Hayley Edward's Blog: America!

“What happened to you out there??” a question I’ve been asked countless times in the short week I’ve been home. A question just as hard to answer as where to start writing this blog... My five weeks in America were the fastest and toughest weeks of my life. I made a family of friends and unforgettable memories that will last a lifetime. The racing and training in America redefined how I view myself as a cyclist and what I am truly capable of...

The day to day routine of training built my confidence without me even knowing come the third week out there. Double sessions each day, track and road, the best training I’ve done, more so the HARDEST. Here is some of what we (myself and Charline Joiner) did... Motorpacing, standing starts, road rides, mountain climbs, derby rides and most importantly the track and crit racing! Full on and hard work put in!!

To add to this... I turn up on the first week to race the World Series of Bicycling Track, racing with the pro/international women’s field against, New Zealand, Poland, America and Scotland. This was a big night of racing each Friday with crowds of 2,500 to 3,000! This was one of the best experiences to be able to compete within this race series.

Throughout the hard weeks of training I put in mentally and physically, it started paying off with results... Top ten in the women’s crit , 5th overall in one of the Omniums, just pipped to 4th in the women’s big event the kieren and finally a big win on the Friday night (World Series of Bicycling) this was in the women’s scratch race, report follows...

“In the ten lap scratch, Nadia Latzgo made a move with four to go and brought England’s Hayley Edwards with her. Edwards was able to hold off a hard charging Latzgo to take the win, while Colleen Gulick won the field sprint.” The Valley Preferred Cycling Centre.

This was then the start to a rider introduction on the last week I was out there. I was asked alongside the pro/international riders, men and women to do a rider introduction to the crowd. This was a lot of fun!! Your name along with an introduction and country your from is called out whilst riding round the track waving to the crowd. A very rewarding and fun experience after a long five weeks of racing and training at my hardest!...

Through all the hard full on racing and training I’m not missing out the fun and CRAZY cherished memories! Though it’s hard to explain every best one, as there were so many!! Instead I’ve got photos, so here are the BEST memories of ‘Summer 2012 in America!’...