kickin’ it in the Valley
parade in the parking lot
The morning of the XC was spent breaking computers and downloading music onto iPods. Thanks to the cowboy for taking care of the real business - our bikes. I test rode mine up to the expo wearing flip flops + a PINK skirt while listening to my new tunes and carrying 3 feed bags to deliver to Brig. Getting on the bike was not a struggle, but dismounting was. Fortunately no one was hurt and not even Fabio from Ford could sneak a peek. I found Brig and gave him the feed zone instructions and checked in with Frosty who ran down the latest race info...parade lap + 2 full laps for the chicks, start time is pushed back 30 minutes.
playing in the dirt
Warm up went pretty well and I headed to the start line in time to hear them call up the largest mens pro field of the year. The pro women, herded like cattle, waited for the men to do their 5 minute neutral parade loop through the resort, back through the start/finish and onto the dirt. Pretty sweet! The chicks were let out of the pen and directed onto the parade route. It was fast and fun, unlike the upcoming jeep road climb. After the climb was an awesome,“worm dirt” singletrack descent followed by switchback climbs and intense, sandy, rocky, switchback downhills. The course was a blast but the “stop & go” made it hard to move up and there wasn’t much room to pass. This became troublesome when the pro men caught us. The 10 chick train derailed as we each pulled off and got back on the trail to let them by. Rebecca got tangled up with one of the guys and turned into a rolling ball of dust on the final descent. One by one we funneled to the finish line...not a great result but a great time battling with bad ass chicks.
food and friends
Racing was followed by a pasta dinner and slide show of photos that Wink took while running next to us playing superfan. Thanks Wink! And thanks to all the fans...from the downhill dudes who reunited us in the grocery store to Ben from Kona to Poz the Trekker to Brig the feeder to Sager’s teenage boy groupies to people we’ve met along the way and people we’ve never met. After dinner, ice cream and Sol, RG and I dropped off Brig in SLC and stayed the night at Laura’s, my best friend from college. We spent the morning chillin’ outside on the deck. As RG says, ‘everyone should have a deck’. It was another beautiful day with birds chirping, coffee brewing, girls giggling, boys playing and beats in the background. What a life!
the last dance
It was time for the girls to pack up and head back to Deer Valley for the short track. We checked out the course and watched some of the racing before putting on our costumes. At the start line I handed Elke my iPod - she was unlucky in finding some country music. The ‘hurricane of pain' began and I jumped into the top 15. Sara B-Z went down in front of Niki + I and the gap that opened never closed. One by one we tried to bridge, one by one we fell back and eventually all but the top 8 got pulled. The finish was an exciting one as a $250 prime went to Shonny who solo’d the final laps, ate it in a corner but hung on for her 2nd win of the weekend. The pro mens race played out pretty much the same with K-Bomb flatting, T-Wells attacking and riding alone for the victory.
The morning of the XC was spent breaking computers and downloading music onto iPods. Thanks to the cowboy for taking care of the real business - our bikes. I test rode mine up to the expo wearing flip flops + a PINK skirt while listening to my new tunes and carrying 3 feed bags to deliver to Brig. Getting on the bike was not a struggle, but dismounting was. Fortunately no one was hurt and not even Fabio from Ford could sneak a peek. I found Brig and gave him the feed zone instructions and checked in with Frosty who ran down the latest race info...parade lap + 2 full laps for the chicks, start time is pushed back 30 minutes.
playing in the dirt
Warm up went pretty well and I headed to the start line in time to hear them call up the largest mens pro field of the year. The pro women, herded like cattle, waited for the men to do their 5 minute neutral parade loop through the resort, back through the start/finish and onto the dirt. Pretty sweet! The chicks were let out of the pen and directed onto the parade route. It was fast and fun, unlike the upcoming jeep road climb. After the climb was an awesome,“worm dirt” singletrack descent followed by switchback climbs and intense, sandy, rocky, switchback downhills. The course was a blast but the “stop & go” made it hard to move up and there wasn’t much room to pass. This became troublesome when the pro men caught us. The 10 chick train derailed as we each pulled off and got back on the trail to let them by. Rebecca got tangled up with one of the guys and turned into a rolling ball of dust on the final descent. One by one we funneled to the finish line...not a great result but a great time battling with bad ass chicks.
food and friends
Racing was followed by a pasta dinner and slide show of photos that Wink took while running next to us playing superfan. Thanks Wink! And thanks to all the fans...from the downhill dudes who reunited us in the grocery store to Ben from Kona to Poz the Trekker to Brig the feeder to Sager’s teenage boy groupies to people we’ve met along the way and people we’ve never met. After dinner, ice cream and Sol, RG and I dropped off Brig in SLC and stayed the night at Laura’s, my best friend from college. We spent the morning chillin’ outside on the deck. As RG says, ‘everyone should have a deck’. It was another beautiful day with birds chirping, coffee brewing, girls giggling, boys playing and beats in the background. What a life!
the last dance
It was time for the girls to pack up and head back to Deer Valley for the short track. We checked out the course and watched some of the racing before putting on our costumes. At the start line I handed Elke my iPod - she was unlucky in finding some country music. The ‘hurricane of pain' began and I jumped into the top 15. Sara B-Z went down in front of Niki + I and the gap that opened never closed. One by one we tried to bridge, one by one we fell back and eventually all but the top 8 got pulled. The finish was an exciting one as a $250 prime went to Shonny who solo’d the final laps, ate it in a corner but hung on for her 2nd win of the weekend. The pro mens race played out pretty much the same with K-Bomb flatting, T-Wells attacking and riding alone for the victory.
posted by kricket at 2:15 PM
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