There is a triumph of human determination in distance racing, and I truly admire it.
But I am in soul & body, a sprinter, and nothing gets my brain steaming like watching the fastest human beings on the planet rip it like dragsters…
In the men’s 500m final, Canada’s Charles Hamelin & Korea’s Si-Bak Sung had an incredible battle full of intensity; technical precision, & razor thin margins exploding with TNT-loaded fast twitch fibers.
This is a clinic on skating tight vs. building speed by skating wide. Amazing. An outside pass during a 500m? Wow!!
I only know of one piece of music worthy of this- Eruption by Van Halen! This race was so fast & so close, I give you the slo-mo first to notice the myriad little things these guys do… then the actual event at normal speed.
The speedskating season is quite long, and after the stress of national champs, it’s a really good idea to do a mid-season fitness rebuild that involves plentiful cross-training.
Usually this involves the weight room or the bike. The US national team often goes somewhere warm for a week of long rides. However, this is not an option for the rest of us.
When a friend sent me the link to this bike event happening in a local bar, the Salt City Sprints, I just had to go!
Although wintertime indoor cycling races have been around for over a century, this modern version of it involved one of my favorite strange American sub-cultures; the fixed-gear urban cyclist crowd.
I’ve ridden a track bike on the city streets since 1993 (for training, never really for commuting) and it’s been so much fun to see the explosion of interest in fixed-gear riding & the distinct cultural identity that has become attached something I’ve done on my own for years.
I thought it was mainly a young hipster thing, but there was really quite a diverse & playful crowd there for the sprints. That is one of the fun things about bikes, (or speedskating for that matter) the love of an activity can cross all sorts of lines.
I had my camera with me, and about halfway though did some taping, just because the event was so cool.
There is an interesting psychological footnote to this. This was a fun event, but it did center around a “race”.
When it was my turn to ride, my extremely intense competitive nature naturally bubbled forth.
I am a sprinter by nature & nurture, and I wanted to show that, even though speedskating ability does not necessarily mean you can spin 220+ RPM on a track bike.
These were time trials, as fast as you could go for “250 meters”. Everyone rode once, and that was supposed to set up elimination rounds between the top 16.
When it was my shot for the time trial, I rode pretty well, and as I staggered away from the bike, I heard the times announced.
I heard the time of the fellow who rode next to me, and thought it was my own. It was not a good time. I watched guy after guy, and even some women, go faster.
I was pissed off, mostly at myself, for having that prideful, competitive kernel bouncing around my innards like a spiked superball.
Eventually, I did find out my true time, and felt much better, as it barely qualified me for the top 16. I would get to ride again.
However, as the evening wore on, it became quite obvious that the “times recorded” were all off, as the computers were not registering correctly, and in fact, the organizers were forced to just use one bike & do hand timing. So the results became “wildly impressionistic” rather than accurate.
But because of my earlier moment of timing confusion, I started wondering why “racing” is so damm important to self-esteen. Why do some of us so enjoy measuring ourselves vs other people? & why do the crowds cheer so loud?
They seemingly got the computer working for the final round of 16, I was one of the first to ride, and I guess with some combination of my size, power, & lack of grace, I killed the computer (the moment in the video that goes from fast to slow-mo, that is that moment).
I’ve done this before; I once broke a treadmill in a professional lab during a VOmax test when I was 19, I have snapped the downtube on several bikes & crushed maple clap blade mechanisms. I guess I just break stuff when I go as hard as I can.
I don’t blame the organizers, they were doing their best, and without them, I would not have had so much fun. But should I blame myself for caring so much? Especially when I see prizes being handed out.
Is unleashing that nasty spiked superball on your guts a necessary personality trait to have, if you want to be someone who can win races when it really counts?
With many young teenage sprinters starting to skate “man-fast”, US sprint nationals in the men’s category was incredibly competitive. And in the women’s racing, if you wanted to win, you would have had to beat Elli Ochowicz, who was ON, skating several PB’s that weekend.
