Jay Richards

Wednesday night we had the Wenzel family over for some riding and grilling. Good times. Was fun to ride with some other people. We rode the Sport/Comp/Expert lap easy paceish in about 50 min. Earlier in the week I did a hot lap in 36 min but if I had to do 3 laps at that pace, I couldn't. Experts doing 3 laps, Comp 2 laps and Sport 1.5 laps. We got all the singletrack we are using this year cleaned up and will do some fine tuning this week.


Ben and Jon on Grandma's deck with Jibby. The dog that is afraid of the cat.
Thursday Grandpa Jim took Jack and Jens on a trip out west. I let Jens take a camera along that Bruce refurbished. My dad sent an e-mail of an update on their trip, keeping the boys busy it sounds like: Went to Pompeys Pilar and they climbed it and both got Jr. Ranger pins by the Park Ranger. Then on to Red Lodge, stopped and had a nice visit with my friend Carly at the local place where they had popcorn and the kids had a ton. Nice weather and Red Lodge jammed as Willy Nelson was to play there that night. Lots of Willy Nelson look alikes around. Then on to the Beartooth and had fun climbing mountains and snow fights. Tried to get into B 4 but the gate was locked so just saw the outside. Then to Cooke City and a little cabin and very cold this morning, 30 degrees and frost on the window. On to the Park now and Old Faithful and the swimming holes. Two hours in the river by the boiling springs and wiped out. A giant bull elk at Mammoth about 50 feet away, a six by six and this was the first day he has showed up. The Rangers were keeping people away so lucky to have seen it. Camera working good. Stayed in a rather primitive cabin last night and cold, 30 degrees in the morning. But really hit it big on the wildlife. A giant griz just moved in and we watched him for over an hour. Also a pack of wolves in the same area and some nice black ones. Climbed up on a ridge overlooking the whole valley and lots of wildlife photo people and a nice old guy with both a high powered scope and binocs let us use them and that was nice. Then to Mammoth.

Tomorrow, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Norris geysers, Old Falithful, swimming in the Firehole river and then stay here again. On the road Monday morning, pick up rock in Bozeman and on the way home. Great weather.


Thursday we had Jon's friend Eli over. I came home and they were reading a book. I asked Jonell if she told them to do that and she said no. Now if I could only get Jake to do that instead of text messaging all the time. Jon went back to Eli's and he went with his family to state fair for the weekend and Valleyfair. Jake went to friends house and with the two youngest gone, we were suddenly kidless. Date night on order and Hotel Shoreham for some pizza. Sweet.
Saturday was the last day of camp and spent all day checking cabins and lodge out. Early evening we went over to the house of Debbie, the Maplelag cook, and her husband Doug to help them celebrate 25 years of marriage. Right on. Fun times. Deb and Doug scored a sign I think had to be approved by Doug because Deb is one hell of a cook. Was going to head down to the cities and stay at Bruce's Sat. night for the Border Battle race on Sunday but didn't get things wrapped up until 11pm at the home front so opted for early departure on Sunday. Jonell was going to come with us but we had to serve at church and Jonell covered for me and deserves the award. After church she enjoyed the day chilling out alone with no one around. We left about 6:45. It was 42 degrees and fog rolling off the lakes big time. Awesome. (Grand Forks set record low at 39)Made it down to the cities in good time, picked up Bruce who once again did a great job capturing the Sport/Comp/Expert races and had almost 2.5 hours to kill before the race.
The past two weeks the training has been pretty limited. Can't remember the last time I did a ride over 2 hours. Just keeping them short and sweet. Had a nice start, keeping out of the traffic before J Lalonde came flying by halfway up the start climb. I settled into just outside the top 10 riding with Bender and Brendan a good chunk of the race. I was feeling pretty good and then after the climb start of 4th lap, I wasn't paying attention and went otb after hitting a root. Pretty stupid move and then on the the chase again in lapped traffic. Overall, I was happy with the result, but like Buck, was hoping to dice it out with Bender the end but instead was chasing and holding off chasers. Demanding course with no letting up. Thanks to Justin Reinhart for the feeds who was halfway up the climb at the start of the lap, positioned nicely.
Jake was happy with his race, placing 7th out of 120 Comp riders. He thought he was 4th or 5th but with wave starts, it is hard to know where you are at on the overall. He thought about racing Expert but I thought he should dice it up with the WI Comp guys to see how that goes. He will be racing Expert here on out now. He was 2nd MN rider behind Adam Lieferman who is coming on strong end of the year.
Another dry and dusty race. Jake said he hopes it is a mudfest next weekend!!