Now that I’m finally on the way home after being snowed in at my grandparents’ house in Oklahoma, I suppose now is as good a time as any to write up some race reports….most importantly that of Nationals.
Yes, I’m referring to collegiate mtb nationals from October. Don’t doubt my memory! Besides, the two months between the race and now provides the opportunity for some hyperbole—and nobody will be the wiser!
After the pre-ride of the cross country course, we settled in for a night of Cool Runnings (yeh mon!) and spectacular cooking (I don’t recall if this night was Krishna’s chili, Kyle’s salmon, or Hattaway’s pasta).
The women started first the next morning, so Kathleen headed to the start line while the rest of us had breakfast. Shortly before they were to start, we jumped in the van in time to walk the start route through the village area. Two areas in particular had us concerned—the u-turn at the end of the starting stretch and the bottleneck at the stairs leading to loose gravel. We wished Kath the best, then headed for where the course dumps onto the gravel turn.
We were pleased to see that the gravel didn’t cause too much trouble, and headed to Steve’s rock garden to watch the carnage—er, racers. We debated the best line choices as the racers came through, planning our own routes when our time arrived later in the day. Steve was feeling peppy, and took the opportunity any time a girl slipped up to compliment her bike: “Sweet brake cables! Awesome wheels. Thanks for stopping to show me.”
