago I did an article on the coaching sessions, you can read all about it here.
The rain continued for the next 36 hours but miraculously cleared in time for the Tuesday Fuji Pro-Am Series to go ahead. Another successful night of racing, 5-6 hours on Wednesday and some madison training on Thursday afternoon with my partner Pat Jones served as the perfect preparation heading into a big weekend of racing. Besides the World Series of Bicycling UCI event on Friday there was also the inaugural Ambler Criterium the following afternoon to contest.
Fuji Pro-Am Series
To shake up the Tuesday night series a few of the racers came up with the idea to scrap the formal program for once and instead pull races from a hat (or helmet) on the night. The idea turned to a reality very quickly and the Pro Men took to the staging area with no idea what to expect for each race nor whether they had made a huge mistake in gear selection. The first race out of the hat was the old and sometimes forgotten “Win & Out.” Definitely one of the shorter races on the program the race was fast but brief and the cob webs were well and truly blown out by the time Pat Jones took the win, Nothstein 2nd while I grovelled over the line for 3rd.
Next up was a Super Sprint Elimination. The field wasn’t huge so once half the field was eliminated it became a six up derby with 5 laps remaining. I managed to take the win ahead of Jones and Nothstein and put some points towards the omnium total. The always brutal 12 lap Tempo Points followed where Pat and I had a good battle, in the final I did just enough to ensure the victory (literally by a single point) and put us on equal omnium points heading into the final event; the 5mile Scratch.
A few primes thrown into the 25 lap race as well as the invited Stagaires made for an exciting final event. A few late moves were reeled in as we hit the bell lap and I had enough speed to hold off my rivals and take my third win for the evening. The 5 mile victory also gave me a 2 point buffer over Pat to take another Omnium title in the Fuji Pro Am Series.
PRO MEN RESULTS
Win & Out
1st Patrick Jones (NZL)
2nd Tyler Nothstein (USA)
3rd Stephen Hall (AUS)
Super Sprint Elimination
1st Stephen Hall (AUS)
2nd Patrick Jones (NZL)
3rd Tyler Nothstein (USA)
Tempo Points
1st Stephen Hall (AUS)
2nd Patrick Jones (NZL)
3rd Shane Kline (USA)
5mile Scratch
1st Stephen Hall (AUS)
2nd Patrick Jones (NZL)
3rd Shane Kline (USA)
Omnium
1st Stephen Hall (AUS)
2nd Patrick Jones (NZL)
3rd Tyler Nothstein (USA)
World Series of Bicycling: Champions of Sprint / Golden Wheelrace (UCI)
I arrived at the track fairly early Friday afternoon, riding the 20-25km into the velodrome with Pat. After being here in the USA for almost 3 months now I’ve found I race best with a decent warm up and riding to the track has seemed to work pretty well for me so far. As they say; if it ain’t broke.. I decided on a gear, gave my bike a bit of a clean, pinned my numbers and jumped on the track to continue my warm up. A new track record had fallen a few hours earlier when Nijsane Phillip from Trinidad & Tobago broke Eddie Dawkins one week old record in the flying 200m by 0.01 of a second.
The track definitely felt fast so I threw on a pretty heavy gear for the first race of the evening; the UCI 15km Scratch Race. With the sprint qualifying and rounds running earlier that day a few of the New Zealand sprinters who didn’t make it through to the semi finals decided to contest the Scratch Race which had both UCI and NTC points for the top 10 placings. Having such high calibre sprinters in the race totally changes the dynamics and I had to alter my race tactics as soon as I saw the riders who took to the railing. It became clear that unless the endurance riders were able to shed the field of the super fast finishers we would all be racing for 5th. I had to use my energy several times throughout the race to ensure this but I managed to thin the field to all but one of the NZ sprint team (Ben Stewart). In the finale I rode a tactically sound race and the one NZL sprinter left in the race ended up giving me a perfect lead out. Stepping out down the back straight I was able to launch my sprint and get a clear run at the finish line.
The victory in the UCI race became my third for the season and also the third in a row after winning the 15km Scratch Race and 30km Points Race in Colorado Springs only a month earlier. I was thrilled with the victory which also ensured my lead in the NTC rankings is unbeatable with only one race remaining in the series. Regardless of next week’s result I will be crowned the best ranked track endurance rider in the USA at the conclusion of the season! The two remaining events left on the program were the Super Sprint Elimination and the 2000m Golden Wheelrace. My Super Elimination was forgettable getting caught underneath early which was frustrating. However I bounced back in the final event of the evening with a 2nd place in the Wheelrace only just getting overtaken with 20m left in the bike race by one of the 2014 World Team Sprint Champions; Sam Webster.
