Here I am with Jeff Boyer before the race. I stayed with Jeff and Tracy at their house between Bend and Redmond.
As you can probably guess from the photos, it was cold. Actually it was warm...compared to what it had been. The night before I got to Bend it was 10 degrees below zero. When we got up the morning of my race it was 1 degree above zero and by my race time it was almost up to freezing.
This is what most of the course looked like. It was very slick. I started slowly and after the first lap gained some confidence and picked up my pace somewhat. I was moving up in the standings when I went down twice in the same lap and decided to revert to survival mode. I stayed upright for the rest of the race but didn't pass anybody else. On the last lap a guy in my age group caught me. We got to the run-up at the same time but he stumbled a little. I beat him to the big drop and didn't look back. I sprinted the last couple hundred yards on pavement and almost puked at the finish. When I looked back after the finish line he was nowhere to be seen. He must have fallen on the drop.
There was a set of stairs to negotiate.
I felt pretty good after the finish. Glad to be done.
On day two I was a spectator, eating some frites.It was a fun experience. I finished eighth in my age group and didn't get hurt. I'm looking forward to next year.
