Race Report - US Olympic Trials Madison (May 1, 2000)

The madison is a race I fear, loathe, and really want to 
learn how to do right.  I'm not an especially good madison
rider (there aren't that many in the US), but doing the 
madisons at these EDS cups, and at T-Town last year, has
been very educational.

Goddamnit.  I'm riding with Kent Bostick and he's forty
times faster than me and old enough to be my father.  This
sucks.  But it's pretty cool, too, because now I get to 
say I've ridden a madison with Kent Bostick - only problem
is, since he's on Shaklee, we'll have to do some sort of
teamwork-type thingie, and I haven't done that kind of 
thing in a long time - usually I can just QUIT and bawl
like a mewling infant if things aren't going precisely
my way.  So this time I can't be a baby.  This time I have
to Do My Job and show Kent that I'm a man.  

(insert 20 minutes of me stressing out about the race here)

(talk some more about how Kent is old and stuff)

I notice there's a pretty big crowd here tonight.  Lots of 
people in the stands, lots of athletes who've stuck around
to watch the last race.  The madison is really fun to watch
even at this level, I can only imagine how beautiful a race
it must be where they have deep, experienced fields that 
really know how to ride these things.  Here we have only
8 teams and the variation in experience between the teams
is considerable.  

Now I'm absolutely freaked because they're calling us to the
line and I already want to be shot so I don't have to 
anticipate the race any longer.  Instructions.  They take
forever and still somehow nobody knows what's going on.
The relief riders roll off but then decide that they are
in fact the pack, while the rest of us (the starters, still
at the rail) sit there in total confusion, finally rolling 
off hesitantly.  I get to the front and see the referee
pointing to me, which means we're the pack and the other
guys are relief.  So we start racing.  

Earlier in the infield it had been decided that Kent and I
were supposed to be aggressive and make the Mike Tillman /
Jeff Hopkins team (and the Erin Hartwell / Ryan Miller team)
do as much work as possible to chase.  Jame Carney, riding
with Adam Laurent, considered the main threat to be Tillman
and Hopkins because Tillman is riding well right now and
is good at madisons, and Hopkins is almost as fast of a
sprinter as Jame and is from Australia and everybody knows
Australians are good.  We figured Hartwell and Miller were
a threat if Ryan rode well and the two of them were efficient
about their exchanges, but Jame figured they'd waste a little
too much energy there and end up suffering at the end of
the competition as a result.  Cumulative effects become
really pronounced in madisons becuase of the intensity of
the efforts you have to repeat constantly.  Once you push
yourself over the edge, it's really difficult to cross back
unless you make your partner do some double pulls, which 
might put him in jeopardy.  So you have to be careful and
every little bit counts.  

Chris Carlson decided to ride it with Will Short, who I 
don't know.  I know Carlson is good but I only had a vague
"he's probably a good road rider" feeling about Will Short.
So they were kind of an unknown.  Dan Larson paired up with
Kit Kyle (Kit Kyle usually rides these things with Clark
Sheehan but Clark wasn't here), and our man Ryan Crissey 
rode with his teammate Dory Selinger.  The eighth team 
was Ryan Sagba and Greg Germer.  I was warned by several
people to stay away from Germer, who I've never met, because
apparently he's sketchy on the track.  I actually never
noticed anything unusual from their team during the race,
although part of the explanation for that might be that
they spent most of the time out there on their own (some
of the teams finished multiple laps down).

I get a dollar from each of you reading this because I 
remembered everybody's name.  Send it to:

  Dave Bailey Save the Buttface Fund
  c/o David Michael Anthony
  P. O. Box 34534
  Swindler, PA 22894-4534

Back to the race, OK?  Don't make me feel like I have to
do straight-up reporting like this ever again.  

So yeah.  Kent and I had to be aggressive.  The way it was
worded was more like "YOU GUYS HAVE TO GO FROM THE GUUUUUUN"
(words spoken by a maniacally gesticulating Jame Carney).
I felt a hole where my stomach should have been.

