CCCX DH #1: Kathleen Meyer

Our only experience (Patrick and mine) would have to be the GGG in years gone by and watching some of the Sea Otter. Not really sure what to expect...Patrick was excited to go. The only disappointment was not having a couple of his friends to join him. We were hoping to pack the car and get some of these kids out to check into something new. We haven't given up and will continue working on it for next time!

As we were told, there were a lot of juniors there. No shuttle so we started riding to the top in the mist of many people pushing their 40 to 50 pound rigs. The hills in Toro Park, while only a short distance from those at Fort Ord, have climbs reminiscent of Henry Coe State Park...steep! Even Patrick felt the need to walk but he still managed to catch up to me.

Folks were really cool, especially helpful as neither one of us knew what to expect. We met Brett at the top of one practice run. He lives at the VA hospital in Palo Alto. On paper he is just a number among the casualties from Iraq in August 2005. He took up biking as part of his recovery and now is an active on the downhill circuit. Later we happened across the "Brett Miller support team", friends from the VA, they were there to cheer him on.

While watching we witnessed one guy who didn't quite make the last left/right zig past a tree and its' roots. The guy slammed his front wheel into the base of the tree. Physics took over as his body followed and didn't stop until it folded over the front of his bike. It looked painful but the crowd started shouting for him to go on. With that kind of pressure (or support?) he didn't look back as he straightened out the bike and took off for the finish with the cheers pushing him on!

The Miller support team was happy to report it wasn't Brett!

Patrick managed to get in two practice runs before we ran into Scott Seery going up for his. By the time Patrick started up for his race run, the sun was hot just past noon. Patrick didn't have a good run, his time 5 minutes compared to the 4 or less of the others in his group. He was disappointed to have chain suck but as Seery noted, his brakes were rubbing. Still, Patrick had a blast. Enjoyed working on his bike for 6 hours this past week to get it ready and of course there weren't many there racing on a Bontrager Racelite (hardtail). For next time, we will get the Sugar repaired (I finally figured out when to replace the rear shock - when the kids crashes on the bike and it breaks!) and set it up for him.

...having the kid look at over at you on the drive home and say "thanks alot for taking me to the race today"...... priceless.
:)

Special thanks to the guy from TWW who delivered $25 to my door to help me take Patrick's friends to the race. I will be returning the money (and still trying to get the kids out there) but the gesture is a true measure of the kind of guys you are. It's a pleasure to be associated with people that care about kids like that.

Ride on...Kat