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After spending a few days in Colorado Springs living the good life (training on the track, eating healthy, relaxing, and sleeping), today was my first day of racing. The main goal for my trip to Master Track Nationals was the 3k Individual Pursuit, but I decided to race the Kilo the day before that event to get the legs going.

I woke up at 5am (about 4hrs before my race start time) to get some food down and make sure that my body is fully awake by the time I hit the track. By 730am I was at the 7-Eleven Velodrome, allowing me plenty time to get in a good 40-45min warm up devised by Jeff Pierce. I've never really done a set warm up, but figured I should trust the advice of a Tour stage winner and his pro cyclist wife.

Just before 9am I got off the trainer, switched over the wheels to dual Zipp discs (Thanks to Greg H. for letting me borrow his rear disc, aka "Da Rooster")... The wind seemed minimal, hence the decision to rock out a front disc on an outdoor track.

The 35-39 group before me took a little longer after one guy fell over during his start... I got in a few laps of the infield, a quick bike measurement (had to do the morphological test as my saddle was 1cm ahead of where the rules would like it to be), then lined up on the back straight.

15sec... 10sec... a 5-sec countdown, then GO! As soon as I hit the first turn my thought was "oh shit, why the F did I choose to run a front disc". I spent the next 1min 11sec fighting with the bike more than putting out power = FAIL.

That miserable ride was enough to get me my first medal at a US National Championship event - Bronze. As this was just my warm-up event, and I'm a rider coming from Hawaii with no home track to train on, plus I'm about half the size of the guy that won, I'll be happy to take the bronze back to O'ahu.

US Master Track Nationals - 30-34 Kilo Podium (l-r) 2nd (Jonathan Fraley), 1st (Randy McLain), 3rd (Mike Zagorski)

The first piece of booty (Bronze) to take back to Hawaii.

Tomorrow is the main event for me... The 3k Pursuit. Plan #1 is to NOT run a front disc. Plan #2 is to upgrade to a different color of medal, and one that hopefully comes with a nice jersey!


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Welcome This is the blog of Hawaii-based Scottish cyclist, Mike Zagorski. Recent Entries The long and short of fit... Once in a lifetime! From Chubby to Fast! K-Edge 3 interesting days Race Results 2010 Season 2009 Season 2008 Season 2007 Season 2006 Season Race Reports Kauai Stage Race - TT Hawaii State Road Race Hawaii State Criterium Hawaii State TT Pre HNL Triathlon TT Subscribe Subscribe to this blog's feed [What is this?]	Random Quote "It's a sport, but the bottom line is money. The bikes are lighter, but not that much so. Sure, the training has been refined but there's no substitute for doing the miles. - Ken Laidlaw - First Scottish cyclist to race the Tour de France." « Bye HNL, Hello COS \| Main \| US Master Track Nats - Pursuit » US Master Track Nats - Kilo After spending a few days in Colorado Springs living the good life (training on the track, eating healthy, relaxing, and sleeping), today was my first day of racing. The main goal for my trip to Master Track Nationals was the 3k Individual Pursuit, but I decided to race the Kilo the day before that event to get the legs going. I woke up at 5am (about 4hrs before my race start time) to get some food down and make sure that my body is fully awake by the time I hit the track. By 730am I was at the 7-Eleven Velodrome, allowing me plenty time to get in a good 40-45min warm up devised by Jeff Pierce. I've never really done a set warm up, but figured I should trust the advice of a Tour stage winner and his pro cyclist wife. Just before 9am I got off the trainer, switched over the wheels to dual Zipp discs (Thanks to Greg H. for letting me borrow his rear disc, aka "Da Rooster")... The wind seemed minimal, hence the decision to rock out a front disc on an outdoor track. The 35-39 group before me took a little longer after one guy fell over during his start... I got in a few laps of the infield, a quick bike measurement (had to do the morphological test as my saddle was 1cm ahead of where the rules would like it to be), then lined up on the back straight. 15sec... 10sec... a 5-sec countdown, then GO! As soon as I hit the first turn my thought was "oh shit, why the F did I choose to run a front disc". I spent the next 1min 11sec fighting with the bike more than putting out power = FAIL. That miserable ride was enough to get me my first medal at a US National Championship event - Bronze. As this was just my warm-up event, and I'm a rider coming from Hawaii with no home track to train on, plus I'm about half the size of the guy that won, I'll be happy to take the bronze back to O'ahu. US Master Track Nationals - 30-34 Kilo Podium (l-r) 2nd (Jonathan Fraley), 1st (Randy McLain), 3rd (Mike Zagorski) The first piece of booty (Bronze) to take back to Hawaii. Tomorrow is the main event for me... The 3k Pursuit. Plan #1 is to NOT run a front disc. Plan #2 is to upgrade to a different color of medal, and one that hopefully comes with a nice jersey! Posted by mzagorski on August 18, 2009 3:01 PM \| Permalink Post a comment (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) Name: Email Address: URL: Remember personal info? Comments:	Sponsors
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US Master Track Nats - Kilo

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