Jay Richards

I knew it was going to be a short night last night with the beautiful day and evening and max time spent near the lake. Yesterday I bought two flats of fresh strawberries and Jonell and my mom talked me into making me some from scratch margaritas with those fresh berries. (I would never say no, of course!!) I was drinking mineral water because I knew today was going to be hot. With darkness really not setting in til 10pm, its hard to go inside until the mosquitos come out. Last night I don't think I slept more than four hours. I was really amped to race. Yesterdays pre-ride was great. The legs were feeling snappy and I was ready to go. 5:30am came quick this morning. The drive over was tough, especially when Jens and Jake slept most of the way. But we made it to the race in pretty good time. I saw at least a dozen deer going through the Refuge so I took it pretty slow and cautious. Probably could of used a half hour more for Jake to get ready but it all worked out just fine.

But it was hot so he did a short warm up and was off the front. His wave started first today so that was nice. Another great race for Jake. With the braces going on Monday, he was having a hard time using a water bottle so I was prould of him for adapting with no complaints. Lars had a great race coming in second. Tyler Kjorstad ripped it up big time and probably could of raced Comp with no troubles. I think Lars might have the bug now so that is good. I was thinking we could do a Wed night short track with Lars, Jake and some of the Fargo boys. It would be good, fun training. Anyways, Jake did three laps today and we stayed at the top until he came through the last time to be sure he had enough water. That meant we didn't get back down to the car until 12:15 and by the time Jake came back it was 12:30. That meant a short warm up but that was alright considering the heat. I was real happy with the race. I haven't ridden off road (besides WESF but that most mostly gravel) since Afton really since my thumb has still been on the mend and it has been hard to shift on the left side. I went out pretty hard and tried to stay near front for as long as I could before riding with Jesrin, Eric O, SKJ and Tom Miller before losing contact and hanging on the best I could. Felt great on the climbs and was able to use the long climb to close down the gaps. The first lap there were 11-12 of us all together for the whole first lap which I haven't seen before. It was pretty cool. At the start of the second lap and Fisher, the Moore and O Bros, Luke, Jesrin, SKJ, Tommy Miller were all there and Paul Hanson too of course and there were like 6 abreast and I think Brendan made his move at that point to take the second win. Tough. Those top 10 riders are so strong right now. Will be tough to gain ground. The Mon Du Lac course is one that you have to have your pressures right or it can make for a bouncing fatigue day, esp. with a hardtail. I probably could of gone a bit less on the tires and the fork was way too stiff. I know I lost some time on some of the singletrack because of that. But, the season still has a lot of racing and I figure I am a month behind..... whatever, its fun. Rosscoe and gang did a great job with the course. You can see that by the few riders that went down, all classes. The last switchbacking singletrack seems to last forever. Fun stuff.

Jens was a trooper today. No whining. Its funny how the boys are all different with different combinations. Jens was flirting with some girls in the feed zone. Jens ripped it up I guess in the kids race. I miss not watching him. I wish the kids race was at 12:45. I think we might try that for Laddies. Slept pretty much all the way home.
Jake let Jens take some pics during the Expert race. We took about 125 pics today that will go to the editor at skinnyski and I thought this was the best one out of the batch. SKJ There's Matt Johsnson who saved the day with the water. Thanks again Matt.

After the race went went to Canal Park for some taste of Saigon "dad, are those Spanish people"And then over to Nikolai Anikins place to visit him. The ride home I was thinking it sure would be nice to have Jake drive and I asked him if he wanted to drive. Not yet. In a few years. The drive to Duluth and back is relatively easy so we were home before we knew it.....safe and sound thankfully.