After putting on track races on a beat up old NASCAR track for the last 7 years something special happened. Some of the hardened roadies that I strongarmed into racing track bikes decided to take their game on the road and head up to the velodrome in Trexlertown. This past week was the national championships for masters (old dudes). From local tough guys to ex-pros, track racers over the age of 30 descended on a small town in Pennsylvania to see who is the best. Tim Mullins and Dan King were two of these over the hill but still smokin’ fast guys who took part.

There are too many events in track racing to try and explain here but I’ll give you a quick recap of some of the highlights of the week for Tim and Dan.

 

First off is an event called the Team Sprint.  This is a timed 3 man, 3 lap event.  Tim and Dan were joined by their friend Nima for this event.

The three riders line up together and when the gun is fired they take off like three scalded cats. Each lap the rider at the front drops off having shielded his teammates from the wind as long as possible.

Nima was first to drop off leaving Tim to create a draft for Dan the 2nd lap.  Tim then dropped off leaving Dan to complete the third and final lap on his own.  It’s in a way a lot like the HTC Highroad leadout train for Mark Cavendish but on a much smaller scale… and not as fast… and not in France… and not with an angry little guy from the Isle of Man taking the win.  Hmm… well it’s not all that much like that after all but you probably get the drift..

Anyway… so with no real practice together and going up against the best guys in the country in their age group the boys from Richmond managed to pull off second place!  Pretty slick!  A silver medal for Richmond!

Dan had to come back after the race to do family and work stuff but Tim somehow managed to get a pass from his wife and son to play bike racer for the whole week so he stuck around and tried his hand at several events.

 

Back in Richmond the points race is Tim’s pet event.  It involves racing a whole bunch of laps with a bunch of guys.  Periodically a bell is rung signaling a sprint lap.  Each sprint the riders placed 1st through 4th are awarded points.  At the end of the race the rider with the most points wins.  Tim somehow manages to not only ride fast but complete basic mathamatic equations as well.  He’s a real multi-tasker that guy!

Long story short Tim ended up 5th and but for one small mistake almost took second!  Way to go Tim!

On Sunday Dan drove back up to compete in one more event.  Tim and Dan were joined by two other guys to form a composite team to compete in the team pursuit.  The team pursuit is essentially a 3 kilometer team time trial.  Again with no practice they boys netted their second silver medal!  Radical!

 

All photos “borrowed” with love from Cycling Captured. No go check out his stuff and maybe pay for a picture or two….