January 7-8, 2006, Track Racing
Hermosillo Sonora Mexico

(All pictures can be clicked to go to a different page of more details)

2da Fase Copa Federacion de Pista

This is actually the closest Velodrome to Tucson at this time, in Hermosillo [ārmōsē'yō], the capital of the state of Sonora. It's a 250 meter track with 45 degree banks. I had heard about this track a month ago, when a meet was going on in early December, but I couldn't get any information on it's specific location or about the meet. Now I am aware of all the requirements, directions, and hotel information and it's no big deal now.

This time, I was able to contact Alfredo Gomez in Mexico and get a first draft of the racing schedule. Additionally, another Tucson based track racer, Gary Lawrence, was going down along with a friend, Curtis, that has done many trips to Hermosillo over the last several years and could basically be our guide. Although I wasn't in my best racing conditions, I couldn't pass up the educational opportunity for this trip. From Tucson, it's a little more than 4 hours of driving, plus stops for gas, car insurance, border crossings, visa permit, inspection stations, and breaks (we took about 5.5 hours going down, including grabbing dinner to go). Hermosillo is about 270 km from the border town of Nogalas and the km road markers wind down to zero as you approach Hermosillo. More details on getting there.

This meet had some tough competition. Mexico holds five meets a year to qualify it's Elite riders for the National team, and this was one of those meets. They also had events for Juniors (Men and Women) and Elite Women (also a National qualifier). The results here would affect who would be able to represent Mexico in two weeks at the indoor track in Los Angeles.

I had no illusions of placing well. Many circumstances had negatively affected my form. The congestion that had afflicted me from early January of 2005 and shortened my season, finally began to dissipate in October of it's own accord and was finally gone in early December. We then went to Hawaii from December 10-22 and I used a lousy recumbent trainer at the resort's gym to keep my legs loose, but nothing strenuous. After that, I didn't want to jump right back into hard riding on my own bike until I was sure everything was functioning properly. Then with a week before the track meet, I twisted my knee on a group ride sprint and the pain persisted until the day before the meet (and fortunately was not a problem on the track).

Of course the biggest challenge of attending races in Mexico is the language barrier, since I only speak English. Alfredo and a young assistant official spoke English, so if we could track down one of these guys, we could get questions answered. Registration was only $10/rider for the two days for as many events that you wanted to choose from. Since this was a high level meet, there were many UCI officials present and the timing equipment (pressure strips taped to the track) and computers from Mexico City made scoring extremely accurate.

We were able to get nearly an hour of warm up and familiarization with the track. Since the facility was designed to also encourage local youth involvement (it's open every day), the city hoses down the surface every day to get the dust off. The track is concrete, but with a smooth texture. Unfortunately it is also very ripply, just about everywhere around the track. We started off with 180 psi in our tires, but at full speed the wheels would become airborne and we later dropped them down to 130 psi for a stickier ride. This also helps grip better on the steep banks at slow speed, as anything less than 17 mph has a high risk that you'll slide out (which happened in some of the match sprint races).

Turn 1 Turn 2 Turns 3 & 4

This day started off with a timed flying 200 m, where the 200 m line is right between turns 1 and 2. This is the qualifier for the match sprint heats (Velocidad in Spanish). I used a 49 x 14 gear for all the events this weekend. My previous best at San Diego last year was 12.8 (which isn't very fast). This would be my first full speed event on this track, so a learning event as well. With the top of the banking about 20 feet higher than the pole line, there's lot's of vertical to pick up speed (conversely, you also have to climb up it first). Many of the better riders accelerated on the flatter section of the track and did not use the banking for diving down (of course, they rode after me so I did not have their example to follow). I picked up speed coming out of turn 2 and was able to cruise through turn 3, but then the G forces really build up on turn 4. It doesn't throw you up the track, but you do feel a lot heavier. I placed 13th out of 17 riders with a time of 13.531, where the top eight go on into the quarter finals. The fastest time was 11.551, by Luis Carlos Toussaint (from the state of Nuevo Leon near the southern tip of Texas), followed closely at 11.817 by Mario Contreras. There were several sprinters there with humongous muscles, yet Contreras looked like a slender road rider and was amazingly smooth (he was on the University of Mexico team). The fastest woman rider did it in 13.221 and second was 14.023.


