Le tour de je ne sais quoi

Close your eyes.  Imagine you are 15 years old.  You race bicycles.  You’ve had some success and some failure.  You’re slowly and methodically moving through the junior and category ranks of the sport.  You get an opportunity to participate with others your age in an international stage race, teams representing USA, Canada and other countries.  You are staying with 99 other young men in an “athlete village” and are responsible solely for yourself.  Next, you are on the starting line, your team is ready and the announcer and most of those around you are speaking French.  The countdown, “trois, deux, une” and the gun to signal the start ring in the air.  To me, who grew up in Frankfort only playing softball for the YMCA during the summer, this international dream seems unreal, but Ian got the opportunity this week.

Getting ready for Stage 3 - 80k

Ian on the line

This is normally a CX blog and we will be getting to that later in this post, but let me say how incredible it was to watch not only Ian and his teammates with Borah Development compete in le Tour de la releve international de Rimouski, but all of the other young Americans that we have seen grow up over the last several years kick some international booty.  And if results speak at all, it would say that we have some very strong young competitors moving up in the American ranks.

The sprint for stage 3 win

Emily from Borah Development takes 3rd on stage 3 & 4 and 4th on stage 6

Jonny Brown of Hot Tubes wins the sprinters jersey

Ian didn’t win anything, except for 1 sprint point in the crit – after which the French announcer called his name, which THRILLED his mother.  But we knew going in that this would be a learning experience and it most definitely was for all of us.

Michael Gaines in the crit

Josey Weik in the crit

Alec Porter in the crit

Ian in the Hot Tubes crit train

Ian, Josey and Michael up front

This stage race for 15-16 homme cadets and 15-16 femme cadets and 17-18 femme juniors (15-16 year old men and 15-18  year old women) was no joke.  There were 6 stages in 4 days, including a team time trial, an individual time trial, a criterium and 3 brutal road races between 57 and 80 kilometers with climbs as much as 20% for over 2k.  No aero equipment was allowed (save clip on bars and aero helmets) and gears were restricted to a 52x16 for all 15-16 year olds.  Rims were restricted to 35mm depth.

The peloton and caravan 1/2 way through stage 3

The peleton

Mike riding in the caravan

The view from the feed zone on stage 6

The group coming up the 20% climb and into the feed zone

Michael hanging tough in the group

The race splintering all over the hill

There were 25 teams of 4 equaling 100 starters at the beginning of the 15-16 men’s stage race.  73 finished the whole thing.  Ian finished 44^th overall.  His best finish came in the ITT in which he finished 21^st.  But it was more than the results.  There’s nothing better than this experience to show the strengths and chinks in the armor and what could be done differently to improve the overall outcome for next year. For that reason I am glad Mike and I were there.  Not only that, I’m glad to be an ambassador to tell others what a great experience this was and is for racers this age.

And then there is Ian. Who was that kid that got in my car at the end of the week?   It certainly is not the one that we dropped off at athlete’s village on Tuesday.  Ian raced very well.  He did make some basic tactical racing errors along the way, but I found him so much more grown up by the end of the week.  Not only that, but he made some friends for life.  What a great group of young men and women that made up the Borah team!  Larry Martin did an awesome job of putting together a strong group of incredible young people.  Thanks aren’t enough for what he, Jean and Oscar did for these kids this week.

Ian and his Borah teammates

The Borah group - except for Ian who had gone to take a shower so we could hit the road.

Ian and his promised goodbye hug from Michael

So what’s next?  Cyclocross season starts in one week – for Ian anyway.  He is one of 4 OVCX kids selected to attend Geoff Proctor’s Cyclocross Camp in Helena, Montana the week of July 24^th.  He, Gavin Haley, Drew Dillman and Spencer Petrov will all maneuver themselves by plane to hang with 11 others selected from across the country.  They will be riding in the mountains and elevations above Helena and learning as much as possible from Geoff before we get into the meat of the CX season.  It’s a time to come down from road and refocus on CX.  It’s a time to make even more new friends, ones they will be racing against and with over the next years.

Barely 15, working hard and livin’ the dream…

But alas, reality starts Wednesday.  It is the first day at his first real job.   He’ll be working at Dooley’s Bagels.

CXADMIN

Thank you to all of the Red Zone Cycling and Borah Development sponsors, especially to Clarksville Schwinn and Brian Blackwell for getting Ian’s bike all tuned up and ready to go.  Also thanks to all those that have busted butt and helped get bikes bought and built for CX camp.  It has been a real scramble and it's done just under the wire.

Okay, this blog wouldn’t be complete without a list of French Canadian truths that Mike, Cate and I discovered while vacationing around the stage race…

1.     French Canadians serve French fries with everything.

2.     Gravy is a condiment that comes with almost every meal.

3.     Gas, food and hotels are all very expensive.

4.     They don’t use ice in their drinks.

5.     Tim Horton’s (or Timmy Ho’s as we called it) is a very popular food chain in Canada and is a big hangout for older folks.  It is Canada’s version of McDonalds in the breakfast hours, but all day.

6.     You think you know how to speak French until you go to a French speaking country.  How many times can I say “Je ne pas parle Francais?”  I can still read it though and spent 5 days interpreting signs and menus for both Mike and Cate.

7.     Ice cream shops are very popular.

8.     Starbucks?  Never heard of ‘em.

9.     International Data Roaming is off the charts expensive unless you buy a global plan up front.

10. Have some Canadian money with you, but carry your VISA – it is an international language all it’s own.

11. Never go somewhere without telling your parents or you might end up in a police car.

12.  As Willet told us, whenever anything, anything happens, call the polize.

13.  There is a good craft beer shortage in Quebec.

14.  Gas looks cheap, but then you remember it is sold in litres.

15. The mail does not run on Saturdays at all.

16. The “Empress of Ireland” passenger ship sank near Rimouski 2 years after the Titanic and killed a much higher percentage of people.  Over 1000 of the 1500 passengers perished in the 14 minutes it took to sink.

17.  In Rimouski, the people were very patient and friendly.  Thankfully they spoke more English than we did French.

I am a cycle citizen.