The bike race

(written by Mike)

Living in the midwest, I was exposed to a phenomenon called "Gravel Grinding".  My guess is that it's the midwesterners answer to the lack of mountains and therefore true "mountain biking".  The more I dug into the subject, the more fascinated I became.  Races that I had never heard of, The Dirty Kanza, Gravel Words, and The Almanzo 100 were so popular.  Each had their own distinctness and unique challenge.  I decided the Almanzo 100 was the one I wanted to try.  Mainly because it takes place in southern Minnesota and it gave me an excuse to go back to the state that I really grew to love!  

Registration was simple.  Mail in a postcard with your name on it, and check to see if you made it in.  As I registered, I asked my friend back in Utah, Scott Rice, to join me.  Not really expecting him to take me seriously, I was totally surprised when he said he was in!  

The day prior to race day, Scott and I drove the 4 or so hours to Austin, MN where we would stay the night.  The next day we lined up with over 1,000 other racers.  The race, which was actually closer to 103 miles, took us through some of the most beautiful terrain in the midwest.  Rolling hills, small towns with little white churches, beautiful valleys with trout streams meandering through the middle, and did I mention hills?  This part of Minnesota is incredibly hilly!  Total elevation gained over the 100 miles was close to 8,000 feet!  Ouch!  Riding next to horses, tractors, and all things rural, it was breathtaking.  

This race left a mark on me.  I often found myself a little melancholic as I rode.  For some reason, I knew I would soon be leaving this part of the world.  At the time, I didn't know we would be moving back to Utah, but something was telling me, "Enjoy this, for you won't be here much longer".  I will miss the midwest, and this race really incapsulated many of the things I enjoyed about my time there.  The scenery, the wholesomeness, the simplicity, and the people.  What a blessing!  

I've already told Scott that we will be making another trip back to do this race again!

Past, Future and Coasting

Alexis is regularly referring to things that have happened in the past, or what will happen in the future. The funny part about her references, is that everything in the past is "yesterday." Which fits well for a lot of our conversations, but is so funny to hear her say things like:

ME: Sis, do you need to go to the bathroom?
ALEXIS: No, I went yesterday.

ME: Hey, would you like a snack?
ALEXIS: No, I ate yesterday.

ME: It's time to get ready for bed!
ALEXIS: No, we did that yesterday.

Brings back memories of when Max discovered his first past tense language. Of course, his was "last year." Those had some funny one liners too.

She's a rock star on her coaster bike. Overall a much more timid rider than Max was, but has been more and more daring with speed and downhills. Was building up great confidence until she had a brief run in with a tree on one downhill trip, but came out the winner. Definitely has decided to take things downhill a bit slower. Awesome to have her cruise and coast around. They get such great speed with these and can cover so much distance to the point that she and Max actually ride together (sort of!).

Bike Rides

Warmer weather meant lots of extra time heading out on bike rides. Managed to bring the camera along one day and then actually remembered to take a video of sis cruising along. I'm a big fan of the balance bike. Love the speed and coordination they pick up. In this video she's showing off a few of the balance skills.



And, while I've yet to catch it on video, her latest has been imitating dad "popping a wheelie." Of course, in her version, both feet are on the ground as she lifts the front part of her bike, but you get the idea.

Since I had the camera handy, took advantage of a few more pics.
Then Max snagged the camera and took these. I think I should hand him the camera more often.

The 4th

Celebrating the 4th was super fun.

We had a weekend of swimming, checking out the new Cars movie (actually took both kids with us!), and lots of time outside. Mike was able to enjoy some good bike rides. He's loved getting back in the saddle more regularly, actually riding some longer miles, and has loved the road biking routes! I love that he comes back with new places that we need to go check out with the kids, and that he basically has the bulk of these rural roads along Eastern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin mapped out in his head.

Started out the morning of the 4th with a red, white and blue breakfast!

We headed over to a true small town parade in Afton. Contemplated riding our bikes there (with kids in the bike trailer), but Mike had been out on his ride earlier, and it was actually a pretty hot day so we decided against it. A good thing as there were WAY more people than we would have ever anticipated. We did get there early enough to snag some shade. Not early enough for a first or second seated row, but a perfect spot for people watching prior to the parade start. (Thanks KJ for the shirts! The kids loved them!)

The actual parade was SMALL - no dazzling, big floats or wild entertainment. And super old school - passing out flags, candy and ice pops. It runs on the biggest street in town, but since the town is so small, they actually turn around at the end of the parade route and head back on the other side of the road. If you missed something the first time, you could catch it on the second round. Like the old fire trucks, Port-a-pottys, or pig in the trailer. Loved every minute.

