Tuesday, August 12, 2008

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.

Friday, August 8, 2008

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

Posted for Daniel Tisdell

Going into the race, I went in really focused. I was kind of mad for not doing so well in the time trial. When we started, I got in the top 10 riders almost instantly. I was somewhat familiar with the course, and sat in the front of the group the first lap. One attack got off the front towards the last part of that lap, and held about 20 seconds on the field. The next lap, I started looking for a way to get into the break, or see if the pack would catch it. Twice, they closed it down to 8 seconds gap, but never went the final gap to catch it. I figured if they could hold off the field, they could have a good chance of staying away. On the third lap, my main goal was to bridge that gap, and not take many riders with me. This proved to be difficult. Everyone would respond to the slightest attack. I sat up until I got to the hilly area of the course, then did a attack, and got a gap on the field. I started to bridge the gap on my own, and after a few hard minutes, I caught them at the steepest part of the course. After a moments of rest, and draft, I integrated myself into the group. After a few pulls, I saw that the were really disorganized. A minute later, two other riders bridged, while one guy fell off. Almost instantly from the time the two bridged, a rider attacked our breakaway over the top of the hill. That attack caught me in a weak point, after I had just pulled in the wind. I fell off in a few seconds of the attack, and submerged into the pack again. Soon I was on my 4th lap, seeing if the break would be caught, and seeing if anyone was going to try to bridge. Larson, this years TT champion went off a few times, only to be sucked back into the pack. I sat in the top 15 riders seeing how the field was trying to catch the breakaway. As we went through to start our 5th lap, even though the pack started chasing the breakaway, the pack was 28 seconds back. I sat in that whole lap, waiting for the opportune moment, but it never came. As I went into the 6th lap, I was really eager to do something, but no opportunities ever came. The pack did manage to close the gap to 24 seconds though. As I came about 5k from the finish with 1 more lap to go, I saw Larson and Adam attack, getting 5 seconds on the field. I immediately attacked, and easily got away because it was on a hill. I caught onto them, and started rotating with them as I started out on my last lap. From there, it was grueling hard, and took a crazy amount of effort to try to close the gap. Just a minute after we started our last lap, Adam was dropped from our chase group. I knew I could not get there alone, and hoped that Larson could bridge as good as he could time trial. Only a few minutes later, I knew we had a good chance working together. He and I pulled strong, and took equal 15 second pulls. About halfway through the last lap, we bridged to the lead breakaway, making the break 5 riders. Just a second after we made it there, almost the same place that I fell of last time, someone attacked. I was ready this time. I sucked wheels, and everyone soon came back together on the downhill. I encouraged everyone to work together until the turnaround up the hill. After we went around it, no one wanted to pull. I watched the pack sitting a dangerous 20 seconds back, as no one would pull. We had 2k to go, and less than 15 seconds on the field, but still no one was pulling through. I waited 1 more kilometer, and our gap came to 8 seconds. From there, I attacked, and dropped everyone but one guy. He ended up sprinting around me right at the finish, and I took second place.