The soundtrack I chose is a song by the Black Crowes, “Twice as Hard”. It fits.
It was a rough competion, as I was warming down after my last race, I saw some spots of blood on the warmup track, the fact that it could have been from quite a few different people gave me pause.
When I see friends crash, in pain, or have bad races, I often question if I should publish the footage I have.
Kip Carpenter opened nationals up with quite a horrifying crash, and Richard Gregersen got a GREAT video angle of from the stands. Kip didn’t mind it being published, so it leads off the video. Thanks Richard!
Jessica also added some clips here as well.
Kip cut his ankle pretty badly in the crash, and had to have stitches. When I mentioned that I had this pic, people wanted to see it, so here it is, with the expert hands of Dr. Eric Heiden sewing & stapling it up.
Kip raced all 4 events of nationals on it. Ouch. Thanks to his fiancé Inge for the photo.
p.s. is there a YouTube samurai out there that can give me compression/upading/quality hints? I’ve tried MANY differnent formats, read endless forums, and it’s not as good as I wish it could be, slo-mo looks great, but the normal shots are often fuzzy p.p.s anyone have a copy of Final Cut Pro (for an intel-mac) they could share with me? I think it’s compression methods are better than iMovie.
As I was starting to go through my footage from this competition, I suddenly realized how many clips I had of skaters with their parents. Even though speedskating is an individual sport, no athlete steps to the starting line alone.
I often see families in the stands soar & suffer right along with their kids on the ice. There is a lot of that at US national championships. This Guns & Roses anthem just came to my mind as the natural soundtrack.
I have a knack of catching Mike Blumel on video right after he takes himself to the limit in a 1500m. He had a great race here, good enough for 4th place in a very competitive field.
Mike is a pure sprinter, and has to go out scary fast, and then pay for it in the finishing lap. I did ask his permission to include his waltz with the garbage can here, because I know his folks are readers.
It is a testament to how much focus speedskating takes, that you can be getting your armband, or stepping to the start line, and hear someone puking behind you because of EXACTLY what you are about to go do-
This was an amazing race, with human-dragster hybrid J. P. Kepka ripping off the line in the same style that saw him set a US national 500m record earlier in this day.
Apolo Ohno and Jordan Malone ran him down and then…. the finish got a little bit messy.
Messy like my car gets messy after a cross country road trip.
I’d love to hear the opinion of the knowledgeable and experienced short track minds on the final passes, and do you support the call the ref’s made?
I do want to call attention to one moment of perfection in this race, just as Apollo passes J.P., check out this extension & incredible compression.
To find this skating position at the end of a short track race, while at top speed, with nationals on the line..
It awes me the same way as when a baseball player hits a 550 foot home run, or a quarterback throws a ball 70 yards, and a receiver catches it with one hand on a dead run.
Amazing finesse, incredible strength, scary crashes. Everything to love & fear about short track is right here.
My favorite bit about this is the HUGE smile Katherine Reutter gives as she steps to the starting line. It’s a tad hard to see in the video, but in person, it lit up the rink just like her skating.
She did the same thing before the women’s 1500m final.. Smiled big, skated fast.
I usually am a worried sick freak-bunny-stress-mess during nationals, but Katherine is obviously quite relaxed.
There is no way for me to properly wrap my mind around the experience I had in Mexico. I’ve tried & tried, but it was just so intense, so big, so overwhelming.
The 6 of us were the first ice speedskaters EVER to skate in Mexico, on a brand new ice rink in the heart of one of the biggest cities in the world. A city that is full of contradictions like fire & ice.
This video is a reflection of that experience. Chaotic, wide ranging, & full of a driving rhythm that was so different from anything I’ve ever done or seen.
From a practice session at 8am, to skating at night in front of 50,000 people & an insane atmosphere, to a performance in front of 15,000 in 3 inches of water.
Here are a few pictures of our group on the first night. Arnim Ruelas, Eric Kraan, Myself, Sebastian Cano (with a “borrowed” bit of costume from a figure skater) & Chris Creveling.
