Nationals! What a ride
that was! After the problems of spraining my ankle
less than a week out from racing my nationals was amazing.
It all started the
first day with the kilo, probably my favorite event just because of
the sheer brutality of it. I was off in the last heat and in the
front straight. My start wasn’t the greatest as my rear wheel spun at the start which took away my momentum meaning that the first
pedal stoke was almost useless. I quickly regrouped though and was
soon going all out. Its funny because when I’m racing I never hear
anything, the crowd, my coach, nothing, but the one thing I heard the
entire ride was the commentator saying “he’s flying, he’s
absolutely flying!” this gave me that little bit
extra that I needed to be able to give it that little extra to push
on. I blew to bits on the last lap, going through the last corner I
was starting to see 3 black lines and my legs were shutting down. But
I was able to hold on just enough to secure the bronze medal and a new PB of 1.04.607 minutes.
 |
| My coach Murray any myself after my win in the sprints |
The next day was
keirin day. It started off well, I won my heat and progressed
straight into the semi where I had the dream run off second wheel and
won the semi. The final however was a different matter, I became
stuck on the outside with two laps to go and it was all over from
there. I managed to fight on to a 4th
place, but it was gut wrenching to know that I had the speed to win it
and to get one spot off the podium gave me motivation for the
following day.
That following day
was sprints day. I qualified second with a 10.767 second 200 meter time
trial. My first round ride was good; I controlled the race and was
able to win the race comfortably. That night in the semi I had to
verse my team mate Quinn form the youth Olympics, I rode both races
from the front and rode it to my strengths. I managed to make it
through to the gold medal ride in two rides against Quinn, but they
were extremely close rides. The final I had Jem another team mate
from the Youth Olympics. The first ride I knew that I could get him
if I forced him into a mistake which is what I did. Coming through to
the bell I let Jem try and push me up to the fence but at the same
time I slowed down the pace just enough to be able to get an opening
underneath him but without him realizing it and it worked. I shot
underneath him and bet him to the bell and ultimately won that ride.
The second ride was similar from the first
with Jem taking the front and me in 2nd
wheel, as we exited the back straight on the 2nd
lap I tried to draw Jem up the track and as he came up I dove
underneath him and opened up the sprint. I just edged him out in a
close finish but it was enough for me to win the 2nd
ride and the title. This was my first national title on the track and
I was over the moon with it.
 |
| Me making the decisive move in the first round of the gold medal ride in the sprints |
The final day of the
national champs saw me line up in the team sprint. I rode from second
wheel and after a number of false starts and crashes in our heat we
finally got our team sprint away and qualified fastest with a 47.955 second team sprint. That night in the final we rode off against
Tasman we won the final and bettered our time to 47.520 seconds. With
that I had my second title of the nationals.
I returned home to
the week after racing the Auckland champs for a bit of fun, I walked
away with 3 gold’s from 3 events, the kilo, keirin and the sprint
which I was stoked with.
I have to say a huge
thank you to my coach Murray for getting me into some amazing form for the
nationals; I couldn’t have done it without him. Also thank you to
two guys who helped me out massively at nationals by taking the time
out on race days to give me advice and tactics that ultimately helped
me to win the national title in the sprints. Those two guys are Ethan
Mitchell and Sam Webster
 |
| Going around the final banking going full noise in the gold medal ride of the sprints |
I now have a few
days left off the bike before I start
back into some serious training. My next event will hopefully be the
junior worlds in August, but I have to wait for a nervous couple of
weeks to find out if I’m going.