Racing in New Hartford

It is going to be impossible for me to catch up with all the riding and racing that took place this summer. 

What I can say is that it happened and it keeps happening.

Ben has had a goal for the racing season and reaching it required lots of racing and practicing.

Bill is trying to stay ahead of Ben for as long as he can, so that requires a lot of racing and practicing.

Luke is just getting started and he requires a lot of racing and practicing. 

So that's what they've been doing.

Here's their latest race which was just yesterday in New Hartford.

My parents and Bill's parents all came to cheer the boys on. (No pictures of all of us, which is my bad.)

Luke's race started out dry but by mid-race it was raining and it was difficult riding. Luke wasn't having much fun. I couldn't be with him at the end because I had to take care of Ben but Luke was cold and shivering and was pretty much done riding forever because he was miserable. 

Ben's race was rain for half of it and then it stopped. The course all the way through was wet, muddy and slick. Hard riding conditions for the riders. (I don't have any pictures because Audrey was done picture taking and I was taking care of Ben. You've seen him ride before; he looks the same.) Ben managed a great start and was in the lead right off before his bike died. Bill rushed out to the track to get it started, which it did finally start, but now Ben was way back in the pack. I wandered over to a section where I could see the riders coming through a couple of times. I caught a glimpse of Ben, except he wasn't way in the back. He was in the lead! In the first lap! 

After his race, we lunched on burgers and pasta salad and such and the boys got their award.

There isn't much that turns Luke's frown upside down faster than an award. Since all the rest of his awards have been plaques, this was his first trophy! 

This isn't Ben's first trophy but it's a happy win for him all the same.

Conditions for Bill's race was dry all the way through and the track started to tack up a bit so he didn't end up as muddy as the boys. Bill is doing great getting off the line and is now starting to hang in the top five of most every race.

We watched and cheered for him. And ate cookies.

Nothing draws the boys faster than cookies. All the snickerdoodles were wiped out in a short amount of time.

We've only a couple more races left on the schedule. It's a good thing, too, because I'm going to have to do some trophy rearranging during the off season. 

Usually I like to narrate the pictures but for some reason my computer/Blogger isn't cooperating and I'm not willing to fight it today.