Down The Rabbit Hole

Our house looks like Morgan's team tent.

Last night, after we got home from Santa Cruz, we were trying to get the kids to help unpack the car and bring all the stuff up the stairs to the house. But the 10 year old disappeared into the bathroom for 15 minutes and the other one followed me up and down the stairs empty handed while stating her reasons for not helping.
I'm on strike she said.
I want to be like a normal kid who goes to birthday parties and watches cartoons and plays in the yard and sleeps in and eats lunch at her friend's house or does nothing and blah, blah, blah.
I'm sick and tired of this cyclocross stuff getting in the way. It's never ending. I'm not helping you.
I'm not helping you because this is my way of protesting she kept saying.
And then she told me how at one point during the day she'd fallen asleep in one of the camp chairs under the team tent and woke up to see people wandering around her, dressed up as crazy things and how she couldn't remember where or who she was.


I was confused she said.
Maybe you had too much candy and soda today, I said.
Yeah, maybe so, she said.

My race was confusing. I'd only done a one lap pre-ride/warm-up. And it had been as princess Leia, in a giant polyester robe with go-go boots that weren't clipless. I slid around a lot.

So I was a bit too careful on all the technical stuff for the first lap and a half. And then on the back part of the route on the pavement, on the 3rd lap, my back wheel flatted. I initially tried to keep riding on it, but it was too hard and slippery and slow so I got off and shouldered the bike and ran and ran and ran.

And racers said hi as they were passing me by. And some crazy pirate in red hot pants yelled at me to get back on my bike.
People were cheering at me to run faster all along the route and finally I got to a place where I could see my mechanic off in the distance and I began yelling his name. And then everyone was yelling his name. I saw him spin around and around in circles, confused for a little while until he realized why everyone was chanting his name.

He ran over, we switched wheels and he gave me a kiss and I was off. And then I just raced myself silly and alone for 3 more laps in order to get my $30 worth.
After my race someone handed me a beer in a Peets coffee cup and told me to drink it. I drank it so fast that I got a little buz. And then I had another.

I played mechanic when Morgan rolled his tire during his first race. He swapped out a lap on his single speed and then I swapped out my front wheel to replace his rolled front and then we did a pretty smooth bike swap back to the geared lobster and off he went.

And then Jon flatted during his race, so we swapped my front wheel onto Jon's bike and off he went.

And then George flatted during his race, so we swapped my front wheel onto George's bike and off he went.

We were swappers.
I have no idea what happened during Morgan's second race. I was drinking more beer and dozing on the grass in the sun. Good thing the 10 year old is getting pretty good at handing out water to his dad.
I don't think anyone flatted during the costume race.

And now here I am back at work, out from the rabbit hole, trying to act all normal and stuff.