From Angela:
After a week of gorgeous weather, the Winona Lake trail was hammered with thunderstorms making for a greasy, muddy race track. For some, this is welcomed. For me, it produces a fear and dread I cannot describe.
On the start line, I changed my tune. After entering the single-track, I realized it really wasn't as bad as I thought. While I couldn't corner as fast as I wanted to, riding and racing was actually rather fun--especially when the racers had screaming spectators ringing cow bells at the top of the short, steep climb just before the field. Weren't those people awesome?
Since the first lap went OK, I knew I could punch it during the second lap. Ten minutes into the lap, I abruptly hit the ground after sliding out on a slick root. To my dismay, it was witnessed by 2 men across the creek.
I jumped up and shouted, "So, what's my score?"
One guy's reply, "25!"
25?!?!? I was expecting something along the lines of gymnastic scoring like a 6.2 or 7.8. For the next 40 minutes I contemplated the scale he was using to warrant a score of 25. Oh yeah, I was racing too.
As it turns out Luther Prater was one of those guys who witnessed my ungraceful fall. (I guess it didn't help that I let out a low scream that sounded like an agonizing grunt.) He explained that I was actually the 25th person to crash in that very spot; it wasn't scoring at all. Whew--perhaps I'm not a total klutz after all.
I saw several teammates on Saturday but didn't get to say Hi to everyone. I hope your racing went well and you have some words of wisdom to share. Congrats to all the hard efforts out there on a tough day!
And here's some pics for the blog.......
Here's one for the record.......
