Edgett Has a Handle on Bicycling’s Fast Track : San Diegan Has Accelerated Quickly to Gain National Recognition in His Sport

Before 1983, Alan Edgett had never competed in a bicycle race. To him, a bicycle was a form of transportation to and from school.

Then his older brother Jim asked him if he would like to ride in the Tecate-to-Ensenada road race on the back of a tandem bike. That day, Alan discovered what has become his favorite sport.

This week, Edgett, 16, who attends University City High School, makes his third appearance in the U.S. Cycling Federation’s National Track Championships. The event will be held in Allentown, Pa. At last year’s championships in Seattle, Edgett won a silver medal in the 14-to-15-year-old category.

Although it was a dusty road race through scrublands and over hills that first piqued his interest, Edgett prefers the steep-banked turns of a velodrome track.

“I’ve always liked going fast,” Edgett said.

Edgett also competes in road and criterium races. But he finds that high-speed track racing best quenches his thirst for speed. His racing bike weighs only 13 pounds, reaches speeds of 40 m.p.h. and has no brakes.

“It’s actually safer without brakes,” he said. “Somebody can’t slam on their brakes and cause an accident.”

The road from his first foray into cycling in 1983 to this current high-level competition was a short one, even though Edgett did not race full-speed into the sport.

“I slowly got into it,” he said. “I started out racing public events at the velodrome in Balboa Park. Then, I joined the La Jolla Cycling Club. But I didn’t really train on a competitive basis until the last couple years.”

Races are usually divided into two categories--sprints and points racing. In sprints, cyclists ride 800 meters to establish a pace, then sprint 200 meters to the finish line. In points races, riders may peddle as many as 90 laps (30 kilometers). At every fifth lap, the top four cyclists are awarded points.

Edgett has competed successfully in both events. At the state championships two weeks ago, he won the gold medal in the points competition and the bronze medal in the sprints in the 16-to-17 age bracket.

Later this summer, Edgett will go to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., for the Junior World Championships camp. The 30 top junior cyclists will compete for 10 spots to represent the U.S. in the World Championships in Austria.

In his first major race, Edgett won the silver medal in the 14- to 15-year-old division at the 1985 state championships. He qualified for the national championships where he gained experience, but little else.

“I didn’t do too well that year, basically because of nerves,” Edgett said. “It’s really scary going up to a national championship. Plus, I was 14 and when you’re the younger age in your age group, you’re competing against guys that are a year older and a year bigger.”

Edgett didn’t do that poorly at his first national championship, finishing sixth. His dim view of that race illustrates his desire to seek perfection in what he does.

“That (first national competition) sort of whet his desire,” said Bob Edgett, his father. “His competitive instincts take over and maybe go beyond his natural skill level. We’ve told him on a number of occasions that he doesn’t have to race, but it’s just something he does because he wants to do it. He loves the competition of racing against others. I’d love to say that I’m the coach and I’m responsible, but it’s just something that’s inside him.”

Edgett’s ambition is evident in his regimen of training and competition. When he’s not competing in one of the 40 races he enters each year, he is training at least three hours a day on the road, at the Balboa Park velodrome or at home on a stationary bike.

Yet, the time he spends conditioning hasn’t affected his studies. He is an honors student with a 4.0 grade-point average.

“School for me comes before cycling, but cycling is a close second,” he said. “I have five classes and then, instead of taking a regular P.E. class, I’m allowed to train. I usually train for three hours and then go home and study for three hours.”

Edgett hopes hard work will earn him a place on the U.S. junior world team this year, which would pave the way for several years of world-class competition.

He is, however, still a few years away from a chance at the ultimate cycling competition--the Olympics.

“The Olympics are a little far off,” he said. “At the Olympics, the riders are usually about 25, so I think I’m about two Olympics away.”

For now, an Olympian challenge awaits Edgett at the national championships. He will again face his top rival, Marcello Arrue, a Californian who holds dual American-Chilean citizenship and is the national champion of both countries in his age group. Last year, Edgett finished second to Arrue at both the state and national championships.