Is the year really almost over?

I can't believe that is almost holiday season and that 2007 is almost over. Going to Cross Nats always means that I'm taken by suprise when the holidays hit since it comes so quickly afterwards. Suffice it to say that I'm not prepared and haven't bought a single present. Somehow thought I seem way less stressed than everyone else even though I haven't done anything to prepare.

Since it's that time of year when people look back at their season I thought I would join in on that as well. My take on 2007? It was a killer fun year. I did lots of great events (17 races actually including 6 mtn bike races, 1 road race and 10 cross races) and got to hang out with lots of fun people. I traveled to great places (the western US, Wales, plenty of ski trips, on the road to bike races near and far). In addition, my job rocks. I also have awesome friends that still put up with me even when I fall out of contact because I'm wrapped up in event promotion! I have a husband who after 15 years still puts up with my constant involvement in everything. I was involved with many events (Madnorski ski races, Blackhawk Time Trials, Dirt Retreat, Mad Cross Clinic, Badger Cross, Viking Cross). I consumed many a margarita at Pasquals. I got two new bikes and one pair of skis which is always a nice bonus. I can't really say that there is much to complain about.

Anyway, enough about that . . . here's a little bit more about cross nats. I want to keep everyone excited so they go next year!

Top Ten Things that Rocked about Nats:

10. Chris breaking the heater in our room and then fixing it when the hotel staff couldn't (it was desperate times once the heat fell to about 50 degrees)

9. Riding back from the course to the hotel with Kristin and getting to hear the ice cracking as it broke off from coating all the trees

8. Jen telling me that she was intimidated to race against me the first time (that cracked me up!)

7. Getting to have strawberries with my waffle on Sunday morning thanks to Brandon Dwight staying in the same hotel as us (Race winners got a box of strawberries)

6. Somehow tricking the staff at Carino's into seating about 50 people from Wisconsin and Illinois when I had only asked for seating for 35. I swear we had half the tables in that place!

5. Having John Verheul ask me if Ben was still my coach and telling him that I had given Ben a vacation from coaching me. Ben got a little chuckle out of that.

4. Playing video games at the after-party. I'm not really a party person but I enjoyed the driving games against Kristin and Dave as well as our attempts to figure out how to do the dance machine game. The first attempt by JPE and I we really had no idea how it worked. JPE and Kristin gave it a go once we figured it out but they accidentally set it for extreme difficulty so it was impossible to do. That was hillarious!

3. All the cheers I got when I raced even though I was in the back. I was lined up next to a woman who said from all the cheers I was getting that she was worried I was some sort of world champion. Sometimes I wasn't even sure who exactly was cheering for me as I had "fans" all over the course.

2. The "battle" between JPE and Dave. JPE takes one over Dave in a sprint the B 40+ race but Dave fought back in the 40-44 race and dropped JPE on the last lap. Battle royale . . . but friendly and fun. It sure made cheering easier as they rode almost all of both races together.

1. Getting to hang out and support all the cool crossers that made the trip from Wisconsin and Chicago. It really was cool being cheered and getting to cheer everyone from our scene. It was also cool how we all tried to support each other whether it be cheering, taking jackets, working the pits, loaning out equipment or whatever people needed really. I wouldn't want to be a part of any other cross scene as ours is pretty amazing!

Here's a few photos I stole from other people's sites:

Dave and JPE in the 40-44 race start - I love this photo!

My start . . . yes, I'm way in the back already after 5 seconds. That's what happens when you take 3 weeks off from biking.

First lap off the pavement and through the ditch.

Another shot showing the transition from the pavement to the muddy grass.

Some fun in the mud.

I'm amazingly clean . . . some spectators even said at one point I would win the Clean Kit award . . . gotta keep those sponsor logos visible!

The mud at the barriers was a crazy soupy mess!