The long hike up the slope to the pit and technical area that I was assigned to hurt Saturday morning, it was COLD. I was smart enough to snag a ride on a quad to get up there the second time for the women's race though. I had a ton of fun and learned so much thanks to Tod Manning. I was lucky enough to meet and work with a couple of IC's during this race too. All the guys and gals from USAC in Colorado were there working their arses off to make sure the event went off without a hitch as it did. Thanks for letting me check off an item from my bucket list... working in the USAC National trailer as a referee!
Sunday we lined all the riders up for slalom qualifying. I got an assignment near the bottom at the finish line where I could see all the riders finish which was very nice. I had a great time reffing the slalom race. Next up was the first ever short track relay race. Let me tell you this was a blast to watch and ref. 4 laps of all out short track racing with a different rider from each team doing one lap each. Marian jumped on a rider switch and it cost them a 10 second penalty that almost cost them the national title. They won by only 2 seconds after the penalty. This is going to catch on like wildfire I think, its very spectator friendly. After Short track relay it was time to run the brackets. We were very efficient running slalom and we were done before ya knew it.
Like I said at the beginning "it's an reffing experience I'll never forget"
Coach Hall assisting one of his riders
SECCC LMC rider tackling the long climb of XC a Beech Mtn.
Beautiful view of the lower course Sunday
Div I team podium
Frosty race course for the mens Div I & II XC race
Brian Sheedy and crew from Brevard. Div II National Champions!
My little buddy Erica Zavetta from Brevard, National Champ Div II
Head to head slalom competition near the finish line
A view Sunday from where I worked Saturday during XC
I was under the white easy up just out of this pic on the bottom right. They had me scoring DH Saturday afternoon. There was a couple of times when the riders were right behind one another that made it challenging, at times, to get the proper time written down on paper. Yes, they were using electronic scoring to get the riders times but if they had a failure of any kind our time keeping would have saved the day, luckily everything went smoothly.
That's how Beech Mtn gets the DH bikes up the mountain
Photo credits: GoJamma Media, Lees McRae & Brevard Cycling
USAC Central.... the Grill House at Beech Mtn.
So why is the toaster in these pics? She blew a head gasket and has been in the shop all week. She's actually getting a newer motor installed. The local Honda dealer wanted almost $1000 to repair the head gasket. My mechanic buddy found me a 2006 Honda element engine from a totaled toaster that had 90K less than mine so he's completely replacing the motor with that one for a fraction of what the Honda dealer wanted. So my 166K 2003 toaster will have a power plant from a 2006 with only 79K on it. What a deal. I've been driving my Dad's big chevy truck this week and my gas bill easily doubled.
LAter G......................
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