At the VELO Sports Center we decided to get into the life of Tela Crane (2014 Scratch and Team Pursuit National Champion; 2013 Keirin, Sprint and Madison National Champion, 10 x National Champion and 27 x National Medalist) with a power Q & A. Tela is training and gearing up for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. She will also be teaching you about the art of Bunch Racing this Friday Night, May 29^th at 7pm. During this session she will teach you correct positioning in the peloton as well as successful tips to succeed at omnium style racing.

Q & A w/ Tela Crane

Rich Kemp: How did you get into track cycling? How long have you been riding bikes competitively?

Tela Crane: Both my parents ride bikes, so growing up my brother and I always rode bikes with them. I started out on the back of a tandem, while my brother was in the trailer, and then I got kicked off the tandem when my brother was too big for the trailer, I then had to get my own bike. So it was always part of our life. When I was in my early teenage years I thought it was pretty lame, I wasn’t super excited about riding with my dad anymore. I wasn’t that excited about riding bikes, it was just a thing I did with my dad. Then I got knee surgery; the doctor said riding bikes would be really good for my rehab. I started riding more, and my mom was researching ways to get my brother and I more involved in bike riding and racing. As a family we lived really close to the Marymoor Velodrome in Redmond, Washington, she found out there was junior classes at the track, so she signed us both up. The joke with the family now is: “She had to force me to go to the class.” I did not want to have anything to do with the class; I thought it was super scary and intimidating. I went, I didn’t really like it at first [track cycling], but for some reason I think a lot of it had to do with the community there. Everyone was really supportive, and that helped me. People asked me: “Were you really good a cycling? Is that why you kept in the sport?” In reality I wasn’t that great at cycling, I got last in most races first couple of years. The community really helped me and kept me involved [in the sport]. I always like a challenge, and I made that a challenge to myself to always get better.

RK: In a points, scratch, miss and out, or other endurance events why is it so crucial to have great positioning in the peloton?

TC: I think one of the things that appeals to me most about track racing is how tactical it is. How much you have to be paying attention, I think it is cool you do not have to be the fastest person to be able to win a race. If you are smart and paying attention, and you can put yourself into good position, you can beat people that are faster than you. I really like that aspect of track racing. It is a “thinking persons” race. You have to be aware of what is going on around you, when to take risks, and when to “chill” for a little bit. Positioning is very important. In a points race you have multiple opportunities for those sprints, say you mess something up in the first one, you can re-evaluate and set yourself up for a better position for the next sprint.

RK: What made you get into the endurance side of cycling? I know you mentioned that you were a sprinter at the beginning of your cycling career. I know you even held a record for a flying 200m at some point.

TC: Growing up I did a little bit of everything – I did road, track, cyclocross, and did a couple mountain bike races. That was encouraged when we were younger – try everything, don’t specialize in anything. I tended to be better at the shorter distance events especially on the track. When I was 17 I started focusing on the Sprint Events, I won Junior Nationals that year, and went to Junior Worlds for the Sprint Events. I took a little time off when I was in college, when I came back to bike racing I focused on cyclocross for a little while, which was way different, and then track sprinting. I always had the thought: I wonder how good I could be at sprinting? I really enjoy the tactical aspect of everything condensed into a 3 lap race so that is what always appealed to me about sprint racing. I focused on that for the past 4-5 years, and I was improving a lot. I had some really good results, but the reality for me was that I wasn’t improving enough to be competitive at the international level. To me it was a really hard decision, because I really liked sprinting, my favorite types of races – I really like match sprints and keirins - I wanted to see if I was a little better suited towards the longer stuff [races] on the track. I always tended to be a better long sprinter; I am not a super explosive rider. If it was a sprint round I would be better suited for a long sprint over a short sprint. I talked a lot with my coach, and decided to give it a go with more of the endurance side of things. It has definitely been a challenging transition, I don’t know how good I can be, but I am still improving and that is encouraging.

RK: Your main goal is the 2016 Olympics in Rio, what drives you and keeps you motivated? What would you want to look back on if you fell short of your Olympic goal?

TC: I really enjoy the training aspect of racing, I really enjoy the opportunity every day to try and get a little bit better, that is what really drives and motivates me, that every training session, I am going to try and do a little bit better than the day before. You have these big goals – which are the end goal, but there is so much that has to happen between here and then [the Olympics] and if you only focus for that far away goal it will be really overwhelming, but I think it helps to have those small goals, whether it is in one training session, or different races in the lead up to one big race. That is what keeps me going, I want to know that in every training session I did everything that I possibly could to do the best I could on that day, and at the end of the day or at the end of the Olympic cycle whether or not I make the Olympic team, I want to know that I did everything that I possibly could to be the best I could be.

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