Nats Day 1 AM

Today is my tune up race. The course is open for riding this morning from 8-845AM. Erik races at 10. I race at noon. We're up at 645, head downstairs for some breakfast, load up and then roll out. It's 29 degrees and overcast. We get to the course where we plan to pick up our race packets, then head out for some practice laps. Erik heads to reg, picks up his packet and then takes his bike to the SRAM booth for a "quick" tune-up. I drop off my wheels and bike in the pit, and head to registration. After much confusion with the reg folks, I've got my numbers for both races, and I'm ready to roll. Or so I thought. A fellow SoCal Crosser, Heidi, races at 9, and hits me up to pin her numbers to her skinsuit. How can I refuse? I manage to get this done--four numbers, 8 pins each--in what seems forever--15-20 minutes (hey, it's early and cold), then I'm out into the elements to do a lap. I get back to the SRAM booth, and discover Erik and his bike, and the surly SRAM guy haven't seemingly budged. No time to worry about him--I got to get moving. I take off and make it about quarter of a lap before the announcers start requesting riders get off as they are ready to start the first race. I ignore these warnings and continue on my merry way. The course is hard as a rock and slippery. I barrel around a couple of corners and see I guy stopped in the middle of a high-speed sweeper. Hmmm, what's that about? I enter the corner as he's restarting and completely lose it. I'm thinking "This is going to hurt", but because the ground is so slippery, I just keep sliding. I'm back up quickly and finish a lap before a UCI official kindly reminds me to stop. All right, at least I got one lap in--I'm not sure if Erik got out. My tire pressure seems fine, but my hands and feet are cold. I'll work those out later.