Lars and I skied all the trails today at Maplelag. It was intense. I was a bit worried that I would have the endurance since I have done I think one ski over 2 hours this year. It took us about five hours. Wow, the sensations are similar to riding a century. I think we could of knocked off a half hour if we had better wax jobs. Mine was fine for the most part, but I was slipping bad on North Loup and Bullhead. Lars had grip tape on and it was working too good. He waxed a little high up so thing were pretty grabby and his skis were a bit draggy. Wow, what a day though. The temp was a bit warm, making for some stick action now and then but really nice to ski that duration at 30-32 degrees. Looks like back to the cockpit and some serious time of the PB, VK PRO and Bearcat the next few days. It will all be good. I can't believe they canceled school today at Pelican Rapids. No snow until a dusting tonight. Some serious hype out there.

Zigs ripping it up at the IVM carnival earlier this month. Zigs called last night and said he made it to Nats. He was the last one in. Pretty sweet for a soph from the Midwest.

Well, the big storm came through. Some serious groom time which is all good. The trails still are soft and need a lot of work. Later this week we might get blasted again. Should be a nice start to March and have some great skiing for a few weeks. Lars and I were going to ski all the trails (64km) on Tues but that looks to be on hold now. I'll be lucky to ski this week. Should go out tonight but pretty toast. This is very nice though, albeit a bit late.

Jake said he stuck a 360 off the new gap jump. I didn't believe him. I told him to show me so he did. Pretty nuts stuff. Just wish I would of ran the clip longer to get Mom, Wallace, Becky Niko and Per in the background cheering.

A fun day at the state meet. Tyner had a great skate race. Lars skied smart and had a great day. With the top 25 stacked with Srs, he has potential to be top 10 or even 5 next year. Not many other surprises. Bemidji boys did well. Speaking of Bemidji, no race at the Minn Finn. A few people asked if I was going to go. Well, groomed from 5am to 9am, ski lessons all morning and then cut the hole for two hours which was work. Birkie next week. Doesn't look like. John Dee dangling a big carrot. Could be interesting.




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Iban from Peru wanted a ride into town so I said fine because I had to pick up the boys at school and do the piano run etc. He didn't bring his coat so I had the heat cranked up and it put everyone out in about 15 min. Jack never sleeps in the car so that was a shocker. I was wearing the big puffy down jacket and it was like a sauna.

Tonight I had to crystalize the sugar on the creme brule and didn't have a torch handy so I used the heat gun from the rental shop. It worked pretty good.

If you don't like healys, you better stay away from the Richards family. First Jon got a pair, then Jack, then Jens and then Jonell got Jake a pair and snuck in a pair for me for Valentines day. I tried them a bit but a little shaky. The lodge is a great place to healy, provided there isn't much traffic. Jon is smooth as silk with them on.

Looks like I will be heading to the state Nord meet. I said this before but I think it is one of the greatest sporting events out there. Ranks up with the opening day of state hockey. (BTW, caught the last two periods between DL and Bemidge last night, the cheap shots are a joke/laugh tough guy thing but I guess I was there, done that did that too). Looking forward to a 24 hour period of time off. It has been almost three months. The last day "off" in December, I spent shoveling snow. My loyalties lie with Section 8 so I have my money on Justin Tyner, Waylon Manske and Lars, of course, as as dark horse. Jill Smith is coming around again and Addie Byrne will be up there as well for the girls. Waylon skis that course well and it is a long 5k so he could sneak up there in the classic. Should be some great racing. Nistler hasn't been in the rankings and I would put him above a lot of those guys that are ranked now so would be nice to see him prove me right!!

I was looking at riding a Scott Scale 10 or LTD but that was before Salsa came through nicely on sponsorship for the UCI and Laddies Loppet race so I will probably be riding a Salsa. The days of racing on a Trek are probably over, thats all I am going to say about that. We got the poster in the works. Hopefully ready by Mar. 1. Have been spending a lot of time trying to wrap up the sponsorship. Should be done by next week. Here is a link to any info on the race. I will be updating next week along with new info on the new MNSCS website that will hit cyberspace soon.

Big weight off the shoulders now that Sections are in the book. Wow. The day went great. The courses groomed up real nice and a beautiful day even though it was a bit chilly. When I went out to groom the night before, the temp was 6 or 7 and when I got done it was -12. I didn't cover my face and ears like I normally do and when I got done my ears were like wax, frozen completely. Now the skin is peeling off. The Bemidji boys are top shelf (Matt Nistler pumping it up with Lars) Super nice kids. Glad to see them make it to state as a team. Lars had a tough skate race but ripped it in the classic to make it to state. Jake was the only 7th grader to ski Section 8 and as far as I can tell, in the state!! He got super cold in the skate and not having fun but again, pulled it together in the classic to have fun. I missed the girls finish but check out the photos by Grundy on skinnyski to see the epic finish by Jill and Addie. Mrs. Stadem sent me some crash shots which I posted one on the Maplelag site. Great racing. Hope to make it to the state meet. Mora this weekend. Last year did it. This year on the lake. Nothing against the great folks in Mora but racing on the lake is tough. Plus, pretty tough to sneak away with the Indigenous farmers conference going on that went from 30 to 160 people plus the 150 weekend guests. Its all good. UCI sponsorship rolling. Nice working with the local businesses that you can send a letter to on Monday and get a answer on Friday. Set up the poster next week, registration the week after. Still waiting word on doping control. Don't dope. Read article on Floyd in NY Times. I'm confused. What a mess. Poor Floyd? He seems happy? I haven't read the last two Velonews or Cyclesport mags. Seems like a mess. Kyia and Mr. Anderson floated in last weekend. Fun to have them around. EO, did you round any yardbirds up yet? Wax up those classic boards and come on up. Jay Richards special is on, now!