Twenty-one Stars-and-Stripes jerseys were awarded on the first day of the 2019 USA Cycling Masters Road National Championships. In addition, two national records and one world record were set. Carl Grove (Bristol, Ind.; Pista Elite) would be the rider to set the new world record in the 90-94 Men, Pat Caldeira (Crofton, Md.) would set the national record for the 60-64 Women, and Julie Emmerman (Boulder, Colo.; Rally Sport Cycling Team) would set the 50-54 Women’s national record.
Older racers would compete on a 20-kilometer course, and be the first group to go off in the morning. The course was a straight-as-an-arrow out-and-back style, with a few rolling hills. There were clear skies and slight gusts of wind in the morning, making for a great start to the day.
“It was a relief,” said Grove. “I didn’t know how I’d feel after the race two days ago.” Earlier in the week Grove set the Hour World Record for the 90-94 Men at the velodrome in Colorado Springs. “Mainly, I relied on my coach to give me the information for what we were trying to achieve, and I followed that pretty close,” he said about preparing for the two races. Grove would stop the clock at 32:59.09, more than six minutes ahead of the former record.
Caldeira’s time was 28:20.90, earning her the top step of the 60-64 Women’s podium, as well as earning her the new national record for the same age group. She bested the previous record of 29:36.43 set by Laura Lindgren in California in 2013. “I came out two weeks ago to prepare,” said Caldeira. “My training out here went well, and I didn’t experience the power loss that I thought I would.”
The younger athletes would tackle a longer course, 40-kilometers, with the same features as the course from earlier in the day. As the day got longer, the wind picked up in both intensity and duration, making the race a bit more challenging.
“It was definitely windy on the way out, but I enjoyed [the tailwind] on the way back,” said Emmerman. Her time was 55:08.68, almost two-minutes faster than her next closest competitor. Talking about how she utilized her career as a sports psychologist to get back into cycling, Emmerman said, “I definitely use some of my own techniques. One of the reasons I got back into road racing in 2009 was because I learned so much in sports psychology, I wanted to apply the [techniques].”
Racing will continue on Friday at the U.S. Air Force Academy campus with the road race. Riders will contest multiple laps on the 18.3-kilometer course.
Results for the USA Cycling Masters Road National Championships are available at https://legacy.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2019&id=22
Start lists for USA Cycling Masters Road National Championships are available at https://www.usacycling.org/article/2019-masters-nationals-road-championships-start-list-and-call-ups
Schedule of events for Masters #RoadNats is available at https://s3.amazonaws.com/craft-prod-assets/assets/2019-Masters-Road-Schedule-7-31.pdf.
Photo galleries will be posted daily on Facebook and Instagram
Follow racing action on Twitter on the @USACyclingLive handle, @USACycling on Instagram or with the hashtag #RoadNats
Event webpage: https://www.usacycling.org/events/national-championships/2019-masters-road
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