Playing a part

For the bulk of the past four racing seasons I've been, you know, racing. At least on the road side of things. Mountain and 'cross events have been on off-weekends, when I've felt the need to stay home and spend time with Chris and Jack.

So it stands to reason that I haven't given my time to volunteering nearly as much as I should. My team, Midwest Wheelmasters/Velogear.com, puts on a couple of race weekends every year. For the MTB weekend, I ... well, I don't know where I was. What I do know, though, is that I saw a report afterward from Troy, the man with the plan. It went something like this: "Mad props to Craig and Matt and Kevin. I don't know how we pulled it off, but we did it with four guys."

OK, that's not enough manpower. Not even close. So I made sure my schedule was free to help out with yesterday's state cyclocross championships. Having just finished an event, I know how crucial it is to have bodies on hand and ready to help.

As it turned out, I got one of the better jobs of the day: sitting next to a propane heater entering rider information into a spreadsheet. I can't stress the propane heater enough. It was nice and warm. Elsewhere ... not warm.

And considering the discipline and the weather, sitting next to that heater was a pretty good place for me to be. It was strange, though, watching guys I race against (and sometimes beat) and not being out there. I kind of felt like I was missing out. (And all of the spectators were treated to great races all day.)

Then I saw people hacking up their lungs and looking generally miserable. Mmmm ... propane heater. Nice.