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This edition of “Catching up with…” travels south to Los Angeles to check in with Tela Crane. Tela has been a part of the Marymoor community for more than ten years and in 2011 committed to a life pursuing her cycling dreams. Let’s get going!

Can you give us a quick racing background for those who don’t know you?

I started bike racing when I was 15, after being forced to take a Velokids class by my mom. She still brings that up! I raced pretty seriously as a junior, including winning two national championships and earning selection to the national team for the junior Pan American championships and junior world championships. Based on my performances as a junior, I was invited to live at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Honestly, I wasn’t quite ready for that level of training and wanted to go to school. I quit bike racing for a while, but got back into it through collegiate road and cyclocross. After graduating from Western Washington University in 2008, I decided I wanted to see how far I could take my cycling. I started working with Jennie Reed, who really helped prepare me for the next level of training. That brings us to the next question!

Why did you move to LA?

In 2010, USACycling hired a new sprint coach, Jamie Staff, and he started looking to build a sprint program in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics. After nationals in 2010, Jamie invited me to come down to LA for a camp. That camp turned into 6 months in LA and culminated with a selection to the Pan American Championship team that year. In the fall of 2011 I made the official move to LA in an attempt to race the World Cup season and qualify for the Olympics. Highlights of the 2011-12 international season included racing the Beijing World Cup and being named to the Olympic long team (the pool the Olympic team is named from). Unfortunately we didn’t qualify any spots for women sprinters, so it was back to building up for the future! I had my best summer season ever last year and made some really big gains that I hope to continue to build upon! 

We know you created your team this year; can you tell us about that?

I am incredibly blessed to have some very supportive people in my life, and I’m very thankful for the opportunity to put together my own team this year. There are currently no women’s track teams in the US, and support is pretty hard to find. I wanted to be able to represent the people, organizations and products that I believe in and who have helped me throughout my career. Building my own team of sponsors was the perfect opportunity to do so. 

Broadmark Capital has been hugely instrumental in helping me get to where I’m at now, and I’m so happy to continue to represent them. I work for JLVelo, and on top of them being extremely flexible with my training and travel schedule; they came on board in a major way to help support my travel to races this season. 

I am honored to represent Velocity Sports Performance, Balestra cycling shoes, Element Bicycles, DBCPhoto, Lill Monster, Team Kog, Chamois Butt’r and Good Karma Racing for this racing season.

We heard that you injured yourself. What happened, how was your recovery, and how are you now?

Unfortunately yes, I was in what was fondly referred to as “das boot” for two months this winter after a poor landing during single leg box jumps. I tore some ligaments in my ankle and it has been a slow recovery process. I did a good job hurting it! There have definitely been some days where Ian [her great brother, ed.] had to remind me that I wouldn’t be slow forever, but overall things are on the upswing now!

For something random…what are your guilty pleasures?

Yogurtland! And pretty much anything coconut flavored. 

What is your favorite aspect of track sprinting?

My favorite part about sprinting on the track is the amount of focus it requires. I love that there isn’t much room for mistake in a race, so you have to be on your a-game. I also really like the full intensity efforts that sprinters do for training. 

Will you be at Marymoor this summer?

Wouldn’t miss it! It is my favorite race of the season, and the home court advantage is huge! Plus, I get really homesick for my Marymoor training partners. 

What are your goals for the season/beyond?

My long-term goal is to make the 2016 Olympic team. There are a lot of little steps that need to happen along that path and one of my biggest goals this year is to qualify myself to race at the world cups this season (you have to individually qualify this year through UCI rankings). Along the way, I hope to defend my USA Cycling national track calendar championship and win my first individual elite national title.

Chocolate chip cookies or snickerdoodles?

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! Or, PCC chocolate chip cookies.

Thanks Tela. Good luck this season!

I’m excited to see everyone in July!

Track racing is a genre of the sport that supports those who cannot make up their mind about what they like to do the best. There are many different styles and types of races: from long Points Races to short Matched Sprints, there is something for everyone. When it all comes down to it, we each have our favorites. Sure, we do others, but there is that ONE race that ignites the track racing passion every time that we take the rail, and every time that we see it on the schedule. This race is yours.

My name is Ian Crane, and I’m addicted to the Madison.

That feels good to get off my chest. You might hear me say “oh, I like points races” or even “a 40 lap scratch race is my jam” but deep down nothing gets me to the rail faster than rolling up in a matching jersey with someone who you are about to embark on a blitzing fast, eye-blurring, lung-gasping, arm-slinging, legs-burning continuous throw-down of bike racing amusement.

There is something about the Madison, something very primal. It is hard to feel like a caveman while prancing around in a skinsuit on carbon wheels wearing a $200 helmet and $250 sunglasses, but the Madison lowers the gap. There is something pure about the Madison that I love: usually somewhere in the race it becomes fairly simple. You end up riding as hard as you can.

There are not many other races where you go as hard as you can and then get a specific moment to rest. Let me tell you something about the Madison- the first couple of rest laps are amazing. You feel like a superhero, ready to fly back into the race at 30mph. However, soon that changes. You start to gasp the whole resting lap, and as your teammate comes in for the exchange your body cries out for more relaxation.

The Madison is a race that makes your heart rate file look like a roller coaster. The file is full of high peaks and low valleys that are continuous every two minutes for 60+ laps. The Madison is your chance to throw someone has hard as you can at 30mph, and then get slung from 20-30 like you accidently stepped on the gas pedal in your late 90’s Ferrari.

The Madison is special. It is a race of individuals within a race of teams. The strategy is complex, the technique is race changing, and the crowd is enthusiastic. What other race do the participants ride at the rail dozens of times over the course of the race at very slow speeds? You are within reach of the spectators, glasses askew and tongue out.

Always waiting. Always ready.

My name is Ian Crane, and I cannot wait to do a Madison this season.

What’s your favorite race? Share in the comments!

(photographs courtesy of DBCphoto & Wheelsinfocus)

The MVA is introducing a new fee structure for the 2013 season. We are trying to make it easy on you, the racers, to support us, the velodrome.

Your race fees make our racing possible and we believe that we have found the perfect balance between making it affordable for the racer and at the same time providing an excellent venue, professional setting, world-class officials and exciting announcing. We have it all!

Check out our new fees and if you have any questions be sure to ask them in our new forum!