You've Read About It Already...

The kidlets have done a decent job of updating their blogs, so you already know how Junior Nationals went from their perspective. Thought I'd throw in a bit of my own...

For five years I've been taking kids to Nats. Some years as few as two, others as many as eight. Of all those years we've only come short of a podium spot once.

Success? I don't know... three times we've stood on the second step. Twice we've stood on the fourth step, once the fifth step. DBCJRT kidlets have also finished sixth three times and seventh once. Impressive on paper, but some would say we've never worn a jersey.

Success? I've seen the success when the kidlets are laughing together in a hotel room, or sliding down some crazy bobsled track, or besting eachother at putt-putt golf. If getting kids out of Davis, watching them bond together as teammates and friends, seeing them develop as individuals all in the name of bike racing can be called success then we can call it success.

Success? I've seen kidlets collapse in puddles following a road race. I've seen kidlets break down in tears after coming up just short. I've seen kidlets shrug their shoulders at second place and congratulate the winner. I've heard kidlets say that they finished 35th because they raced to win, not for second or third or fourth place. In all cases I've seen kidlets who know they've given their best and couldn't have done anything more. That is success.

AWfoSho said that "Pops still doesn't have a jersey." But I have a lot of memories from Nationals that may just add up to more than a jersey.

Because...

...if I write it here, I don't have to talk about it to G'ma on the phone, and Thor will have some more summer reading.

It's been awhile, but this is what I remember...

DBCJRT took first and second in the 3's at Springhill... Andreas first, Staz second. And TK gave us our second p/1/2 victory in his version of the same race.

While Staz was playing blue falcon (thanks Jaques) at Springhill, El Gigante was squeaking out a few more upgrade points at Lafeyette thanks to help from EOB and Jaques.

While Andreas, Alex F, and Taps were tearing up the junior track championships, El Gigante was working towards his upgrade at Berkeley and AWfoSho finally got his J back... banging elbows with the big boys.

TK rode to a 6th place overall in Quebec at l'Abitibi version 1.0. Still waiting for results from version 2.0. With nationals coming up, TK will have raced something like 17 races in 20 days... hopefully, we worked the program right so he is peaked for LaLa land and not trashed...

Which brings me up to today... the result sheet at Timpani showed little Alex F atop the 13/14 race and El Gigante cut it as close as he possibly could... he needed third in the 3's for his last 4 upgrade points. He finished 4th. He now sits at 24 of a needed 25 points. Which, more than anything, means we get to keep racing after nationals in August. Heard that Suisun Harbor is pretty this time of year.

BTW, the BAR/BAT junk has been updated again. DBC is second overall, and El Gigante is 5th overall in the 3's. Staz is 9th and Andreas 90th in the same. AWfoSho is 47th in the p/1/2 category and TK is 18th. Speaking of results and rankings, check this one out... or this one...

Be sure to check out the kidlets blogs for all the details... and make sure you read the history of the blog as compiled by Mechanical. He's got things for the most part correct. Oh, and he lived up to his nickname on the d-ride the other day when his crank fell off. I think the kidlet did it on purpose just so I'd have to push him all the way home...