FLCC> Tandemonium 2008 Race Report!

[Brian Lawney]

The response to last year's race report was well received, so I'll do this
again...

With our much coveted Tandem Topper bolted securely to my rack, the tandem
rode in the center of my roof, flanked by two "normal" bikes.  Three
bicycles, not a brake among them!  Our destination was Trexlertown, PA for
Tandem Sprint nationals and Tandemonium.

Due to the larger field of 11 tandems this year, we were required to
arrive early (5pm) for our flying one-lap time trials to seed the
elimination brackets.  However, not everything we do is as seamless as we
make it look...as we crossed the border into Pennsylvania, we were warned
of heavy traffic delays.  With not much time to spare, we took a bold
detour onto Rt 11 to deftly avoid the delays along 81.  The traffic gods
smiled upon us, and we arrived at the velodrome at 4:25pm...not a
comfortable cushion of time, but we weren't late!

We registered, aired up our tires, attached our pedals, and spooled up the
big bike.  (Special thanks to Glenn for his work on our cranks, which
allowed us to use our normal road pedals.  Our more rabid fans will recall
that I was forced to use one mountain pedal/shoe and one road pedal/shoe
to overcome the difficulties of two drive-side cranks for the stoker.) 
After a few laps around the banks, it was like old times...but with
improved gear, stronger legs, and a better idea of what was to come.

Same as last year, we were the first team in the flying one lap
TT...poised to set the early mark.  In the TT, you ride 4 laps- the last
of which is your clocked time.  Having learned our lesson about gear
selection last year, we chose a burly 53x13.  This was considerably larger
than the 53x15 gear of yesteryear which we quickly spun out for a time of
21.5 seconds.  We stalked the track for the first 3.5 laps, bringing the
bike up to speed and ready to spring.  As we came onto the final straight,
I stood in the rear- the fire was stoked.  We ramped it up down the
straight.  We hit the line at top speed, and dove into turn 1.  Steve kept
the bike pinned to the line and negotiated us around with uncanny skill. 
We stopped the clock at 20.08- an improvement of ~1.5sec over last year! 
My calculations have us at an average speed of 37.7mph...not quite the
42mph set by last year's national champs, but good enough for a couple
skinny climber types rom Ithaca.

As the remaining teams stormed their bikes around the track, our time
slipped back among the ranks, but it was still respectable.  Several teams
clocked times in the high 19 second range, with 3 teams dipping below to
clock times around 18.5.  We qualified 10/11...but we were significantly
more competitive than last year.  The top time was set by a duo from New
Zealand, one of which will be competing in Beijing next month(...).  Other
tandem riders included a current national kilo champ, two Pan-Am games
sprint medalists, a current junior sprint world champion, and several
other riders of similar palmares.

For our first match sprint (4 laps total), we drew the team of Peter
Fitzpatrck (visiting Aussie & 2007 T-town rider of the year) and Haseem
Mclean (current Keirin national champ of Trinidad & Tobago).  Naturally a
foregone conclusion, we gave it the gas with 3 to go.  If we can't sprint
them, we can at least make them work!  The announcer was well aware of our
tactics and the crowd met our early effort with enthusiasm.  Unfortunately
our initial gap was quickly neutralized as we traded the lead a few times
in the turns.  In the final lap, they turned on the horsepower and held
off our feeble sprint attempt.  If we were to come back to the heats, we
would have to win in the repechage (a second chance, losers bracket).

In the repechage, we drew the 11th ranked team of the iconic Gomez
brothers from California (both 60+ years of age) and a local duo of cat1
sprinters.  We reigned in our enthusiasm a bit this time, and played
cat-and-mouse for the first two laps.  As we came around with 2 to go, our
accelerations dropped the Gomez brothers and we drag raced with the
remaining team, falling short in the end.  Still, we didn't get beaten as
badly as last year.  There is indeed improvement in losing.  We were now
set to enter the 9-11th placing final.

In the 9-11th final, we once again drew the Gomez brothers...but this time
we also had to contend with the duo of Jim "The Asphalt Beaver" Alvord and
his son.  Given their qualifying time of 19.96, we sensed the possibility
to take our first match sprint win if we could really kick it in.

Before the race, the 3 teams made a gentleman's agreement not to embarrass
the Gomez brothers with an early flyer on our part.  We would keep it
together as long as possible.  In fact, the Gomez's told us that they
would drop to the inside with 1 to go.  Then the drag race would be on. 
Since this is a very friendly event, we agreed.  Given the close speed of
the Alvord family and us, this was going to be a great sprint.

