Don't Burn the Pig

Yesterday was a good full day. It began at 5:45am and didn't end until after 1am. We got up early and headed out to Micheaux for the Iron Cross Lite. This was the longest distance we've traveled for a race at this point. I had been kinda back and forth about going to this one all week. This would be the 4th week in a row of racing, and it's so far away. I hit a point earlier in the week where I was having a fit that there seems to be nothing else we do lately but work, ride and sleep. But we went. It was a good ride out. We got there actually a little early compared to previous races where we arrived with less than an hour to my start. It was really cold. There was a heavy frost on everything. They seem to be a little ahead of us in fall foliage too. Everything was so colorful and pretty. So I got ready and raced.
It was not my day. The course started on a long fireroad that was a slight rise, then you made the bend and it just got steep. On a mountain bike no problem, I'd have plenty of gears, but on my cross bike, oye! I just kept searching for more as I ground my way up every lap. It went into a hairpin at the top, a fast descent into another turn about and back up again, and then again, three climbs very close together. I was very grumpy. But I chugged on. There was a nice piece of single track through the woods on the back side and then repeat the climbs. Of course there was the death spiral they were oh so proud of. It was kinda cool. You could only get so much speed through the maze of turns, so I could recover a bit as I worked my way around it, but it was very frustrating cause I could see the people I was trying to catch and they were oh so close, but in actuality they were further along in the maze. Just a big tease.
So anyway, I was DFL for the majority of the race. On my last lap I was able to catch one girl, so I finished second from last. Oh well. It was fun, just not a good day.
Poor Marc decided to become up close and personal with a tree on his second lap, so it was a short day for him. We headed out after his race determined to have a shorter day this week. The prior weeks we had been there from start to finish as my race is the first race and Wes's is the last. But this week we were going to try to get back at a decent hour. Well we got lost on the way home, so we didn't get home until a little later than expected, but it turned out ok.
The highlight of the day was the evening. Wes, Ethan, Rick, Rob, Liz, Yan and Marc watched movies, drank beer, and ate food, while Amy and I carved up some pumpkins that Marc and I had picked up from some Amish farm on the way home. It was a very nice and relaxing evening. We got to kick back, hang out and just have some quiet fun. I needed that.

Here is a picture of the death spiral.







Tom and Leo through the barriers.













This is crazy Layla. Here she's thinking, "mmm, what can I get into next?"












Ah, the evidence. Looks like Layla snacked on Amy's beef jerky.












FFA rocking out as we carve pumpkins.













Here are the result of our fine craftmanship.