**WARNING** this is long!!.....
ok, ok, so it took me a few days to get this out!
well, have to say this was a wild trip!
jaimie and rob show up stylin' with the "official vehicle of killington" -
the bmw van! "stop calling it a van!!!" no, really, killington was kind
enough to lend us the bmw suv for the wk-end - BAD MISTAKE!!! boy, this
thing can fly! really tight and fast -stop it jon-, the only thing that's
bad is the windows and doors creak like crazy - any explanation kath?? lots
of energy and interesting conversation on this 10 hour trip! ('should' have
been 12,heh heh)- the guys would'nt let me in on the penis talk, but we all
agreed orgasm was a part of intercourse. (PA of course!!!) we stopped for a
short nap at the travelodge, but they hadn't removed the dead body yet - so
we moved on. ok, so we're in the south!!! don't stop at dunkin donut's -
it's not the same, and you may get arrested for strangling one of the
cashiers! i almost got in trouble at the elkins, wv iga store - "do you have
hummus?"  - he thought i was propositioning him! good thing rob caught the
guy dragging me back to his apartment!
by the time we arrived at the mountain, we had almost died 14 times thanks
to jaimie!!! "wow, this thing corners well! we'll have to tell killington
that it groans when going around corners to the right at 90!" but here we
are! yippee!!
nudeville, etc had driven down the day before to set up the rv
transition/hang out area and get first dibs on the course. "how was it"
"the worst i ever ridden".....gulp!
we continued to hear the same throughout the day, and guess what - they
weren't kidding!! ankle-deep mud, rocks, roots everywhere! "the only thing
that would make this better would be if a herd of horses came through here!"
"eeeeewwwwhhhhhh!!" ha! we rode (MAYBE walked, maybe stumbled) part of the
course for about an hour, and decided to get some much needed sleep. we were
all really nervous - people everywhere  were talking about how much it
sucked, it was dangerous, etc! there was talk of cutting part of the course
out, as they thought people's lights wouldn't last long enough at night to
complete it. - akkk!!
race day - beautiful 85 degrees!! lemans start - first lap riders had to run
uphill, and loop around to their bikes parked back near the start, and do an
"extra climb" that would spread out the field. everyone had to flip a coin
for the priveledge to do the extra climb and run in bike shoes! whew! won
the toss! ok, the whole loop was as bad as we thought it would be!! did we
ever go DOWNhill? oh yeah, the time i flipped down it, and fell over the
cliffside! (i would rather that than ride down it!) the mud is now thick and
clay-like, sucking the energy and shoes off riders! now my bike weighs 40
pounds "the better to climb with" "this is good practice for my duathalon".
the killington crew's riding fast, and that guy bill - legs up to my neck -
watch it! - , and knows what to do with them - stop it jon! - makes a
scorching first lap at around 1-1/2hr. rob, trying to keep the pace, is hit
by another rider on a downhill, partially dislocates his hip, but won't go
in the ambulance (kinda like going in the sled - nope!). is he out?
absolutely absolutely not! dopes up and finishes this race with decent
times. he won't be able to walk for weeks, but hey, can't let the team down!
nudeville's star is "the sleeper" will - now this guy kicks ass! the best
time )1:23), and kept it up through the night and all the laps! also, jaimie
rippin' it up! this is his last time riding sport (wonder if he'll still
talk to us as an "expert"!), and goes out with style - pulling off times
just like will's, but leaves a well-needed tooth on that last turn  -one for
the panting lady race fans on the sidelines - can you say cat fight???! how
DOES he do it! this course is freaky at night!! we were too tired to look up
at the fireworks, and besides, if we had extra strength, we would have
gang-strangled the guy with the cow-bell on the top of the knarliest
climb!!!
guy-"how're ya doin' little lady" alc- "i can't think of anything else i
would want to be doing on at saturday night!! covered in mud with 500 stinky
guys in spandex. ~hey! not so bad!"  blackburn can't find his new lights.
'hey black, you paid, like, $500 for that light set, didn't you"  "yeah, i
finally found a guy that would rip me off". he tears apart his area, drives
back to the condo , tears that apart, no lights. finally rents them from
night rider tent. good to go? NOPE!! 20 minutes into the lap, the lights
die! he spends the next 2 hours stumbling around in the blackness, chasing
"for 5 more feet" passing riders. i suggested he should have ambushed one,
and taken their lights, but most people are nicer than me. when he gets back
, he discovers he'd been driving his lights around on the grill of his car!!
ha! "am i an idiot, or what??"
ok, so back to my chick team! wow! we kicked butt. no injuries, consistant
times! amanda just started mountain biking in september, and was right up
there with us! lisa kicked ass as usual, and with a sprained ankle! chris
"boy have all my spinning classes paid off" fecteau, did great on the
starting lap, and stayed strong the whole time, calm and in control! ok, so
maybe i almost cried a few times on that night lap, but hey, i wanted to cut
my legs off the entire time!
this course beat us all up - really unbelieveable! the hardest i've ever
done. the riding in middle of the night added another whole aspect to it!!
sorry to be so long, but there's so many more stories!! but i have to get
back to work since my lunch hour's up! there was 5 teams that went down, and
if you know the  players, you know we had a bunch of laughs! you can see the
results on www.grannygear.com -
note killington crew's 27th out of 246 teams!!
talk to ya soon! i'll post pics as soon as i get 'em.
ally