Brentwood Grand Prix

I haven't posted much of Mike's past few races... actually, I haven't posted much of anything lately. We've gone to a wedding, the circus, the waterpark, Ethan's summer school shananigans, Mike's ongoing races and all the other life responsibilities that happen inbetween... I've got tons of photos I want to share, so many things I want to write about, nuances to bitch about, but every time I start, I get bogged down with writer's block. I even downloaded a blogger app on my phone, and still I can't find the juices to write any one-liners!

In the famous words of my little Ethan........... Barnacles!

But I have to try.

And I suppose now's a better time than ever to break the spell because I want to share about Mike and Ethan's race at Brentwood last Sunday.

Mike's cycling season this year is winding down. With Tour de France over with and with only a handful of races left on the calendar, Mike has really vamped up his training and have even finished 12th in Ontario last month.

Sunday's race started out strong, he stayed out front for the most part, while half of the races started peeling off one by one. It was harder this time to separate Mike from the "peloton" (main pack) because of his spankin' new jersey -- IDIOT me, who took charge of packing the overnight bag, somehow LEFT out his jersey at home. So we had to dash (literally breaking the law) the night before to get to the nearest Performance Bike before they closed so he could buy a new jersey. $150 worh of legit-looking Fuji jersey to match his Fuji bike later, I was out of the doghouse and he was a happy camper.

But I digress....

5 laps before the end of the race, Mike was apparently involved in a crash (his first of the season) and lost a minute so he fell back. I'm glad the officials didn't decide to pull him off that close to the end... but you could see the disappointment in his face when he fnally crossed the finish line 38th out of 70. If it weren't for the wreck, I can honestly say he could've finished top 10. He had started out so strong, and could've easily stayed towards the front if he hadn't gotten caught in the accident. I always hear about stories of people crashing and breaking their collar bones and needing surgeries done, so I constantly worry about him when he's racing with 50 other guys and they ride so close to each other going 30 mph. So I'm just glad he was ok!


And then it was Ethan's turn.

Ethan's First Consent Form

Mike had to do some convincing, but eventually, I suppose I knew (despite all the mommy-worries) that Ethan would handle himself just fine against the 8 year olds (he was in the boys 5-8 category). I did all I could do. I brought his elbow and knee pads, which he refused to wear after seeing no one else had them on. I made sure he was comfortable. I had bandaids in my purse. I strategically placed Mike, Sissy, my mom and my dad in increments from start to finish so we could all keep tabs on him. I was a worry-wart.

But Ethan, on the contrary, was ecstatic. It was his first race WITHOUT training wheels... and he wanted to be JUST LIKE DADDY. He just learned to ride on two wheels weeks ago, and we tried to practice as much as we could. You could tell he was a little scared, but I was tearfully impressed by how he tried to be strong. He wanted to be one with the big boys. You couldn't even tell he was the youngest one there (by 6 months at least). He did ask not be up front because he still wasn't 100% with the take-off. I gave him a kiss and he looked up at me with those "I can do it mom!" looks and I couldn't be more proud!!!! With that, I ran to wait for him at the finish line..... but of course, as luck would have it, there were some privileged parents who got to stay on the course to take pictures of their kids and run with their kids. So I didn't really get any great shots of Ethan crossing the line, but I did meet him towards the end, and surprisingly, he was just proud of himself as we were despite not finishing first.

My proud baby!

This will definitely not be his last!!


Of course, my sister, my mom and my dad all came out to support Mike and Ethan so it was a family affair. My mom even got Ethan his first racing jersey! A little foreshadowing maybe? UCLA is a great school that Ethan can go to for free :)


More pics!

Ethan's First Tball Season

Well! The season's over... and we're all a little bummed about it. It was the first team sport we put him in, and he enjoyed it a lot... looking forward to every baseball practice and the "real game" on early Saturday mornings. The early wake up calls aren't going to be missed as much, but being able to give Ethan the opportunity to make friends, learn the fundamentals of a sport he clearly loves and learn about teamwork was priceless.

And because I was a bad mommy and didn't post after every weekend of tball, here's my sad attempt of a season wrap up.


The kids were all a hoot, 9 boys and 1 girl. They don't have much concept of "positions"... it's more like "whoever gets the ball first wins". For the first few games, the kids were like puppies climbing over each other to get the ball, arms and legs flying wildly in the scrum. Frequently, whichever kid won the ball in the scrum would just hold it up over his head triumphantly... then look around while the coaches and parents (including myself) yell "Throw it to first base!" Eventually, towards the end of the season, they started to learn to stay within their own boundaries.

But attention spans being what they are, each game would start to deteriorate a bit after the first two innings. The trick was to rotate the kids so that they all have a chance to "do something" other than wait. Seeing as we played 90% of the games on grass and not dirt, the balls didn't normally go past the pitcher's mound, so unless you were the pitcher, the short stop or the first baseman, there really wasn't much action to go around. In Ethan's case, there are times when he said he didn't want to play anymore because he didn't get the ball... but when he did get the ball, you would think the boy had just won the World Series. Their favorite part was batting and running around the bases. They all got considerably better in the few weeks they played, and Ethan especially loved wacking that ball as hard as he could!

