First Bike Race

A friend of the family recently sent me an email about the upcoming Knoxicross. He said he was thinking of entering his two sons and that I should do the same. I had never heard of a Knoxicross so I did some Googleling to learn more. Turns out it was a unique bike race that goes both on pavement and off road. Looked like big fun but was a little too serious for someone with knees as bad as mine. But the youngest-kids-class was a perfect fit for my son and our friends' boys.

Knowing he had never competed before, the odds for winning would be slim. So I told him over and over how proud I was of him for trying something like this and that just finishing was "his prize."

When we arrived there weren't enough kids to competed in two separate races, so both the under 10 and the 10-14 classes were lumped together. There were five boys competing, and the four in his class were younger. BUT I made sure to keep giving my speech about winning not being the goal because he was talking about the possibility of winning the race... by this point the speech was as much for me as him at this point.

The horn sounded and they were off! He took off in second place to the older boy as they rounded the first corner and went into the woods. The next time they came into view he was in fourth with only one behind him. "Just finish, please don't quit" I kept repeating to myself. Had to walk the steepest hill but he never quit.

First place was easily taken by the older boy. Second/third was an exciting photo finish between his bike-friend and the friend's soccer teammate. My son was clearly very disappointed coming in fourth, beating only the first grader.

The boys grouped together excitedly discussing the race... the hard parts, the fast parts, the photo finish. My son with his tail between his legs, was quietly listening to how much fun they had (and trying to decide what he could have done to change his outcome) when one of the other boys noticed he was track-standing while listening. The conversation quickly changed to bike control rather than bike speed. Before I knew it he was giving them lessons in doing wheelies, on both the front and rear tire.

The day was a strange, bittersweet one for him. How could be be so out of his element on a bike one minute and so in his element on a bike the next? How could he be so disappointed then be so excited about sharing his knowledge? I believe he learned a little about a different aspect of riding and lot about life. A bike is after all, a simple machine driven by a very complicated one.