The Race, Mud, Ice, a Battle and a Medal

Thursday evening we drove home from the Mud & Blood Ball as the rain turned to sleet. Ellie was keyed up from the entire trip, but tired from having practiced so much. I wondered how well she would sleep. I imagine the pressure was high. My goal was that she have fun and feel good about how she performed. She fretted about the competition. We had not seen many of them on Thursday. She was tired enough by the time that we got back to the hotel that she crashed and was sawing logs very quickly.

Friday dawned a cold and beautiful day. The sky was a brilliant blue, the trees glistened with ice and the mud was frozen into ruts. Ethan had gone down to the main tent to see if they needed him to help. He happen to strike up a conversation with the guys from Zip Wheels. Soon after, Ethan called Ellie to tell her to come down. They were going to lend her a set of the wheels. Now, this is a BIG DEAL. The wheels run about $2,800 for last year's model and many of the pro racers use them for every race. I was excited for Ellie, but also concerned that she would wreck them if she crashed. Also, Coach Bill had set her up with a set of his wheels. By the time I got down to the tent the wheels and cassettes were traded out and Ellie was ready to go. When she was in the start line the girls around her gave an appreciative "ooohhh, she has Zip Wheels." She simply sat there, quietly waiting to begin. When the girls raced at 9:00 a.m. it was a mere 7 degrees. The race organizers had painted a grid on the road. It made the start less crowded. Ellie was in the back. She was fine with that. From our practices the day before we knew where the difficult sections were. Ellie got a great start, navigating the slick and steep sections like a pro. Three of the girls were within 100 feet of each other, each taking the lead from time to time. Mina broke free from the pack and headed out. Ellie and the others battled for two more laps. At one point Ethan rode his mountain bike next to her, cheering her on. The girl just behind Ellie did not like this and hissed remarks at him as she passed him. When they entered the section of the laps where there was pavement she put on serious speed. Coach Bill eagerly watched from the pits with a spare bike ready in the event that she needed it. (Many kids had to trade out bike because of mud & grass build up, broken derailleurs and flat tires. One poor soul had his tire come free from the wheel just out of the pit and had to run the entire next lap of nearly four miles.) But, I digress, back to Ellie's race. My heart was thumping, I was cheering, taking photos and anxious. She broke from the pack towards the end, going strong in second place in her division when a girl from the older group crashed in front of her, blocking the way. Ellie maneuvered around the crash, speed up and came in fourth place, missing third by just under two seconds. She was only 43 seconds behind Mina who won the race. We were thrilled with her performance. She was happy, after a while. She had the taste of second in her mouth much of the time and had to adjust to winning fourth. Other racers told her it was remarkable that she made it to the podium her first time at Nationals.

It was exciting to see her on the podium receiving a National Champion medal. She was pretty cool about the whole thing. She kept the medal on for about 15 minutes, then tucked it in her pocket. Later I got it from her so I could admire it and keep track of it. After the adrenaline calmed down we found the other Colorado kids, shared cookies, took photos, consoled those who were unhappy and had a generally great time. After lunch we watched more races. Ellie bought cow hats for herself and Stephen. They tied on as many cowbells (cowbells are used to encourage the racers. They are a big party of the fun atmosphere of the sport.)as they could find and walked around mooing.

Driving home she and Ethan began to talk about going to Nationals next year. I guess I will have to start planning and saving for that. It was a great way to end the Cross season and begin thinking about Christmas.