The Champions of Sprint event was the last race night for most of the New Zealand Sprint team as they will instead return home to prepare for the Oceania Track Championships in October. Most of the guys went out for dinner the sports bar 1760 and I had a drink or two to celebrate before calling it a night and heading home with a criterium to race the following day.
PRO MEN RESULTS
UCI 15km Scratch Race
1st Stephen Hall (AUS)
2nd Tyler Nothstein (USA)
3rd Zac Kolvacik (USA)
Super Sprint Elimination
1st Sam Webster (NZL)
2nd Simon Van Velthooven (NZL)
3rd Shane Kline (USA)
UCI Sprint
1st Jair Tjon En Fa (SUR)
2nd Nijsane Phillip (TRI) **New 200m Track Record 10.211**
3rd Zac Williams (NZL)
Golden 2000m Wheelrace
1st Sam Webster (NZL)
2nd Stephen Hall (AUS)
3rd Jeremy (Presbury)
* * *
Ambler Criterium
I met up with Pat around 11.30 Saturday morning to ride to the velodrome to meet Tyler. We loaded up the car and put the bikes on the roof before driving 60-70km to Ambler. It was a beautiful sunny day (I dare so too hot) and after a bit of food we found the registration desk, grabbed our numbers then headed back to the car to kit up. I managed to get a few laps of the course in beforehand. A very flowing 5 corner 1.1 mile course through down town, most of the corners were straight forward with clean exits, the last coming 150-200m with a gradual uphill to the line.
Once the race started it seemed to be somewhat of a stale mate either due to the weather or because everyone was content on marking one or two riders. Pat took the race by the scruff of the neck and decided he would make his own luck and took off solo. He built a big gap quickly and the peloton seemed reluctant to initiate a chase. I train with Pat almost everyday and knew that he was on some good form heading in. Down the back straight I made a move to go across but suddenly realised my back wheel had punctured. I managed to wobble my way over to the neutral spares and get a replacement rear from the Specialized tent. My lap out had come at bad timing however as Bobby Lea and a rider from the Breakaway team had broke away from the peloton and were pursuing Pat.
Breakaway had the biggest contingent in the race by far so I knew there would be very little impetus in the bunch to chase. Once I rejoined the field I tried several times in vain to get a chase group formed before the three riders out front joined up. In the end I had to concede that Breakaway would mark every move and recruited the help from my friend Michael Chauner in forming a group of 7-8 guys. It took a good 20-30min to get into a rhythm with Breakaway interrupting the chase and being a general nuisance. Constant time checks each lap from both spectators and the commentator let us know that we were gradually etching away at the trios advantage. Suddenly it came over the microphone that Pat had dropped his breakaway companions and had succeeded in lapping the field.
By this stage the chase group really needed to get a wriggle on because if Pat was able to convince the peloton to help him he would have had more than enough fresh legs in the main bunch to keep us at bay. The chase group caught the two dropped riders and kept motoring past until we finally reached the peloton. Not content to give anyone reprieve Chauner attacked almost immediately and I followed with a few others to once again take off down the road. Pat was spent after his huge amount of work and was unable to respond. The group of 7-8 became the lead group on the road but with four Breakaway riders in the move it was going to be a tough ask. A lack of cohesion in the team played in to mine and Chauners favour as we were able to slip away with two others just before bell lap and head into the final few kilometres with only one Breakaway rider for company.
With only a few corners remaining the Breakaway rider attempted to get the jump but either dropped his chain, pulled his foot, or all of the above as he came heavily unstuck and wiped himself out. In the carnage Chauner went early and was countered by Ferreira, I managed to sneak up the inside into the final corner and had clear road ahead of me as I charged for the line and took the victory. The win capped off an amazing two days of racing and was proud to take the win it what will most likely be my last race on the road before returning to Australia. I kept the momentum going with the Darby bunch ride and about 4-5 hours total on Sunday before scoring front row tickets to see Alice in Chains play a concert in Bethlehem, A few cheeky drinks followed in a nearby dive bar and the rest is history.
Thanks for reading,
Stephen x
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blog: thevelodiaries.blogspot.com
