It Was Grueling

I have fallen down a bit on my commitment to post regularly...hopefully every week.  Maybe I can give you a little color on what's been going on for us during late summer.

The last week of July is always the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix.  It's a series of 6 races over 5 days.  It's hot, it's hard and did I mention it's hot?  Grueling is a much better word and I'm not even talking about the cyclists.  That's just for the parents that are lugging them to all those races.  I noticed there weren't a ton of spectators for the men racers - they were much too smart for getting out.

These races were part of an omnium, meaning that there were points awarded for each race (with winners for each races).  At the end of the races, the person with the most points would win the omnium.  This picture is the beginning of the last race.

When James came around after one lap, he and his closest competition were at the back.  I mean the way back.  I mean like minutes after the younger, smaller, weaker kids had passed.  They looked like they were out for a Sunday afternoon ride on cruiser bikes.  Maybe I should explain a bit.

The first race didn't count in his omnium because it didn't have any junior races, so he and his friend/competition raced category (or against men).  The next day they raced a crit.  I've only been to this one particular crit once.  It's in the parking lot of the Gwinnett Arena.  On that blacktop it was hotter than Hades.  (I learned my lesson and my sweet husband always takes him.)  Any way, it was close, but the competition beat him by about a half wheel maybe half bike length.  The race was on.

The next day was a road/circuit race.  They make really big loops and the race is generally a longer distance.  This photo catches James just as he's about to cross the finish line.  The competition?  About a bike length and a half behind.  They had each won a race.

The next day was the time trial and the crit in downtown Covington.  We were pretty sure James wouldn't win the TT, but he felt good about the other races.  We were right about the time trial, but he was feeling good and ready for the crit later that same afternoon.

It was really hot again.  Miserable.  We watched those guys go round and round.  James took that crit pretty easily.  His sprint has really gotten a lot stronger.  The competition was ahead by only 1 point since the TT didn't count as much as the other races.

So we come back to that last race.  Another circuit.  Those guys played cat and mouse until the very end.  They knew that it would come down to whomever finished ahead of the other.  It was sooo close, but in the end James lost by half a tire.  He was ahead and got caught right at the line.  Nevertheless I was so proud of how he raced over 5 grueling days.  

Historic Roswell Criterium

Short and sweet, but trying to keep to posting something every week.  We've had a weekend full of racing and converting Christopher's bedroom to a playroom.  When we get it finished, I'll post some pictures of it.  It's been quite an undertaking.

What I do have tonight is a video of a race finish today.  It was pretty fun....he had some great teamwork that helped a bunch.  For a kid that used to not have much of a sprint, it was pretty impressive.  Click race video to see it.

Tundra Time Trial

I am finding quite a few posts that I started, but never quite finished. Just think of it as my 2011 - Year in Review. Maybe if I started now, I'll have it wrapped up by the end of December.

It's actually kind of fun to look back at these pictures. The Tundra marks the beginning of the race season, usually mid-February. I remember being so happy that it was sunny and warm. We had had such a horrible winter that we were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to thaw out. (Little did we know that it was going to be a brutally hot summer.)

We had a strong finish. These are the 13-14 winners. James was pretty happy with third (as you can tell from the pictures, both Miguel and Abigail have more muscles).

Nationals - Pre-Race

It's 10 pm before Race Day. James has done everything he can except sleep tonight and drink tomorrow. For the past two days, he and the team have ridden to keep there legs warmed up, but not too much to stay fresh.

Yesterday's ride was a nice, slow ride after the adults trying to figure out where would be a good place to take a ride. We had some advice, but it didn't pan out as well as we had hoped. But, as almost always, the adults prevailed and they found a place to ride.

It was the Greeneway in North Augusta and looks like it was a very lovely ride. I think it may have been a little difficult to go as hard as James would have liked, but I think it did accomplish what it was supposed to.

Today was a little more trying. The road race course is on the Fort Gordon base. Have you ever tried to navigate on an army base with directions that aren't great. It took us forever to find the meeting place. They were supposed to ride around 11, but ended up being closer to 2. It was HOT. I heard that August hit a record high today at 103. I don't know if it was 103 or not, but I do know that I felt like I was just melting away. I can't imagine what those kids felt like riding in that heat. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a bit cooler.

It was a really neat place to see. There wasn't much traffic except these HUGE vehicles that would pass from time to time. James rode with another parent to the base and called when we all thought we were lost. He asked if he should be concerned that they were on the artillery practice range. Yikes. It all ended up just fine - we even parked across from a sunflower field. They weren't quite full bloom, but it did almost give you the feel of the Tour.

Fortunately, we didn't run across any tanks. I'm pretty sure I know who would win if one of our bikes were to meet one of those.

Good luck, James. Remember that we're proud of you no matter what.

Tour of the Bahamas Road Race

The road race was the last of the three races. James had a decent lead over his age group so the goal was to keep Teja in second place for the general classification (aka, GC) or overall ranking.

It would be a 4-lap, 24-mile race. They started in a pack and when they came around after the first lap, they were still in a pack.

When they came around after lap two, James and a kid named Justin Minnis were off the front. We first thought that Justin was in his age group, but he was actually a 15-16. He was in dead last place for the GC in the older age group and he wanted to show everyone what he had. Justin is one of those kids with a background that just makes you want to pull for him. James said they got a little gap and Justin told him he wanted to break. James told him he wasn't sure they could pull it off for 15 miles, but that he was willing to try. They had both had a very hard race the day before, but they began working together.

