Weekend report

OK, the short version: Friday night I drove to Denver, where I stayed with Will, and his mom. On Saturday I knew I had a race the next day, but I threw logic to the wind and rode the Waterton Canyon/Colorado Trail loop with Wiggitdy. And of course we had to go full tilt up and down...is there any other way to ride?
Sunday we were in the car by 5:40am (ouch!). But it was for a good cause-free race entry, as long as we helped out with the set up and tear down. No problem. In fact, I don't want to sound cavalier about volunteering at races. It's like trail work: If you ride the trails, you should help make them. And if you ride the races, you should help run them. Races wouldn't be possible without volunteers (or else entry fees would be bigger than Avagadro's Number ). So help out! String tape, rake trails, work the registration booth, tear down tents--it's all fun work.
Enough soapbox for now.
Needless to say, the early morning and intense riding made me less than happy for my first couple laps of the very fast, slightly rolling, singletrack-through-open-fields race course. Thankfully I either found more energy or shut out the pain, I'm not sure which. The second half of the race I conjured enough energy to pass the girl that had been the tiny speck off in the distance, finishing in what I thought was something between 6th and 8th. Imagine my surprise to discover that they had read my name off for third place at the awards. Still the results are a little odd; The online version currently says I raced 3 laps (Uh, I very clearly remember suffering through a fourth), and that it took me 36 minutes. I wish!
As for Will, he raced in the sport class, since he just arrived to altitude. That meant he raced the same number of laps as I did. And here's the frustrating part: Even though he broke a chain, raced flat pedals, and just moved from a whopping 700' of elevation, he was still faster than me. Jerk.