Prior to the 4th, we checked out a few different places that were doing large firework shows. Had intentions to head over to one of them, but, actually stayed at home and watch the neighborhood shows instead.

Wisconsin is to Minnesota as Wyoming is to Utah. The biggest difference is there are no fire-hazard areas and no worries that fields will go up in flames, so there are no "restrictions" when it comes to the actual lighting of illegal fireworks - you just can't buy them here. Never in my life have I seen such large firework shows coming from homes. For three nights straight, we watched shows from our house that reminded me of the Eaglewood firework show when I was in high school (you know, one big firework at a time, with a relatively big finale at the end). We heard some of the "home spun" shows were a collaborative event among many people and were in the price range as high as $2,000 big ones. I don't know that we'll ever see anything quite like it anywhere else.

We got together with our neighbors on the eve of the 4th, and lit off some of the small street fireworks. The kids had such a blast and thought it was the coolest thing ever.

And, then I was tuckered out. Couldn't last that third night late watching fireworks. I even told Mike I felt like we were living in the middle of a war zone as I was trying to go to bed.

Funny enough, a bunch of my neighbors were still awake. The Scouts in our ward started the flag fundraiser a couple holidays ago. They broke out geographically where they deliver and pick up the American Flag on the holiday. They were running a bit late the night of the 4th, and didn't come by to the house until after we'd checked out. Our neighbors saw a SUV of teenage boys stop at our house, take our flag and leave. Not knowing what was happening, and not knowing that this was an organized fundraiser, they called the cops to report the theft. Super grateful that we have awesome neighbors who are so watchful, but it did cause a bit of a mix up, needing some explanation the next day...

Bike Race

Every once in awhile, a cool cycling race with pro riders comes into town. We'd looked forward to watching the Stillwater portion of the race for some time. It's where the pro riders head up a 22% gradient hill, not once, but multiple times as they lap around the town. And decided this would be a good opportunity to give the kids a chance to see something cool. Or, Mike and I really wanted to see it, and we had our fingers crossed that the kids would be up for it.

Even better, our friend Lorena had written about her experience doing this race in 2008. While her writing is fantastic, it was fun to see her words brought to life (minus the part where we're watching her live, and minus the part where we would have been cheering for her!).

While the kids didn't contemplate how tough it was to go up the huge hill, they had a blast. Cheering was fun, and when there was down time, they both played at the park across the street.

Favorite for Alexis? Ringing the cow bell. So much that we had to hide it for the car ride home.

Favorite for Max? That he rode in the kids race. He's in the gray shirt, green helmet and blue bike toward the right end of the screen. Apologies in advance for the mom who was cheering so loudly for her kid. Oh, wait. That was me.




A pic of the world champ winner in the women's race.



What a hill!!

Mike went further up the hill with the bigger crowds and captured some video footage. Pretty cool.






After his big race!

The Bike

Around the first week of February we had a warm day - and Max couldn't WAIT to get home from preschool so he could go for a ride on his bike from Santa. Since there was still a lot of snow on the streets near us, and since it was a school day (we couldn't head over to the school parking lots), we headed to the good ol' church parking lot. He had a permanent smile the entire time.

While I'd initially planned to let Alexis ride around on the the little "bike" that she has, she was much more interested with sitting in the back of the car, munching on snacks, and running around the parking lot trying to chase Max. I got caught up chasing her around the parking lot and forgot to take pics, but she was a good sport!

Quite possibly the coolest video I've ever seen!

Danny MacAskill has outdone himself with his new video. Many of you might remember that his previous video quickly became one of Youtube's most viewed videos ever (over 20 million views). Cool music, beautiful scenery and absolutely amazing bike handling skills. He is not human!

Race #1

The last few weeks have been a bit crazy. I made it through the kids-are-sick-hubby-is-out-of-town-phase, without getting myself sick like the last time. Then, my parents made it up for a visit. While they were here, Max did his first cyclocross race!

He'd been "practicing" for cyclocross all week and has figured out how to pick up his bike over barriers, and do a running hop-onto-the-bike (my four year old is now more skilled than I am on a bike - I'll post video of it soon). So, he was very excited to do a race like dad. We watched Mike do his race, and then had some time to sit before Max's race.

Mike: "Hey buddy, are you excited to do the race today?"
Max: "Oh yeah. I'm gonna win dad."
(I wonder where he gets the competitive spirit from)

Video of the start (thanks mom and dad for the videoing commentary!):






Super fun to watch him race. I think the kid had a permanent smile glued to him the rest of the day. When we asked him about it he said "it was awesome." And was quick to say that he won (the two older kids were only ahead of him because they had bigger bikes). I look forward to watching many more.

