DEMOREST — It's the trip of a lifetime for most, a dream come true. But for Jame Carney it's a familiar trek.
The Piedmont College men's cycling coach has competed in two Olympic Games as a rider and is now headed 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. Track Cycling Team and began his latest Olympic journey Wednesday, flying to Los Angeles to join U.S. cyclist Sarah Hammer for last minute preparations. Hammer finished third at the World Championships in London this past March in the Omnium, setting her up for bigger success in Rio.
Meanwhile, two events will keep Carney's full attention in Brazil: Team Pursuit and the Omnium.
"It's probably the main reason I was brought in," said Carney, who has 40 years of experience in velodrome racing. "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 (1992). 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. 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."
A two-time Olympian himself -- in Barcelona in '92, in the Team Pursuit and Points Race, and in Sydney in 2000 in the Points Race again -- Carney has the type of experience that could make him an asset to the national team. Carney finished fifth in the Points Race in Sydney, then a stand alone event, 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 miles per hour means that tactics often determine the outcome.
Carney specifically helps Team Pursuit with exchanges -- a critical portion of the event because of the decision whether to do so earlier or later in the track. Additionally, the angle of the exchange comes under Carney's eye of expertise as it helps the U.S. Team's efficiency in a race often decided by 10ths of seconds.
As important as Carney's work is to Pursuit, however, it is in the three mass start Omnium events where his expertise truly shines: 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 -- a race in which the last rider in the field is eliminated every 500 meters (two laps on the velodrome) until one rider -- the victor -- remains.
It's a race that a then a 43-year-old Carney won at the Elite Nationals in 2011 in Los Angeles, beating out a much younger field of competitors.
Following preparations with Hammer in California, Carney will fly to Houston on Aug. 2 for team processing, where every United States Olympian will gather prior to the Games. Carney will then make his way to Rio, where the Opening Ceremonies take place on Aug. 5 and competition beginning Aug. 6.
Carney will stay with the team through the end of the games on Aug. 17 before flying back U.S., arriving on Aug. 18 -- just nine days before Piedmont's first-ever varsity cycling event, the Georgia Tech Mountain Bike Omnium in Atlanta, Aug. 27-28.
With five female cyclists (Sarah Hammer, Ruth Winder, Jennifer Valente, Kelly Catlin, and Chloe Dygert) and one male cyclist (Matt Baranoski) headed to Rio with Carney in their corner, the U.S. is aiming for a strong finish -- one that Carney hopes carries a bit of golden color back home.
Coach Carney's Olympic Timeline
July 26 - Fly to Los Angeles to join Sarah Hammer for pre-Olympic training
Aug. 2 - Fly to Houston for Team Processing where every U.S. Olympian will go
Aug. 3 - Fly to Rio for the Games
Aug. 6 - Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Aug. 17 - Fly back to the United States
Aug. 27 - Piedmont's first varsity cycling race in program history
