Lorraine Jarvis has the gold medal and the rainbow jersey hanging in her home. She won the women€™s age 50-54 500 meter TT at the Track Cycling Masters World Championships in Australia.

Her story is told in the pages of the Marin Independent Journal newspaper today. We wanted to share it with all of you here on CycleTo, too.

Her winning time of 39.427 seconds at worlds was more than a half-second ahead of her nearest rival. That€™s a huge win in a world-class cycling event. If you want an analogy, it€™s like lapping the field in the Indianapolis 500.

Even more remarkable is the fact that in the long history of track cycling, only four women over age 50 have ever broken 40 seconds for 500 meters. Want another analogy? A sub-40 time in the 500 is like running under four minutes in the mile. It€™s a helluva accomplishment.

Jarvis€™ first flirtation with track racing was back in 2003. Kelly Silberberg, her husband and coach, is a former collegiate track cyclist. He€™s the one who first told Jarvis about the Hellyer Velodrome in San Jose. €œShe met some women who were on my team, they were all into the track, and they said, €˜Hey, you€™ve got to try it,€™€ said Silberberg. €œSo we all went down there, and that was it. One day on the track, and she was hooked.€

The hook was firmly planted when Jarvis won the very first track race she entered in the €™03 California State Championships at Hellyer. Since then, she€™s accumulated some 26 state champ medals. Ho hum. Time for another challenge. Time to get serious.

€œFrom 2003 until 2007, she was getting faster and faster, but with no specific training,€ Silberberg said. €œShe was just riding and doing a little bit on the track, but it wasn€™t until 2008, that year before nationals, that she really started training.€

The result? Jarvis won one individual and two team titles at the US nationals in €˜08, thanks in large part to the advice and support of her husband/coach. Together they devised a plan for Jarvis to win a world championship in 2009, the year she €œaged-up€ into the 50-54 year-old division.

One of the major goals in the plan was to race at the 2008 world championships in Sydney, Australia, just to get a taste of what it was like. €œI was really happy about my national championships at that time, so I was feeling no pressure at worlds,€ said Jarvis. €œI knew I was just there really to prepare myself for this year, for 2009.€

So how did she do? €œI only did two events, the 500 meter and the individual pursuit, and I placed sixth or seventh in both.€ But she learned what it was like to race at the highest level of the sport.

Jarvis and Silberberg returned home to San Anselmo, CA, to start the real work of winning a world championship. They knew it would take eight months of training to prepare for just 40 seconds of racing. Silberberg summed up the schedule. €œ18 weeks of weight training, eight weeks of plyometrics, six weeks of speed work on the track, a one-week taper, and then the day.€

Leading up to that day in Sydney, Jarvis admitted that she was a total wreck. €œI was very nervous, thinking, €˜This is it, it€™s all come down to this. Two years, for this one minute. I have to get it together.€™ And then probably about five or ten minutes before my race, I was calm.€

Silberberg was equally as wigged-out as his wife at worlds. €œAt that point, I€™m just as nervous because I€™m getting everything ready. I€™m setting the bike up, putting the gears on, pumping the tires up, putting the wheels on and everything€™s got to be perfect. Everything€™s riding on that bike. If I put the wrong gear on, it could be disastrous.€

Sitting on her bike at the starting line, Jarvis told herself, €œI€™m prepared, I€™m ready, I can do it. Just go through the motions Lorraine, that€™s all you€™ve got to do.€

Her coach knew what she had to do to win. €œGetting out of that gate, and getting out fast, that€™s the whole race,€ Silberberg said. €œIt€™s either made or lost right there.€

And then she was off. €œThe race is a blur, because all you can think about is going as fast as you can for that 39 seconds,€ said Jarvis. €œThe start is so critical, and I do remember that I had probably one of the best starts ever, so that felt really good. I got out of the gate well, and I was going fast.€

It was all over in a flash. Weeks, months and years of work, for less than 40 seconds on the track. Jarvis crossed the finish line, looked up at her name and time on the scoreboard, and knew she€™d won a world championship. €œI was so relieved that I delivered, on the day it counted,€ she said. €œAnd I think my coach is going to be happy, too.€

Husband and wife came back to Marin, to his work as a general contractor and her job as a vice president at Wells Fargo. The world championship hasn€™t really changed their lives, with one exception. €œI have a lot more Facebook friend requests now,€ Jarvis joked.

And she has a new goal for 2010. A world championship in the match sprints. €œI€™m going back for the gold in that one next year.€

Another year of work for a race that takes less than a minute. And maybe another world championship to bring home to northern California.