It’s a familiar trip for one of Piedmont College’s newest coaches, Head Cycling Coach Jame Carney.
The man who has competed in two Olympic Games himself as a rider is heading back to the games as a coach. Carney will accompany the U.S. Cycling Team to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Carney currently serves as the Tactical Coach for the U.S. Olympic Track Cycling Team and begins his journey about ten days before the opening ceremonies as he is set to fly out to Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 27 to join U.S. female cyclist Sarah Hammer in a bit of last minute preparation.
It’s with Hammer where Carney displays incredible attention to detail as evident with the training method set to prepare Hammer, who finished 3rd at the World Championships in London this past March in the Omnium, for her own run at the same event in Rio.
| Coach Carney’s Olympic Timeline |
| July 26 – Fly to Los Angeles to join Sarah Hammer for pre-Olympic training |
| August 2 – Fly to Houston for Team Processing where every U.S. Olympian will go |
| August 3 – Fly to Rio for the Games |
| August 6 – Games of the XXXI Olympiad |
| August 17 – Fly back to the United States |
| August 27 – Piedmont’s first varsity cycling race in program history |
There are two cycling events taking Carney’s attention in Rio this August, the Team Pursuit and the Omnium. Both are on the docket for the coach who brings with him 40 years of experience on the velodrome, experience that will be key for the U.S. according to Carney.
“It’s probably the main reason I was brought in,” said Carney when speaking of his velodrome experience. “I can look at a track and tell you how it’s going to ride, and that’s something that will be key for us showing up in Rio with many unknowns about the track. I’ve seen it on video and it looks similar to the track I rode in Barcelona back in ’92. There are key factors to how a velodrome rides including shape, bankings, transitions, as well as width. We’ll take these into account in a just about a week’s time.”
“Track bikes only use one gear and it’s fixed. It’s a direct drive so these bikes do not have brakes. Gear selection is very critical. We need to take all aspects of the velodrome into consideration. My experience with all of these tracks over the decades helps me give accurate input in gear selection,” Carney continued. “We also have to establish green areas on the track which are better for passing and red areas where it isn’t ideal. Mass start racing is something I have great experience with, four decades now to be exact and since three of the six races in the Omnium are mass start, this experience will come in handy for our riders wearing the red, white and blue.”
Carney’s experience lends itself well to what the team will experience down in Rio as he is a former two-time Olympian himself racing in Barcelona in ’92, in the Team Pursuit and Points Race, and in Sydney in 2000 in the Points Race again. Carney earned 5th in the Points Race in Sydney which was a stand alone event back then, the best finish by an American in the event. It’s also a race that Carney has won seven times at Elite Nationals, five more times than any other rider – ever.
The Points Race is just one of six events involved in the Omnium but it’s the final event and the most critical with varying racing strategies. Being versatile, adapting and efficient while racing around a 250 meter wood track at over 30 mph is challenging. Tactics often determine the outcome at this level.
Carney specifically helps the Team Pursuit with the exchanges during, a critical portion of the event because of the decision whether to do so earlier or later on the track. Additionally, the angle of the exchange comes under Carney’s eye of expertise as it helps the U.S. Team be more efficient. These decisions can be the difference between what medal you could be fighting for. This event has been decided by less than a tenth of a second before. Everything counts and Team U.S.A. is looking for every advantage.
Though Carney provides great help in the Team Pursuit, the critical pieces the Olympic veteran was brought in for has been the three mass start Omnium events: the Scratch Race, the Elimination Race and the Points Race.
Perhaps the most exciting of the six races included in the Omnium is the Elimination. It’s a race where the last rider in the field in eliminated every 500 meters, which is every two laps on the velodrome. Everyone is eliminated until only one rider remains.
It’s a race that Carney himself has won doing so amongst a youthful crowd at the Elite Nationals in 2011 in Los Angeles – as a 43-year-old rider.
Carney’s impressive accomplishment, which he credits to his tactical knowledge of the race that he now shares with the U.S. Team, helped the then-43-year-old rider finish 2nd in the Omnium at the Elite Nationals.
Carney now heads back West once again with the same event on the mind as he helps Hammer prepare to continue the momentum she built up in the Elimination Race herself winning the event this past March at the World Championships in London, a win that helped her to a 3rd place overall finish in the Omnium.
Hammer and Carney will spend about a week preparing for Rio by utilizing a unique training method as the two will race all out in a simulated setting riding behind a motorcycle on the velodrome trying to get each other out of position before reviewing the tactical decisions made to prepare her mentally for the upcoming Olympic Games.
Carney will then fly to Houston on August 2 for team processing, the same center and city where every Olympian from the United States will go prior to heading down to the Games. Carney will then spend August 3 and 4 flying down to Rio on a surprisingly long trip before arriving for the Games which feature the Opening Ceremonies on August 5 with competition beginning the next day.
Carney will be with the team through the end of the games on August 17 before flying back to the States arriving on the 18th, just nine days before Piedmont’s first-ever varsity cycling event, the Georgia Tech Mountain Bike Omnium in Atlanta on August 27 and 28.
With five female cyclists (Sarah Hammer, Ruth Winder, Jennifer Valente, Kelly Catlin, and Chloe Dygert) and a male cyclist (Matt Baranoski) all headed down to Rio with Carney in their corner, the U.S. is aiming for a strong finish.
A finish that Carney hopes carries a bit of shine and a golden color back to the U.S.
