Richfield Race

On September 8th, Ethan had his second mountain bike race in Richfield.  We went on Friday so he could pre-ride the course.  It was really dusty and hot.  The coaches had a meeting after most had finished the pre-ride and gave the riders some tips as to how to ride the course.

When they finished, Bryan set up our popup shade tent next to the track so we would have a shaded area to sit while watching the race. We left our chairs there also so we wouldn't have too much to haul to the pit zone the next morning.  Then we went to find our hotel in Richfield.  We had made a reservation because there were going to be a lot of riders in town and we didn't want to chance it.  But it was a dive of a motel. It was cheap, so we got what we paid for. ;)

We had the usual dinner of pizza and then went to bed.

Saturday morning we took our time getting up and eating breakfast.  We all had our team shirts on and Ethan made the comment that we look weird all matching.  But we knew once we got to the venue it would all make sense and not look weird.  Then we made our way to the race venue.  When we were driving up, you could see a huge cloud of dust above the track.  It was crazy. 

We hauled all our stuff to the pit zone and the shade tent that we had left up the night before.
















Bryan was a roaving course marshall so he checked in and was on his bike to help out if they needed it.  He had a lot of kids that got heat stroke.  He also helped a kid that had a concussion.  It was a crazy busy race for Bryan...and then his tire popped.  Rough day.

We had a while before it was time for Ethan's race so the other of us sat and watched the other races.  The Varsity race is fun to watch because it is so fast!  When it was time for Ethan's race he got ready and warmed up.  Courtney and I went to the start line to watch Ethan take off with his group.

Ethan knows that I want to see a smile before he takes off and I got one!  They had a girl break her arm in the race before Ethan's, so it set everything back by 20 minutes.  That meant that the boys were ready to go and had to wait. 
















Here is the start of his race:

When he had taken off, Courtney and I went back to our shade tent to sit and wait for Ethan to ride by.  It was a long race (5.7 miles per lap) and Ethan had 3 laps to do, so we knew we would be waiting for a while.

Here's Ethan as he went by us:

Ethan was exhausted when he finished his 3 laps! This is him as he went into the finish:


Can you tell that it was dusty?  His glasses had sweat on them that attracted dust so he couldn't really see.  And he had dust in his eyes so his left one was shut most of the race.  It was pretty crazy but he did a great job and I am so proud that he is doing this!


And....Snow Canyon High won 1st place in their division again!!  Ethan is the second from the right who is squatting.


Great job Snow Canyon!!  (Ethan is right on top in the middle)