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Tough at the Track

January 9, 2007 on 5:35 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

My roommate in college, Simon, was a Brit through and through.  We’d be headed out to a race out of town, and on the long car trips to go do battle with the NorCal hardman cycling brigades, he’d regal us with stories of Euro-racing as a youth.

in truth, Simon was a true roadie and northern hardman. He would descend in bicycle races with his hands tucked behind his seat and his chin at the bars. Can you imagine going downhill at 40+mph with nothing but your face first? It would scare the crap out of his competitors.

When I first started racing track at Morley Field, I was a softie. It was scary having one gear and going head-to-head that close. Sure, I was a solid criterium racer, which is a rough and tumble street race, but the track was a different ballgame. One gear, no brakes, all guts.

Before I would head out to a difficult task whether it was a wild night out, or another gut check kind of experience , Simon would always ask me one simple question: “are you tough at the track?” It was his polite way of saying pull up your skirt nancyboy and get the job done and reassuring me I could make it happen. Due to some hard work and support from guys like Simon, I got a podium placing at virtually every event that year.

And,  I found if you can master the track with all the elbow scraping, wheel bumping, cursing and yelling, you actually start to enjoy it. A lot.

Well, is 2007 your year of being tough at the track? It is for me and I hope it is for you.