6:50 AM: Race day pickup starts before 7 as we prepared for the third NICA race of the fall. Initially, we would have to send a number of reminder texts about the time to depart but Saturday was smooth. Grabbed breakfast on the way out of Richmond on our 80+ mile drive to Woodberry Forest High School.
9:00 AM: Middle school race for our first racer is in an hour so we unload all the bikes and get our racing tags on each bike.
First race of the day featuring Knowledge
10:00 AM: Middle school race starts for Knowledge. He wasn’t as nervous about the race start. He entered more confidently and even was looking at the field prior to the race seeing who he could try and pass. The development from trying to finish to now trying to race. During one of the narrow single tracks, he gets caught up in a crowd, hits a root, and falls. We see him right after as he pushes up a hill telling us about his fall. He keeps pushing forward and trying to regain the spots he lost. When he finishes the race he had another huge smile. The best part is hearing him say how much fun he had in the race and how fun the course was.
10:45 AM: Our next race isn’t for another three hours. It actually happens to be a really fun few hours. We hang out at the van and work on bikes, joke around, and eat lunch. We also spent a lot of time at the skills park they have near where we parked. Our youth have a lot of fun working on different parts of the cycling game. We also have two younger riders with us that are not competing, so they get an extra kick out of riding together.
12:45 PM: Pre-ride opens up so all eight of our youth get on the course.
Joe looking on intently
Wop battling in the Sophomore boys race
1:45 PM: Joe and Wop start in the Sophomore boys race. Joe gets off to a great start. He gets all the way up to 12th coming out of the first single-track. But right before getting to the open hill, he hits a root and falls. It costs him 8 spots getting up the hill. He is frustrated and down but he keeps pushing. With goals of big improvements, he could have just sulked and coasted the rest of the race. But he kept racing and battling. He would fall one more time making it a frustrating race for him. After finishing 26th in the first two races, he comes in at 30th. Despite this, he again sprints the last part of the race.
Wop’s first two races were great starts and slower finishes. At the Miller School, he had a second lap time five minutes slower, and in Stokesbille it was over six minutes slower. This time he was more steady throughout and had good endurance for the entire race. His first lap is 19:12 and second in at 20:52, a much better show of his energy. He has a bunch of good spurts passing people and he felt good coming through to the finish.
Khnaz improves again
1:50 PM: Khnaz starts with the freshman boys. It is again the largest high school field with 54 riders. His race is similar to his first two, steady, consistent, and making improvements. He passes people. He sprints. He keeps riding through to the finish. Khnaz continues his improvement; 39th in race #1, 31st in race #2, and now 27th today.
Best ever finish for Kamari
3:10 PM: Kamari again presses at the start and she gets up into 2nd place in the first turn. She comes out of the single track in 4th. She is confident and she knows she can stay in this field. Sometime in the first lap she got caught up and fell. She fell back five spots and battled to recover the rest of the way. She remained hyper-focused on going faster and inching closer to whoever was in front of her. She was the only freshman girl to have a faster second lap than first lap. She raced through to the finish in 7th place. While the rest of RCC was super proud and impressed with her effort, Kamari was dissatisfied with the results. She knew she had really fought hard and if not for a fall she could have been in the top five.
4:25 PM: Korey starts in the first row and is in a great spot coming down the initial gravel hill. He gets out of the first single track with the first group of racers. The pack of five stays out in front the entire race. Korey goes back and forth with the other competitors as four of them battle for second as one racer pulls away. The battle for 2nd-5th keeps changing. Times in second, times in fifth, the positioning is up for grabs. But it just doesn't work out today, as the racers press a few times in the second lap and Korey can't quite have it today. He fades to fifth finishing only three seconds out of fourth and 23 seconds out of second. Korey is graceful about the race, giving credit to the other competitors. He knows other people work hard too and today, they beat him. He also is confident knowing he had raced his best race of the season, process over results.
5:30 PM: We get the bikes packed away and everyone is in good spirits. Lots of laughs.
5:45 PM: The whole team watches the high school podiums. Korey gets to go up for his 5th place finish today. He goes back up a few minutes later as he is 4th in the overall points total for the season.
6:05 PM: Finally leaving the parking lot on our way home.
7:00 PM: Pizza dinner sharing stories, laughs, and pictures.
8:00 PM: Back in the car, headed home.
9:20 PM: The last racer is dropped off.