Cross nationals!!

Cross Nats was lots of fun! I would say a 7 on the fun-o-meter (yep, I just made up that word), maybe an 8. Great weather, great course, great people. A few glitches in my case but nothing insurmountable, thanks to the great folks at the Mavic neutral support tent. Thank you, thank you, Mavic guys, you saved the day!!! And thanks to Chris S., Renee and Chris D. for being willing to lend a hand if needed. Had I made it to the parties Sat and Sunday night, I would have probably given the weekend a 9 or 10! Unfortunately my flight left Sunday afternoon so I missed the Crank Bros party.

The other racers in my race were way out of my league, but I knew that would be the case as soon as I saw the start list..... more on the race and course later....

Congrats to all the Midwesterners who put in a strong showing in their events!

Ran into quite a few folks I used to know ... Ex-Midwesterners I saw included Ryan O'Connor, former local fast guy in the 90's, Ron B. and his family, (including his son Drew who did very well in his junior race), and more. It does seem to me like the cast of characters has changed quite a bit since the last time I went to a cross nationals event. There was a great group of regional (and ex-regional) crossers to hang with, including Chris, Kim, Renee, Dave, Kurt and Beth.

Thanks to Renee, of Madcross fame, for organizing the Midwest dinner! 18 people made it out on Saturday night. Several of them were new faces to me. It's nice to have someone make the effort to get people together.

The flight there had a surprising number of people going to the race, considering it was only Wednesday. There were some USA cycling events people, and the head official of the race. Someone who turned out to be in my race was sitting right across the aisle from me, and we ended up chatting. Little did I know then that she would come close to winning our race! I didn't know who everyone was at that time, but they looked like they were on their way to nats, and it added to the sense that I was starting out on an adventure!

Something about seeing all the bike boxes rolling around at the airport gets the adrenalin going... it reminds me of how you feel when you drive into a town that's holding a big race and you start to get all jumpy when you first see cars with bikes on top and especially when you start to see the team cars.... it happens to me whether I am racing or spectating... that excitement that washes over you when you realize you are about to be immersed in the sights and sounds of bike racing!

Another thing that struck me as really funny, though it makes sense, is that I heard that there was a room in the host hotel that had nothing but bikes in it? Someone, a team I suppose, got a room just for their bikes! An expensive room with pristine white shiny satin-like duvets on the beds and a light colored carpet, full of potentially dirty bikes! Good thing it wasn't a muddy weekend!

I will add more on the weekend later... this is a super busy week, trying to get all my shopping done now that I am no longer trying to get ready for Nats.....T is in town and we are going to meet up several times, I might even join her and Wendy at Kettle Friday if I can swing it....and my sister and her family get here Thursday night. Also, I have to get everything done for the year's end at work, preferably before our accountant leaves town next week on vacation....and so much personal stuff has been on hold for me due to the long race season for me..... "oh, I'll do it in the winter when the season is over"..... well the winter is here!! time to get cracking!

More later, I hope...