[ Home ] [ Up ] [ September 1, 2004 ] [ June 14, 2000 ] [ August 19, 2000 ] [ September 2, 2000 ] [ October 8, 2000 ] [ October 14, 2000 ]

September 2, 2000

Finally, I have a quiet afternoon to sit and write and catch you up on Team King's latest and greatest news.

Kirk and Matt won silver in the match sprints at the 2000 EDS National Track Cycling Championships on August 26! 

For those of you who weren't able to attend the event, let me give you a recap. Unfortunately, Kirk and Matt crashed coming out of Turn Four during qualifications Saturday morning. For some unknown reason, their disk wheel exploded. Kirk managed to lay the tandem down flat (Captain Kirk is the bomb!) Neither suffered from serious injury, though both had "track rash" from sliding on the cement banked track. They were able to get back on the tandem and qualify third and beat their opponents in the semi-finals and then went on to the gold/silver round to win a silver medal. So exciting!

The crash was very disappointing, but I am very proud of Kirk and Matt's accomplishments. This is Matt's best finish, to date, in elite professional competition!

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was meeting the Miller's (Eric, Garrett, Ryan and Ben). On August 20, Eric Miller called our house after reading Matt's most recent article in the Colorado Springs Gazette. Eric called thanking Matt for the article and for offering him and his son, Garrett, some inspiration. Garrett is six years old and has lost some of his central vision due to a brain tumor. Garrett, his brother Ryan, and Eric were there for all of Matt and Kirk's races and stood by their side through the entire day. Thank you Garrett, Ryan, and Eric for offering Kirk and Matt some encouragement. Check out the photo to the left..its a happy day at the velodrome...cheese! (from left to right, Ben, Ryan, Matt and Garrett) 

Today, Kirk left Colorado Springs and is flying to his next big competition, Master's World Championships, September 6,  in Manchester, England. If you are interested you can go to www.cyclingnews.com to follow his results.

Matt resumed his training after we dropped Kirk off at the airport (5:00 am flight). How on earth? As I was shuffling around in a fog forcing myself not to take a nap in the warm stands of the velodrome, I definitely was feeling a bit sapped from the week before, preparing for the races and a cycling camp can be a bit hectic. The past two weeks have consisted of a considerable amount coordination of schedules between captains, coaches, velodrome staff, sports medicine, massage, and other teammates, making sure we have all the equipment to the track, transportation to and from the Olympic Training Center, etc. Matt and Mark Guerin, Matt's tandem kilometer partner, trained for a couple of hours. So nice to have Mark back! Unfortunately, Mark had a serious bike accident in July. His crash forced him to undergo a shoulder surgery and put him off the bike for a few weeks to recover.