Here comes the rain | Cyclingnews

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NORBA #5 - Brian Head, UT, August 4-6, 2006

The morning starts for me with the quest for internet access. Not easy at this venue. I haven't had cell coverage since we arrived, but the internet access proved even harder. The phone line didn't work as we are isolated enough that none of my dialup numbers work. I ended up doing a little driving and paying a little too much to get access. Ah, the price of reach out to the outside world. Regardless, the morning stated early, as I got the internet thing done and headed to the trailer before 8:00am.

I got two riders out on the pre-ride, when the first of many short powerful storms blew thru. Raining sideways, the organizers and worried about riders isolated out on the course, as this is a single 27 mile loop course. At the time I was building a wheel at the trailer as the rain hit and I scrambled to get things inside. The two riders made it back, but the bikes were toast and they were wet and frozen. More riders showed up later in the day, some had ridden on their own and brought back trashed bikes, other chose to ride the trainer and wait out the rain. It rained on and off the rest of the day.

My last rider didn't show up until 3:30pm, as Sara Bresnick-Zocchi was going to contest the SuperD at 6:30pm. I like to joke with Sara, and the SuperD competition was a great excuse to treat her like a downhill rider rather than a XC star. All the joking aside, the weather cleared up nicely to get the SuperD off on schedule and Sara had an awesome race, taking 2nd to current national champ Sue Haywood[Trek/VW]. Sara has two podiums in SuperD in two weeks, she is a rising threat in this relatively new discipline.