Jessica Smith joined us after the first day, here she is, soaking up the sun- It was HOT!
One of the great things about speedskating is that when it’s done incredibly well, there is an artistic quality to the precision, speed and power of the sport.
What can be said about a weekend where a world record was broken or tied in every distance the men raced? It’s almost an art gallery of effort!
(also, for skaters, these are tremendous examples of HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE!)
Video of these races copied directly from Dutch TV are starting to pop up on YouTube and other places. I think this is a great thing for our small sport, (especially in places like the US & Canada where there is no TV coverage) but I bet that eventually they will be taken down due to the copyright issues.
So “amateur” video like this has an important place.
I have stood here before inside the pouring rain
With the world turning circles running round my brain
I guess I’m always hoping that you’ll end this reign
But it’s my destiny to be the King of Pain
-Sting & the Police
I’ve been involved in sports my whole life; hockey, baseball, cycling, triathlons, ice & inline speedskating, and I can state with certainty there is nothing approaching the pure lactic-acid brutal agony of an ice long track 1500m.
In just under 2 minutes, you can do more damage to your body than a hard 2 hour hilly bicycle race inflicts.
Even the best in the world truly suffer while doing 1500’s.
I was a participant and a spectator for the first day of the US fall world cup qualifier 500m and 1500m races. To be a good 1500m skater involves becoming the “King of Pain”. I’ve always loved that song too, so it fit the video clips Marco Bucci and I shot of the first day of racing.
P.S. It is worth mentioning, that as much as speedskating might hurt, its still just sports, there are many more awful things.
During the races it was great to see Glenn Koshi from Bont Skates, Glenn lives in the area of California affected by the recent wildfires, and had to evacuate. Thankfully he & his home made it through ok.
P.P.S. here is another reason to be thankful for small things, I finished this video on the Amtrack that runs from NYC to Vermont. I was riding in the passenger car right behind the engine.
About two hours out of the city, the train jolted with a violent BANG! & started rattling up & down on the tracks like a car on a washboard road. Blue smoke poured up from the tracks & the train screeched to an emergency stop.
Some idiot kids had pushed a shopping cart off an overpass bridge into the path of the train! A shopping cart holding a 55-gallon steel drum full of big rocks!!!
They were trying to derail the train! Myself and the 70 other passengers & crew are lucky they failed! Yeeeow!!
The 16th Masters International speedskating games was one of the most fun events I have ever raced.
Actually, I’ve had a terrific time at ALL of the Masters international races I’ve done. Even while skating through blizzards in Inzell, the camaraderie & competition is wonderful. You can see the IMSSC website here.
There are some fast folks at these races, but the primary reason masters travel to these events, (against all societal conditioning) is the pure love (addiction?) of speedskating.
I shot this video from February 22nd – 25th, 2007, in Calgary. I put the video together while on the plane to Europe, and thought I would post it now, as this years schedule has just been released, (new this year are two North American metric events, an allaround in Calgary, and a sprint in Milwaukee, in addition to the long-running packstyle)
It’s worth mentioning that the end of the video was shot at the massive post-race awards party, seeing so many Europeans line-dancing was awesome!
If you are younger than 30, you can look forward to this kind of fun. If you are already a master, let these amazing folks inspire you to challenge yourself. Seeing 60+ year olds tear up the ice get me psyched.
I strongly encourage “older & wiser” athletes to try and skate some of these races if you can. I’ve raced the Inzell event twice, as well as Hamar & Davos. It’s just tons of fun & incredible memories from the “world-cup for working folks”.
This year I’ll be in Erfurt & Milwaukee for sure, and will try to be at the Calgary event.
I’m the USA rep to the organization that runs these events, and am working to put together an American metric sprint race at the Pettit Center, January 5th & 6th. Working closely with the Canadian rep, we hope to have the Milwaukee and Calgary eventually recognized as the “North American Masters Metric Championships” as there seems to be increasing interest.
I will have the entry forms done soon, I’m just swamped…
