It’s race day! I recently found out all area cyclocross races have a free kiddie event so we walked over to the MFG Woodland Park Grand Prix this morning. We went a bit early to watch the real racers. A friend almost convinced me to try cyclocross with her six years ago and back then I seriously considered it before deciding I’m too wimpy. It was so fun to watch I had second thoughts about avoiding it myself, but those second thoughts were while I was watching a downhill portion of the course. Later we stood near an uphill section and I’m back to my orginal assessment.

The race was awesome. It was kids 9 and under so there were a lot of riders (maybe 50?), but it was segregated with big kids on geared bikes at the front riding two laps and everyone else in the back doing just one. There weren’t any barriers to lift their bikes over, but there were a couple muddy patches the kids walked their bikes through. Near the finish line Brandt laid his bike down and I wasn’t sure why. It sounded like he said he wanted to pee and go home, but after talking to him later, it turns out he was just tired and needed a quick rest.

Despite having to coax Brandt out from under his warm stroller blanket before the race and his almost abandoning during the race, he wouldn’t get off the bike once the race was over. He rode around the expo area for a while and then all the way home, with a side jaunt through the bike jump hills by the skatepark. A couple of the mounds are low enough for a tiny rider and once he’s got his confidence back with hills, I think he could manage some of the medium ones, too.

I can’t wait for next cyclocross season!