After Noah had calmed down and we had collected ourselves after the crash, I traded water bottles with him and gave a quick pep talk as we walked our bikes across the plaza to Speedway. Noah was still crying a little and was in a foul mood, but got on his bike willingly enough. We made our way through the UT campus at about 7 mph, with me calling out encouragement as we went along, and Noah complaining that it was hot and his leg hurt. After making the turn onto 30th, the road went uphill again. Noah began to lose his will to live, I think. As I rounded a curve, I looked back to find him over a block behind me. Frustration welled up again--we had gone less than a mile from the plaza, and our next turn was less than two blocks away! We were getting nowhere fast. I stopped and waited for him at a gas station. When I looked at his blotchy face and exhausted eyes, my frustration was tempered by concern.
"How you feeling, boy?"
"I'm hungry, I'm hot, my leg hurts, and I think I'm going to throw up."
"Okay. How about we rest, drink the rest of your water, then walk up this hill? Our next turn is right up there, and then it's downhill to the checkpoint. It's really not far at all now."
He gave me a reproachful look. "You've been saying that for MILES, Mom."
Touche. "Well, now I really mean it."
We walked about a block, and got on our bikes to make the left on 32nd. It wasn't quite as "all downhill" as I remembered from the night before, but at least it was shaded. We finally made it to our second checkpoint--Ozone Bikes. And they had food! And water! We rested a minute as I filled the water bottles and we ate some fruit, then took on the basketball-dribbling/waterslide obstacle. There were no lines at this stop--one of the advantages of falling this far behind, I guess.
I checked my cell phone clock, and called Rob to let him know that we would be finishing closer to 11:30/12:00. After another minute's rest, we were off north again. Noah was in a slightly better mood, having solved the hunger problem and cooled off by the waterslide. About halfway up Marathon to the next checkpoint, though, I started to get frustrated with the pace again. I mistakenly decided to give Noah cycling technique advice.
"Honey, it might help you if you geared down and pedaled faster without coasting...I know it sounds weird, but it would actually take less effort and you could make better spee--"
He flew into a rage and burst into tears again, standing up on his pedals and picking up speed for a few seconds. "IS THIS FAST ENOUGH FOR YOU!?"
Whoa, SO not the reaction I had intended. "That is NOT what I meant. If you downshift and pedal faster, it will GET EASIER NOT HARDER."
He clicked his shifter a couple times, glaring at me. "I'M ALREADY IN A LOW GEAR!"
"All right, ride HOWEVER YOU WANT. Sorry." He cried the rest of the way to the checkpoint, and I gave up all hope of this being a fond memory someday.
The Chipotle checkpoint (three-legged race) went quickly, and Noah and I reached a shaky peace. He was disappointed that Chipotle was not open, because he was still hungry. He doesn't even like burritos, so I knew things must have been desperate. I assured him that this was a turning point in the race--from here on out, we would be going south. Downhill. (Well, mostly.)
We got back on Marathon, and I began narrating our route. He was still complaining about being hungry, so we stopped at a gas station and got cold water and some cookies. ("What do you want to eat?" "I don't care." I buy cookies, bring them to him. "Aw man, cookies?" "You said you didn't care. Shut up and eat them." Can't you just feel the love?) After the cookies were gone, the map checked, and the water bottle situation worked out (he was in worse shape than me, so I made sure he got the fullest, coldest at all times), we were back on the bikes and FINALLY downhill. Noah complained that it wasn't steep enough--"we aren't getting any of the GOOD downhills."
Sigh.
A few turns, map checks, walks, and fights later, we navigated a scary 4-lane crossing right turn onto 6th Street, and found our way to checkpoint #4: Pure Austin. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is when things started looking up. Noah's mood had been slightly improved by a couple steep downhills on the way, and the Big Wheel obstacle was right up his alley. He navigated it beautifully, even doing a little Tokyo drift move on the last turn. I was less successful, having some trouble with the steering and a couple of ruthless racers coming up behind me and trying to pass, even though their steering skills weren't really any better than mine. I did do a cool whip-around, sliding-park thing at the end that I was pretty proud of, though. (You know that scene in License to Drive where they launch off the embankment and land the caddy in the drive-in parking lot, sliding perfectly into the parking space? It was kind of like that, only no launching.) When we got back on our bikes, the tide had turned--we were having fun again.
Next up: Part IV - The Home Stretch: Trails, Bubbles, Scooters, and Accidental Gymnastics
Posted by Joy at June 28, 2006 10:30 AM