nats part 1

so john, jeff, matt and i rolled out of iowa city last night at about 9.30 pm. both matt and i packed in just under 15 minutes, as we decided a bit of dinner at the vine over-ruled actual preparation for this weekend. as a result, now that we're here, i realize i have left my camelbak bladder at home. that is no good. i would have been needing that tomorrow for keeping hydrated on the bike. now, as it seems i'll be having to use water bottles and cages. it should be alright as it will be stupid cold out...but that's a whole other story. perhaps i should start at the beginning.

it was dark. we picked up john at his house just a bit after nine. he was most upset that no one had called him to tell him it was snowing in pennsylvania (oh yeah, that's where we are, somerset, pa) and that, as such, we had abandoned plans for camping. he got over it, and re-packed accordingly. from john's we picked up jeff, and headed on our merry way. it was about nine thirty, and we were, by some piece of alleged good logic, about to thrust ourselves into anywhere from an 11 - 14 hour drive. needless to say, ridiculousness ensued. i can't really recall anything specificly amusing about our trip out here, but if you can imagine, 4 guys staying up all night in a minivan...well, stupidity and lots of laughing. a good time. we alternated drivers, and arrived at the ski resort, seven springs, where the events are to be held.

we explored a bit of the resort on our way to score our registration packets, and check out the 4 cross course. 4 cross, as i learned today, is a form of (my description) mini-downhill, in which 4 riders are pitted against each other at the same time. and in this case, those 4 riders are pitted against each other on a course entirely too small for even 2 to fight it out. we watched a good portion of the qualifying runs, individual runs to see who would actually compete in the 4 person heats later today. lots of falling, sliding, and pushing of bikes. perhaps that last comment warrants a bit of an explanation.

the rumors were true, it did indeed snow at seven springs, an alleged 6 inches of snowfall, has been rapidly melting to create a messy, muddy terrain. the snow / melt combination virtually destroyed the 4 cross course, rendering it more of a slow paced skid fest rather than a fast jump-worthy-mini-downhill course. tomorrows cross country race, while not quite as bad as the artificially built 4 cross, should be a mess.

q says: "brian's blog is stupid. like his face. after i kick it with my foot, in the face, with a foot."

upon finally tracking down the gal with our reg packets, we found out that we lacked a necessary eligibility form (read: proof that we go to iowa, and are not failing out). that would have been nice to know we needed to have before driving a ridiculous distance. hmm. oh well, we invaded the resort until we found a computer lab, and purchased, yes, purchased, 15 minutes of time to use the aforementioned computers. during which time, we printed off our 3 transcripts informally from the internet. took these papers to the lady. got our packet, by promising to send in an official eligibility form to them, from the university, within a week, upon our return. so, we get to race tomorrow. that should be fun.

anyway, we're in pennsylvania! and its beautiful out here! tree leaves are changing. the roads are cute little, quaint country lane-ish, often times with trees creating an archway over the path. its pretty. and despite the poor weather, it actually hailed on us for a bit on the way to the hotel earlier, this is a fun time. i mean, we're at nationals! and that is kind of exciting.