It's that time of year again! It's the busy season for out of town stage races. The big ones on the list this year and last year were the Tour of Hermann in Hermann, MO, and the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayettville, AR. First up on the calendar this year was the Tour of Hermann on April 21 & 22.
Attia and I didn't make it to the Tour of Hermann with Austin last year. She was just a month and a half old and the thought of all of us making the trip just didn't seem very plausible, especially since we were all going to Joe Martin just a couple of weeks later. But what a difference a year makes! Now that Attia is a little older, and her eating and sleeping schedule is better, it makes traveling soooo much easier (although the car ride is a little harder) - so the whole family was game for the trip this year. Even Rosa came along!
TOH is a fun race to tag along for because the town of Hermann is really picturesque and the criterium just happens to take place at the local Stone Hill Winery. Needless to say, the winery location helps to make for a nice Saturday afternoon of bike race watching.
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| Hermann, MO |
This year the weekend started out with the time trial on Saturday morning. The time trial is never Austin's favorite event, but he did pretty well and managed to beat his time from last year.
The Stone Hill Criterium took place on Saturday afternoon. As you can probably tell from the photo above, Hermann is a pretty hilly place. Stone Hill Winery is located at the top of one of these hills and the criterium route makes no attempt to find flat ground, making for some very steep climbs and wicked fast descents. The course proved to work out pretty well for Austin, as he was able to get up those hills and place 4th in the Cat 3 race.
Attia and I had a good time watching him.
Click here to watch a video of one of their laps up the winery hill.
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Austin is the fourth full cyclist in the photo
making his way up the hill |
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| Taking in the race |
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| Come on Daddy!! |
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| Watching the Pro, 1, 2 race with daddy |
The road race was on Sunday morning, and my dad, Karen, Sally & Josh came up to watch the race with Attia and me. It turned out to be a kind of cold and rainy day, but it was nice to see them and to meet Sally's Australian boyfriend for the first time.
The race started and finished in downtown Hermann, at the base of 'the wall.' The wall is a massive hill with an incredibly steep grade, and it just keeps going up and up and up for several blocks. I had to walk up to the top in order to give Austin water in the feed zone, and walking/running up was hard enough. I can't imagine riding up it, much less racing it! After a mean three hour race the pack came into the last stretch together and it was a sprint to the finish. Austin ended up finishing in the middle of the sprint group.
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| Waiting out the rain under the awning by the start/finish |
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| Attia made a new friend after the race |
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| Attia and her new friend, Summer, hanging out |
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| Our #1 Girl! |
This year was the 5th, and last, Tour of Hermann. That is really too bad because Hermann is a cute little town to visit and a well run race. But the race promoter says he will probably be putting on another event next year, and they also have a cyclocross race here, so we will likely be back.
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