U.S.G.P. #8/Portland, OR - "Here we go again"

Kristi works on her bike in front of our True North O.S.V. in the bitter cold morning air.
We woke up this morning to temps around 40 or so clear skies and crazy winds. With the windchill, it was about 20 degrees I'd say! Brrrrr! The course was obviously dried out comparted to yesterday, and a few changes were made from yesterday.
I went to the call ups and thought I might have a better shot than yesterday, but after the 115th riders was called up and I was left out as the last, the promoter told me that my name was not on the start list........Huh? Fortunately, someone else had it on theirs, but I got the shaft and had to line up dead last! Yeah, I was the 116th rider on the line. We took off and I thought, "here we go again" just like yesterday. I worked hard to pick off riders here and there with nothing really exciting happening along the way. I finished up in the top 25% again, and I was told that I got 26th place. Considering my start, I feel great about both my rides. I know I have good fitnes, good mind, tactical sense and now some good confidense on what I can do, if I get a better than "horrible" call up.
More good news today, I received an e-mail from USA Cycling saying that I have been approved for an upgrade to Catergory "1" in cyclo-cross. That's cool.
Kristi was having a great race working up into 14th position with 1 1/4 lap left when on a steep power section she snapped her chain. We had 2 spare bikes in the pits for her but after running a little bit, she decided to pack it in and call it a day. This was smart thinking considering she would have to run 1/4 of a lap to get to the pits, and with the ground so frozen hard and a long run, that would not be good for her feet, knees, joints, and muscles with her National race merely 5 days away. In my opinion that was a good professional decision to not let too much pride get in the way of good sense.
Thank you to my teammates Todd, Bruce, for being in the pits for me today and keeping me posted on my progress. I appreciate it fellas.
It's now 9pm in our hotel room and we are beat. Our faces are wind burnt, our bodies have been beat up by the technical conditions and constant position and acceleration changes. Tomorrow we will get up and go for a mellow easy spin to kick out the lactic acide and tight joints and muscles. After the ride, we will pack up the True North Trailer and head East to Bend. I will post once we get settled in there.
It's been a fun season, and next up the FINALE!