The Criterium

It's been a week since the Time Trial. The Crit was the next day and I did promise to keep you posted, but I have had the darndest time getting these pictures uploaded and a really bad cold is creeping through all the Todds. Christopher started out with it. Today James and I feel pretty bad and Keith seems to be at the front end of it. Not making excuses, but just saying....it's hard to get to blogging.

Bike racing isn't Christopher's favorite thing, but he was such a trooper this week. He even ended up helping out this guy who was selling the "opportunity" to win $100 by riding a bicycle that was set up opposite, i.e., you turn right and it goes left. He said Christopher just pulled people in and was so encouraging. That's my Christopher.

We were there for James, who had had a very disappointing race the day before. You may recall someone crashed into him and Coach Kelli told him to stop the race, to save himself for the rest of the week. It was disappointing because we thought his best chance to medal was probably the road race. After seeing him on the course, hopes were high for the time trial. Not that we didn't think he'd do well in the Crit, he's just so strong in the other two.

I was a nervous wreck the entire day. Much more nervous that he was. I was so glad when they finally started the race. James had the best start I think I have ever seen him have. Coach Kelli told him to be one of the first five in turn one because we thought there might be a crash. She was right, but James was 2nd out of that turn.

It was very emotional. He led a couple of laps and got a bit behind other times. The kid that caused the crash seemed to be around him constantly (not in this picture - never know who's reading). At one point, he seemed to be getting dropped and then they would come around again and he'd be right in there. It was one of the toughest fought crits our coaches said they have seen.

He rode with such incredible heart and in the end...

He came across the line 5th. Good enough to podium...just 0.8 seconds from 4th place. I was so proud of him.

Nick, Coach Frazier's son and assistant coach, was right there congratulating him as soon as he was off the course.

I had to make my way through what seemed like thousands of people to give my boy a hug. It was so awesome.

His teammates also did well in this race. These are the guys that race in his age group...Rishi, Teja and Adi. We were proud of all of them.

We stayed very late for the podium and I'm sure James didn't get to sleep very early. Nevertheless, we would worry about the time trial tomorrow. He worked his fanny off for a well-deserved place on the podium.

Road Race Day

I'm running a day behind on keeping you posted. Sorry about that - I'm having a horrible time getting files uploaded. Enough of that....on to racing.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was the Road Race. I am not particularly fond of road races because you basically see them start and see them finish. You have no idea how they're doing except when you're at Nationals and someone on the course calls you. I'll get to that in a minute.

The day was brisk and we were all full of anticipation. James felt great and was confident, but slightly nervous. As he signed in, I kept thinking about what the finish would be like. He knew the competition and he knew he could compete.

Well, this is how his race ended. Even if you haven't been to many races, you know that there's a finish line and usually the rider is trying to go fast. You guessed it. This wasn't a typical finish. As a matter of fact, it was the first race James didn't finish.

I called Keith well past when I thought he would call to let me know how it was going out on the course. He said he hadn't seen him come by. (Later we realized he had, but there was a lot going on out there.) He soon called back to say he had flatted. A few minutes later another parent told me he had gone down. Soon I was hearing all kind of stories. Very, very tough on a mom who was trying to hold back tears.

We got the real story when he came back. The course was a lollipop, i.e., a "stick" and then 3 loops and then back down the stick. Before he had even gotten to the loop, someone at the very front went down. I won't get into too many details, but at this age there are good bike handlers and not so good bike handlers. The not so good variety are very dangerous and you want to stay away from them. James successfully avoided the crash, but the guy behind him couldn't avoid him. He rammed right into James's deraillieur. (I'm probably not spelling that right, but it is the piece that is part of the gear mechanism....kind of important piece of equipement. He got back on his back an completed a circuit when Coach Kelli to stop and save energy for the next day.

When he got and we were able to examine the damage, we saw how mangled it was. Someone there were handlebars from someone's bike stuck in his bike for a while. Neutral support tried to help. There was just no helping the equipment (or mechnical in bike speak). After most of a day in the bike shop, it was fixed enough that he was able to race on Wednesday in the crit.