He also loved being the catcher, or as we called it, the "Transformer". Putting on all that gear never appealed to the kids until we started calling it that, then everyone wanted to be the Transformer. Since the kids hit from a tee, the catcher's job was solely to get the ball thrown from first base and put it on the tee and sometimes tag the kids running to home plate.

During one of the games, several outfielders got into a wrestling match, which the coach decided wasn't worth the effort to defuse. There was one particular kid who would sporadically take himself out of the "game" and just hang out with the rest of us on the side. Ethan danced when he got bored......

The sidelines (ie makeshift dugouts in the outfield) were always filled with proud parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins in lawn chairs, many with dogs and/or younger siblings trying on helmets that covered their whole head. One of the best parts of the season was watching parents step up to be base coaches. EVERY SINGLE PARENT of the kids on the team were at some point on the field cheering on every player (not just their own). Of course, I instinctively became the unofficial team photographer. Everything was so chaotic, not necessarily in a bad way, but most parents were too busy either coaching on a base or getting the next batters up ready, that they got too busy to take pictures on their own. I made sure all the parents had a chance to have some of those memories preserved....

Coach Mark and Coach Mando were great with the kids, especially Coach Mark. His kid played in the same league last year, but this was his first year coaching. Practices were at 4 on Tuesdays so my mom and dad took Ethan to practice, so my interaction with the coach was limited to the Saturday games.... but he was GREAT with the kids. He coached them no different from coaching his own. And the best part was that at the end of the season, he was truly and genuinely proud of each of one of them. So proud, in fact, that he ended up buying personalized trophies for all the kids (the league would only provide medallions).

The end of the season was bittersweet. Yes, these are only 4 year olds, and yes, there will be plenty more baseball seasons in our future. But this was his first. His first uniform. His first team. His first single. His first slide home. His first coach. His first trophy.

Way to go Ethan! Mommy and Daddy are PROUD OF YOU!

GO CUBS!!!!

Dana Point Grand Prix - Part 2: Mike's First Time Trial and another Cat 5 Race

Saturday (early EARLY early) morning was another first for Mike -- his first time trial. Lance Armstrong sure makes it look super easy on ESPN. Most of the course was flat, Mike said, but it was this hill that he dreaded..... I'm sure EVERYONE dreaded.

Killer Cove

View from the top

I stayed in the finish line, so I didn't get any shots of Mike on the hill. We did, later on, go to the top of the hill to watch some of the pros sweat bullets and even they were struggling a little.

Mike's official time was 8:04. I think some kid weighing 40 lbs finished it in like 5 minutes. I don't think I would've made that time if I drove my trusty Elantra! Go figure.......



The next day was his third race, and Mike has gotten considerably better. I must say, as an obvserver, I don't know what it takes to be in one of those races. I would think the aim is to be able to ride as fast as possible, but every time I go to one of these things, my perspective changes. There's the constant need to hang on and not get dropped off from the pack when riders try to attack, taking turns "pulling" at the front of the pace line, respecting other rides turning corners at high speeds, picking tactical spots to try to break away.......

It's really quite something.....

Of course, by Ethan's advice, the ultimate goal is to "Go faster than the rest of them".

This race was only 20 minutes long.. I'm sure it seemed longer for those who were pedaling. The main group eventually broke away, leaving behind a chase group, and Mike ended up in the third group. They managed to get rotations going with their little group, and at least once, I saw Mike whiz through and take his turn to take his pull until his legs couldn't take it anymore, only to realize noone else was ready to take their turn.

2 laps to go and the official decided to pull Mike's group off the course for lack of contention, and I immediately reacted after hearing the whistle. There was a guy standing a few feet from me (who looked like a pro, or at least an experienced rider) who just looked at me and gave an annoying little grin. There were only 2 laps left for Pete's sake. Yes, they were half a lap down, but they weren't in the way of the main pack. They could've at least let them finish.......

Either way, I am impressively proud of Mike. He's set his sights on this sport, and I don't plan on missing a race.

We're proud of you daddy!!!

Redlands Classic

This is Mike's second race, and although we didn't come home with a medal, we still had a blast. I imagined much of the same scene as the Tour de Murrieta. A bunch of seasoned riders talking about their techniques and blah blah blah. It was another early race... seems to me all the Category 5 races start very early in the morning.. in our cases at 7:30, which meant having to get up at 5:30 am to get ready.

I didn't really mind the morning cold, but by 9am, the mist and the chill was gone and Mike and Ethan were scrambling to get multiple coats of sunscreen on. I didn't care for the heat either.... lately, it has been giving me headaches that I can most definitely live without, most days it's partnered with dizziness. Mike says I'm probably dehydrated... I can't really argue, I probably am. I say that as I continue to sip on a Pepsi while I'm writing this blog..... how ironic.

Banging the boards for the last lap...


Ethan finally found a cow bell!

Next stop... Dana Point Grand Prix. And next time, not only will I be cheering for Mike, we're also entering Ethan in the Youth race (4-6 category). Time to assemble that brand spanking new 14" Hot wheels bike!