The big show: The Barabara Howe diary

Our tent without its skin, (Image credit: Sabine Dukes)

How did Barbarella fare at the recent U.S. cyclo-cross national champonships? Find out in the latest installment of her diary.

Thursday: Fly to Boston on the early flight. Josh, Simon and I are at the airport eating bagels when Melodie calls an hour before our flight. She slept through her alarm and is just leaving Berkeley. She makes it to the airport with enough time to eat an egg bagel sandwich. Lesson learned from this: Josh and I woke up and got to the airport way too early. After an uneventful flight, we arrive in a gelid Boston and commence the drive to Providence. Our host for the first night lives in a beautiful old house near downtown and even closer to a Whole Foods store. A few bags of groceries and several dollars later we have dinner and build up a few bikes.

Friday: The crazy weekend starts off with a pre-ride in pouring rain. The rain is like icing on the snow and is somehow grippier than the dirt. After a few laps my feet start to get cold and my rain pants are soaking through. Enough is enough, Josh and I get in the van, warm up and change out of our soggy clothes. While changing we notice the temperature drop from 36 to 31 degrees. The rain shifts to sleet, switches to hail and settles into a blustery blinding snowstorm. To make a long story short, the weather was horrific and several races were canceled when tents in the pits blew onto the course.