The first 3 laps went slowly as planned, as we lined up to take our
position.  The Gomez brothers lead the train, with us in second, and the
Alvord's sitting third, as we lined up.  We were sitting the lowest, with
the Gomez brothers and Alvords slightly up the track (yet still close
enough to catch the draft).  As we crossed the line to begin our final
lap, the Gomez brothers began to drop down into the turn as planned. 
Unfortunately, at the same time I began to notice that the Alvord's had
crept up rather close to us, just to the outside.  Just as the Gomez
brothers crossed our path, the Alvord's took their dig.  With the inside
closed, we were trapped(!)- expertly outfoxed as the Alvord's shut the
door on our reaction.  By the time we were able to get our wheels clear
and react, they had gapped the slowing Gomez brothers and were free to
run.  We made our best effort and began to pull closer in the back
straight.  As we came into the final turn, we had to take the long way
around, and ended up coming up just short at the line. Just as at the
Tuesday nighters...the lesson is-NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE CRAFTY MASTERS
RIDERS!  We'd like to think we could have taken them in a straight up
race, but alas...we won't have that chance again!

As for the final results- you'll see them on cyclingnews.com in a few
days- we finished 10/11 and were the 6th American team.  Despite our
improved form over last year we lost our 5th position from last year.  I
should note that the top American team finished in 4th place overall.  The
Argentinian duo of Los Dos Diablos took the win with incredible flair over
the powerful NZ tandem.

ALMOST DONE...read on!

With the pesky sprints out of the way, the crown jewel of the evening was
on deck- the 5k scratch race!  11 track tandems at the same time!
TANDEMONIUM!  THE BIG BIKES ARE BACK!

Last year, we surprised the field with an early attack which drew only one
team.  We lost to them, but ended up 2nd and $200 richer for the effort. 
Unfortunately, the announcer was out to thwart our effort.  During every
sprint prior, he was sure to mention that "the Cornell boys may not have
the horsepower of the big sprinters, but they can sure let it rip in the
longer races."  Also, many of the teams remembered our TT prowess from
last year.  However, the flyer remains our only marginally useful
weapon...we had to draw our sword early.

This time, we were decidedly not allowed to run away.  We made a good jump
with 13 laps to go, but it was quickly covered by several of the teams. 
We pulled up track and gave a look.  We then waited for the field to
coalesce (about 5 seconds).  Then we attacked again.  Wash, rinse, repeat.

We gave several attacks in rapid succession until we finally got a small
gap, joined by the recently crowned US Tandem Champs of the Rite-Aid team.
 We traded pulls for a couple laps, before we realized they were of no
help- we spent more time dead-legging in their draft than actually
advancing on the 9 tandems behind us.  We started to get reeled in by the
field.  So we attacked again.  This time, there was some confusion among
the teams behind as they looked at each other.  We were off by ourselves,
with nothing but open track ahead.  As were later told by Marty Nothstein
(Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion), he thought that was the
winning move.  However, it was not meant to be.

Eventually, one of the teams organized the chase with 3 laps to go,
quickly pulling the train around for the catch.  Ultimately a suicide
move, as I recall (thanks, guys).  A tandem paceline of track sprinters is
indeed a powerful force to be reckoned with!  15 laps is not enough to
tire their legs.  With 2 to go, we were swarmed.  Tandems came from every
direction.  Steve remained steadfast as I began to have second thoughts
about being in a churning peloton of track tandems at speeds >35mph.  I
remarked that the only place to go from here was backwards and/or to the
hospital.  I eventually regained my nerve as we grabbed the tail end of
the train and held on as they began the charge to the line.  Once again,
the
Argentinians emerged victorious, with the Kiwi meatballs (they were big
dudes) in 2nd.  I think we earned $20 for our finish.  However...more
importantly, we once again garnered the respect from the crowd and the
race organizers.  No one animates a race like the Cornell boys!

Although the results sheet speaks otherwise, we could feel our improvement
and were complimented to that effect in the post-race activities.  What
can I say...T-town loves Cornell Cycling!  As we drank our fair share of
the free beer with velodrome director Erin Hartwell (multiple olympic
medalist), we made sure to discuss the tandem madison (look up the madison
track race if you're unfamiliar), the Ithaca velodrome, and provisional
cat2 track upgrades.  Suffice to say, Erin is on our wavelength, except
when it comes to the tandem madison and our upgrades.

Quote of the night:  "You guys are f'ing hardcore!" (Erin Hartwell- kilo
TT olympic medalist...possibly the most hardcore track cycling event there
is, in response to us camping in the parking lot.)

Just wait until next year!

And look for race videos in the coming days, as Tim Reissman was there to
document our exploits.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.

Brian