From West Virginia to Vermont- Tonya's account of the 3rd stop on the NORBA National Circuit:

Boston. My favorite city. I could live in Boston if I had to live in a city. Except for altitude- i would live there. It's fun, high culture and isn't a city that wants to be another city because it is happy with who it is. A rare place. SO my bro lives in a suburb of Boston called Winchester (or Winchestah). Got to hang out with his fam- great fun! While Mara was over got to see Spirit- since it is the kids' favorite movie of the moment- although the baby sitter was completely nonplused and actually tried to simplify the movie by bashing on the plot. Well- it is a kids movie- not a David Lynch film.

Tuesday. Mara and her dad stayed with her unlce- but Mara came over to do the Fells ride- which is a nice long loop in Winchester that has a few technical spots- lots of roots and rocks and bridges. The bridges used to be a bit more reminiscent of north shore- but they rebuilt them since my last ride there- widened them and made them more stable. Anyhow. We ran into this guy riding with his white dog who had been shaved, so her head looked huge. he asked Mara if the hardtail she was riding was "state of the art" these days. We laughed- Mara had to ride her poor Trek bike (with tourney and acera x type parts on it) since she still doesn't have wheels for the team race bike.

My bro took me out to Harvard for the evening. We ate at the Border Cafe- a very good Mexican restaurant near Harvard Square. A unique place. When we walked in they told us 45 minutes for a table. Then they asked if we would be drinking and we said no- so they said les then 5 minutes wait. If you're not drinking- they want to get you in and out as fast as possible- and keep the drinkers around as long as possible. Funny place- people around here know how to make money.

So on to Vermont. Wednesday. We stop by Pedro's on the way to say hi and to check out the facilities. It's raining again. Imagine that. Rain.

Pre ride. Looks great! Just about the same course as the previous years. Lots of climbing and that classic Vermont singletrack- rife with roots and rocks- add some small amounts of mud- and you've got the perfect course!

Thursday. I spend the days before my race on my feet. It seemed like we couldn't win. Mara had to register, and they would not allow her to use her release form signed by her dad without him there to sign it in front of them. So Mara had to come find me and we had to get back into line... and I had to sign her release form in front of the people at registration. It was just nonsensical, and everything we tried to do was difficult.

then- Trying to find a rear wheel so Mara can ride the team bike (the lavender scalpel). Not much luck. I am forced to go ask a stranger, and drop a name (by that person's suggestion) and manage to walk away from Kona with a rear wheel- a mechanic's personal wheel. As I am walking back to meet Mara, she finally was able to borrow a wheel from the SoBe people. So i had to return the wheel to the ever gracious Robin, and then help Mara get her bike in racing condition. Although I spent a lot of time on my feet, Mara spent even more, waiting in lines to get her bike tuned up- as Troy, our mechanic was at home working. This the day before her race. But the bottom line was that Mara got to ride the team bike, and everyone was happy at the end of a long day.

Friday- Mara's race day. The women start, and Mara is with the pack- instead of her usual off the back start ( :) ). So things are looking good. However, after the first half of the first lap- it seems there is a problem. The feed zone is the worst place to be during a race- becuase it is usually in a place where you can't see anything besides riders going by right in front of you. Everyone but Mara has passed the feed zone, and i get worried until she finally rides by, seemingly in one piece and no blood. Then it is the long wait for her to come back on the second half. As she returns to the feed zone on her second lap, I am caught off guard as she has ridden the first half of the lap screamingly faster than the first time, and as i see her, she is already by me. I go outside the feed zone and try to run in front of her to hand up the bottle, but it's too late- she's flying up the hill. So i missed her feed. She was just going so much faster the second lap that i wasn't expecting her! Now I have to worry about her for the rest of the race. She doesn't drink much- but it is a long lap. I observe the dicarded bottles and notice most of the junior x-ers are barely even drinking anything, so I have a feeling she'll be ok. Mara finishes in 5th- on the podium once again.

Saturday- my race day. mara races short track right before my start. She is in last place after the first lap. Hmmm. Not looking too good. But at some point, she picks it up and she winds up passing a few women on each lap- all 15 women or so to finish 3rd- an incredible race for her! this was against all the Expert women.

