Things are still the same
USA Elite Track Nationals
Two days ago I started the elite track natz in my new hometown of Carson, Ca. The track is just a 12-minute bike ride from my pad now and that makes things a lot simpler when heading to the track.
So the opening day was the Team Pursuit. We trained for about 4 weeks for this event, which proved not to be enough. We were the last team out of 9 to compete and it was a one ride final. The time to beat was set by team slipstream at 4:21 over 16 laps. Our best time in training was a 4:24. So we had to leave it all on the line and go for the win. And we did exactly that.
We started fast and held the lead until 6 laps to go. I popped after five laps to go leaving my three teammates to finish the race without me. We went from 1st to 4th all in 4 laps.
Congratulations to Team Slipstream on a ride well done.
Day two was my day. The Scratch race.
We had three heats and only 8 riders go from each heat. I finished 5th in my heat taking me to the final. After three heats all the guys from Rock made it in.
For the final, I felt really fresh and opened up. I felt that if there was a break I could win from there and of course a group sprint would be a no brainier. The team did there job and the race stayed together. I road a good clean hard race and was the fastest guy out there. I beat 2nd, and 3rd by a bunch and I thought to myself, I finally got the race I wanted. But shortly after, I was disqualified they said for passing on the blue ban which was complete BS. The officials said they gave me a warning early in the race (which I never heard) and also Justin (another black athlete on the team) said they gave him the warning so they mistaken him for me and I was DQ. This just really goes to show you the little bubble curtain people live in. Maybe they didn’t want to believe I was the fastest guy on the track that night.
I clearly was and my first National title as an elite track racer was taking from me.