At one point, Justin wanted to give up but James encouraged him to keep going they were almost there. Their breakaway held and even if it was because the bigger, stronger boys didn't chase, it was still an awesome finish.

When the pace car rounded that last corner, we could make out a lone rider. I thought it looked like James, but I wasn't sure. It was just a few seconds more when I knew it was him. I yelled, "Go, James!" as only a mother can when her child is entirely too far away to hear her. The announcer was a little surprised and turned to me and asked if it was James Todd. He gave James a big shoutout and made a bit of a deal about his being 12.

James soloed across after working with Justin for 2 and a half laps. The big boys let them go and it was a fun win for Frazier. Justin just didn't have enough to sprint it out with him, but his courageous effort took him from last in the GC for the 15-16 guys to being third on the podium with a trophy.

In the end, they accomplished their goal of having James and Teja both on the podium for the GC. James got a very cool Tour of the Bahamas jersey and they both got very big trophies, which the security folks at the airport had a fun time looking at and asking James all about.

The winners had their picture taken with the "Bobby girls." Bank of the Bahamas (B.O.B.) was a major sponsor, so they definitely took part in the awards ceremony. Almost the same as "podium girls." (For the initiated, podium girls are usually incredibly attractive women who gift the winners with their prizes.)

One really cool thing was the attention they got. They were interviewed and lots of people wanted to get their picture.

The crew - Teja, James, Zoe, Wagner and Dominique. We are so proud of them. The guy running the race made a point to tell us how polite and what good sportsmen(and women) they were. Love hearing that.

We did have a little time to hang out by the pool and the beach. It was a bit cool, but soooo much warmer than in Atlanta. I'm thinking this definitely needs to become an annual tradition.

Tour of the Bahamas Circuit Race

There was a warm up ride out to the race from the resort. Coach Kelli reported that they averaged 24 mph and hit 27 at one point. They totally dropped her toward the end. To give you some indication, James's fastest 3-mile time trial is just under 25 mph.

Antinence crossed just before him, but she was quite a ways behind him in the GC.

They all pretty much stayed in a pack, but it showed that James and Teja did a lot of work. I think they were just glad to be done.

Debriefing with Coach Kelli. This was one pooped guy. I think they all thought this race was a little harder than the time trial. After this 18-mile ride, they still had to bike the 12 miles back to the resort.

Recovering with a real Coke, one with cane sugar and not high fructose corn syrup. Yummy. The guys are hanging with the Caribbean junior champion, Jay Majors.

Another podium and still in first place for the general classification. One race to go.

Tour of the Bahamas TT

What better way to spend the last weekend in January than to go to the Bahamas? That's exactly what James and I did this year. He had the opportunity to race in the Tour of the Bahamas. I couldn't wait to thaw out.

The race is a big deal - it usually draws big pros. Last year Floyd Landis set the course record. (You can insert your favorite steroid joke here.)

We took 5 kids down and we weren't entirely sure what to expect. It was their first race since hibernating through the winter training season.

You're always off to a good start when you get down the ramp without issue.

James seemed to be going fast when he came across and his time relative to others who came across sounded good. Coach Kelli was definitely happy with his performance. (I think it was the tongue that pulled him across.)

While we waited for the results and then podium. We had time to relax, play with Baden and just soak up the rays. It was nice to be in the sunshine.

When the results were posted, James did indeed have the fast time and by a bit of a margin. We could rest too long, though, because the 18-mile circuit race was just an hour or so later. We were competing to be on the podium for the overall Tour and not just the individual races. James's first general classification battle. I'm glad it's race season again.

Georgia Games - Crit

Yesterday I told you we were taking a break from the excessive number of vacation pictures to bring you the races from this past weekend. The Crit this weekend was really fun, and scary. Fun and scary all wrapped into one because James raced his first Category 4 race. I don't think we covered Categories in our primer mainly because I am not sure at that point I really understood them. (There is sometimes bliss not knowing what you don't know.) Any way...

Categories....who can guess what doesn't belong in the picture above? Well, in fairness they belong but they don't look like they do and many of the other guys in the picture don't think they do. When a guy first begins racing, he is a Category 5 and races against other "Cat" 5s, a.k.a. newbs. These guys have no experience and our juniors are not allowed to ride with them until they have "catted" up to Cat 4. (You never knew cat could be a verb, did you?)

You "cat" up by earning points and to move from 5 to 4 is easy. You get a point for each race you do and once you have 10 points you can cat up. For our juniors, the coaches won't let them cat up until they are comfortable the kids can handle themselves with these guys. When I submitted James's resume, he had about 30 races on it so he is more than qualified, but tell that to some of these behemoths. (We'll deal with moving from Cat 4 to Cat 3 later. A little more complicated.) (This race had 4 juniors participating in case you are like me and were never good with finding the items that didn't belong. And, if you're really bad, they are in the blue, black and white kits.)

The strategy was for him just to get out there and get some experience. It's not uncommon to not finish the race the first time or two since you are going from 20 minute races to 45 minute races so we were prepared for him to make a just a few laps since he had been sick. He just hung around the back (taking advantage of an incredible draft - he said sometimes he hardly had to peddle) until the end.

As a mom, you look at this and pray there's not a crash where the guy next to him falls on him. He said one of the guys he talked to was pretty nice. Upon further probing it sounded like there was a lot of chatting going on. In the juniors races, they go all out for the 20-30 minutes. After hearing the debrief, I decided the guys take it easy until the end. Chatting? During the race?

In the end, he finished in the pack, which was his dream finish, in 15th place out of 23. Very proud of him.

Back to vacation soon.

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.

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.

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.