I am ready to go today. Some times you just feel it. I'm on the start line just ready to rock. when the gun goes off, I find myself easing into a good position. All the hard breathing around me and i feel like i am hardly breathing. On the final part of the climb, next to some pretty awesome riders, I get the feeling that I don't belong so far up... but i try to keep going. I get behind the first person in the peloton to fumble in the woods, now we're all off our bikes. there is nothing so frustrating as pro women not being able to ride technical singletrack. So the leaders pull away and that's that. I can't get around this girl, and i know the seconds are adding up quickly. We hit the climb, and it's all over. I am maintaining a spot around 20th. I can see in front of me some pretty fast girls, but suddenly on one of the final climbs of the fist lap, my legs begin to cramp, as do my fingers. Riding the technical singletrack is difficult because i cannot operate my fingers. I am going back and forth with several riders, making it a good race. I am passed on the downhill on the last lap. I am in utter disbelief. This rarely happens to me, but with the legs and fingers cramping, I am having problems staying fast and smooth in the singletrack. i never do catch the girl who passed me, but I feel good about my 23rd place finish, as it was my best NCS finish to date.

Of course when i cross the line, and try to dismount my bike, I almost fall over from hamstring cramps, and then I am greeted by my medical control escort (that would be drug testing- as i was once again selected for random). I drink 2 bottles of water immediately to alleviate my cramps. I sit on the grass, and Mara has to go to the room to get my ID. I go to medical control. Been here before. Mary mcConneloug just won the race- her first ever podium and it was a win! So I was now ready to go. See they have to go in the bathroom with you and watch you to make sure the urine is yours. then after it is tested for dilution- too bad- it's like one microgram too dilute (remember i had 2 bottles of water when i crossed the line??). So here I go again. I have to drink some purple gatorade (ick!) and wait to go again. This time i have to get 100 ml. It's a lot when you don't have to go. So I wait some more. then i go again. Not enough only 75 ml. All i can say is "shit"! the men's race has started. Jimena is floating around asking if I am ok. She goes and buys me a sndwhich because I am about to pass out. it's been over an hour. I'm still in my dirty clothes, cause last time i did this it only took me a few minutes.... So off i go again, after having a nice long chat with the USADA people. They are so friendly, and they get to watch me pee once again. i finally finished the job, and now i can rest easy and take a hot shower and relax, and Mara, the eternally good teammate is still waiting for me.

Later that afternoon as Mara and I are glued to the TV, we see an advert for pizza. Mmmmm pizza. So now we are determined. There is no one to buy us a congratulatory dinner, so we have to buy ourselves a "self-congratulatory" dinner. We felt like we did a good job this weekend so far, so we wanted to reward ourselves with a pizza. At 6 o'clock we go to the front desk and order a pizza from the recommended pizza joint in West Dover. It's 9 o'clock. No pizza. We tried to call the place but they never picked up their phone. So we jump in the van and drive down to the recommended #2- Deacon's Den. We get lost in the building and cannot find the place where pizza is served. We find it- a musty place, some smoke- but we don't even care. We order our pizza form the bar and stand at the bar playing beer mats- without drinking. (it's a drinking game we learned form some Brits once). We get our pizza. We eat a piece before we even drive away, and we congratulate ourselves on a job well done.

Short track- not very interesting for me. I was awake early that morning packing up. i was anxious to race, and was consequently on my feet all morning. As I went out to get ready to race, it began to rain. My mood slipped. No more rain! I had a great start, but on one lap, the while field practially passed me and then i had to suffer a couple of more laps before being pulled. Some times thing just don't go your way- but cross country is what matters most, so who cares if you have a bad short track race? It's a bonus race- if you do crappy in cross country you can redeem yourself, and if you don't do well in short track it doesn't matter because it really doesn't count for anything. As soon as i finished racing, i had to shower and finish packing to leave. on our way home for a 3 day drive.

To make a very long driving story short- we had to drive long days, 13 and 18 hours in order to make it back to Colorado by Tuesday night. We stayed with more of Mara's relatives along the way, eating desserts and lots of food. Not much else to it. Mara counts the miles to home, each mile marker, one mile less to drive. The drive home is agonizingly slow. I just want to get home, and welcome to Colorado- overcast and cold and rainy. just what we wanted... It isn't until Wednesday we see the sun again and rejoice. Back home. at least for a few weeks!