Lion by Jeff Stone

Author:Jeff Stone [Stone, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-375-98760-1
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2013-09-24T04:00:00+00:00

We spent the rest of the morning making plans for the race. The fact that we would be competing against adults beneath streetlights began to wear on my mind, but it didn’t bother me enough to make me want to back out. Plus, Peter promised to begin training us at night, which helped put me somewhat at ease.

Once I was able to push the night-racing concerns out of my mind, I realized I had a bigger problem—I was going to need more dragon bone. I didn’t have enough to get me through the extra days. I thought my mom could bring me some, but she was worried about trying to get it through airport security.

Fortunately, Uncle Tí had me covered. He made a phone call to PawPaw, an apothecary friend of his in Beijing. It turned out she had a friend in San Francisco’s Chinatown who could be trusted. Her name was YeeYee, which means “Auntie” in Chinese. Uncle Tí made arrangements to ship out a small amount of dragon bone via courier airplane as a medical necessity—which it was—and YeeYee was going to be able to pick it up at San Francisco International Airport, and we could get it from her. Sending it to her instead of Peter directly seemed best because she often received medicine from doctors. Additionally, she could check it over to make sure it hadn’t been tampered with. Uncle Tí didn’t want to take any chances.

I was also happy that my mom was coming to help us. She seemed more excited than I was, and I looked forward to learning all she knew about racing strategy. I’d had no idea her background was that extensive, and I felt closer to her than ever before.

Peter called the race promoter to confirm our participation, and almost immediately the cycling forums and blogs began to light up with news that the “mystery teen team” would be at the event. It was both exciting and a little scary for us. What it meant, though, was that we were going to have to practice like never before.

Since Peter was going to take us all to Chinatown tonight to pick up the dragon bone, we decided to head to Point Lobos early. We arrived around noon and parked in our usual spot in front of the tidal pools.

Jake said that the forks on his road bike had been acting a little strange the previous day. Hú Dié suspected a hairline weld fracture, but she hadn’t found one. As a precaution, we’d brought along the ’cross bike for Jake to ride, if necessary.

We started with our usual spinning; then we stretched. The stretching routines were getting more difficult, but Jake and I were already seeing some serious results. While standing, I could almost put my palms flat on the ground, and Jake could now press his knuckles against the road. Peter was impressed.

We finished stretching, and Peter decided to begin our session with the “car” drill we’d practiced the first day. Peter once again played the role of the car as the cameras on our helmets recorded our every move.

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