Jay Richards

Jake had an English class this year and throughout the year, he wrote some poems but we never saw them. When school finished he brought home his portfolio and there was some pretty good reads. One of the poems was titled "If I ruled the world". In there was a line that said "If I ruled the world, dopers would be banned for life" which I thought was interesting and I like the position. Doping is something we talk about frequently which is a result of something almost weekly, mainly in road, that pops up. Now its Boonen. Not doping, but still. Come on,....what I am supposed to do now with the only "pro" poster hanging in the basement bathroom, flush it down the toilet? Jake's circle of friends includes hockey pucks, wrestlers, soccer players. I made a comment to Jonell I don't remember in jr high much cross between the lines. But talking to his friends, they connect with one each other because they have made the choice to stay drug/alcohol free when others have not. Hopefully they continue on that path.

When I was looking at the photosets from Afton, I think I was the only guy in the top 12 running hard tail. Got the new Salsa rolling last week and worked very nicely. Thanks to MR D and CB at Paramount Sports in Fargo for getting things dialed and to Salsa of course for setting up Jake and I with frames. Took a while to get the Ritchey wheelset but the wait was worth it. I have a older Ritchey wheelset that has maybe 5000 miles on it and think they have been trued once and have always had good luck running Ritchey parts. After riding and racing the Salsa flames for over a year now, I can honestly say the Salsa frame has the best feel out of all the rides. When Jake and I did that three hour ride on the Maplelag course, my back was just fine. Even runnning a 1.8 on the rear, I have had no troubles. I just never got into FS and probably never will. The slicks make it look funny. Think its faster than my road bike.



Looks like the whole family will be going to WORS cup. I am really pumped about that. Should be a blast. Its always fun having the whole fam along and no matter where we go or what happens with the race, there is bound to be some good adventure. We celebrated Jake's 15th on Monday, going to Hotel Shoreham for eats was good times but the hanging out in the lawn furniture at Came Apart section for 15 minutes making the store managers nervous was the best.