Jun
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I think the picture below really gets you feeling positive about the future of the sport following all the recent admissions that just about anyone who even thought about racing in the 90’s doped. It’s the start line of the Dana Point Grand Prix’s kids 4-7 race that happened last Saturday. Now these racers surely are clean (unless sugar is on the controlled substance list). There’s hope for the future…
That’s my daughter Sarah in the pink Giro d’Italia t-shirt in the middle. Notice the little (16″?) Mariposa road bike under the girl in the yellow jersey on the right. Pretty cool. Sarah was nervous at the start, but ended up having a blast in her first (of many, I hope) bike race. And she LOVED the cool medal and t-shirt she got as the race was a part of the Shimano Youth Series. She was so proud to wal around wearing it post-race and had to bring in to preschool for show-and-tell (remember that?). The medal has a sort XTR-look to it with the brushed metal face and the all black strap. Very nice, Shimano. Thanks for continuing to support kids’ racing.
he town of Dana Point (California) put on the race and they did a great job, too. Despite my critical last post about the course, it ended up being a very clean and smooth figure-8 loop. Since I had already psyched myself out of my return to racing after driving the course, I didn’t bring my bike to race. I was there just as support for Sarah.
Oh, and also referring back to my last post, Floyd Landis did not show up to announce the races. The organizers did, however, manage to secure the services of Dana Point native and 1984 Olympic gold-medalist (and still super strong racer) Steve Hegg as color commentator for the race.
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4 Responses to “An Antidote to the Dopers”
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The photo is adorable, Rich.
“unless sugar is on the controlled substance list”
Don’t give WADA ideas!
Hey, is that white basket some sort of new performance enhancing aero product? I think it would look great on David Millar’s prologue Scott.
But, more seriously…
My kids race. But I’m ashamed to say my 9 year old boy is on the wrong bike. He was spining out going UPHILL on a race at the weekend. I was taking the event photos and he shouted at me to get him a bike with higher gears. As an industry geek, how could I refuse. I just got him an Islabike. This is the kid-specific UK brand, mentioned in Bicycle Retailer’s recent piece on kids’ bikes.
This photo reminds me of my two girls (age 5 1/2 and 4). They get on their bikes, with their training wheels, and race from one corner to the other. Funny how when they “race” that have to stop at least 10 times to get water from thier baskets, and make sure that Dad is running behind them.
The joys of being a kid. My dream is the look on my kids faces when for the first time they master the no training wheels, shifting thing. I already have to old Bianchi’s in the waiting.
What a great photo and the perfect ‘cure’ for pro cycling blues. Thanks, Rich!