Friday was more thorough pre-ride day then pack-pick up at Cahaba Cycles. I had a chance to talk to the race director about short-track (STXC). They had planned to send the pro women and the pro men at the same time since both of our fields were so small. I delicately danced around the topic and negotiated with him to split the fields. The pro men would have lapped us pretty quickly and it would have turned into a major cluster! Major. In the end the men’s STXC had some drama so I’m really glad we weren’t racing with them. While still at Cahaba’s some of the folks asked me to sign their water bottles for their kids and themselves. Talk about rolling out the red carpet! It was this evening that I began to realize that everyone I was meeting knew each other. The mountain bike community in Birmingham is very small and very connected and VERY awesome!

Mike, Pete, Barb, Jon