Racing Green: The Pioneers go to Snow Basin

Last Saturday, the Pioneers traveled to Snow Basin to compete in the second-to-last National Interscholastic Cycling Association race of 2014.  We left Pocatello before dawn the morning of the race, and rolled into the resort parking lot with just enough time for the kids to pre-ride the course.
I rode with the team's only female racer that day, shouting tips and encouragement that hopefully wasn't too confusing or annoying.  The course was roughly five miles long, with some rocky sections and lots of flowy switchbacks in the second half down to the finish line.  Aside from a loose access road at the start, the climbs were not too challenging, but a couple spots funneled the riders into steep gravelly switchbacks that would quickly turn into bottlenecks if even a single rider stalled out.
The first heat of racers, the freshmen, gathered for a pep talk from Coach Dan:

And prepared their high-tech on-trail nutrition-access systems:

Genius.

The first wave of riders rolled out shortly afterward in a cloud of dust, and while they climbed up the back side of the slope, I hiked over toward the downhill section to find a place to set up for photos.
First I found this spot, where I captured our first racer looking a little bobblehead-y:

And the second racer, unfortunately taking the slower line around a small root:

I chalk this behavior up to the kids not looking far enough down the trail.  But we're working on it.

Then I shifted to a section that had better potential for carnage and interesting pictures, where a chipmunk was playing 'chicken' with the racers:

I got one shot of a Pioneer coming through on his first lap:

Then attempting to overtake another kid in this seemingly straightforward switchback that nonetheless caused several dismounts and amusing slow-motion falls:

'ON YOUR LEFT!!!' - future Trail Fred

But the light wasn't great there, so I came down another couple of switchbacks and made a somewhat successful effort to take an 'artsy' shot:

close focus = art

Then I was attacked by a semi-clothed Sasquatch:

He tried to steal my camera but I kicked his ass.

After the freshman boys were done, it was the girls' turn.  I joined our one female competitors' mom at the start line to cheer her on:

Then hiked to a different section to get a photo on the second lap, and to provide encouragement  yell things vaguely related to biking:

The majority of our racers had finished by that point, so I ditched the camera and joined the parents and other coaches at the finish line to cheer on the last couple groups.  There were a few terribly exciting sprints to the finish line, with racers narrowly cutting each other off to gain the lead.  I've never experienced that in my races, because the enduro format puts 30 seconds to a minute between each racer instead of using a mass start.  The XC system is particularly favorable to racers that have performed well in previous races, because they get to start at the front of the group, thereby largely avoiding bottlenecks that hold up racers farther back.

Helping out with the Pioneers has piqued my interest in trying out an XC race, just to see how I would stack up.  Pedaling is certainly not my strong suit, but having the motivation of a timer could theoretically speed me up.  There tends to be a larger field of female competitors in XC as well, and judging by the surge in interest of lady participants in enduro races this year, the field will only get bigger.  So I have my work cut out for me this fall and winter: pedal harder and take fewer breaks!