At the middle of the day, they had a big ceremonial presentation (Ceremonia de Inauguracion). There was fanfare with a band and a marching group. The had a stand where the organizers and officials were introduced. Then they had representatives from each of the Mexican states and invited Gary and I to represent the USA. We felt like Olympic heros.
Band Marchers USA representatives

My next event was a two-man team 2 lap sprint (2 Vueltas Lanzadas Mixto). Angelo was able to get the Sonora coach to find one of his team to do the lead out for me, which was a junior rider named Rene Corella. This is a shortened version of the Olympic 3 man team sprint and was a total of two laps starting from a flying start. Rene did a good job, but eased up just a bit before pulling off with one lap to go, causing me to have to back off just a bit. We did a time of 34.927, which was 9th out of 11, with the fastest time being 30.961 with Mario Contreras teaming up with Nancy Contreras (2001 World Champion).
Rene Sonora Coach Alfredo Gomez
The windup lap Rene leading out Coming into the finish

My next race was a 25 km (100 lap) points race (Carrera a Los Puntos). I'm sure they announce all the details, but I had no idea how often there would be sprints, what the point spread was, or the rules for getting pulled. One of the nice things about this event is that they had a lively announcer that was constantly keeping the audience informed and keeping the excitement high. But being all in Spanish, it was just background noise to me. There were 21 of us in this race and I planned on being conservative at the beginning. Like all the other races, the riders were very aggressive with attacks happening constantly. I got stuck behind riders and tried to close gaps at all the wrong times. A lead group of about half a dozen lapped us within about 12 laps and more gaps started opening up. My legs felt like lead right from the start and I knew after 20 laps that I was not going to finish, let alone place well. I decided to save my strength for the next event and make sure that I didn't get lapped past the limit and not understand when they were directing me to pull out. There were only about 6 or 7 that completed the race. The sun was already down, so the finish was racing under the lights.

My final event for the day was the 500 meter TT (2 Vueltas Detenida Varonil). I was pretty tired by the 6:12 pm start time, but since this is the event that I'm trying to excel in for 2006, I thought I'd have to give it a try. This is a standing start race of 2 laps around the track. I had some new handlebars that I had just received a week ago and had not been able to give them a good try yet. Plus, trying to accelerate into the steep bank out of the saddle was difficult without previous practice. It also didn't help that the printed schedule would occasionally be altered and we couldn't understand the verbal changes, so I'd be going into it stone cold. One first for me was to have a machine (start block) hold the bike and pneumatically release it at the zero countdown. I gave it my all, but nothing felt right and my concentration was a blank. I was able to stay out of the saddle on the first two turns, but it was not easy to keep full power at the same time. I only was able to do a 41.245 (my previous times were 39.3), finishing 11th out of 12. Mario Contreras was first again with an amazing 34.446. Although I was not the fastest, the crowd on both sides was cheering madly as I did my race and yelled congratulations during my wind down laps, saying in English that I rode fast. It felt like I had just broken a world record from there enthusiasm. Being the oldest competitor (about twice the age of the older Mexican riders) and an obvious stand out with my gray beard, many enjoyed seeing me give it a go.

That evening there were many presentations (Premiacion) given for the medal winners.

Match Sprint medals: 3rd: Marco Alejandro Flores, 1st: Luis Carlos Toussaint, 2nd: Mario Contreras.

The following day had two events that I could participate in. The Keirin was the first event (Keirin Varonil) and one that I had not done before. This event has a derny (a 125 cc motorcycle) keep a steady pace, so that no one is able to pass him. The total event is 8 laps and the derny pulls out with 2.5 laps to go. We had 3 heats of about 6 riders each and I was in the second heat. I pulled a stick for starting in second position right behind the winner of yesterdays match sprint finals, Luis Carlos Toussaint. The number 3 guy did a quick start and got in front of me, so I was third for the first 5.5 laps. However, another rider came up on the outside and for many laps was trying to scare me out of position, but I held my spot. After the derny pulled off, the first two riders pulled up the track and slowed, leaving me in the lead. I had to ease up also and two other guys attacked. I tried to get into a good position, but these guys were fast. This was a qualifying round, so only the top 3 would continue into the semi-finals. With half a lap to go, one of the riders dropped out. I came around him and tried to pass the next rider, but was half a length short at the line, for 5th place. At least I got to do a Keirin.

We had a fantastic time, even though our results were far from outstanding. The event was extremely well run and the people did everything they could to accommodate us. Everyone was so gracious and encouraging. We were able to speak to a few that knew some English and Gary knew a little Spanish and was able to communicate a little more. We shared information on equipment and upcoming races. I was really disheartened that I did not know any of their language. Some riders would ride up to me and try to spark up a conversation and I could do nothing. The people we met outside of the racing scene were also wonderful and it really made one fall in love with the people.

Another amazing thing was how everyone was treated equally. Mario, who was obviously an fabulous rider, was treated no more specially than any other riders on the team. His bike was not fancy and even looked rather beat up, with worn road tires to boot. And he didn't act like a primadonna when coming off of a win; he'd just come back to the tents and sit with everyone else. This treatment extended to Gary and myself, where we were not looked down upon because of our age, ability, or nationality. It was a very refreshing atmosphere which I hope is not tarnished by the prevalent prejudice and arrogance exhibited by many in the U.S.

Results Day 1   Results Day 2

Racing page     Bike page