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 time trial

Team Slipstream support

The best rider in today's 17/18 time trial goes to Worlds - so the best juniors in the United State are out here. What an opportunity to get out there with the best - throw down what you can do and see how you stand.

Don't know what Nano's standing is - he did the 20k in 30:07 - the fastest time was in the 25 minute range. I could not believe the equipment!!! The photo above shows the support for the junior slipstream. Rock$Republic was

also there with $upport cars, van$, "monogrammed" di$k wheels. Wow.
Anyway, just a side note to give you all an idea of how "big" this race is. I tend to down play stuff like this and wasn't really thinking about it in terms of "the nation." But after this morning, seeing my first real race, I am a bit in awe and realize more than ever how great it is to be here.

Here are some photos of Nano warming up and about 150 meters from the finish:

warming up

the hurt

Here are some photos of Jon at the start:

Jon with 3 seconds to go

Nano helping Jon to stay loose

Jon completed the 10K in 21:20 (18mph average). He says, "it's because of the bike I did so well." (shout out to Stefan!) The finish was a gradual downhill to a 700 meter gradual uphill. I was standing at the 200 meter mark yelling to Jon to shift to an easier gear and to spin.....he was standing up and just working his bike in a hard gear. After words he told me, "mom, I was too tired to take my hands off the handle bars to shift."

Brentley with 9 seconds to go.

Joseph had a great start. His challenge in the time trial is finding the right balance between going hard enough with out going too hard. He got off the start before I could get a photo. :) He placed 16th out of 57. There were records being beat out there today. The fastest 14 year old did it in 14:50.

Joe spent the afternoon with Andrew's family and Brentley. Those young men finished the day as 14 year olds will...more bike riding (including getting caught in the rain), going FAST on Alpine Slides, watching Myth Busters at the AMD condo, and of course eating.

As soon as the results are up on USACycling I will link the page from my blog.

Thanks to all who are keeping up on the races.
Sunday morning - crit
Tuesday morning - road race

Will keep you posted.

Here are some photos of Joe's time trial start that I was able to copy from Jennifer's camera:

count down begins

down with 10 seconds to go...

and he's off!