Give me your bottle lids, now

it was 4:40am in the Denver Airport, today. I threw my toothpaste in the trash, another $2.19 wasted. Security man #1 tells me to dump out .09oz of water in the trash can. i nicely ask him if he wants me to replace my lid, he says yes. TSA lady says "excuse me, i will need to remove your lids. you can elect to mail them home, go and check them with your baggage, or throw them away." thank you for the wonderful and profound options. I am now minus two bike bottle lids.

Heres the pros: i came in 2nd overall for the norba national series open womens short track. I also came in 3rd overall for the same series in expert women 19-29 for cross country. I guess the reward for traveling hundreds of miles, throwing my body down mountains and slogging through mud since april is a nice, small, placque. Thank you NORBA.

Heres some more pros: i totally hit the wall on sunday's XC course. Thats ok though, you gotta learn what it feels like sometimes. The mental trauma to convince myself to complete the dang thing was almost more than i could bear. Speaking of BEAR...

Bear Naked Cannondale gave Ma and Pa a t-shirt, so they hooked me up. Bright Orange, in true Jose Ole style, i was wearing at LAX, (while i waited for my 20 minute commuter flight to Ontario) while i sat in Starbucks, a place i usually do not promote. This lady comes up to me and says do you work for them? Um, no. So i guess she knows the founder. So i told her that in 8 years, when i am pro and all, i would like to ride for their team. so we will see what happens.

Benefits of being an expert: i read somewhere that you are not truly an expert at something until you have done it for 10 years. I guess i have 9 to go. by then i can go to Masters worlds. But we have these magnificent start times: 7:30am, 9:00am. usually still fogged in and cool. Then there is the benifit of riding with 14 year olds. Since i am a teacher by nature, i tend to hang out with them, especially when they take huge diggers in the woods and ball their eyes out. It is just like 9th grade PE. where better for a little counseling than in a thick forest in a foreign town?

Only thing that kept me going: So on the second lap i was flying solo, off the back. i saw Adam Craig, Carl Decker, and one of those Huge Kona boys out toolin around. Exciting for sure. As i crested a climb, probably pushing my bike due to the fact that my legs were on vacation, i saw them again! truly exciting this time. As i continued down the fantastic single track through the dense forest, a lone expert guy showed up. He had taken a wrong turn and was now on the same voyage as i was, to finish and get the stupid points. I had met him in Deer Valley, i think his name is Justin, nice chap for sure. He brought the news that saved the day. "Adam said to give you a push." or something to that affect. Thank goodness for those pinata uniforms, once someone meets you in them, they will never forget you.