the bad and the good

2
WNano Junior 17/18 Road Race (77 miles)
4

the bad....
R
Finally we were able to leave, and by now Nano is on the verge of losing his past three meals...which he did in the landscaping of our "apartment" because our key wouldn't work - both events added greatly to the "boutique" appeal. We were discussing the option of Nano not racing the crit today....but this morning he felt well so the decision was he would warm up and then see how he felt. He raced and it was awesome fast!

the good...
Today started with Jon racing men's 10/12 with a field of around 44. It was a fun race to watch...a bunch of little pros hitting the course and putting out everything. Jon brought home a top 10 victory with 7th place! That felt really good!
Abba took off feeling like this was going to be the hardest race of her life. She was feeling good and rode most the race with the pack until she was caught behind an accident had a mechanical with no free lap so spent the rest of the race playing catch up. She finished the race and was not pulled. Abba says that this was the first race where she had the confidence and felt the ability to stay with the pack. She feels good going into tomorrows road race.

Joe rode a great race. Stuck with the group the whole way - there were some crazy crashes that looked really scary from where I was standing. His front wheel got a direct perpendicular hit - he was pushed against a fence by the pack dragging his shoulder and hand along the crating of it resulting in a trip to first aid. The amazing thing is Joe did not go down! That kid has killer bike handling skills and it takes a lot to shake his confidence, plus he loves the physical side of the sport. Joe raced an awesome race coming in 29th out of about 80 guys.

Nano's race was crazy fast. I did not really watch it until 6 laps to go because I was freaked out by the speed and the large pack. The race started with a group of 133 riders, Nano was midpack most of the race and finished really strong. All the riders were spent and you could see it as they came over the finish. After the race Nano was covered in soot from the road getting kicked up from so many riders and the fast pace. When the pack road by it felt like you were standing in front of a fan. It is pretty scary for mothers! One of the fathers asked me how I stand it.....my answer, LOTS OF PRAYER!

Want to get this posted to update everyone...so excuse my writing mistakes! Please feel free to comment and I will pass on any encouragement.

Upcoming:
Tomorrow - road races for Jon, Abba and Joe
Sunday - 77 mile road race for Nano

the trip down

Sorry - no photos to share. :(
My camera will not download for some reason and I don't have the patience right now to figure it out.

Today we arrived in Anaheim after a 6.5 hour drive which was very uneventful. We drove our large van with four bikes up top and two inside. We arrived at the athlete check-in around 1:30 and did not get to our hotel (about 7 minutes away) until 4:30. The Time Trial bike Nano is borrowing has to pass a certain criteria since his time trial is a qualifier for Worlds. Anyway - he switched out the stem, twice, and it finally passed. A big thank you to Martin Messersmith (an awesome triathlete!) for taking the time and giving up his road bike stem for nano to use in the Cervelo. Karen took some great pics. which I'll eventually post here.

Tonight the kids and Martin and Ryan Messersmith met and rode part of the time trial course. On the way home we got lost, taking an hour to find our "apartment" instead on the necessary 20 minutes. Our place is impossible to find in the dark....it is a "boutique" hotel with "apartments. I guess part of the ambiance is low outside lighting!

So, here's the line up for tomorrow:
11:50:00 - 15/16 Joseph
1:34:30 -17/18 Nano
2:17:30 -13/14 Abba
3:11:00 - 10/12 Jon
and our fellow JETS:
2:39:30 -13/14 Stefan Fuller - JETS
3:04:30 - 10/12 Ryan Messersmith - JETS
3:07:30 - Robert Terra - JETS

Looking forward to some great racing and tough competition!
BTW- Nano started feeling better a few hours ago after a tough day of stomach flu yesterday. I was really happy to see his race time in the afternoon - every minute of recovery time is helpful!

By for now - will write more soon!