Outside looking in

That is a nice way to explain the good times at Iron Cross this past weekend. I decided to not race this year and volunteer for the day at CP2. It was such a different perspective to watch a race, albeit at one section where you see people for five seconds to a couple of minutes out of a 4-6 hour race. In that brief period you get a feel for the race. Who is good, who is off, and some race dynamics. What you get even more is the sense of friednliness of the racers and the comraderie. I made it a point to call out everyone I knew as they came through the checkpoint. A quick "hello", "you are doing great", something positive to go on for the next two hours. What was so much better in return was the thankfullness of all the racers.
Iron Cross was very rewarding for me this year. I helped out fellow racers, I enjoyed a beautiful day outside and I got an appreciation of how hard it is "to just hand out water".
Next time you have the chance to volunteer, do it. Without people giving back, we could never be able to race our bikes.