bicycle.net -- cycling news, product reviews, original essays, podcasts & video :: Interbike & UCI World Road Race Championships Varese

By: Coryn Rivera

National Championships is where everyone has to put forth their best. And I’m sure I did the best I could do. The first title to go after this year was the TT. For about 2 weeks before nationals began I had been on my TT bike tweaking, adjusting and everything else to make sure I could be the best I could on the bike. And when the day came I had to perform. From the start I was hammering away and by the top of the climb I had already passed about 6 riders. As I crested the hill I took a gel, the problem is the gel wouldn’t go down. So I puked all over the road. It was the first time I had ever puked, even in training. So I was surprised, I didn’t know how to react. I calmed myself down then tried to get back into hammering mode. At the end of it all I won by only 17 seconds, but I am still very happy that it is still a victory.

The next day was the criterium championship. From the gun I layed it on full force, I wanted to tire the field out so much that I completely forgot about my game plan. I was majorly targeted in this race as no one would pull through. So I sat and one rider was able to go off the front. And with 2 to go I hit one of the barrier’s legs and flatted and crushed my front 404. From there I just had to roll to the finish as I had no more free laps. I ended up with 8th, but was disappointed with how this went down.

And the final day of road nationals was the road race. Being disappointed with my performance the day before I wanted to come back hard, strong, and convincing. The race started out calm. On the second lap there was a strong attack from a couple of the riders and I countered the move. I quickly gained a 45sec gap and held it solo for about 2 laps. on the far side of the course I was caught by Ashlyn Gerber of Team Swift, she did not want to pull through so I tugged around tempo until the field caught us, as the field caught us I attacked again and only Kaitie Antonneau of ISCorp was able to answer. We worked well together gaining over 3minutes over the main group/chase. But with 1 1/2 laps to go I set a blistering pace and gaped Kaitie by about 45sec and held it solo to the line to with my 18th career National Title.

With road nationals over, in 6 days would mark the beginning of track nationals at the ADT Event Center in Carson, CA. I was thankful that my coach, Des Dickie was able to be there with me for he didn’t go to the Olympics with his other athlete, Micheal Blatchford. My first event was the 200m TT and match sprints. I qualified first with a national record time of 12.8. Then in the sprinting rounds I outsmarted all my competitors and didn’t lose 1 sprint. The next day was team sprints and my 500m TT. This year I did the team sprint with Colleen Hayduk, and it would be our last year doing it together since she will no longer be a junior next year. We won with a time of 37.8, and that would be my 19th national championships and that would be Colleens 4th championship of the week. And in my 500m TT competition I bested my field with a 37.5, the fastest female 500m TT time in the whole competition.

On the 3rd day I had a scratch race. The plan was to play defense, don’t let anyone go off the front and lead out the sprint. And I did so and won my 3rd event of my 4 event omnium. An omnium is almost like a stage race except you are rewarded with points instead of time. With one more event to go I had nothing to lose and gave it all I had. After the first sprint I attacked and Kaitie Antonneau and I worked together to lap the field. After that I went on to lap for the second time, but Des told me to ease up as the field wasn’t going to let me go for the second time. Calculating in my head I had figured out that I had won the points race and knowing that i knew that i had just won my 20th national championship.

At the end of it all I would not be able to achieve my goals without the help and support of my family, friends and sponsors. So I thank my parents for EVERYTHING that they have done for me from driving me to races to buying me breakfast. And I thank the rest of my family and friend for supporting me and cheering me on. And most importantly I thank my sponsors like La Grange, Oakley, Euro-Asia Imports, Liquid Fitness, Core Chiropractic, 1st Step for Energy, and Bicycle.net for supplying me with equipment and support to help me become the best I can be.

Thank you all so much for such a great successful year!!!

Up next….CYCLOCROSS SEASON.

Thanks for tuning in!!
Coryn Rivera