Sorry, you'll have to come back tomorrow if you're not a Facebook friend or a Twitter follower. It will be worth the visit.

To put in a plug for Christopher....he has been a total trooper. I am not sure if there is much of anything he likes less than going to a bike race. His daddy has been really good to take him to parks, etc to play and explore while I've tried to keep James in water bottles and clean clothes. Hopefully, he'll enjoy the rest of the vacation.

Monday - Relaxing

Sorry about not getting to you last night. A few uploading issues and was just worn out. But it's 5:30am now and I kind of consider it to still be the middle of the night. (Except here the days are exceptionally long. It's light really early and it gets dark kind of late. Hard to get enough sleep that way.)

Yesterday we drove all the courses. I never drove them last year so I didn't realize how hard the road race and TT courses (time trial) were. Yikes!!! Probably better that I didn't know because I now I feel even more nervous. He's done them both before and is in better shape so he should be fine. The crit course is going to be very technical - lots of turns, but more about that later.

While James was doing his training ride, we went for a nice long walk along the Deschutes River. Beautiful. We found a cave that appeared to have people living in it or maybe just sleeping in it because we found clothes hanging nearby. It was pretty cool.

Christopher also learned to skip rocks yesterday. He had so much fun and picked up an entire bag anticipating being able to go skip some more later this week. Here is he demonstrating to us how important it is to have exactly the right form. I would be in Dr. Satterwhite's office every day for a week if I tried to do this.

After that walk, we picked up James and drove to Tumalo Falls. Well, actually we drove to Tumalo State Park, which is where one is directed when Tumalo Falls is typed into a GPS. Unfortunately, Tumalo Falls doesn't show up on any map. How do I know this because? Because we learned that Tumalo Falls isn't in Tumalo State Park. We only arrived about two hours after we intended. It all ended well, though. The falls were incredible and I once heard a speaker say how important it was for families to go through bonding experience (or times of great stress). I'll just leave it at that.

Day 1

It's been a long day. It's about midnight EST and we've been up since before 5. Almost ready for bed, just needing to update this blog, facebook, twitter....all those ways of keeping in touch with the folks who are following.

When we arrived in Portland it was raining. Horrible, cold miserable day. We drove around the base of Mt. Hood and couldn't even see where it was. I made a honorable try guessing since I've been to it/around it several times. I just couldn't tell for sure. Thankfully, we did get to see both it and Mt. Rainier from the plane.

James seems ok - kind of subdued. It's really odd because he's staying at another house. There are several older boys so I think he thinks it's kind of cool. And it is, but he's still my boy and I want to be there to be sure he goes to bed on time, that he can talk about his nerves, etc., etc. Alas, he's growing up and all will be fine.

Tomorrow includes a ride for the team at 9am and then some fun time. The most stressful part of the day will be packet pick up. Last year they somehow got Christopher's birthday on James's account. That only took about 45 minutes to clear up.

More later....

Our Annual Ritual

Been a bit of a crazy week. I have had a migraine that has been relatively incapacitating. That's not that unusual except that this is the weekend we leave for Nationals. I had such good intentions about doing a little each day, but you know how that goes.

So today the stress of going back over the race list. Do we have his computer? His shoes? Both pair of pedals? What goes on the plane, what can be checked, i.e., what would result in an absolute disaster if it got lost? Don't forget about his kit, which is what I did last year and Keith had to overnight it to us. I will never live that one down.

His events are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so stayed tuned if you're interested in how he's doing. I'll try to get some pictures up each night. Say a prayer if you're inclined. He's controlling nerves pretty well, but could always use help.

Peachtree City Youth Tri

Big day today. Christopher wanted to do another triathlon so we packed up and drove to Peachtree City last night to drive/walk the course of the Peachtree City Youth Triathlon and then on to Newnan to spend the night closer to the event so we wouldn't have to get up so early.

It was still plenty early and I wonder if he had second thoughts for just a few minutes. This event is incredibly well-run so it starts on time and is very organized. Thank goodness.

