Even though we stayed home yet again this weekend, I feel like we more than made up for it, as indicated by my 30 minute nap and subsequent hour spent reading the paper on the couch today.
Wow, I can't believe I just typed that. Now I feel especially lazy.
Every year, we sign up for the earliest possible date for ski patrol lift evacuation practice, in the hopes that the weather will be beautiful.
It wasn't. What the weather WAS, however, was snowy and cold and crisp. Mmmmmm...doesn't it just make you dream of ski season just hearing that? I have been doing lunges at the gym for the past several weeks in preparation for the telemark ski season and that snow on Saturday? It made me want to TRIPLE those lunges because if it's a powder day this year, I might just need some Personal Time Off, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, chairlift evacuation practice went predictably, which is to say there were a lot of chiefs and not a lot of Indians (and, yes, I know this is totally not politically correct to say. I just couldn't think of a better way to say it. If you know of one, please let me know and I will attempt to correct my lack of political correctness.). I just shrugged, nodded, smiled, and Hazel fell asleep. Barkernews ended up ferrying the media around all day in his de facto role as PR person for ski patrol, so after performing my assigned duties, Hazel and I spent a mostly pleasant trek up the hill in the snow pointing out various rocks (WAH! WAH! Hazel says) and "ooooooooing" over trees and falling snow.
Hazel was then instructed on the benefits of infant CPR and charmed various ski patrollers inside the lodge while I conducted my avalanche refresher training in gradually increasing amounts of snow. Afterwards, Hazel impressed all of us by eating an entire hot dog of her own volition (there are no vegetables in hot dogs, so she was safe from being forced to consume anything green) and we sat around and shot the shit with various ski patrollers we hadn't seen since last winter.
It was a fabulous day. For us, ski patrol is a great community and I sincerely hope that Hazel continues to grow up within our ski patrol "family".
Day two of the weekend saw us head out to Alpenrose Dairy for the first day of the Cross Crusade. This may have been my fourth cyclocross race EVER, but I was a tightly wound bundle of nerves. I have never raced with hundreds of women, not even in road cycling. I have been doing fairly well in the early season races and so, of course, I put too much pressure on myself to perform okay today. As predictable as clockwork, though, the nerves disappeared as soon as I started actually riding my bike. There is no time for nerves in a bike race; you just ride like hell and hope it works.
I did manage to crash my bike on a warmup lap, thereby bending my hood on my handlebars in and possibly bending my derailleur hanger, but there was no time to fix it and so I raced "as is". And here's where the truth part comes in: I had a really, really, really good time. Nothing will ever replace rock climbing for me and I could go on and on about logistics and rock climbing and babies, but damn, this is a fun substitute. I like that cross-training actually benefits me in cyclocross. I like that people cheer for me on the course. I like going downhill fast on dirt. And, yes, I even like the steep run-ups.
I also like seeing Barkernews have a good time. He raced too and he just gets better and better every time. He also just loves to be a part of something and well, the Cross Crusade is definitely something to be a part of. And, of course, the Oregon bike racing community has also become part of our network of friends. Like ski patrol, Hazel will grow up in a bike racing "family".
So that leads us to next weekend. Barkernews and I are both working the Mt. Hood Ski Patrol Snosports Swap on Friday, which makes it difficult for us to go very far for the weekend. On the other hand, I am desperate to get out of town. It's been two weeks since our last weekend trip and that is TOO LONG. But if we look at the other side of the coin, since I probably placed well enough in my race today, I could get a call-up (meaning a choice position at the start line) for next week's Cross Crusade in Rainier.So, yeah. I'll keep you posted.
