Today I got my first chance at skiing the NCAA race courses. Every race does the same 5km loop at Howelsen Hill Ski area in Steamboat Springs, CO. The start/finish is in a rodeo stadium; they hold professional rodeos here throughout the summer. It is disconcerting to ski through the stadium. There's grandstands, for one, and who ever heard of spectator bleachers at a ski race? It doesn't happen in the U.S. very often. There's also all of the rodeo set up, with the pens and the gates and structures that I don't even know the use of. When I ski through to lap I imagine fantasy cowboys on bulls waiting in the start pen to test their skill against the bull. This creates an odd juxstaposition against the sparkling snow, the tamely groomed tracks, the silence of the skis, and the gentle conversations between skiers.