William Bubble Maker

My son is 32 months old and had, until today, been the chaser of bubbles blown by bigger boys.

On our way to the park and we stopped to get some new balls we could kick around. The selection at the store was not up to snuff so we settled on some bubbles. Then we made our way to the park.

It was a beautiful sunny, fall day: Leaves on the ground, crisp cool breeze and a playground.

There were a few other kids there for William to climb, swing and slide with but he was set on the bubbles from the start.

It is very difficult to get him to not try so hard sometimes. Once he applies himself he is single minded in his pursuit and nothing will dissuade him.

I have seen him drip with sweat while he tries to get the ball into the basket. He will run himself ragged, exhausted and stumbling until he can make that basket, kick the ball where he wants, get his bike going fast enough or positioned just right or hit that ball with his bat.

He had no problem opening the soap bubble bottle or working the wand around so it was good and soapy and then positioning it the correct distance and orientation from his lips. But when he blew it was too hard and the end result was soapy water running down his hand and a distinct lack of bubbles in the air.

"Not so hard, William. Easy, easy."

Blowing. Soapy hands and no bubbles.

"Easy...easy...eeee....zzzzz"

A bubble.

"Easy..."

More bubbles. Dip, dip blow. A stream of bubbles!

Dip, dip, blow. A plethora of bubbles big and small! Success! Triumph! Yet another piece of the universe brought under control.

More bubbles and smaller children chasing them. Big bubbles that would float up to the tress and smaller bubbles that would pop before they hit the ground.

No longer would William be the chaser of bubbles blown by bigger boys. Now he was William: Bubble Maker King!

Yesterday morning, in the park, all was right in the universe.

Race Report 19 October 2009

If the truth be told I've been a little pissed at some of my team mates of late for their lack of organization and the dysfunctional nature of their communication.

This race just reinforced that feeling with some.

I got up a Zero Dark:30 to go meet with the guys and drive to the race. Luckily the start was only an hour away. It was a point to point RR so the finish was 2 1/2 hours away. Fine and dandy and off we go.

We get there on time, get pinned, warmed up, a few runs to the bathroom, chat chat here, chat chat there and it's time to stage. It was warm and sunny and windy as all get out. As the course ran along the coast and then climbed over to the other coast and wound back around to the finish it promised to be a long day of headwind.

It didn't disappoint.

The plan for me was to sit in for the first 1 1/2 hours and then hang on over the first climb crossing to the other coast. If I was still in the main bunch I was then going to drive the pace to help our designated guy get placed in the 5 km between the bottom of the descent and the base of the finishing climb.

That was our plan.

The problem is our frame sponsor, CKT, is also the former National Team coach. I've raced against his teams for a decade so we're pretty familiar with one and other. Since we had numbers and horsepower at this race he decided that we should try to get 3 or 4 guys into an early break and ride away from the race.

Not such a bad idea since our real climber isn't racing as he is headed for some racing in Korea with the National Team.

As I roll to the start I see the CKT coach/sponsor standing there inserting us at the front of the bunch on the line. Fine. All the cats are racing together and there are 440guys so it's safer to be there at the start of the neutral anyway.

Speaches, pictures, horns, bang and we roll away. We have 6km of neutral and we're racing. Immediately the National Team kids are active. There's a flurry of attacks, counters and just a mess on the front.

Nothing gets more than 10 seconds and everyone wants to chase.

This goes on for the better part of an hour with pauses scattered here and there. The wind is getting stronger and we still have all the climbing to do.

We tried probably 10 or more different moves with a different mix of riders and we were getting nowhere.

Finally that moment arrives.

I am sitting about 20 spots back and I see 4 of our guys slotting in at the front. The pace winds up and they gutter the bunch. This looks good. I jump to the front and put my head down. I hold it above 50kph for as long as I can but the wind is brutal. I glance back as I pull off and I can see it is strung out pretty far back.

My team mate pulls through and he takes a dig. The elastic is stretching and gaps are forming. Guys are jumping across but you can almost see the tension and that it's about to snap.

There is a 20m gap 7 riders down which puts 5 of us plus 2 other guys in the right spot. I slide out of the draft and glance back. I sense that one more good hard pull will be enough to cause a few people to sit up and for the gaps to suddenly explode open. Once that happens it takes a few minutes for the chase to get organized at the front and, by that time, we are away.

I slide to the front and give it one more dig. As I pull off I think that must have done it. It wasn't everything I had but it was enough.

Then I glance back.

At the front of the group about 50m back is one of our young team mates. He has buried himself trying to hang on and has given a dozen guys behind him just enough of a break that they come around him and start to work towards us.

Our puppy eliminated the chaos. He took the hesitation away and let the strong, determined riders move to the front. There is a chase and we only have 50m. This is going nowhere. This was our move, it was the right moment and now it has passed.

I sit up.

As the kid rolls past my team mate, he collars him and gives him an earful. The kid has no idea why.

So now we are all back together, I've used a lot of jam and we still have to climb.

I drink. I eat and I hide for about 20km. Then we hit the rollers before the first 3 step climb. Luckily the wind is in our faces so it takes the edge off of the skinny kids. They are at the front driving it but I manage to claw my way up and over with the front group and move up during the descent.

At this point our designated guy has been near the front too long. I also don't remember seeing him eat. We finally hit the finish climb. The first section I use my 39x26, I'm out of the saddle and going left, right, left, right and I'm not the only one.

The climbers ride away from me on the front and the race falls away from me behind. I have contact and I'm in the top 10 or 15 or so but I'm not catching anyone. There is no one to be seen behind me either.

I climb to our designated guy and he is toast. I pace him to the finish.

Overall we placed riders on the podium and I won my age category. I think I was between 10 and 15th spot overall which I'm pretty happy with considering it was a climbing finish.

Next up is a flat circuit that is all about power.

Then a 190km RR two weeks after that.

The season just never ends.