"Derick Fay" wrote in message
oups.com...
To draw further on your expertise, Bob, how might one (almost) get a
DNS?....

LOL
I'm guessing he
have a baby?

I really hope it was nothing bad like a car accident or working
overtime.
Bob

The key word was "almost"...I was actually thinking of showing up at a
race with one of your boots and one of your wife's...

oh that! Gee, I'd almost forgotten ;-) I've been so busy telling people
about my first-ever age-division win, I guess it just slipped my mind. Just
to fill everyone else in:

Derick drove the two of us to the Gold Rush on Sunday. I performed my usual
race prep (setting out equipment, eating a bowl of cereal, etc) and piled
into his car at 6:30am for the 8 o-clock start. When we unloaded at the
parking lot, I discovered that I had grabbed 2 pilot boots: one mine and one
of my wife's. Oops. Several people standing nearby in the parking lot took
some amusement in the ensuing sheepish phone call to Mary. As she got
dressed and drove over to Royal Gorge, I warmed up by running in the parking
lot. Mary dropped off the boot and turned around to have breakfast back at
the cabin. I managed to get to the start line with about 90 seconds to spare
but with absolutely no on-snow warm-up.

Given that this was the best placing I've ever had in a race, I may never
warm-up on snow again ;-)
Bob
btw: Royal Gouge refused to rent me a boot - the stated policy is that they
"do not rent equipment for a race". I believe they are the only resort in
the Tahoe area with this policy. I know for a fact that Tahoe XC is happy to
rent equipment for The Great Ski Race - a race that is far harder on poles
and skis than the Gold Rush.