The race quickly became about more than fitness. Resilience was the name of the game as racer after racer spent time pushing their bike through inches of thick mud, clearing tires and drivetrains of clay and grass, while trying to just finish, let alone win.

As the day went on we saw lap times balloon from 25 minutes to 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Bigger, burlier tires and extra clearance gave a big advantage on courses that typically favor small tread. This led to some big shakeups in some of the later podiums, it was really anyone's game.

Parents sat on the sidelines wringing their hands, waiting for their kids to finish the three miles of hidden trail before finally getting a brief glimpse of them entering the last section of singletrack. We all watched, dumbfounded, as one after the other they came through looking as if they'd sculpted bikes out of clay.

The crowd roared anytime a rider simply made it to the finish line. Our own Kent Clayman came through after 2:19:40 the longest recorded time of any rider, sprinting to the finish as his teammates cheered him on. That may have been one of the coolest things I've seen all season. I love seeing the team support each other.

In the end, if you rode that race you'll always have a great story to tell, even if you absolutely hated it in the moment, although it may take a few weeks for you to feel that way. For the parents and coaches, I think we're all just glad everyone made it out of there safely. The bikes are reparable, even if they are expensive.

Many other things stood out to me today, but I want to mention a few.

One was the joyous, mud-splattered face of JP telling me he took second place in the race, while shivering in a way that looked like he may never would be warm again.

Another was Viana talking about how she had trauma bonded with her fellow racers out on course as they picked out bits of mud from between their cogs and derailleurs.

Watching Lauren, Jack, and Ryan cross the finish line with bikes that looked like they had been dragged for 3 miles (I think they had). All of them were tired, a little overwhelmed, and perhaps a bit surprised to find how tough they really are.

One of the different elements of mountain bike racing is that you can't really quit. In a lot of other sports, if you decide that you're done, you can sit on the bench. If you're out there in a mountain bike race, you have to finish the lap. There's no one to carry you (unless you're seriously injured). For most of our riders yesterday, it became about how to finish, not necessarily about how to win. It taught us a good life lesson, which is that no one is going to carry you across the finish line. It's going to be all up to you.