2012 Tour de Nez Masters 35+ 1,2,3

Mom, Kerri and Lander all screaming for me.

Hi folks,
I thought this was a great pic, not because I'm in it but because that's my wife Kerri in the black Specialized hat on the far left holding our son Lander, and my mother directly behind me with the visor and her arm in the air (I think she's cheering for me). 

Quick re-cap of the race on Sunday:

• Whistle blows and we go ballistic
• Buckley attacks 7 times in first 5 laps
• $50 preme bell rang
• I win preme and am solo
• 40 min to go
• Teammates, fans and equipment help me stay away

It was fun and hard but enough about that.

Sunday was even more important for one reason:
It would be my son Louden's first bike race.


Course recon, looking for best line.

He's been training extremely hard, resting well and staying hydrated - he was ready.

Okay, I'm not looking to be this guy but I do want to be heavily involved in my children's activities -Even better if those activities are ones that I love. 
Louden and I talked about his competition before the race.  We knew Jason Boyton's son, Alex, was tappering for the event and would be tough to beat but Louden was confident.  Here's something he said to me before the race (kind of scary really):

"Dad, my power's been good these past 2 weeks; my leg speed has improved and i've really been doing my homework on the course and competition.  When I looked at the course on strava there's a 10meter stretch that suits my abilities and I think I can break away there.   Also, given the sustained efforts I've been putting in at LT the last 40meters should be no problem."

What the...

As you can see from the video Jude Mayne's son (current under 4 Italian crit champion) deviated materially from his line and crashed out Louden.  Louden took it well and we did a full debrief later over a beer.  I told him I think he needs to work on his start, especially for these shorter events (he started babbling about a mechanical, missed his pedal, or something.  I pointed out he doesn't have pedals.  He went quiet.).

Anyway, here's to many more exciting firsts for him and Lander.  Thanks as alway to my lovely wife Kerri and my mother Billie who took the brunt of the day by carrying the boys around in the heat.

Strava file from the race here.

Jason