Race Report - US Olympic Trials (April 26, 2000)
I apologize in advance that this report isn't strictly a race
report. It's the first night of the EDS "Olympic Trials"
event here in Frisco, Texas, and I fear I may have gotten a
little carried away.
Frisco, just north of Plano. What is it about this place?
Every time I come here I see six new malls being built and
a staggering number of apartment complexes, townhouses,
housing tracts, and other residential structures covering
the otherwise featureless landscape like some sort of fungus.
The fungus of humanity. The fungus of every couple in their
early 30's with a two year old girl and a 6 month old boy
moving to Dallas because of two nice shiny new jobs at
MegaCorp, a mansion of a house for just $225,000, and more
places to buy shit than you can possibly imagine. Unless
you live there now.
I suppose I should be thankful. If high tech jobs weren't
so plentiful, if housing weren't so cheap, all of these
people would be living in the Bay Area, which is where I
live. And it's bad enough there already. No, it's as if
some inexorable, godlike force decided a few years ago
that Everyone should come to Plano to raise their kids.
And here they are.
April is an odd time to be going full blast on the track,
and it seems doubly odd to be having the "Olympic Trials"
nearly five months before the Olympics themselves. Triply
odd, given that there is not a single event here in which
the winner is awarded a spot on the Olympic team. Somehow
it seemed so much better back in '96 at T-Town. There was
really something on the line then. Here, it's more like
there's a pool of athletes who already know they've got
some sort of shot at going to the Olympics, but nobody
really knows for sure what they have to do to make the
"short team". Or if they do, they're not letting on.
Long team, short team, schlong team.
And then there are the rest of us. Jackasses like me,
who know we're not going to the Olympics, who furthermore
know that this isn't an "Olympic Trials" in the sense that
the public perceives it to be, and who last of all have
no choice but to tell our friends that we're "going to the
Olympic Trials" this week in Dallas. Good luck, they say.
I hope you make the team. I'll be rooting for you. I'll
look for you on the TV. We nod our heads appreciatively
and try not to make the conversation last any longer.
Afterwards, we feel guilty. If only they knew.
Or maybe it's just me. Maybe every single rider here
(besides me) really believes they've got a shot at Sydney
and this is the Real Olympic Trials and all that. And
maybe I'm the only jackass in this town.
Quick interjection: As I was sitting here in my polo
shirt and jeans trying to look like the Athlete on his
Night Off, a swarm of ten year old girls wearing blue
t-shirts and green shorts covered the infield and started
doing some sort of cheerleader routine accompanied by
various snippets of popular contemporary dance songs.
At first I was mildly amused, perhaps a little confused,
but then they started doing backward somersaults, and in
some cases, outright backflips (the kind where your hands
don't touch the ground). We all sat there in total shock.
I had no idea there were this many ten year old girls
who could do backflips. I can't do a backflip and
I never could. What do they feed these children?
Suddenly I wonder if they've really got it right here
in Plano, Texas. Provide your children with an endless
supply of shopping plazas and housing tracts, and they
will grow strong and make you proud. Come to think of
it, don't Lance Armstrong and Chann McRae come from Plano?
This is the Land of the Well Fed. I'll bet all these kids
drink milk. I'll bet they have strong bones and never get
sick.
The ten year old girls finish their routine and vanish
as quickly as they appeared. And now the men's kilo gets
underway.
By the way, women's pursuit qualifying:
1. Megan Troxell 3:47
2. Karen Kurreck 3:48
3. Maria Calle 3:51
4. Erin Veenstra-Mirabella 3:51
5. Sandra Smith 3:52
6. Mandy Poitras 3:52
7. Erin Carter 3:53
8. Angela Vargas 3:55
9. Andrea Hannos 4:01
10. Karen Dunne 4:02
11. Terry Ann Roach 4:03
12. Stephanie Hannos 4:03
13. Ashley Kimmet 4:06
14. Claire Olsen 4:10
15. Annette Hanson 4:11
16. Laura Suditu 4:17
17. Christi Simmons 4:27
18. Anne Marie Love 4:29
Women's pursuit finals (non-eligible athletes eliminated):
1. Kurreck 3:47 over 2. Troxell 3:50
3. Veenstra-Mirabella 3:50 over 4. Vargas 3:55
It's ten past 10 pm and the kilo is well underway. The
matchup everyone's been anticipating is the ride between
Sky Christopherson and Jonas Carney. Of course, they're
at opposite ends of the heat schedule - Sky having gone
in the first heat, riding a 1:05.044, and Jonas going in
the final heat. There are around 20 heats, two-up. At
first they were going to run them one-up, but at some
point before the actual event it became clear to the
officials that we'd be here for a long, long time if
that were the case. So a half hour before the event they
changed the schedule and made it two-up heats. Some of
the kilo riders were probably less than enthused about
that new development.
Oops, my battery is at 10% of capacity. Quickly, before
it runs out:
Men's Kilo (top 3 only, sorry):
1. Sky Christopherson 1:05.044
2. Doug Baron 1:05.761
3. Jonas Carney 1:06.1xx
I'll post more kilo results tomorrow afternoon. Right now
I have to commence preparations for the pursuit, so I'd
better fire this one off before I forget about it or decide
to delete it.
I remain,
Dave Bailey
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