Tipping Point
Well I think the beatings on friday got me fired up for the points on saturday…I came out pissed and tried to stamp some authority on a race that I feel holds my future on the track. I qualified 2nd in my heat behind olympic gold medalist Mikhail Ignatiev. A good start no prizes but it got the job done and got me feeling better about my riding anyway.
The final came around again in only a few hours so I went back to my casino/hotel and ate a casino/hotel sammy…that was gross and not ideal but fuel anyway.
In the final it was pinned from the gun. I scooped some points in the first sprint then a dangerous group rolled away and I wasn’t there..bad move…but with me and a few others working for almost 60 laps we held them at half a lap and slowly pulled them back. Then once we where a group I rolled away. And who else was with you ask, Mikhail Ignatiev. Dude was a wrecking ball…oh yeah and did I mention he rode the team pursuit and won only 5 min before…the rest of the race was just him putting the wreck on…and me hanging on…in the final sprint I had a good turn of speed but bad position…with smarter riding and similar legs I can improve on the 8th place finish I had here…but it was a good start to a world cup season that I hope is on an upward trend…coming in I didn’t feel like I would ride very well…and thel legs didn’t feel great here. I rode with alot of fight but in the end the job got done…more or less. Anyway I will be heading home to BC and hopefully get a solid 2 weeks in before I head to Moscow…If I can keep my form moving in this upward direction I think moscow will be a good race for me.
Thanks for all the support and emails over the past few days…it helped a lot.
2 Comments
Ryan on November 21st, 2006
Great start, Zach, and congratulations on the awards.
Let me know if you need a place to stay in Beijing.
Dad on November 18th, 2006
Hey Zach,
Well done. You had alot of people pulling for you. Last night was the Yukon Sport Awards and Ron McFaden made a special point of telling the 400 or so assembled that you were, at that very moment, riding in some sort of competition in Sydney. He couldn’t remebered exactly what it was called so I reminded him. He also pointed out that he had been speaking with the CCA that day and they had informed him you were the #1 Ranked track endurance rider in the country. Big cheers from the crowd on that. Biggest of the night actually.
Then came the announcement of the Yukon’s International male athlete of the year. It was between you and Graham Nishikawa. Both pretty impressive seasons. You won. Congradulations.
After the ceremony Graham’s parents came over asked me to pass on Grahams good wishes. Apparently he figured you were deseving.
You have alot of fans back home here. Everyone is very proud and more people than I can remeber asked me to pass on there well wishes.
I accepted your award and thanked Sport Yukon, Yrac, Watson Lake rec board and all those involved in all the sports you have been involved in over the years for their support. Vern Hagaard really appreciated that and said it was great that the award could go to an athlete from the small communities.
Anyway, Ive said enoung other then well done and keep up the good work and oh yeah, I’ve always felt the points race was were you would find your greatest successes.