Bike Skills

This has been going around the bike sites I visit. Some of you, ok one of you, may have already seen it. It is very impressive.

Only in my dreams could I do that or even want to do that.

JRA

Scott S.

More Gravel

She loves the swingset

Big D and I got in a final gravel ride today. 26 miles and we both felt very good. We are confident that we will finish this thing and still have enough in the tank to converse with the other nutjobs doing this race.

No worries, just a little washout

Big D's Almanzo set-up

We rode the upcoming Gravel Grinders ride/race loop. It is a mix of hills and flat, good gravel and bad. We're thinking the last Sunday in May will be the first ride/race for the Gravel Grinders. Should be fun.

Some of the hills

Otherwise, got the lawn mowed. Man, that is not my favorite activity, but it's looking up. My in-laws are moving here and my Father-in-law has no immediate need for his riding mower. I say "rider" but this thing is just short of being a tractor. It is zero-turn, 50 or so inch cut. What takes me 1:15 now will take me 20 minutes plus some trimming after getting that beast. I can't wait. Looks like more riding time to me.

Mom came over for dinner. Nice to see her. She said she was missing us, and that is likely true, but it is M who she really wants to see. Wife and I are ok with that. Had a nice dinner.

Another pic of M:

M and Aunt Amy

JRA

Scott S.

I'm Back

Long time, no post. Sorry. Life is happening, but I want to still try to get something posted on a relatively frequent basis.

Big D, a veteran Blogger, reminded me that the posts don't all have to be fancy, great, or even good. It is a good reminder of why I'm doing this anyway - I think I know anyway. I have to remember that even though my Aunt Zula might read this on occasion, I need to write this more for M, Wife, me, and the baby to come.

So, without further delay, I am going to try to catch up one month of our life in one post in no particular order. Hang on.

• M failed her pre-school vision screen and needs glasses. We're glad we have good friends who are Optometrists. I realize it really isn't too big a deal and it is correctable, but if I had one good eye and it was possible to give it to her, I would in a heartbeat. Again, I realize it isn't too big a deal, but I can only imagine what parents of kids with cancer or other chronic illness go through.
• Training for the Almanzo is going well. No injuries, bike is ready, and I'm on the taper now. I have over 700 miles so far this year, about 275 miles ahead of last year's pace. Looking forward to the suffering. Less than 2 weeks now.
  
• Went to a conference in the Cities. The conference was ok, but the highlights were riding with the Twin Cities Bike Club and enjoying a Punch pizza and Boulevard Double-Wide IPA.
• We hosted Easter at our place. It works well to host since we are midway between my folks and my Brother/Sister-in-law. We had the usual: ham, potatoes, etc. Wife did a great job with it all. I was on-call so I was close to useless.
• Our Bike Club had its season kick-off banquet. We had a good turn-out, 63 members signed up. Everyone is excited about the year.
• We had Church pictures for the new directory. We got the "we try to be subtle but really we're not-so-subtle" hard sell to buy some pictures. We declined.
• M had her "Picture in the Fur" taken. They turned out well. We'll share once they are done.
• We looked at a house, thought about buying a house, and after too many restless sleeps, we ultimately didn't get it. It's for the best in the end.
• Wife hasn't had to travel in over a month. She's on the road tonight, but back tomorrow.
• I am thinking of starting a monthly gravel road race series. Details are yet to be determined, but will involve gravel roads (obviously), fun, food, and beer after the race.
• We had our first ultrasound and it looks like a boy...or a girl. I'm not sure if we are sharing this or not. Bottom line is that everything looked good.
• M got her first big-girls bike. I'm very proud. She loves to ride it. I'm very proud, sorry, I've already said that.
• We decided to have a lawn service come spray fertilizer and weed killer. We are thinking of having a sprinkler system put in. I'm not totally sold on it only because mowing the lawn is one of my least favorite chores and this will do nothing to decrease the frequency of that.
• M loved searching for Easter Bunny eggs and quarters(a family tradition).
  

I think that just about catches this blog up. My hope is to post more regularly from now on. Here are some recent pictures from the last month. Enjoy.

First ride

Easter dress

New scooter; Dora, of course

Master Egg Hunter

JRA

Scott S.

Happy Weekend

IDS Tower, Minneapolis from the observation deck

Wife and I spent last weekend in the Cities to celebrate our anniversary. Grandma and Grandpa were talked into watching M (it wasn't a hard sell).

This is where we stayed

We ate at some fabulous restaurants (Pazzaluna is a new favorite for us), shopped (I got a new cycling jacket), and relaxed.

Target Field just beyond Target Center

Biking has been admittedly lacking in my life lately for a variety of reasons that I won't bore you with. I was able to get out today for a flat, windy 22 miles on the Central Lakes Trail.

It was nice to be out again. Unfortunately, it is not warming up very quickly. It was 40 today with winds up to 20mph. It is going to be warmer this weekend, so I hopefully I can sneak out between being on-call and hosting Easter for a ride.

We got 8 inches from last week's blizzard. M decided it wasn't too bad after all:

Enjoying the (hopefully) last snow of the year

Making a snow angel

Happy Easter.

JRA

Scott S.

When are we leaving?

With another blizzard coming and along with it a possibility of 15 inches of snow, M is ready to get out.

I'm ready

She is packed and ready to go.

Pleeease!

I'm ready too.

JRA

Scott S.

Back to Business

My ride home

We got the water thing fixed in the basement. Unfortunately, they are still battling it in Fargo/Moorhead. On top of everything they have had, now it's many inches of snow and wind on the way. Apparently the wind is more worrisome than the snow for the integrity of the dikes. Pray for them.

All put back together

We are waiting for a blizzard around these parts too. Last I heard it will be 15 inches, but it has fluctuated from 12-20 inches, so we'll see. It is supposed to start tonight.

With the coming blizzard I'm sure glad I finally got back out on the bike this weekend. A pleasant 26 miles on Saturday with Big D was followed by a solo, hilly, cold, and just make it home before dark, 42 miles on Sunday.

Hills done

Wife, M and I were at her Relies (that would be Relatives) for some family time on Sunday. I convinced myself it would be a good idea for Wife to drop me off about 40 miles from home and ride in.

Hills to go

I thought it would be a good idea, then I thought it wouldn't be a good idea, and then I thought I'll probably think that it was worth it after the ride and finally I decided to do it. I'm still trying to determine if it was worthwhile. In the end, I suppose it was, as I needed the miles. What I didn't need was under-dressing for the cold, the late start, and the hills.

Lots of slough land

With the snow coming it will be back to lots of clothes, the Niner, and studded tires on gravel roads for Wednesdays ride.

Till then,

JRA

Scott S.

Water

We are about 100 miles from the anticipated flooding in the Fargo/Moorhead area. We are trying to remind ourselves that it could be much worse when we are dealing with this in our basement:

The chairs were used to prop up the carpet, not rest in.

I'm thinking I should see if Sears could sponsor us. It was a Craftsman that helped me on several occasions this winter and this has come in very useful this week:

Thanks again Sears

After all this, one of these sounds good. The only decision now is to decide which one.

This one,

Or this one?

Instead of riding tomorrow, I'll be dealing with our basement.

JRA(hopefully soon)

Scott S.