Kids' "race"

[joseph.santaniello@gmail.com]

Hi All,

The other day I took my kids (6 and 7) to a local bike ride for kids.
It was a "criterium" type course in the town center. It rained off and
on making a few of the cobblestone corners quite slippery, but the
kids managed it fine. I'm sure that if it had been a race for adults,
somebody would have gone down!

http://arbitrary.org/tnfk/treacherous_corner.jpg

My daughter was first up in the 6 and under class, and despite some
injuries sustained in a crash the day before, she was in high spirits
and worked her way through the half the field for a very respectable
finish. She'll be back!

http://arbitrary.org/tnfk/pre_race.jpg
http://arbitrary.org/tnfk/bianca.mov

After watching the 7 and 8 year olds pass without seeing my son, I
went back to the start area to see if he had crashed or something. I
found him in tears because in the confusion at the start he hadn't
been able to push through the crowd and had missed his "race" and
hadn't ridden at all. I comforted him that it was ok, that he could
ride in the 9-10 year old class which would be more fun anyway because
they were going to ride for more laps. With a little help, he was able
to push through the crowd and got a start position midfield in the
pack of about 200. He took it easy and cruised through the pack in a
very relaxed manner and had no problems despite being as much as 3
years younger than some of the other kids:

http://arbitrary.org/tnfk/warm_up.jpg
http://arbitrary.org/tnfk/cruise.mov
http://arbitrary.org/tnfk/corner.mov

Big smiles all around. I wish I smiled like that after one of my
races!

http://arbitrary.org/tnfk/fun.jpg

Joseph