January 09, 2015 (Milton,ON) – Happy New Year! I haven’t written a Veal Report this early in the season so please bear with me as I’m a bit out of practice. This past weekend was the very first event being held at the new velodrome in Milton. This facility is a game-changer for cycling in Canada and is very exciting for everyone involved in the sport. The 2014 Canadian National Track Championships were the very first event ever held at the new velodrome and that meant there was quite the buzz and a bit of a build up to opening night.
It was amazing to watch the very first event held at the track. I had goose bumps as the gun went off and I watched my two RealDeal/Gears p/b WASPcam team mates Kristen Sears and Krista Ruby take off down the track in the women’s team sprint qualifier. It was a historic moment and I was grateful to be there to witness it live in person. My first event was the 4km team pursuit. We entered our MTE squad under the name Team Moose. It could have been Team Beaver, Maple Syrup or anything else with a Canadian theme for that matter – we just weren’t allowed to call ourselves Team Canada.
There were some pretty solid teams entered in the competition so we needed to have a nice clean run and make sure we didn’t go out too fast. The pressure was on as we were expected to win and anything less would not be acceptable. There is way more to the team pursuit than just putting together the four strongest riders you can find. So even though there was some amazing horsepower on the other teams we were pretty confident that our chemistry and experience would lead to winning the national championship and I’m proud to say we came through and won the title.
It was my first national championship jersey and it was amazing to be able to share the podium with the entire MTE squad after a full year of travelling the world, living, training and racing together. Thank you Remi Pelletier-Roy, Sean Mackinnon, Aidan Caves and Eric Johnstone.
Men’s Omnium
Considering the year we have had and all the tracks we have visited since I joined the Canadian National Men’s Track Endurance Program you would think the MTE boys including myself would have an advantage at this event. But I would like you to think again. For the past year we have done some serious work on the track but it has all been focused on the team pursuit. Some have had a bit more track racing under their belt but for me it has been the team pursuit or individual pursuit exclusively.
I can tell you that this training has me in great form for those events but I have lost a little in some other areas and have become quite the specialist. Taking the start in the 4th Omnium track event in my career and 4th spread over four years meant I was lining up unprepared and with little to no experience. I’m not saying I wasn’t excited to race, I always enjoy the opportunity to race but I can tell you that it had been over a year since my last bunch event and I didn’t know what to expect.
The qualifier on Day 1 meant we had more than 24 riders in the elite men’s field. After two poorly attended Nationals in Dieppe in 2012 and 2013 it was nice to have so many riders in attendance that a qualifier was necessary. There were two heats and only the top 12 from each would make it into the show. I wasn’t nervous at all but you never know with this style of event. My goal was to look for an opportunity to take a lap on the field and then sit in and roll around with the group. Everything went to plan and I qualified easily.
The Scratch race went extremely well and I almost won the damn thing in a bike throw with Jean-Michel Lachance of Team Quebec at the line. Next up was the 4km Individual Pursuit. I wanted to show everyone all the work I have put into this over the course of the year. Shaving off one or two seconds doesn’t seem like much but when you only going 4km and are averaging 51-52 km an hour this event came be won or lost by a hundredth or even a thousandth of a second.
Going in the last heat gave me a bit of an advantage as I knew all the times that were posted previously. Ryan Roth had set a very fast time of 4:35.658 early on and I knew that would be one of the best for the day. I walked over and congratulated him and told him he just messed up my schedule. I was planned for a 4:37 but now had to decide do I try and go below 4:35. Then Remi went and raised the bar and rode a 4:33.815. He was now the favourite and I hadn’t been inside five seconds of him any time this past year. This helped me decide to stick with my schedule of 4:37. I took his time and added 5 seconds. I still thought 4:37 was my number.
Sean Mackinnon, Alex Cataford and JM Lachance were the other favourites for the podium and I had to hope none of them got under 4:37. Sean did a 4:40.606, Alex was less than a second behind him and JM was going head-to-head with me in the final heat. It was time to show off all this hard work. I started off a bit behind and every lap I came around just under schedule. I was consistent and every lap was very close to where I wanted to be but I was still a hair behind. I didn’t panic or try to raise the pace, I was in a state of flow. It was incredible. The perfect cadence, the perfect effort, the perfect line, I was in the zone.
As the laps counted down Andrew Iler who was walking the line and giving me my splits started to get fired up and wanted me to lift the pace. Every time I went by I wish I could have just stopped, put my arm around him and told him everything was going to be just fine, I was in that good a head space and in full control. With four to go it was time to pick things up and with each passing lap I squeezed out a bit more. I could hear the announcer telling the crowd I was moving up in the rankings and that it was possible for me to move into 3rd. Thank you Randy Ferguson. I heard you loud and clear and it was exactly what I needed.
