Nationals

Right from the beginning, the road race was extremely fast. I was spun out for nearly the entire race and big ringing it even on the uphills. There weren’t many inclines which made the race very boring. It was impossible to drop people. Charlie and I had decided that he would help me in the criterium and I would help him in the road race. Well, I didn’t feel too hot from yesterday’s time trial so the crit was basically a disaster. I was caught behind many crashes and frankly was not feeling good. I was happy to get some rest and recover for the road race. I did exactly that and the day before the road race, I was feeling extremely good. When I got to the start line of the road race I was so happy for the race to start I could barely contain myself. I was feeling really good. During the race I was following Nathan Brown for the first half and almost got into the break with Nick Bax that stuck until the end. After the frustration of trying to get into a break, I decided it was time to talk to Charlie and see if he needed anything. He told me that when a chase group gets back that I should counter. I did exactly that. Unfortunately for some reason, I had a tremendous pain in my back and quickly fell back the pack. I was barely hanging on. It was the most frustrating thing in the world because my legs were feeling amazing but my back was preventing me from pedaling. Anytime my back did feel ok for a minute, I would immediately cherish the moment and attack the field. One of the times I attacked I got into a chase group of three that stuck for a while but eventually got caught. In the end, I completed most of the road race and was a very frustrated person. It was probably the most angry I’ve been in a long time. So much work for so many months for such a little result.

I am going to get a bike fit and strengthen my core and back muscles. I do not want anything like that to happen ever again.

Aside from all the negativity, I had a good experience at nationals. It was fun to learn how to race in a new age group. A much different experience from the last year. You do not even need to know how to shift because you are always in your biggest gear. That’s a plus. So in a way, it’s easier. But it’s also harder because you are in your biggest gear the whole time! It’s a funny situation.

Congratulations to the whole team for such great rides. You guys did an amazing job. Next year is going to be so much fun with all of us in the 17/18’s.

Thank you to Billy for checking our equipment and helping us warm up for our races. It made it feel like a pro team which was a fun experience.

Also, thank you Mick for letting me use your time trial bike. It was super fast!

Thanks for reading.

-Edan

National Road Race 13-14

On Friday we had the National Road Race. I was a very hilly course. Everything was either up or down. The only bad thing about it was that we only did 15 miles. The group stayed mostly together for the entire race. On the last lap going downhill around 2.5 km out John Funk attacked, but he was chased down. I was in the top 5 going into the 180˚ turn 1 km out. From the turn it is straight and around a 3 % grade. I battled some kids for John Funk's wheel. We were around 30th in the pack. There were 2 crashes on John's wheel. He was moving up on the right side of the back but a kid swerved and ran into him. but both of them stayed up. He pulled me up to around 10th but then there were people in-front of him. Then I sprinted from 150m. But 4 people had already started their sprints and I couldn't catch up to them and I finished 5th.

National Crit 13-14

Last Thursday was the National Crit. In was in Angels' Stadium parking lot. On the internet the course didn't look good because there were few turns for the amount of straights there were. When I started racing I realized that the course was great. The course was big but for the first half there was a tail wind and then there was a 180˚ turn which went under the giant A in the parking lot. When the group finished the turn you went right into a headwind from 400m out.

We did seven laps. I was in a break of 3 with 3 laps to go but was caught. John Funk was the strongest. He had just won the TT the day before and 2 years ago won all 3 events. He attacked with a lap to go but was caught. at that point in the race I was in the top 10 but the pack swarmed us. I was in 30th. I tried to move up the last lap and caught the front by taking the inside through the 180˚ turn. I got in the group with 400m to go. The group started to sprint. I followed wheels but when I started my sprint the guys were going too fast and I finished 7th.

Daniel Tisdell rocking out a second place at the scorching hot Junior National 15-16 road race- Nice one!!