For the real news

I was checking my old local paper to see if they noticed what happened today and I found this story, which was far more interesting. You can always count on SF Gate.

La bicyclette jaune allez tres vite

This fine sunny afternoon was the third of three bike races locally for kids. They seem to draw a larger crowd when it is not raining.10 and 11 year old bikes waiting to start.

We start by spreading out to stretch.
This is where they put the shifter in P for Pounce.
Off to a good start.
6th out of 10 around the first turn, but who cares at this point?
Moving up on the second lap.

This is actually third place, because the first guy in the red shirt is an adult showing the kids the course.
I can multitask. His hand is out for the cup of water I am holding for him. My bike is back there holding up a tree.
I was not close enough to the finish line to catch the celebratory skid, but I did see it from where I was standing. He picked up about 10 lengths on the leader in the last lap to pass him at the end. We all know which side of the family this behavior comes from.
At the end of the day, a short ride back to the car, which would be why my bike came along for the race. I tried to convince them I was 12. When they asked for my ID, I told them I was not old enough to have a license, but they were not buying my story. If I go online early enough on the 15th of October, I can do their triathlon next summer.

Riding in the rain and running with the explorers

Last Sunday was another bike race. The notice said that the race would go in any weather. We did not let the slight dampness keep us home. Beware the jumprope and bike helmet combination. Not too many kids showed up. This group represents everyone from age 9 to 13. Last week, there were more 10 and 11 year old boys than there are kids in the picture.
He may not be the fastest off the starting line.
Coming around the first loop, he is riding alone.
At the finish, my boy is first.
Today we had sunny warm weather, and scenic trees with changing leaves.

Some of the race was difficult to capture.
Closer to the cameras, he pushes up a hill.
And passes a few boys on his way by the camera. After this shot, I ran back to the finish line to collect stickers after the second trip around the loop.
The race passed this gentleman out on the loops through the trees. We went down to see him after the race. Even though this course this week was more challenging than last week, my son took more than 10 seconds off his time.

My girl is racing in Missoula with her team this week. I have not heard from her with results, but I am positive she is having a delightful time on the road trip.

Running races

Yesterday was the first race of the season for my son's cross country team. His sister was quick to point out that she has run more races already, but what do you expect from high school. She ran yesterday at another venue and finished very well. I can only be in one place at a time, and she can drive herself. Her father went down on his bike to watch her, but he had a difficult time finding her in the crowd. Sorry, no pictures of that event.

He is racing in yellow again this year, just to the right of the boy in green. This coach did not win any points with the parents as he followed his team around the course yelling what I hope his kids though were encouraging words at them.

Just off the start, they rounded this tree. Some kids could maintain this sprint speed, and others could not.My son played tag with this girl for most of the race, but he passed her before it was over.Sprinting into the finish.Off he goes. He finished 5th over all and second of his teammates. His group, which includes fifth and sixth grade boys, ran a mile.

My fan club took some pictures

Rolling off the express lanes toward the end of the bike ride a week ago. Caught on my bike in spandex. Some things just should not be allowed.
Finishing a few seconds behind a woman half my age. Every finisher receives a medal. No chocolate.
When she sees water, she goes in it, no matter how small the pool.
We ran around this artistic landscape.The cones mark the run course, out on the right and back on the left. This is a fun place to play.
As another more famous cyclist said recently, no matter how creaky and old I feel when I get out of bed or walk up and down stairs, I still feel great when I ride. I may not ride as fast as he does, or have such a fancy bike, but riding is still fun.

Something to celebrate

There may be lots of things wrong with the world, but we still find reasons to eat cake and ice cream. This week, the reason was commemoration of my son's completion of his eleventh year.

I let him bake the cake and design the decorations. I handled putting things in the oven, taking them out and spreading white icing. If she sits here long enough, looking pathetic, will she get some cake? It sure smells good, but all she finds in her dish is dog food. Of course those squirrels over there are sort of interesting too.
Lighting the world on fire, one cake at a time.
Going, going . . .
Gone!

Watch the guy on the yellow bike

The local 13 and under set had some bike races today. I am sure this is exactly how Lance got his start. They clustered the kids by age, and somehow the boys in my son's group were joined with the ones a year older, making for a large peloton of riders who have never raced before. Note the really cool surfboards on the cycling jersey.
They all engaged in some calisthenics to prepare for the ride. I am positive this is what the boys do before they hop on their velocipedes in France.Here is where one might expect pictures of the boy racing along the course, but there was this incident on the first lap. He and another rider took a corner too close to each other, and my boy went down. I rushed over with bandaids and a cup of water (which I was waiting to hand him after the second lap, per his instructions) and administered first aid. He remounted his bike with a lap deficit in a four lap race. I never did get the camera back out to capture the much bandaged child. In the remaining three laps, he managed to pass one other rider. There is another race next week. We will see what he can do if he stays on the yellow bike for the whole race. Of course his cross country running season is starting next weekend as well. I hope the cycling injuries do not interfere with the running abilities.

Whatever floats your boat

My boy and I went for a paddle down the Little S river today. We were with a group sponsored by the city parks and recreation department, even though we do not live in the city and the river does not flow through the city. Here is a nice smile from someone ready to paddle as we get going down the river.
It was a beautiful sunny day, the air was warm with a light breeze. Swimming is not allowed, but at near freezing temperatures, even I was not tempted to jump in.
Mrs. Moose was happy to entertain the passers by.
Somewhere down the river, paddling was too boring, too tired, or too something. Mom paddled the whole way, even though boy gave out after a while.

Finishing shot

Tri, Tri Again

Should I put some words in here too? Here is my loyal ride, waiting for me to come back dripping wet and hop on. My niece pointed out that I forgot my balloon to mark my place.
Somewhere down there is the lake. We ran up this hill from the swim to the ride.
Oh, look water. Too bad there is no blue sky and sunshine over it. It could be worse, it could be raining, like the last time I did one of these.
I thought of my nephew when I saw this one. He was coming to a sporting event, so he brought his gear. His mother (in the gray sweats) was doing her first triathlon. I also thought of Charlie Brown and his sister Sally on the Christmas special. That nice dog appearantly sat in a car while the man at the other end of the rope did his triathlon. I left my dog and my hockey stick home.
That water is not getting any warmer, in fact the waves are picking up and getting ready to fly in the face of the swimmers on the first leg.

Note the various stages of readiness to enter the water. Some folks even thought to bring a wetsuit, although I heard they did not help much. For some reason I do not have any pictures of the swim. Next time I should bring a waterproof camera. My two best fans arrived after I was off on my bike.
Another ride, another tunnel.
There seems to be a theme to my rides lately, tunnels and bridges.
I am trying to get up to the speed limit. The restricted lane is bikes only today.
At least these tunnels have lights in them.

Another end of the bridge.
Down we go to float on the lake. There were no waves in the water between the bridges. Maybe we should swim there next time.
Don't these people know you can enjoy the scenery better if they walk?
My two biggest fans. It is nice to come around the bend and hear someone calling my name.

Results are at athleteslounge.com, and for the moment, it is the most recent event. You can search by my name to see how I did. The short answer is that it took about an hour and a half, which is what I expected. They seem to think hundredths of a second and places by overall, gender and age group are important too. They also break the whole thing down by how long I spent between each of many trips over their pads that read the chip on my ankle.