Crewing for our Chief

Friday afternoon after school, we loaded up the Airstream and headed for the hills--Fountain Hills to be exact. Brian had his first official mountain bike race at McDowell Mountain Regional Park, so we turned the experience into a 24-hour trip. We camped with some mountain biking enthusiasts and were in the middle of the action all day on Saturday. When we arrived around 5 p.m. on Friday, we located a prime spot, backed up right along the course, and set up.

We had some dinner then sat outside under the stars by our campfire. Thank goodness Santa brought us a portable fire pit this year. While out there, the lights from others' campfires cast a suitable shadow onto our shiny Airstream. Look closely. Can you see it?

In the morning, the parking lot filled fast with cars, tents, and tons of people. The patch of land adjacent to our trailer became Team Octane's headquarters for the day. Brian is not sponsored so in race terms he is "unattached," but his pal from work has two high school kids who race for their school and another team. So when they arrived, they took over the place and we looked super official. 

After a quick warm-up, Brian headed to the start for his 10:55 a.m. wave. He was excitedly nervous.

We weren't the only Airstream there. That Bambi is vintage and sells coffee!

Brian works with Mike. Dayson is Mike's son, and his wave began ten minutes after Brian's. They were both suffering from a healthy case of nerves.

There's Mike. He always reminds me of Phil Dunphy. In the best of ways, of course.

It was pretty exciting at the start. There were a lot of guys in Brian's division which was Beginner Male 40-49.

Just before he started, another of his friends from work came up to me along the rail as he had just finished his race. John is a bit of a mountain biking aficianado; he has twenty bikes. I'm not exaggerating. He finished in the middle of his pack, Intermediate Male 50-59.

Then Brian's wave took off and we cheered like crazy.

That's a lot of bikes. Being in that pelaton would be my worst nightmare.

Then it was Dayson's turn. We cheered him off, too. I think there were twenty kids in his group.

Brian did one ten-mile loop on the competition track before he rode right past the trailer. So convenient! Then he started on his second loop which was three miles on a sport track.

The kids and I waited for him at the finish. I wanted to hike back farther into the desert, but I also was afraid of getting yelled at. So we found the best spot we could. We waited about ten minutes before we saw him behind a neon green helmet. I had a feeling he was chasing this guy.

I also had a feeling he was going to catch him.

He did. On the outside even!

Brian also beat that guy's teammate who was coming off his long loop. The kids were really proud of their dad. We all were. He ended up placing 8th out of 49 in his group! Beginner? Hmmm.

Shortly after Brian's finish, Dayson came through. He did really well, too, and finished in the middle of his pack.

Next up was one of Brian's usual riding partners, Carolyn. This was her first race, too, and she opted for the Intermediate Female 50-59. She's number 199.

Finally, at 12:40 p.m., Mike's daughter Maya and her friend and teammate had their turn.

Maya is adorable and really inspired Elizabeth.

Here's Carolyn finishing her first loop past the trailer.

Then Maya wasn't far behind. She's finishing her race right here. She did awesome and came in second in her group! She was over the moon and might still be wearing her medal right now.

Brian, never worried about getting yelled at, hiked into the desert for nice race photos of Carolyn's finish.

After everyone was finished racing, we hung out at camp a bit, and our kids had a chance to hop on their bikes and try out the little pump track. Maybe someday we'll be watching them race, too. 

It was a full 24-hours of mountain biking excitement. Beautiful views, cheering, and athletes of all shapes and sizes and abilities surrounded us. It was a really fun experience. We do it all again in two weeks at Estrella. Can't wait!