I am a little embarrassed that it has been so long since I posted. Life has gotten crazy busy. I teach seniors and they are intense this time of year. They have little numbered signs for the number of days they have left in their public school life. They look forward to it like an advent calendar. We have also been racing about three times a week. I thought I would begin with the most recent races and fill the rest in later.
As you may notice from the photos, we just spent some time in New Mexico, Albuquerque to be exact. We went down for the Vuelta a Bosque Stage Race and for a visit with my cousin Marianne, as well as her son, Evan. We had never been there, so we were excited to go. We left pretty early on Friday. We arrived at Bike Coop in the Nob Hill area to check in and get our numbers. The night before I had switched out Ellie's tires from her cross (like winter) tires to the road (like summer or touring) tires. It was my first go at it. It took me about an hour to get it done. I was concerned that I had not done it right, so we asked them to check. Thankfully we had them do that as her bike had a pinch flat in the back. Then we noticed that the brakes needed to be adjusted since I changed wheels. I was thrilled that they could help us then and there. What great greetings and service. One of the young ladies who works there had a new puppy so we busied ourselves with it. I love the smell of a puppy! As we were loading up the bike a much talker version of my nephew Evan appeared. We visited a bit and then followed him and Marianne home. (I will write more about our time with them on another day.)
Saturday we were out of the door by around 5:45. The time trial race began at 7:00 and we needed to leave time to find where we were going. The race location is by the Journal Pavilion, a location for music concerts. Out on the course there is a gas station built to look old. It will be blown up in the making of the next Terminator 4 movie. That was a thrill to the kids. The kids did well. Ethan's race was longer, 10 miles, and had a big hill. Going down the hill they estimated that many riders would reach speeds of 40 mph. Going up was another story. Later that afternoon they did the road race. Ellie went ten miles. Ethan road for 42. I had been nervous about that race. I had tried to keep my feelings to myself. It was the longest race he had ever done. He looked like a champ and finished in good time. Just another reminder that I need to trust in the strength of my kids more! I thought they would be spent - and they were- but we went to dinner and swimming later in the evening.
Sunday found us in a business park on the west end of town. The course for the criterium was a great one. Ellie and Ethan both raced well, especially considering how tired they were. Ellie started off slow. For several laps she was the last girl in her category. By the end of the race she had speed up, coming in third place and nearly coming in with the 2nd place girl. Ellie was thrilled to find that she came in 3rd over all. (In a stage race you have to finish each race to keep racing. Each race time and placement counts in figuring the overall winners.) I was proud of how well both of them did. I love watching how strong and confident they look when they race!
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