The Road Race

Today it started.  Last night James was unbelievably nervous and, honestly, I was, too.  Just seeing him feel all that pressure was so hard.  We prayed that we would be ok with God's design for today - great if that meant on the podium and ok if it meant off.  We were able to get in bed early, which I think made him feel much better today.

We woke up about 5:40, which gave us just a little more than four hours to race time.  He said he wasn't as nervous and he played a game on my computer, which I think helped him not think too much about the race.  He even ate more than I have seen him eat before a race so I knew he wasn't as nervous.

We had a big field of Male 10-12s.  James so much wanted all his teammates to do well.  One of the first things he said to me this morning was that he hoped Teja would have the race of his life.

We encouraged the roaming pack to go meet some people so they did.  I even heard a few boys after the race ask if they were going to be at the other races and were glad when our guys said yes.

I think the better he felt the more anxious I felt.  For him, getting into the pre-race routine made it all feel more normal.  I, on the other hand, was coming out of my skin.  That could have been because he decided his pedal needed a last minute adjustment.  Then about 35 minutes before race time he told him he left his bike computer in the garage.  Thankfully, Philip's dad was able to get it to us just as James was riding to the staging area.  I was so glad to get him on the course.

This few minutes is the worst.  They are lined up and my tummy was in knots.  It was even worse today because once they were past us, we couldn't see them again until the end of the race.  We got a few race updates along the way, but it wasn't the same as being there.

They had a field of 41.  It seemed like a lot of guys and James remembered so many of them from last year.  He spent a lot of the early morning analyzing his strategy and what he thought the other riders would do.  As they planned when there was a break away of about 16 boys, James and Brody stayed with them group.  

Right at the end of the race, there was an attack that split that group and these guys came across 11th and 12th.  Brody came across just after James...just the way they had planned, but a little further back.

When all was said and done, they were only 13.4 seconds behind the winner.  We're all proud of them and believe that if they can finish that close to the winners they can definitely still pull off a podium finish.

As far as the other races, Abigail took 2nd in the 10-12 girls and Zoe took first in the 13-14 girls.  We had two other girls in the top 10 for the 13-14.  Our 13-14 guys finished 7th and 12th.  Overall, a pretty good day.

Tonight is a team picnic and tomorrow is probably tubing.  It's a fun day tomorrow before the rest day on Thursday.