Karl Baumgart (GPE Racing p/b Athlete Octane) set out for a win in the men’s time trial of 1,000 meters, one of the toughest events in track cycling. The effort is similar to running the 800 meters in track and field.
“Your body is good for two laps, [in] pain but good; third lap you are running out of aerobic capacity and lap four is 100 percent anaerobic, and you are bogged down, fighting off pain and fatigue at epic levels,” Baumgart said.
His time of 1:09.964 was a personal record, and he was sitting pretty until the last contender of the day, Mark Andersen (Performance Cycle Coaching), of San Francisco, stole first place by a little more than a second.
“I was crushed,” Baumgart said. “I thought I had a jersey. But it wasn’t a large enough gap that I knew it would hold. So I was on pins and needles for quite a while.”
Baumgart has narrowly missed gold this week three times, in a scratch race, the time trial and the individual pursuit, but he’s leading the Best All-Around Rider competition.
Arizona riders placed in the top 10 on Day 4:
- Lionel Space – third in the individual pursuit of 3k
- Craig Streit (Stone House Group p/b VeloVie) – sixth in scratch race
- Bob Francis (FASTER) – 10th in match sprint
Riders will compete Saturday in the points race, which is similar to a crit, but with a sprint for points every several laps (similar to a prime). They will also contend the 500 meters and a team pursuit, which is like a team time trial.
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