Knowing the podium was a possibility helped me ride the best final two laps of my life. It is amazing what you can do when you can make the pain worthwhile. A conservative start paid off and I was able to finish very strong to earn a bronze medal and my fastest IP at sea level – 4:37.449. Being on the podium with two of Canada’s best riders (Pelletier-Roy and Roth) was very special. It was a “pinch me” moment for sure and something I will reflect on and enjoy forever.
My favorite of all six events was next – the Elimination race. This is also called the missing out by some. Every other lap the last rider is pulled from the race until there is only one rider left. It is pure excitement from start to finish with a mad rush to the line over and over and over. It is chaos and the wildest event with everyone fighting for space. I love the rush of riding so close, bumping, rubbing wheels fighting for position, there is nothing I have ever done that is so intense and adrenaline filled. I had pretty good ride and made it to the last four riders. After being very savvy and aware I got caught 2nd wheel down low with nowhere to go as the other two riders behind me came over the top. My number was called and my race was over. One mistake and I had to settle for fourth. Day 1 was over. A second, third and fourth place finishes had me starting Day 2 leading the Men’s Omnium.
The 1km TT started Day 2 and I really felt I could win this one. Even though I’m told my start isn’t very good I really believed with my size and power this event is something that I should be able to excel at. With most riders gearing down to something lighter than what they ride in the Scratch and Elimination I decided I was going to go bigger. I wanted to win this event and I was either going to bomb it completely or shock everyone with an upset win. I ripped off my best Kilo to date inching out Remi for 3rd and missed second by one thousandth of a second and the win by one hundredth of a second. My last lap was the fastest of the day and I came so close to pulling off the upset.
Next up was the Flying Lap. With little or no experience with this event I was under-geared and flopping all over the place spun out like a fool. This still got me seventh place and as we entered the last event – I was still leading after after five events with only one to go, the Points race. This is when Pedal’s Peter Kraiker found me for an interview – click here. I knew then that what I had done up until now didn’t mean a whole lot and that the final race was going to be worth more than all of it put together.
I had aced a few quizzes going into the final exam but the Points race was worth 50% of the final mark. It’s an extremely hard event and there were attacks right from the gun – there was even one before the gun. I did my best to race aggressively but it didn’t take long before I was in the hurt locker and just reacting and racing defensively. Just like when a team in the NFL is leading and blows the lead late in the fourth quarter because they stop doing what was working and start just protecting the lead.
I wasn’t trying to win anymore…I was trying not to lose. I can tell you it didn’t make the race any easier. It is much easier imposing your will on the other riders around you then having them impose their will on you. Having to react to every attack and chase down every dangerous move hurts and it isn’t sustainable when you have two members from the same team in contention. Eventually it was coming at me from all angles and I just couldn’t respond. The lead was slipping away and the perfect weekend wasn’t going so perfectly anymore. I fought hard and tried for a few late attempts to lap the field but it was already wrapped up.
I was beaten bad in the Points race and I dropped from first to 6th overall in the standings. To some this might seem catastrophic. I know there were people wondering how I am doing or how upset I am with how things ended up and I here writing this post to let you know that I’m beyond happy and enjoyed the thorough thrashing as much as I enjoyed anything else at this event. I was shell shocked and beside myself afterwards but I enjoyed it. I looked around, soaked it up and laughed to myself. There was no place I would rather be – in first or sixth I was happy.
I’m not just out to win and maybe that’s why I don’t win as much as I should. I’m chasing progress and having fun doing it. I love to learn even if it means learning the hard way, from my mistakes. Losing the lead and getting thrashed in the Points race was a learning experience and I love a good learning experience. I like to think of this as an incredible opportunity for growth and development. Even at 38 years of age, I’m still developing and growing as a person and as an athlete.
That term isn’t used for me when we are talking about the future of the National team program. Development is the term used for the under-23 age bracket. My hope is the cycling community as a whole is seeing that there is potential in older athletes. My message is… this could be you! There are many athletes over 23 years of age that could possibly become world class in the right environment. On top of many performance goals, one very important goal of mine is to help pave the way for some future athletes who are late bloomers just like me.
I didn’t ride a bike till I was 27 years old. Sure I’m an anomaly and most will never get to this point on the same path but they might run into the some of the same roads blocks I’ve faced and my message is – “it can be done”. If you take anything away from this report from one developing athlete to another remember “it can be done”. I have taken the past two days to reflect and my hope is this experience will help me this coming weekend at the next test event called the Milton International Challenge where I will be entered to compete in the Omnium again.
Let’s hope I’ve learnt something from this past weekend, thanks for reading and I really hope you enjoyed the recap. These reports are getting harder to write the more I take on in life but all the great feedback makes taking the time to do this worthwhile. If you have any questions or comments please contact me at Ed@RealDealPerformance.ca You can follow Ed on Twitter @realdealveal
About Ed Veal
Ed Veal is a Canadian National Cycling team member and Cat 1 racer on the RealDeal/Gears p/b WASPcam elite amateur cycling team based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is also a cycling coach and owner of RealDeal Performance here.