Return to West Virgina, and some really old Pictures...

Joey at 15, Jeanie kept us all in line...

Return to WV. I write that like this weekend was some whim. that I just decided I wanted to do this race in Big Bear, WV this weekend. None of that could be further from the truth. I have not raced in West (by God) Virginia since 2001. That was my second year at snow shoe and that race was marked for me with a series of highs and lows. Teamed with LWebb, Joey T, Ted Logic and Dangerous Dan, we took 5th in the open class. This was a feat that was done despite losing Fitzy a week before the race to a broken hand. Dangerous Dan filled in for us with 2 laps before dieing. He, after all, had no plans of racing that weekend. This race would be the first time the LWebb and I would team in an endurance event. She has quickly become one of my favorite people in the world, and one of the best I have had as a partner for this style of racing. Perhaps most brilliant of this weekend was watching Joey right before our eyes elevate his game to another level. At 15, he wanted to be the runner, he was incredible. Coming down the hill, others jogged; Joey bounced through the field like he was in a pin ball against the bumpers, lights flashing, score climbing. Despite starting in the middle of the pack, Joey finished the run in a top 10 position. He rode so great that weekend, and his final lap, erased a 5 minute deficit, securing 5th place for our team. On the darkside, we all came to the realization that Granny was a vampire. The course seemed to be an after thought, camping was awful, 20x20 spots on the side of the bunny slope, more disheartening was that every corner Granny had her dirty little hand in my pocket, taking money. Where the “grass roots love” that laird always talked about? For me the 24hr of Cannan, and Snowshoe had always been something special, I left that Snow Shoe race disgusted and beaten. In some ways my innocence had been lost... Certainly the special place in my heart that Granny held, was now gone...