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