We ride into it.  It's 30K (120 laps), sprints every 5K
(20 laps).  So there are only 6 sprints.  Before the first
sprint a couple of teams are already in trouble and the
rubber band is being stretched some (but not excessively).
It stretches some more during the bell lap, and then 
comes back together missing a couple pieces.  I'm in
some pain but surviving so far.  The laps go by quickly
although a couple of riders go down - Will Short stacks
it somewhere, I don't know where or why, and Ryan Miller
slides all the way from the top of the 44 degree banking
to the bottom while riding too slowly on relief.  It's
a long way to slide - two or three stories.  But he's
ok.  Jame and Adam are winning the sprints over Mike
and Jeff.  Kent and I squeak in there for 4th a couple
of times but I'm not quite on top of my gear.  For me
when I'm sprinting well on the track, my top end feels
like I'm actually running, not riding.  Don't ask me why,
it just does.  When I'm not quite there, I can feel the
effort of pedalling and I can feel the strain of the 
cadence, the banking and surface of the track, the
centripetal acceleration if it's a tight turn radius,
and the muscular effort.  But sometimes, like occasionally
late last season and also during my points race heat
the other day, everything clicks and I can sprint full
tilt and feel nothing but the sensation that I am in some
sort of dream running as fast as I can.  I say dream 
because in real life if I ran as fast as I could it would
be difficult.  In this dreamlike state, there is no 
sensation of effort or pain.  I don't feel the track,
I merely see it going by, sometimes curved, sometimes
straight.  I don't feel myself trying to accelerate,
I simply notice it happening.  It's a really beautiful
feeling and I've only had it maybe five times in my 
career.  I can only wonder how much fun it must be to
be a great sprinter and be able to ride like that all
the time.  My top end isn't the best out there but when
it's on full blast, I can hold my own against any of
the endurance guys except Jame, who makes us all look
slow.  

Anyway, it's not there tonight.  I sure as hell feel 
myself trying to accelerate and all that crap.  And to
make matters worse, it's halfway through the race and
Kent is starting to work everybody over.  What this means
is he attacks, gets a gap, throws me in, I pant and
suffer pathetically in the wind for a couple of laps,
the field slowly catches me, and then I throw Kent back
in and he attacks again.  I'm being pounded into the
ground here.  I mean, this really hurts.  I'm riding
around the apron on relief and it seems like barely
an instant flashes by when the pack is starting to come
around again - and Oh, who's that off the front?  That's
my partner, oh, shit, oh, crap, how can he keep doing this
to me?  I'm almost crying now.  There are 40 laps to go.
Jame and Adam have won every sprint but one and they have
a good lead.  At around this point in the race (I don't
remember exactly when, but it was towards the end), Erin
Hartwell bails out because of either a crash or a 
mechanical.  Ryan ends up riding the rest of the race
on his own and of course loses a lap (it's much too
hard for one person to stay with the leaders for very
long).  Kent keeps attacking and Mike Tillman is forced
to chase, which benefits Jame and Adam.  Finally at some
point I manage to launch an attack over the top, which
feels good because at least I'm not just a helpless 
child out there in way over his head.  Although I sort
of am.  

Somewhere in there Jame and Jeff Hopkins and I are off
the front with a good gap.  I'd like us to keep this going
because if we gain a lap, Kent and I can get 3rd.  
Unfortunately it doesn't work out and we get caught before
too long.

20 laps to go.  I can't sprint at all because we're going
so hard so often.  Practically every time I come around the
home straight, the referee Andy Taus is pointing to me as
the leader on the track because Kent attacked and threw me
in off the front.  The other teams get to sit behind Jame/Adam, 
who sit behind Tillman/Hopkins.  We get caught before every 
sprint lap and a couple of those other teams take points from 
us in sprints 3, 4, and 5.  But after every sprint we're off 
on the attack again and it just never ends.  

13 laps to go.  They fly by now.  I can feel everyone 
starting to tire.  The race should be 10 km longer, then
we'd really see some fireworks.  I can't believe this is
actually working, but it is.  I think my low point was at
53 laps to go when I looked up and had some trouble focusing
on the lap cards.  But in the 40 laps since then, Kent has
attacked roughly 8 times - every single time he got thrown
in, and I've managed not to quit the race, and I'm not getting
weaker any more.  It takes a little longer for us to get caught
and nobody can counterattack worth a damn at this point.

4 laps to go and I get thrown in by Kent.  Jame's on my wheel
and I know I have to keep it going so he doesn't lose his 
position.  I wind it up as best I can and with 2 to go give a
final burst of speed, my last gasp, as it were, and throw Kent
in to lead out Jame for the finish.  Jame wins the final sprint
and he and Adam win the race over Tillman and Hopkins.  Chris
Carlson and Will Short get 3rd, Dan Larson and Kit Kyle get 4th.
Kent and I get 5th, our sacrificial role showing somewhat.  
Hartwell and Miller are 6th, down a lap.  The other two teams
are down multiple laps.

It's finally over.  I don't have to try any more.  All I have
to do is pack up my bikes and drag myself back to San Francisco.
Now I can sit here and make grand plans for the summer.  Who
knows what will become of these grand plans, but I'd better
hurry up and make them while motivation is high.  Hey, Olympic
trials turned out to be pretty fun for me.  I had a bad day
in there (Friday), so I've got plenty to work on, but Saturday's
madison was pretty inspiring for me and I think the season will
turn out OK.

Dave Bailey