A contingent of New Yorkers went to Indianapolis the week of August 23rd to attend the Masters National Track Championships, racking up some impressive results. Here’s three of their accounts:

John Campo

@##=#<2,L>@##=#Week long events are always hard and track events are especially disconcerting because of all the down time one has to endure in-between events. It is for that reason I do all and every event on the calendar. I have become a good points racer in the last few years but this year I got 5th in the sprints – I guess I’m a sprinter now?

It certainly was a treat to be on the podium after doing this event since its inception in 1986. And having Harvey Nitz a homeboy from the Kissena track put the medal around my neck was a treat. You might not believe it, but if you think old man nationals is easy come on out and try it yourself. It is the most mentally and physically challenging event one could possibly do. I guess just the thought of wearing the stars and stripes puts one in a kind of trance, and that featherheadedness can stand in the way of many a dream. Consequently there is a neighboring feeling of respect one get from wearing the jersey which makes one want to return and defend their place in time and it all becomes habit forming.

Ferdie Sharf broke away in his points race and got silver. His wife Emily took these pictures. Bob Clifford got robbed on his points race after doing the lions share of the work and got bronze. Next year I’m in Bobby’s age group and together we will have a better chance for stars and stripes. Teamwork always pays in any event. In my points race Bike Station out of T Town dominated the race and although I got points it wasn’t enough to get me on the podium. Sometimes you need a little luck. I was happy with sixth over all in the team events and mass starts. The time trials I don’t take seriously so 11th or 12th is fine. I can’t see spending a couple of thousand dollars for equipment to gain two places in the standings although someone gave me a helmet and covers this year. Maybe I’ll practice it next year?

Campocat

(John’s team Phantom also placed 6th in the team sprint and team pursuit.)

Bob Clifford

@##=#<1,r>@##=#You don’t have to be a trackie to do the Nationals. Besides, many of the events are only held at the Nationals, so you never get to practice them anyways. I hadn’t ridden on the track in 3 or 4 years.

The nationals were held at the Major Taylor Velodrome, a beautiful concrete track 330 meters long. My best result came in the 2000 meter pursuit (60-64 age group), which is essentially a short TT. It might sound like a short mindless race, but in reality it’s incredibly technical. You have to hug the inside line as closely as possible to save every millisecond, which is harder than it sounds. Even experienced trackies were having problems in practice. I used a 53×15, or 95 gear inches. Ideally you’d have a coach alongside to help you pace yourself for the six lap effort, but I wasn’t sure what that pace would be. I guessed that I’d do around 2:40, and I got a friend’s coach to help me with pacing.

I just got a new Cervelo P3 Carbon, which I’m really excited about. I’m looking forward to using it as a road, TT, and track bike. The Cervelo has horizontal dropouts so you can use it as a track bike. The drops aren’t as long as track ends, but with a half link you can make any gearing work. Unfortunately I had some seat slippage problems, but I was able to cobble together a quick fix.

Larry Bosch is usually ahead of me in this event, but he was a little dinged up this year, so I thought I had a chance to win. I was one of the earlier starters, which meant I had no target times to shoot for. I just hoped 2:40 would be good enough to win. I ended up going out a little too hard and paying for it later, coming in at 2:41.2, a 27.75 mph pace. Bosch turned in a 2:40.3 for the win. I lost by .9 seconds!

Nationals are really fun. It’s nice to race with the best, and besides, at my age, you need a national event to get enough good competition. Even then, my field was about ten guys. You really get to know people well at the track, with all the downtime spent in the infield waiting for your event to go off. I’m excited to do it again next year.

Ferdie Scharf

@##=#<3,l>@##=#I hadn’t done a track race in four years and was my usual nervous self during the events. Nonetheless, I found the competition exciting and challenging – and very much worth the trip to Indianapolis. I especially appreciated the age categories for older racers. I signed up for two races that had 70+ fields (the 500 Meter Time Trial and the 2 Kilometer Time Trial) and one race for ages 65+ (the 10 Kilometer Points Race with sprints every five laps). My expectations were that I would clean up in the 70+ races and that I would be trounced by the 65+ field. It turned out completely the opposite. The best I could do against the 70 year olds was a bronze in the 500 Meter TT. I was actually somewhat pleased because this event is usually won by sprinters. In the 2 K TT I placed fourth, a shock to me as National Champion in this event four years ago. The most exciting race for me was the Points Race. To my amazement I managed to score some points in the sprints and then broke away about halfway through the race and almost lapped the field. I won a silver.

For those of you who have limited or no experience with track racing, I should point out that my four-year layoff was not a good idea. I lacked the skill to ride a short line at the bottom of the track during the time trials. Next year I plan to go to Kissena and Trexletown to hone my skills.

Finally I would like to say that one of the reasons track racing is a lot of fun is that the people at the track (competitors, coaches, officials and mechanics) are really friendly and helpful. And at the Nationals we old guys can talk about our medical problems!

Photos courtesy Emily Scharf