Oct 26, 2008

USGP day 2

on saturday night, after our first day of racing; and our 6th day of guests and usgp course set up and race errands; as we all sat bleary-eyed around the dinner table - my husband declared he was too tired to race, that he felt like crap and was just going to take care of the kids and watch me race. that way, he wouldn't have to worry about finding kids' shoes (even though i had them all laid out by the door) or dealing with lulu's issues over the sock seam bothering her foot or getting to the course a little late cause he has to go to krispy kreme to get donuts to bribe kids out of bed that early to go stand in the cold, or needing to get wheels to the pit or missing any chance of a warmup cause the kids were whining within first 15 minutes of arrival. he didn't want to do any of that again. he just wanted to relax and have fun.

and so we got up insanely early to get me to the course. he had a shower and a cup of coffee and decided he felt a little better and declared he was indeed racing. so we started packing the car again with towels, blankets, hats, gloves, extra jackets, extra socks, gameboys, post race clothes and 100 water bottles. we go through our mental checklist & head out to day two of usgp racing. and we pull into the parking lot and i realize we never fed the kids breakfast, and my brand new brake pads were sitting on kitchen counter. and our youngest discovers she's really cold in the pants that i told her she would be really cold in if she insisted upon wearing them. so while steven runs his wheels to the pit, i help lulu get dressed in warmer clothes which includes a longer, warmer sock change which means i have to talk her through the seam issues with her socks. and my patience is wearing thin and my warmup window is closing. i am gritting my teeth which makes her cry and then i kiss her, say i am sorry; try to wrestle her fingers into some too-big gloves, tell her to go find her sister and then i ride around a soccer field twice for warmup and go line up.

and then i raced. and other than the fact that i was crazy nervous on the line -crazy nervous- i don't remember much - but i felt better and more confident and could tell my riding was a bit better than the previous day. the course was great, had some new off camber stuff and all the scary mud and wet leaves from previous day were gone. but still. its' cross. and this was a seriously grown up course. so it was hard. i was so crazy focused i could barely see. on the second lap, i was shocked to find two barriers that i swear, were not there on the first lap, nor were they there on all three laps the day before. there was a momentary what the fuck? who the hell put those damn things there? i had to run through the two back sandtraps to avoid the crashes in front of me and i pre-empted any "on your left ma'ams" by just moving aside and yelling go! to the little whippersnappers as they passed. and then i finished my race in one place higher than the day before, with one uci point. which feels sorta cool . and then i changed. and watched my husband race. and for someone who looked like hell the night before and said he couldn't do it - he looked awesome. i'd scream "go baby" so loud i made myself a little dizzy.

and then we hung out and would find our kids for a while and get them cookies or drinks or lunch and tell the girl in the craft tent with the cute puppies to kick them out if they got bothersome. and then we'd lose them again for a while. and we'd chat with friends, and drink beer and go to the back sandpit to see the mayhem back there & watch superfan in action. and then we'd go back to the run up, or to the green monster, or the beer tent, or the results board. and then we'd find our kids again.

and then at 1:45, same as the day before; i started to twitter the live action from the elite women's race and then again at 3 for the men's race. and i was totally excited to do this, but didn't really know what i was doing. i started off with a simple just state the facts ma'am sort of approach. but kept thinking it was pretty boring. the announcers were saying all kinds of cool things like "flogging like a mule" and "smackdown" and other cool, sporty announcer type stuff that i could never come up with on my own. hell, they'd go by so fast it was all i could do to see who it was and thumb it out before they came around again. so by the second day i thought i'd just go with a what he said approach, and throw my own flavor in here & there. thank you richard freis and rachel fagerberg for some of your witty quips and letting me peer over your shoulder to see the start sheets and lists of names.

i learned the iphone battery does not last very long when you are sending a text message every 30 seconds to 5 minutes for 2 hours and taking pictures of superfans and gorillas and fellow twitterers with the A from georgia goulds' name painted on his chest and signs that say "pedal your ass off". i eeked the results in both days with a glaring red line of a battery signal and ominous warnings off low battery life. i swear i think the battery was nearly dead just as i typed in the winner each day.

the races over, the results twittered in, and kids about to fall over from exhaustion, we head home to shower and have dinner. and get ready for an impromptu post usgp wrap party. it doesn't dawn on me until 8:00 that the kids have school the next day. i am briefly tormented between being a parent, staying home and putting my kids to bed so they can have a good nights' sleep after the crazy weekend, or dragging them out to go to a party. we chose the party. cause its the usgp. a once a year thing.

it has been one of the wildest weeks ever - a total, busy blast. i think i sat on my couch tonight for the first time since last tuesday. we still have two guests here that leave bright & early tomorrow morning. our guests have been amazing - it was all so comfortable and fun and easy. like we do this everyday sort of easy. its going to be quiet around here. my kids are in love with the race people dudes, as are we. and can't wait till they, and all the fun that they bring with them, racing and otherwise; return next year.



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

You were awesome!!! Seriously....I would have whizzed in my shorts on top of the green monster looking at the steep descent. You rocked it. I'm so glad I got to see you race, share a bowl of oatmeal and chat a tad. Your girls are precious! And the weather was perfect.

house on hill road said...

bummed to have missed it! i would never ever get up on that green monster so you have my utmost admiration, friend. let's try to catch up this week.
xo.

~ lauren said...

yay!

i want to come out there and hang out with you guys! it's eeerily similar and would be so much fun!

glad you made it through it all. i was reading your little updates.

Judi said...

you are a rock star!!!!! i wish we could have been there....good job zanne. you had a great experience.

Anonymous said...

you sound like the worst parents ever..poor kids...they are such an inconvenience right?....another fun day of indulging mommy and daddy...maybe you should have another

ItchyBits said...

Sounds like you had a great day! So much for getting your toes wet. You are up to your neck in cyclocross!

bsegal said...

Hey anonymous, did u ever think the kids were there so mom n dad COULD spend time w them? I've seen both parents skip races and all kinds of things, shorten rides skip concerts to be w the kids.
Talk about something u know. Why rip these people.
And sign in if ur such a big talker. Easy to be tough and anonymous.

zanne said...

Anonymous – Wow, you sound like someone who could teach us a thing or two about raising our wonderful, happy, well adjusted, dare I say - spoiled with love, children. Perhaps you could show us how we should be parenting. Or maybe we could meet at a cross race so you can tell them how best to have fun and play with their friends all day or tell us how much fun they should’ve had this weekend. Maybe you could even lecture the parents of all the other children who played with ours, (it takes a village you know) perhaps some of us were not watching out for everyone's kids and you could have caught it and pointed it out for everyone.

You could also come to ballet, or soccer, or bike rides in the park. Even come along to sleep overs and play dates and parties and family dinners at the dining room table or at our favorite family restaurants to make sure we're all parenting correctly and paying enough attention to the kids.

I suppose we could just leave them home with a sitter. Maybe they don’t like playing out in the sunshine all day with old friends and new ones … petting puppies, cheering their parents on – much like we cheer them on in their endeavors. Maybe they’d be better off if we didn’t set any sort of example of what it means to be part of a larger community; what it means to try hard at something and do your best.

Or, maybe you could come over to our house and explain to our children how it's always best to say mean things to people you don't know about things you don't really know anything about, from a secret, cowardly place called anonymous.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I wonder if anonymous knows that you can trace his ip.

Anonymous said...

GOOD for you suz...i'd like to tell anonymous off too...but you said it all...and so perfectly...