Apologies for the lack of coverage here. I know that some of you came to rely on this site over the last few years.
The good news is that USA Cycling has greatly improved their coverage over the last few years. I’d even like to think that the presence of this site hoped to point out how much more they could do.
Coverage can be found at USA Cycling, Cyclingnews, and VeloNews.
Dropping my neutral public viewpoint for a moment, particular congrats to our friends JP and Colleen!
I have just received some new photos of Eric Rasche, the 2006 13-14 Texas and National champion . Since I missed nationals this year, it’s nice to get photos for riders I haven’t seen myself.
These photos are Copyright 2006 by Cindy Rasche.
Eric Rasche jumps during warmups at 2006 Junior Track Nationals
Eric Rasche in the Points Race at nationals.
Eric Rasche at home on the Alkek Velodrome
It seems that www.sportsbaseonline.com has the registration page up for junior nationals in 2007. I don’t see any official announcement on the USACycling web site, but the dates listed are June 30th to July 3rd.
There’s a Lehigh Valley Velodrome logo, but there’s no entry on their online calendar. [Note Tom’s comment below - Colorado Springs may be the place.]
Did I mention that this is unofficial? Don’t buy plane tickets based on this article!
USA Cycling has announced the complete team for junior worlds. Some of us were confused by the first article, which didn’t mention that there would be more riders named.
The final team includes most of the riders discussed in the previous article and the associated comments. Congratulations to all.
Quoting USA Cycling:
Women’s Track
Catherine Fiedler (Long Beach, Calif./Home Depot Center)
Lauren Shirock (Emmaus, Pa./South Mountain Cycles)
Cindy Lakatosh (Trexlertown, Pa./Tri-State Velo)
Cristin Walker (Houston, Texas/Northwest Cycling Club)
Men’s Track
Justin Williams (Los Angeles, Calif./Major Motion)
Shane Kline (Bally, Pa./Team Fuji)
Nik Reinert (Mertztown, Pa./Team Fuji)
Matthew Fox (Highland Park, Ill./Hayes on Track)
Barry Miller (Larchmont, N.Y./ACT)
Cody O’Reilly (Santa Barbara, Calif./Echelon)
USA Cycling has announced their team for junior worlds.
- Catherine Fiedler (Long Beach, Calif./Home Depot Center)
- Lauren Shirock (Emmaus, Pa./South Mountain Cycles)
- Justin Williams (Los Angeles, Calif./Major Motion)
- Shane Kline (Bally, Pa./Team Fuji)
- Nik Reinert (Mertztown, Pa./Team Fuji)
Congratulations to these riders, who will riding for the USA in Ghent, Belgium.
I’m sure they all deserve to go, but then I ask what happened to some others who have shown track talent for years. Could we not send a few more riders? The most obvious omission is Cody O’Reilly, who had individual silver and gold medals at nationals, topping a strong performance last year. Others to consider would include David Engwis and Matt Fox based on their results at nationals, and there may be a few more to consider who rode well, took risks, and finished lower. Same story on the women’s side, where Cristin Walker is staying home after beating one or the other of our team members in four different races.
With just a couple more riders, we could have had a credible team pursuit entry, and solid entrants in most races. Of course “credible” and “solid” are not very definite terms. We have a few riders who could take a scratch race medal if things go well. In the time trial events, a medal is out of the question, but I’d rather see our riders place halfway down the results list than not be there at all.
I suppose the only logical explanation is that we have no overwhelming stars this year, and perhaps by selecting only 17-year-old riders, USA Cycling is sending the message that they are focusing on next year. Fair enough as far as junior competition goes, but I’d like to point out that the 18-year-olds are not going to evaporate on December 31st. They will still be talented riders, perhaps future World Cup entrants. Giving them a little more experience now would not hurt.
