Jay Richards

Yesterday I rode to Twin Valley from White Earth. With the warm temps, rain and wind, the snow has really melted in the open country. Most of the ditches and lot of the fields are flooded. If we keep getting some rain, it could get ugly along the Red River. Jonell and I had date night last night and when we crossed the Buffalo river, it had ice chunks and was getting close to going over the road. Back in college, if my roommate "Jorgy" saw the ditch like this he would say, "lets go waterskiing" Jorgy always carried a waterski rope with him. I wasn't a good enough waterskier to do it but he would rip it up in the ditches in the spring. It was pretty nuts. He would always be the last one to waterski on Detroit Lake before the ice set up and he would be the first one to ski on a sliver of open water in the spring. Barefoot no less. A great story from the college days was the one time a big snowstorm hit Fargo/Moorhead. We borrowed a blazar and we were skiing up and down the streets of Fargo with the waterski rope and some old downhill skis. I used my tele skis. The last night/time we did it, I was the last one to be towed and instead of going around the block to enter the parking lot to our dorm, we went the wrong way down the one way and sure enough the first car we met was a cop. I didn't know it until I swung around trying to catch some air off the curb and I almost took out the cop. When we went to court, the judge laughed when he read the documents. Good times. I haven't heard from him in a while but he was teaching skiing at Beaver Creek in the winter and doing water ski instruction in the summer.

The ride to Twin Valley was great. From White Earth to Ogema (5 miles) I averaged 26.5mph. Nothing like a nice tailwind and 300ft gradual drop in elevation. Some cross wind afterthat but a fast ride to hook up with Jonell at her Grandmas nursing home. The people always like seeing Jens and the comments always are "he has so much energy". Jens was amazingly good. Although I got a little nervous when he was playing with Grandmas chair while she was in it and this was after lunch.

Today I did another point to point. This time catching the northwestwind to DL and picking up a car that was being serviced. Nothing like some good windpacing to start the year. With lower 30's and drizzle for the weather, it makes the riding more tolerable. And I like to trick my body in that this is how fast I should be riding. Ha! Anyways, still skiing a hour or so in the morning. Tomorrow Jonell and I and the boys are going to have some fun on the jumps and what not. Hopefully the sun will be out. Can't believe I groomed again this afternoon. I thought no way when it was raining and 52 degrees the other day but if you have coverage and the temp starts falling, you gotta hit it.

Have a good weekend!