Two Wheel Lovin'

Since my family and I made the move up to Minneapolis, I've really made a concerted effort to get out on my bike more often. Back in Salt Lake, it seemed that I let every excuse get in the way of getting in some serious saddle time. Not here! It helps that I live in some of the most bicycle-friendly back roads I've ever seen! You can seriously ride for miles and miles and not see a single car.
I initially thought the mountain bike scene was pretty lame here. That was until I discovered Lebanon Hills. Wow! Seriously some of the most fun I've ever had on a bike. Tons of sweeping, flowing, technical-as-heck single track! There are a bunch of double black diamond areas with crazy wooden ladder bridges and logs. Definitely a place to hone the technical skills!


I raced my first CX race last weekend! I was super late and barely made the start, which made for an interesting first couple of laps. I started on the back row of the CAT 4s and worked my way up to mid-pack before the end of the race. Not a bad start, but I'm looking forward to the next race. The course was amazing! Tons of technical turns and lots of climbing! What's with all the hills? Isn't this Minnesota?

Tasks and Life

I read this great article recently in Yoga Journal that asked, "am I rushing because I am under stress or am I under stress because I'm rushing?"

I feel like I've been all over the place lately. Between tying up loose ends here, to getting things ready in Minneapolis, to working, to teaching classes, to being a mom, anyone around me has been able to sense that my stress level has been up there.

After reading this article, I decided to take this question to heart, and consciously make an effort to not let the stress of tasks trickle into becoming the stress of life.

So, I decided to run an errand on my bike. With the kiddos behind in the bike trailer. It was nothing glamorous - just a few miles to go down the road and back. I'm such a fan of people who do this all the time, and just wanted to branch out for myself.

Was it a crazy, blood pumping workout? Nope. Did it take longer than if I'd gone by car? A little.

But my little adventure last week was completely invigorating. Like a new sense of freedom. Like I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. So good that I've done it a few more times since.

Amazing how such a small and simple tweak gives us the chance to regain perspective. Maybe I'll get everything done and ready for the move, maybe I won't, but I'm glad I have this in my back pocket. It'll be a great reminder to consciously relax (a little).

Sledding + Bike Rides

It's definitely been one of those winters where you can do this on one day
And this on the next.

Draper CX

I de-virginized the new cross bike this past Saturday at the Draper CX race. The bike performed flawlessly, except for a minor brake mishap with three laps to go (my front brake got stuck in the engaged position for the last three laps which proved to be a pretty darn good workout!). I received multiple compliments on the frame from fellow riders. I should point out that none of those nice words came from anyone who owned a carpet fiber frame. Snobs! They just don't know what they are missing out on with steel!

I'm excited to try it out at Buenaventura this weekend. That course seems to suit me better. Draper is too hilly for a big guy like myself!

New ride. No ride.

It's 2:00pm, Saturday afternoon. I should be trying to catch my breath after riding my guts out for 50 minutes at the cyclocross race in Heber. Instead I just put my little girl down for a nap and Maxman is in his room playing with his dinosaurs. Yep, no race today. One thing that I've learned in my 7 years of being married is that marriage is a game of give and take. Sara has been on the "give" side so many times throughout the years of me training for Lotoja or some other bike race, that when she asked me to stay home with the kiddos today so she could take a yoga certification class, I knew what was the right thing to do. I actually love playing with the little guys! They are a lot of fun, and with Max riding his own pedal bike now, we can go out and ride our bikes, together! Fun stuff!

It's probably not a bad thing that I didn't race today. I've been in Denver all week attending work meetings and didn't ride the bike once. I would have gotten smoked for sure! Next week will be better. I'm taking pretty much the whole week off and should have plenty of saddle time.

I've also been meaning to post some pics of my new ride! Yes, I am the proud owner of a brand-spankin' new Sabrosa crosser! I'm so stoked! I've actually had the frame for quite a while now, it has just taken longer than I thought to get it all built up the way I like it! If you don't know about Jon from Sabrosa, you will soon! He is definitely an up-and-comer on the hand-built bike scene and his craftsmanship is second-to-none! Like many other custom bike builders, he's starting to amass quite the wait for one of his frames. If you want one, you better get on the list quick! You won't be disappointed! He's in the middle of updating his website, but in the meantime, check out his blog for more info and pics of his handy work!

Here are some pics: