The awesomeness of being a parent

Donovan came out yesterday for his first cx race of the season. The venue is a MTB'ers course, and it has some really steep climbs. In addition, it features one of the harder and longer sand sections around here.

The one thing to keep in mind is Donovan is 40lbs. His bike is a single speed bmx, and is also like 40lbs.

Final instructions & encouragement from racer #330

Donovan took a look at the kiddie "race," and decided he didn't want to race with the little kids anymore- he wanted to race with the junior boys & girls. So he lined up with the 9-15yr olds... Theresa was concerned, as this was the real course the adults race on, not a diluted 2min easy flat loop. And they were doing 2 laps. I reminded Donovan of his own little mantra "u can always jump off your bike and run up anything". Injured as I was after my own race, I sucked it up and made sure I was always close to him, cheering him on, letting him know he was doing great, I knew the terrain was going to really test his determination.

The course pummeled Donovan. HARD.  I watched my son fall time and time and time again, and push his bike more than he was able to ride it. On the last really steep hill, I gave him a push, and when he crested, he said 'OK, that's enough, Papa...' letting me know he was doing it on his own. When he made it back down to the beach for the 2nd and last time, I could see in his little face he was totally exhausted as he stumbled and fell down on the sand for the umpteenth time. At this point, his race had ended a while ago, the course was closed as they were getting ready for the next race. I told him he had put on a great effort and that it was ok to be done at that point. He gave me a resounding NO!, got up, grabbed his bike and kept on moving, leaving me there with a knot in my throat and a sense of pride I can't describe.

There was group of the fast guys warming up, who on purpose were riding behind him, cheering him on, helping him at times. Afterwards, they came over and told him how awesome he is.