Christopher was in heat 17. To show how efficient they are, he was in the pool by 8:40. That's 160 10 and unders swimming 50 yards before him. Impressive.

He was fairly quick out of the pool and he walked with purpose to the transition area. There were confusing instructions since the main announcer told them they could run once they got off the pool deck, but the guy in charge of the transition area told them they couldn't. So, of course, some got away with running and most didn't. Sports are so great for opportunities to talk about life generally.

From swimming to the bike. He had a pretty good transition, but we did pick up a few tips for next time.

He was definitely a man on a mission.

Finishing the bike to have the opportunity to run...

It was a nice scenic route, but by that point he was pretty tired. I was so proud of him because I could tell he was hurting but he really gutted it out.

Finally, the finish line was in sight.

He did it. 50 yard swim, 3 mile run and .6 mile run. I was so incredibly proud him (I know, I said that already). He was a little disappointed with his place, but 10th out of 42 was pretty good I thought, especially when he hasn't done one in two years.

Whew....something to drink.

His trademark finish. And, oh...by the way, when he realized he beat James's time on this same course when he was this age, he felt a lot better :)

Cherokee County Road Race

Race season is in full gear as we look forward to the Nationals in a couple of weeks. James has really improved in the last 3 months - really taken it to a new level. In the races he has done lately, he can beat any 10-12 year-old on the course. He's become strong and is very smart strategically.

Last weekend was the Cherokee County Road Race. This is the course where he won the state championship along with the jersey he has on above. It is a very neat jersey.

He gets nervous just before a race and sometimes get into a bit of a zone. You should check out the new sunglasses...carefully designed to match his bike and kit.

For this race he picked up the pace right off the start. He had no intention of staying out front; he said he just wanted to get everyone working very quickly.

I am not sure what the affinity is with the tall socks. The big boys like tall socks so I guess it's the thing.

When you finish way out front many cyclists have a special thing they do. James is just beginning to figure out what his will be. This was the first race he attempted something, but first he had to zip up his jersey. But there was a problem. He couldn't get it up before he got to the finish line. After a few seconds of struggling, he gave up.

Nevertheless, he did get his arms up. Of course, I wasn't quite ready so this is the one photo out the race that really wasn't in focus. Oh, well. I still have it for posterity's sake.

More Swim Team

I admit it. I'm all about the pictures and the stories they tell. Christopher is always encouraging his teammates whether it's on the ballfield or at the pool. I love that about him. Sometimes I forget these little microcosms of what's going on until I reminded in the pictures.

Backstroke isn't exactly his favorite, but Keith wasn't there for the entire meet and that was about all he did before Keith left. Oh, yeah. Did I mention that Keith had to take all the pictures we have at the meet because I was having to time? That is worth a post of its own...timing, not Keith taking pictures. He's a pretty good photographer himself.

Sometimes I think the most fun at the meet is all the snacks you can cram in from the concession stand between events. Sometimes I wonder how we make it through a meet without some kid....well, use your imagination. I have never been to one, though, where the pool had to be closed down. They were selling the sour Skittles and I think these were racing to see how many they could cram in. Christopher may have won, but I think it was a short-lived victory. It took his mouth a few minutes to recover.

The best way to fix a sour mouth. Something sweet, of course!!

Should be a fun swim season. He has improved so much since last year and really wants to get better. He thinks it'll help doing triathlons, which he wants to give a go again this year. More on that front real soon! Y'all have a great week.

Christopher's Post

I promised more visits. Today I am sharing a link to another favorite blog. Click here to see Christopher's most recent blog post.

Ride to Chattanooga?

Hi....anyone still out there? I know, it's been crazy and unfortunately blogging has fallen way behind. I am determined, though, to get you back up to date.

I can't blog this one any better than Coach Ralph Frazier did in his summary of the team's ride to Chattanooga. James, well....you should just go read it directly from Ralph. Just know that EPIC in cyclist lingo means something pretty over the top.

More this week, I promise.