This is what happens when you wear dark sunglasses and then go through the woods and hit a cut-off stump at almost 20mph! Kees was following me and said I was flipped ten feet into the air... ouch... 

Rriding in the Texas "Hill Country" on the course used for the Texas Norba Marathon race ... can you say ROCKY?! 

After Varekai the "second performance" began ;-) 

Fun with the Normans at Shady Grove in Austin. 

Check out that rear tire... she flatted on the starting line and raced the entire course on a flat tire... and finished third! She said she had to run the climbs and some of the descents were REALLY hairy when the bike would wobble back and forth. Way to go IronGirl for not quitting! 

Kiersten letting out a sigh of relief after crossing the line... leading through the first half of the race, she crashed a couple of times in the very technical back section and then had two chain-suck incidents which all but ended her chance of a win and she finished in second place to local racer and 12-year old national champion Megan Steward.

And the conditions just got worse... Kees looking above his glasses coming across the line in the driving rain. Tough course and conditions for only his second-ever mountain bike race... way to tough it out Kees!

Trent Lowe just wanting to get across the damn finish line ;-)

Alison Dunlap looking happy to finish!

Former Canadian and World Champ Alison Sydor actually thanking the kids for cheering for her (the girls appreciated the kids' cheering more than the guys did ;-)

Willow Koerber managing a smile and thanking the kids for cheering her on!

Susan Haywood tolerating anything in her, Alison Dunlap and Mary McConnelough's epic quest for UCI points to secure that one spot on the US mountain bike team for the 2004 Olympics...

Australian Tren Lowe thinking that riding on the road for the Discovery Channel team in '06 is looking more interesting (9 months later he signed with Discovery)...

Adam Craig and Geoff Kabush walking, and not riding, their bikes up one of the easier little hills on the course...

Olympian Mary McConnelough, like many others, having to look over (and not through) her sunglasses...

Geoff Kabush coming through the feeding / mechanic zone (the first race in the US to utilize the new UCI rule) followed closely by Adam Craig and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (out of the picture)...

Adam Craig stylin' in his mechanic's shirt en-route to second place...

Canadian Geoff Kabush laying a K-bomb on his competitors in the men's elite short track...

Tapatio Springs NORBA race... women's short track... former world champ Alison Sydor followed closely by Katerina Hanusova, her teammate Shonny Vanlandingham and Willow Koerber...