Road Atlanta

Road Atlanta. Hmmm. You might be thinking, "I didn't know the Todds were into car racing." There was a time that we watched NASCAR when James was small, but that was back when we had time to sit and just nap/watch TV on Sunday afternoons. No, today we really don't follow car racing of any sort. So why, you ask, is she posting anything about Road Atlanta. (Come to think of it, if you don't live in Atlanta you probably weren't thinking any of this...)

There is actually a bike race on this road course. It runs backwards from what the cars do and is fairly intense.

As you look at this picture, it may strike you that something is wrong. If you dig back into the recesses of your mind....well, before Oregon (or maybe it was interspersed with Oregon)....you may remember that James catted up to Category 4. This process infamously strikes fear into the hearts of the moms of junior cyclists everywhere, especially 12-year-old ones. Category 4 means you're riding with...you guessed it....MEN. Big men. Men that are sometimes 3 times the size of your child. (Not very often because it is very hard to ride very far on a bike if you weigh over 200 pounds.)

This was James's second Cat 4 race. I was very glad that I was out of town, because 1) it was unbelievably hot the last week of July and 2) I was very nervous about this race. It's a long course and they just keep riding around it (I think it was 45 minutes, but I could be wrong). If you get dropped from the group, it can be a very long, lonely day.

Did I mention a very long, lonely day? James was such an incredible trooper. He just didn't give up. His junior teammates dropped out, but he just kept on pedaling.

I was so proud of him for just finishing the race. I am positive that I wouldn't have made it 2 feet.

This was the first race of Gwinnett BikeFest...the first of 5 races in 5 days that James would do. Guess what our next post will be? You guys are so smart.

Last Race Day - the Time Trial

And so it came down to the Time Trial. James said he felt "pretty good" Thursday morning before the Time Trial...8:28:30. Just like that he was off.

I was really was so nervous for him. He wanted to do so well, but he had to work so hard in the Crit. He looked good - I was surprised by how many kids had issues coming down the ramp and staying clipped in.

I hate these races where you see them start and finish. Nothing in between so you have no idea how they are doing.

After almost 20 minutes, the guy in front him came across the line. I started counting the seconds. Soon I knew that the podium was probably out of the picture. When he crossed the line, the display showed he had the 7th best time. A great ride and in the end the official final gave him 6th place. My guess is he may have been able to do better if he hadn't been up so late the night before with the Crit podium and if that race hadn't been so tough. All in all, we were so proud of how he did. Already looking forward to next year.

This picture really doesn't have anything to do with anything other than I just like. Maybe especially since Christopher took it. He's getting to be pretty good at this photography.

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.

2010's First Race

Finally, it is bike season. James was so ready to get out on the course and get some kinks out. We have had such a wet, cold winter that he has had to a lot of trainer rides. Those are not much fun.

The race was at the BMW test course outside Greenville and the weather was very nice. He hates wearing his winter gear and all the tights so this was a welcome change. He was telling me last night that there's just something about having just lycra between you and wind (or was it the sun or heat....any way something like that.) Now, how many of you moms dreamed of your boys saying that to you when they were toddlers? The next exciting clothing to look forward to is a skinsuit. Yep, just what it sounds like - very aerodynamic.

The course was not his favorite kind. Pretty flat. He believes he does much better with some hills - he can really motor up them. That said, he was in pretty good shape.

The team strategy went to pieces when they got their final instructions from the race official so they were on their own to figure it out. There was a bit of misunderstanding and we had teammates chasing down teammates. Something you never do. James attacked here and was promptly brought back to the group. He finished 4th, but was really energized and ready for the season. Tuscaloosa, here we come.

Sunny King Crit

Today was the Sunny King Crit.  It was supposed to be raining at 7am, clearing at 9 and mostly sunny and 10 and 11.  James and I got to Anniston (after riding through some rain) to find it very cloudy.  It just wasn't clearing up.  As a matter of fact, the clouds looked a lot like these...which were at my house when we got home.  Apparently, it rained at this race last year.  Clearly it was called Sunny King after a dealership and not the weather.  

But, alas, I am getting ahead of myself.  His race started without rain.  He looked really good and strong and even attacked here (as shown below) just at he passed with 1 lap to go.  His teammate, Phillip O'Donnell attacked and stayed out for many, many laps.  He eventually won.  James's goal was to stay in the main pack (with the 13- and 14-year olds).  He almost got away from them (them, the pack but them not including Phillip because he was long gone), but in the end stayed with them (the pack) and finished 3rd in his age group.    I was very proud of him.

My cousin Lisa's son was racing the next race with the older juniors.  I wanted to get some pictures so I walked to the other side of the course.  Next thing I know, one of the officials said, "Here it comes."  Oblivious, I was thinking "here what comes?"  Then I knew.  The absolute bottom fell out of the sky.  Immediately, I am running and my camera and trying to cover it with my body.  That was not a pretty picture.  Did I mention I was wearing flip flops and the water was flowing over my foot?  A very nice man and his wife let me stand under their tent during the worst of it.  The poor guys on the course.  (By the way, Lisa, I did get a couple of decent shots.)  The cousin's son had a great race.  Of course, I am thinking anyone that didn't crash had a great race.  He didn't crash and he finished near the front.  As I as standing under the tent I kept thinking about about poor James, who didn't have a way to get into the van.

By the time we hooked up, I was soaked, he was soaked and it was still raining.  We rushed to the van because one of us had a dry change of clothes.  While James was changing, I got in the front seat to talk to him for a minute.  As I got out, I told him to be sure to lock the van.   Maybe I would dry out some now that it had stopped raining.

Well, he locked it and even double checked it.  Later, when we were visiting with the  aforementioned cousin, I realized my van keys weren't in my pocket.  This is not a good thing.  I found a very, very nice Anniston policeman who called the PD a.k.a the Police Department (I have the lingo down now) and asked them to send someone.  (James pointed out to me a couple of times how embarrassing it was for your mom to look her keys in the van, especially as I stood there with the policeman.  I pointed out to him it really wasn't my fault - we could tell from where they were sitting, they fell out of my pocket.)

But, back to the story.  The PD (they also called the people PD) stood there with me for a long time.  He eventually said he needed to get back, but would check on me in a bit.  After a grand total of about 30 minutes he came back....with ice cream....to tell me someone was just minutes away.  Little did he know the new PD was bringing him the tool with some comment about how busy they were.  I think it may have had more to do with the fact that the bottom had just fallen out again.  Literally, as we got to the van from the awning we were hiding under, these huge drops started falling.  (You would think someone up there could hold on to that bottom better.)  So, the two of us are standing there in the downpour.  I am holding his almost totally eaten cup of ice cream and he's trying to break into my van.  He commented a couple of times about how hard it was for this van.  At one point I started to wonder why I am holding this couple since it now had about twice as much rain water as it did ice cream.

In the end, he was my hero, but he did get the van open.  I almost hugged his neck, but did I mention I was absolutely sopping wet?  I won't tell you about sitting in the van and taking off my shirt to put on my dry fleece.  Or, how frustrating it was to have an umbrella in sight during all this and not be able to get it.  Or, what I wanted to say to the guy at the Taco Bell drivethrough when he said, "You look like you got wet."  I was probably just on edge since we sat in line for 10 minutes actually at the order thingy waiting on him and his brilliant comments.

Fortunately, we made it back, but not after driving about 40 mph on the interstate past dozens of cars that stopped on the side of the road.  I was so glad to get home and get dry.  And, James, if you're reading this, I hope one day you lock your keys in your car so you understand that it's not just embarrassing when your mom does it :)