It’s race day, ladies and gentlemen. Up Fromme and down 7th. Teams or solo.

Lucky me, I’ve managed to tear my meniscus, so I’m not racing today. Just shuttling competitors up the hill. It’s a thankless task, but it got done.

It was also an ungodly hour, and pretty grim weather. I was kind of concerned that there would be too much snow at the top to get the van up (it was fine).

Scenes of mass confusion at the lower start area.

The fastest climbers were up to the 7th corner in about 20 minutes time.

If you can interpret the look on Mike’s face, it’s saying “all that for 2nd?”

Feel his pain.

Apparently the young women in the race had the climbing part a bit more under control. Must have been the pink skull on the helmet.

Oh right, there was a downhill portion. Kudos to Pete and Dean for buffing out the trail. 7th actually has flow now, and not just rain runoff either.

Dropp9ing in on the XC hardtail.

It was so dark at times it seemed like maybe lights were a good idea.

The legendary Hoots Jay, who managed to flat on the VERY FIRST PITCH. He ran the whole run on a flat tire and finished the race.

Results and a story at NSMB