Wow Penny, you've got quite a life! I checked out your page, pretty kewl (and inspiring) life you've got... and I do a bit of repair business myself. check out my site, you may know someone who needs my service...its expresswetsuit.com (not sure I can say this on here, but I couldn't figure out where or how to put a profile on this site... The thing I really need to learn before the Otter, is how to ride with cleats, not to mention better hill climbing technique, since I hear there are a lot of LONG hills in the course. I'd be doing the single loop XC course, in the women's 50+ category. I'll be 54 one month after the race this april...I've tried the cleat thing exactly one time, and it was a disaster. I spent about an hour and a half just falling down, couldn't get my feet out! I've since been told to cut out some of the rubber on the bottom of my shoes so the cleats release more easily, but this rubber is more like krptonite, and nothing seems to cut through it. I got Sidi dominator mtb shoes, but I use some funky other ones now that are just low top hiking shoes, until I can figure out how to modify the shoes so the cleat clears more easily when I twist my foot to get out.