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.