Jay Richards

Good trip to I Falls. Got up in time to visit with my sister for a hour before going to Jon's game. Took the three youngest nephews along to the game. Since I didn't have our boys along the nephews are more interested in goofing around with me. So it was fun to have them while we watched Jon. They were were getting a bit restless so I did my best Al Shaver (who I used to listen to whenever I could growing up since we didn't have tv and couldn't watch the games), calling the play by play which was probably pretty weak but we had fun anyways. The arena is awesome. Reminds me of the Warroad rink. Wood bleachers that rise almost straight up from the ice and no plexi behind the boxes which is hard to believe. Allows for great viewing. Almost everything is wood. Boise Cascade of course. If it wasn't, well, that just wouldn't happen with Boise.... "International Falls". Sister and family were going to St Cloud so when we got back to their house we quick visited before Jon and I went to Canada to eat supper at this place my sister recommended.




We came back to the States and went east to Thunderbird resort on Rainy lake and rented a boat for a couple of hours. I thought about fishing but Jon said he was fine with just tooling around so we went north again on the water this time and weaved through some islands and what not before stopping on one to get out and explore. Just so happens it was the border so I had Jon put one foot in Canada and one foot in United States. Good fun.

I let Jon drive after that going a bit more north before making way back to the Resort. Jon was pretty pumped.
Friday morning (record morning low btw with temp checking in at 39) we went up the local coffee shop to get a bite and a cup of joe before dropping Jon off for his final day. I asked the guy for a cappuccino tall. He rambled on about two shots this three shots this and four shots that. I didn't understand what he was saying so I said just make your choice. I placed a "real food" order which elated the owner. The guy hands me the coffee and says"this oughta getcha going". So I go online and what not, eat some cakes, skin on fried potatoes and tell the owner that everytime someone in our family comes back to Maplelag, a pound of Sumatra always goes south. I have found their roast of that distinction to be the best around. She was most appreciative. I had to go with a pound of Tanzanian Peaberry since they were out of Sumatra. Anyways, I always like these businesses that are run/operated by the owners. Something we pride on here at Maplelag so I always enjoy talking to the folks and sharing stories if it lends to that.
Anyways, after I dropped off Jon I had just over 3 hours to kill so the natural thing to do was to ride. Even though the wind was blasting from the west, I jumped on and went with it to Island View and the end of Hiway 11. Great scenery and riding. Yikes, that espresso was kicking in and then some. After riding to Island View, I thought I would go into Voyageurs, the only National Park in Minnesota. The road in was nice, the visitor center was nice and the Tilson trails looked fun and inviting and I did ride in about 1km or so but the grass was pretty overgrown and I was more interested in getting some long miles in. I did sneak a bootleg lap on the singletrack.

Some fun, very technical riding. After about 20 minutes of that, back on the road and some light rain started to fall. Strong head wind riding, with mud tires, for 1.5hrs, it got a bit chilly, especially when I thought about Sunday and Mt Kato and the difference was probably 50 degrees. Crazy it was all good because I was absolutely zinging from that coffe. It was nuts. No wonder Sheila the owner was so jazzed. I can't imagine working there and testing different flavors and keeping mellow. I pulled back into my sisters house after logging 53 miles and I felt like I hadn't even been out.
Quick shower and back to the rink to watch Jons game.



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Shot a few clips and this was Jon's favorite as he picked up the puck at the blue line and skated through a bunch of traffic to put a backhand top right. The game was great. 1 hour, no whistles, no stoppage of play. Continous shifts. They didn't even stop to let the goalies switch, they just did it on the fly. There were some offsides now and then but thats how they learn to play up north. The kids learn all the basics doing that and most of these kids will skate together all they way through up to high school. Jon and I grabbed a bite before hitting the road. I didn't need any coffee to go as that coffee was still zinging. Yikes. Stopped for some theater popcorn in Bemidge and home with no deer issues although we saw a dozen.

Weekend spent getting caught up on some stuff here at Maplelag including a few more trees cut up (think got 20 knocked out this week), date with Jonell Sat night and some UCI and Loppet laps checking out some new mud tires and what not.Some rain today to make the roots and rocks slippery which was good. Will bring three diffrerent sets to VT and see what the weather brings. Hope this cooler and wet weather we have had the past five days follows us East. I would love to race in a mud race at a National. Seems like all the Nationals out west I have done are always dry and dusty except at Schweitzer one year when the previous year it was a dust bowl. Either way it will be a great time and Jake and I are getting stoked. Jonell's sister's boys here this week so some more wild fun for the boys. "Duncle Jay, can you wipe me?" "You sure you don't want tante Jonell?" "No, I want Duncle Jay" Alright, not a problem.