Mr. T – ostensibly attracted by the siren seduction of a possible cash prize, but secretly probably just jonesing for the novelty –raced cyclocross this evening.
That’s right—
I said “THIS EVENING.”
As in night
After the sun goes down
And the light of day turns into the depths of night,
And the temperature turns itself upside down
And NO LIVING CREATURE should be stirring about.
The event was called the KHS Night Cross New Mexico.
It was held in Tijeras, a scenic little town that is at 6300’ ELEVATION (colder temps), inside a NARROW ROCKY CANYON (even colder temps), with SNOW on the ground (coldest temps of all).
Combine this with a recent cold front --28 degrees at 5:00 pm, plummeting to 16 degrees at 7:00 pm.
The race started at 6:20 pm.
Crazy-Crosser-Man-With-Gonads-Of-Pure-Ice drove out to the race before me so he would have time to “warm up.”
I got myself dressed, stepped outside, and immediately returned indoors to put on more clothes.
I layered doubley well. The whole kit and kaboodle. Wool socks, extra long underwear, sweater, fleece top and bottom, down jacket, gloves, hat, boots.
And I STILL FROZE everywhere.
The full moon, however, was not to be missed.
Nor the flat blackness of the rocks silhouetted high against the moon-lit black sky.
The crispness of the clean, still air.
The absence of light-pollution from the nearby city.
Trees lit only by moonlight.
The brightness of the snow.
Neither was the race, but I’ll let Crazy-Crosser-Man-With-Gonads-Of-Pure-Ice tell you about that.
It was amazing to see how much community support an atypical event like this could generate: 10,000 watts of flood lights donated by a local construction company, the venue donated by Los Vecinos Community Center, KHS New Mexico designed and implemented the course as well as provided a warm, heated tent, and a surprising number of spectators provided enthusiastic encouragement complete with cowbells and cameras. Cash prizes went 20 deep for the “A” race. Once the race was over, local cyclists donated plenty of hot eats: hot chocolate, hot cider, coffee, brownies, cookies and chile.
The first ten minutes of spectating were fun.
The rest was just hanging in there, while the pain of intense cold seeped into various body parts.
Still, just to be there,
Under a black sky,
Deep shadows among trees garnished with snow,
The bright light of a full moon
Set square between the tops of the canyon walls,
Luminescence.
And to breath.
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6 comments:
Off topc, but have you met stephanie on our team who is a message therapist? She is from Hawaii. She just got back from there visiting for a couple weeks, as a matter of fact. She's our age, too.
No, I haven't met her--is she new on the team, new to the area? I became a licensed massage therapist in Hawaii in 1991--still licensed, actually.
Honu? Tinman? T and I are toying with the idea of doing the HI International tri, bu tstill planning our '08 schedule.
Our age? Oh, you are sweet, and generous too. I think I have you by a few years....
Wow, a cyclocross race in snow and darkness? That sounds really hard core, even for the spectators to watch.
Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!
Ok Naomi,
You are going to have to suck it up! It's just the start of winter :)
I can't! I've already metamorphosed into a fixture in front of the heater.
Besides, I didn't see you out there... :)
p.s. Since I can't post on your blog (which makes me laugh every time I look at it), did I tell you that I went to school with Captain Kirk's son?
I thought that might be right up the Sword of Shanahara alley...
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