Masters Track Nationals

By Thomas Valentine, Team MOTOR TABS
Colorado Springs, Colo. (August 23, 2009) – The 2009 USA Cycling Masters Track National Championships are officially in the books as 13 final national titles were awarded in the team sprint, team time trials, and Madison events. The Eddie Boyz squad won the first event of the final session with Vic McQuaide (San Diego, Calif.), Antony Galvan (Los Angeles, Calif.), and TC Valentine (Irvine, Calif.) beating out the Northbrook Velodrome team of Jason Garner (Glenview, ill.), Jeffrey Whiteman (Chicago, Ill.), and Kevin Perez (Barrington, ill.) for the win in the men’s 30+ team sprint.

With the fastest team sprint time of 1:05:01, since 2005, it was a memorbale victory. The previous day was Match Sprint where I qualified 9th. I went on to win the final B 9-12th. It was really a good warm-up for Sunday. That afternoon, we took a nap and had a pre-race meeting with our coach Eddie B. What I like about being coached by Eddie B. is that he treats us exactly like his national and Olympic team riders. He preparation is tactically perfect and he has the most experience. We discussed everything form the gears, warm-up, tire pressure, clothing options, starts, exchanges and mental preparation. Working as a team, each ride must make an individual contribution of epic preparation in order to win a national championship. Never did I think about a result only about a peak performance. In fact, all year long we have been preparing working toward winning a national championship.

My twins were born in October the week of Elite Nationals so I missed that event. Then I took five months off the bike and went to SHAPE UP FITNESS. I hooked up with Giddeon Massie in April, 09 and my official track sprinting partner. G, is a two time Olympian and 10 US National Champion. This really helped me understand how hard I must work, how specific I must train, and how I must do what is best for my performance in order to win championships. Also, I am an unofficial team member of the Polish Olympic team. I regularly speak to my cohorts and discuss training methodology. Now, I do what they do and ride the same gears and the UCI World Cup riders.

Our sprint team is made up of the fastest riders in the country. This year we rode four team sprints, had four PR's, two state championships, one LA Velodrome elite qualifier and one national championship. So, we have been on target for a big win.

On race day, it was business as usual. Because we have trained so hard, so specifically and so intensely I felt exactly right on the day. In warm-up, I told Eddie B. that my gear selection felt too big. He said, "In championship you can do or you can not do. Do it man"! That was all I needed to here. The 1-10 count down came off and I don't remember anything except Vic dropping me a bit on the start. Once the gear kicked in and I got on top of it at 140 rpm, the rev rate came up and I have excellent burn time. I turned a 19.8 which is as fast as the UCI World Cup times. We crossed the line and I new we went super fast. I did not expect to ride the fastest time since 2005. The in itself was our most memorable accomplishment.

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