MASTERS NATIONAL CYCLING : Whitney’s Philosophy Is Solid Gold

Tisha Whitney has a philosophy on cycling which helped her take home a second gold medal at the Great Earth National Masters Cycling Championships Monday.

“You have to decide to like everything; wind, flat surface, hills,” Whitney said. “The people that don’t, it throws them off when they race.”

Whitney, who lives in Irvine but races for the San Diego based Cyclo-Vets won the women’s 40-45 time trials in 1:02.30. Lynn Turks of Deerfield Beach, Fla. placed second (1:05.03), Sally DeSonia of Salt Lake City was third (1:05.18), Susan Rubin of Bakersfield was fourth (1:05.42) and Narda Roushdi of Berkeley was fifth with a time of 1:06.06. Whitney had won the women’s 40-45 criterium.

In the time trials, a 40-kilometer (25 mile course) spanning from the Tijuana toll road to the Rosarito exit and back, riders are released every minute and race against the clock rather than each other. In time trials Whitney used riders in front of her to gage how she is doing and to get her mind off the physical pain or fatigue she might be feeling.

“You constantly ask yourself, ‘can I go harder?,’ ” Whitney said. “You have a second person in your mind.

“I’m glad my name’s Whitney so I was next to last to go. Being near the end you can chase them (riders ahead) being able to compute how you’re doing. You see a little dot ahead of you and instead of feeling pain you keep assessing, ‘am I gaining or is she going ahead?’ It takes your mind off of what’s going on.”

One of Whitney’s goals going into Nationals was to defend her title in both events and collect her third and fourth national jerseys.

“Once you’ve won the pressure’s on to hold onto the jersey,” Whitney said. “Now the pressure’s kind of off.”

Whitney will be competing in two track events which will be held at the Velodrome in Balboa Park Wednesday through Friday and the road race (48 kilometers) Saturday.

Whitney hadn’t raced since injuring her wrist and arm six weeks ago and said her wrist was sore after racing both Sunday and Monday. While competing in a road race in Mammoth, Whitney felt the aftermath of a collision which sent her flying off her bike, not only injuring her right wrist and arm but causing $2,000 damage to her bike.

“I came out of it well considering my bike,” Whitney said. “It was probably good I got thrown off or I would have been fallen on.”

The crash merely delayed but didn’t stop Whitney from finishing the race. One of the girls was taken to the hospital to be treated for a broken pelvis, so Whitney asked if she could use the girl’s bike. Soon, Whitney was back riding and finished the race.

“You don’t realize how much you use your hands in racing until something like this happens,” Whitney said.

Tisha and her husband John, also a rider for Cyclo-Vets and a competitor in the men’s 45-49 division, joined Cyclo-Vets in 1988 after meeting member and former national champion Genna Mayberry at the nationals in Florida. Tisha said Mayberry’s friendliness and dedication inspired her to join, although it required traveling to San Diego to train. The Whitneys come down “as often as they can” but Tisha said she’s been traveling to San Diego a little more often to train with her coach, Dr. Arnie Baker, in preparation for the Velodrome because there isn’t one near her.

During this week of Nationals in San Diego the Whitneys are staying with teammate Marty Rose who placed second in the women’s 45-49 time trials. Rose was clocked in 1.04:51, behind national champion Camilla Buchanan of Williamsburg, Va. whose time was 1.03:47. Rose’s teammate Barbara Rasmussen, also of San Diego, rode the course in 1.05:59, placing third and Elaine Steinway from Fallbrook, who rides for Celo Pacific, placed fourth with a time of 1:06.14.

Susan Giesbach of Fullerton, who won the women’s 30-34 division, came to San Diego for the time trails in between a 17-day stage race in Idaho and the senior nationals in Albany, N.Y. next week. Giesbach, whose forte is time trials, was clocked in 57:21 ahead of second place finisher Janice Gaines of Portland, Ore. (57:52), Liz Heller of St. Louis (57:57), Sue Sutton of San Diego (59:23) and Maureen Chambers of Chapel Hill, N.C. (1:00.38).