Hey, hey, hey I’m graduating today!

Forget bike riding, give me a beer!  Hooray!!!!!!

Yesterday was my second NORBA National cross country race of the 2007 season.  Despite my stellar (if I do say so myself) 13th place finish at the first NORBA in Phoenix, I didn’t go to the second NORBA in Firestone, CA and had a not-so-great call-up for yesterday’s XC race.  After three tight, sandy, fast turns, the pro-women’s field ran smack-dab into a major pile-up on a steep, sandy climb on the beginning of the course.  We were all off our bikes and running in the first few minutes, but lucky me rode around a huge crash on the first piece of single-track and found myself in a decent position for the first major climb and descent.  Things, however, were not so good for the rest of the race.  I rode like a grandma down the sandy descents because apparently I have a rib out of place from doing too much school-work (it’s really hard on the body) and felt like I was having a heart attack the whole race.  Nice.  I wanted to quit after the first lap (but I always feel that way racing XC) but stuck it out and kept my position and even gained a few spots throughout the race.  I’m not sure where I finished yet, since Cycling News doesn’t seem to think the NORBA’s are very important and I’m too lazy to walk over to the results board. 

After the race, I was immediately greeted by the joy of a USADA visit.  Hooray!  I hadn’t managed to drink very much during the race, so it took me a full two hours to pee.  Meanwhile, I got quite the water baby from chugging bottle after bottle of water and Gatorade.  Larry Longo, the announcer, even came over and poured some Gatorade on the ground for me to induce a pee, but it didn’t help.  Two hours, and a huge water baby later, I finally gave USADA their sample.  Too bad they weren’t testing me because I did well in the race, just a random sample, no glory there.  Next time.

So my teammate wasn’t enjoying some of the wacky, sandy descents at the NORBA in Fontucky during her pre-ride today, so I told her, “The worst thing that’s going to happen to you if you crash is you are going to get sand in your tights.”

I guess that might be pretty bad though…