Project London riders Dean Tracy, Michael Blatchford and Jimmy Watkins, fresh off their gold medal effort at the 2011 U.S. Elite Nationals, were competing for Team USA last week at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, where the trio broke the U.S. National team sprint record they had set earlier this year at the Pan American Championships in Columbia. 
Read more here.

SWEET THANG
Coming out of retirement after 2-years completely off the bike, working your butt off twice a day for ten months, then winning the 2011 Elite National Sprint Championship title is a sweet, sweet thang.

Congratulations to Project London rider Michael Blatchford, 2011 US National Sprint Champion.

Project London 2012 is proud to welcome on board for 2012, 3T. 3T brings their innovation and advanced engineering to the world of track racing and we are excited to be working with them.  The Project London riders will be riding the Scatto bars, built for the pure sprinter.

Returning to the boards, 
with MIchael Blatchford.

Michael Blatchford talks about what it's like to come back to the boards after a 2-year retirement and win the National sprint championships. Watch the video here.

Goals with Dean Tracy.

Dean Tracy talks future goals here.

LIVESTRONG 


In honor of LIVESTRONG day, October 2nd, Project London was on hand to throw out LIVESTRONG wristbands to 1,300 spectators who showed up to watch Elite Track Nationals.

Kevin Mansker started the weekend with a bang by setting a new track record on his way to winning the Kilo event on Friday night with a scorching 1:07.79”, half a second faster than the old record of 1:08.29” set by Per Bjesse in 2009. Bjesse’s record was itself a shocking upset of Olympic Gold Medalist Marty Nothstein’s record at Alpenrose which had stood for a decade.

In the team sprint, Project London 2012 rider Daniel Walker set a new track record early in the event of 53.09” along with TJ Mathieson and Jack Lindstrom. The record stood for a mere 10 minutes however, until Walker’s 3 teammates Dean Tracy, Michael Blatchford and Kevin Mansker pushed the best time down even further by nearly 2” to 51.16”.

Blatchford writes about the team's recent trip to Minnesota for some hot dogs... and some bike racing.

While the Project London riders are officially in the "off" season of international-level track cycling, the hard work to prepare for London 2012 never stops and local racing is just getting a full head of steam as outdoor tracks around the country warm up and dry off.
The LA-based members of the team are a regular presence at the Encino Velodrome, and Portland-based riders hit up the Alpenrose Velodrome whenever possible.
While both of these track remain on our schedule for Summer 2011, we've begun to finalize travel arrangements and the boys will be racing across the US. Here's a quick overview of where Project London riders will be racing next:

June 10-12 - MN fixed gear classic, St. Paul MN
July 1-2 -Testarossa Challenge, Los Angeles CA
July 13 - Battle on the Bricks, Portland OR
July 15-17 - Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge, Portland OR
July 22-23 - FSA Grand Prix –Seattle, WA

Michael Blatchford gives us his full report on the Pan-American Championships. It's on the blog, read it here!

The USA Sprint team at the Pan-Am Championships this month was an all-Project London affair - with Jimmy Watkins, Kevin Mansker, Dean Tracy and Michael Blatchford competing in the Match Sprint, Team Sprint, Kilo, and Kierin.
Besides bringing home medals, the Project London boys set a North American record of 44.7" in the Team Sprint - that's right, the fastest team sprint ever by North Americans was performed by three of our own men, which goes to show how far we've come and why these boys are serious in their Olympic quest.
Race reports are all up on the blog! Read them here!

We talked to the youngest member of Project London about racing bikes and what he's most proud of. Find it here.

Dean Tracy channels Keith Richards for inspiration in a look back at what it was like to be under pressure at the 2010 UCI Worlds. Find it here!

Back from The Netherlands and recovering from jetlag, Michael Blatchford - a.k.a. Blatch - blogs about his thoughts after Worlds. Find it here!

The "why" behind the Team USA team sprint performance in Apeldoorn, and their quest to represent the United States in London . . . A Rocky movie in the making! That is, if Rocky rode a fixed gear and wore flat-brimmed caps.

7-months ago, the US had nothing in the way of a sprint program. The USOC hired Jamie Staff, gold medallist in teh team sprint from Beijing. Jamie Staff found 6, hungry, young, fast American guys and focus their training and their minds on the end game goal, London, then Rio.

In order for the US riders to compete in London, they need to earn Olympic points. Similar to a points race, the person with the most points and in this case, country, gets an invite to compete in the London Olympics. The US is behind; we are racing against the other “Americas” North and South, for that team sprint spot in the Olympic games.

With less than 7-months of training, these young men are fighting tooth and nail for every Olympic point, and they just earn more points today, in today’s World Championships, by placing ahead of the other “America” teams.

So their results show USA takes 12th, but they come away with a huge win in Olympic points. I tip my hat to Jamie Staff and the young men of team USA, for they are beating the odds and getting it done. AND I BELIEVE they will be in London in 2012.

Project London athletes Dean Tracy and Michael Blatchford are representing Team USA at the UCI World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands this week. Follow their story on Facebook and Twitter, as well as check back for race reports to follow!

Project London Launch

Project London is a go! We are officially launching today, March 16. Related press releases are here.

UCI World Championships Update

Project London rider Dean Tracy both set a new American record in Manchester and helped team USA qualify for the Team Sprint at the UCI World Championships.

Two Project London riders, Dean Tracy and 2008 Olympian Michael Blatchford now fly to Holland along with Team USA rider Giddeon Massie to represent the red, white and blue against the best in the world.

Manchester!

Dean Tracy took on the UCI Manchester World Cup and came back with new America records! With a 10th place in the Team Sprint the red, white, and blue boys stole enough UCI points to qualify for the World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. After a short rest at home and some quality training at the home velodrome in LA, it will be back across the pond to bring the fight to Europe.