Kremke Repeats as Points Race Champion
Check out The Houston Chronicle’s write-up of the event and Kevin’s inspiration to win here.
Kremke Leading the Race
Kevin’s account-
One of my perennial season goals is to win a national championship event, either road or track. I had already attempted to claim two national titles in both the masters road race (2nd place) and the elite criterium (12th place). My last shot at the stars and stripes would be the masters nationals points race in Colorado Springs, where I was the defending champ.
My training leading up to the points race had been primarily focused on elite nationals criterium the weekend prior, but the training translated pretty well to the points race. My coach Derick Williamson had me doing a pretty intense routine of VO2 Max intervals on Tuesday, two-a-day LT intervals and the Memorial Park Criterium on Wednesday, more LT work on Saturdays, and these crazy sprint workouts on Sundays, where I would go do 60 10-second sprints all out. I was usually ready for the Monday rest!
All the work paid off and I was in peak condition for the big elite criterium / national points race week.
Kremke Wins Points Race
The points race was in Colorado Springs…6500 feet above sea level. The highest altitude I got in Houston was sitting in my office on the 20th floor…not exactly altitude training. I arrived in Colorado Springs only 24 hours before the race to minimize the effects of altitude. I did a quick 45-minute warm up on the track several hours before my race and felt like all systems go for that evening.
The points race is pure mayhem on the track…25 guys sprinting every six laps for a total of 72 laps (24 kilometers). In a points race, riders are awarded 5 points for 1st place, 3 points for 2nd, 2 for 3rd and 1 for 4th. Plus, any rider who laps the field gets an extra 20 points.
My strategy for the race was to start out conservatively, because I wasn’t sure how my body would respond to the altitude…I didn’t want to go into the red zone immediately and not be able to recover from it. I took 2nd in the first sprint and got 1st in the second sprint to put myself in the lead. From there, I rode a smart race to take points when I can, but without burying myself. Mid-way through the race, as it became evident that I was the strongest out there, guys started attacking to try and drop me. I stayed alert and went with everything, which really started to take its toll. With 20 laps remaining (and 3 more sprints to go), I broke away with Jason Meidhof, who was sitting in 2nd place 7 points behind me. He won the 3rd to last sprint to get to within 5 points. At that point I had the race in the bag because the most he could gain on me in the last 2 sprints would be 4 points total, assuming he won both. I went for the second to last sprint and won easily. One more sprint to go and the race was mine…but we started catching the field, which changed everything. With three laps to go (1 kilometer), Meidhof attacked super hard to get up to the field and earn an extra 20 points. That put me in a very dangerous situation…I had to respond or I would lose the race. I was absolutely dying at this point. He caught the field with 2 laps to go and I was still dangling about 15 meters back…so so close! We crossed the line with 1 lap to go and they rang the bell for the final sprint and of course the field sped up for the last sprint! This was it. I had to cath the field or I would lose the race after all that work. I dug deeper than I ever had and caught the field with 1/2 a lap to go…gold medal and stars and stripes were mine!!
