Jay Richards

Date night last night led to Fargo since the zoo 2 is in DL. Really, it doesn't take that much longer with smooth sailing west. Sky Prairie at Hotel Donaldson. Top of the hotel, a real prairie on top. Very clever. Beautiful night, watch the sun set, almost froze with temps cooling down to lower 60's after the tropical like weather last week. Citrusini with a spash of red bull!?!? The bartender was finishing off the red bull. Made for some good laughs when I called him on it. Speaking of We Fest, weather should be perfect for those folks. Mrs. Crow playing tomorrow night. Too bad her and Lance didn't work it out. Maybe he would of come and I would of had a call from "their people" looking for a place to mountain bike and we could of pinballed the Maplelag course. Have gone a few years. Would of been fun to see Willy just to see Willy but he had to pull out. I saw Johnny Cash but I didn't know Cash like I listen to him now. Speaking of Lance, talked to Troy Melhus last week and he said he rode with him for 8 miles with just one other guy at the Iowa ride Ragbaild (sp?!?!) I think the deer flies might finally abate with the cooler temps. The other day I mowed the driveway and I figured I killed at least 600 on top of my head. I kid you not. This afternoon fast lap on Loppet course saw 30;30. Flies not so bad and perfect conditions with new air and mid 70's. Finaly knocked off the fast time which Jake was holding but I hadn't tried ripping it up yet. I really like the flow of the loop for this year and should be right around 2 hours for the top Experts and 1:30ish for comp and 1:10ish for Sport.



Dana Schoppe has been doing a great job posting pics from the MNSCS races. She caught Jake doing the jumping jack thing at Bluff Riders when a guy went down in front of him and somehow Jake managed to stay upright even though he bailed off his bike.



Last section of singletrack before the finish at Red Wing. Everything was flowing nicely. I'd like to ride that course sometime outside of racing. Fun stuff.
Sad deal with the bridge. I haven't watched any tube about it but have checked out the NY Times and the blog comments are interesting to read. Feel for all those involved.