Another awesome Laddies Loppet weekend. The weather and trail conditions were what I dream of. Great people, good times. It goes by fast and seems like a blur sometimes but very appreciative of everyone that makes the trip north, south, east and west. Big thanks to my awesome wife Jonell. Someone called the day before, Jonell talking to them, and said "are you the wife of Jay"..... its more like I am the husband of Jonell. Jonell keeps everything all organized on lists making sure we are taking care of everything that needs to be done and when something isn't going like I want it to, she writes it down so we can improve for the next year. The cowbell thing was her idea after being at Natz this year. Also a huge shout to the kitchen staff who did an fantastic job keeping everyone fed and my parents covering the other bases. Takes a big effort from a lot of people to pull everything off and the combined experience of the staff makes thing run smooth plus some of the best people in the world you could come stay with you.....doesn't get any better!
Saturday night we set the dining room for just over 300 and I made enough pasta for 450. Bikers can eat! All good.
Jack singing the National anthem again before start of Kids Comp xc. He did a great job and super proud of him. He rode with his cousin Ripley making sure he got through okay. Most of my nephews raced and very proud of all of them.
The Kids Comp was something we started at Maplelag after WORS had Citizen youth and the following year the MNSCS added this class. The Kids Comp at Maplelag has a ton of kids which is awesome. We did a separate Kids Comp short track this year with the large field and it was super fun to watch. We probably could of done a lap or two more but was a good test for the first year. Jens coming down the last hill.
Jake had a excellent weekend of racing. His placings maybe not as high as last year but we had a stacked field with Bergman and Lemieux rolling in and
Jason Sager coming from Utah. I told Jake this is about as good as it can get for training with racing against the top Midwest fast guys in the tt and st as the high end is what it takes to bring it up a notch this time of year. Than in the xc, Jake catches up to Doug Swanson in a tech single section and Doug said to "get on his wheel" Jake hung on for about a half lap before getting dropped. He said when he saw Brendan and SKJ he knew he "was in trouble". Super proud of that effort.
Checking with Maplelag/Paramount riders Eric Oftedahl, Jake,and
Matt and Steve Wenzel, before start of tt. Super proud of the team en route to the overall title for the xc.
Check out the team site of riders and nephews racing. 
Kyia and Kris Anderson leading skills clinic in between Saturday races. Thanks much guys. I am sure it is tough to come up and not race. Lot of comments from participants so it is very much appreciated.
John Sandberg bringing in the big Itasca Sport sign originally from Grand Rapids, MN. Thanks much John, we will hang it proudly in the lodge.
Jake blowing out part of the course on Thursday. Jake blew out the entire course with the leaf blower on his back walking a lot of miles. The wind had him take issue and he was talking about blowing out Saturday night with headlamp but the wind was blowing high on tree tops and not on the forest floor so it turned out all good. Jake did all the taping this year which saved me a good chunk of time.
Jack babysitting
SKJ's beautiful girl Kiera. Little people are awesome and tons of them running around over the weekend.
It isn't often the bottomless cookie jars get bottomed out. Like I said, bikers can eat!
Joe Surla one of the few riders still racing sporting the Loppet shirt from 93. Thanks again Joe and everyone else for the great weekend. One of the highlights of the weekend was riding a lap with Jake and Jon Monday afternoon before the rains moved in. The course was buffed out perfect from all the racing and was fun hearing Jake highlight the race.
Saturday night we set the dining room for just over 300 and I made enough pasta for 450. Bikers can eat! All good.
Jack singing the National anthem again before start of Kids Comp xc. He did a great job and super proud of him. He rode with his cousin Ripley making sure he got through okay. Most of my nephews raced and very proud of all of them.
The Kids Comp was something we started at Maplelag after WORS had Citizen youth and the following year the MNSCS added this class. The Kids Comp at Maplelag has a ton of kids which is awesome. We did a separate Kids Comp short track this year with the large field and it was super fun to watch. We probably could of done a lap or two more but was a good test for the first year. Jens coming down the last hill.
Jake had a excellent weekend of racing. His placings maybe not as high as last year but we had a stacked field with Bergman and Lemieux rolling in and Jason Sager coming from Utah. I told Jake this is about as good as it can get for training with racing against the top Midwest fast guys in the tt and st as the high end is what it takes to bring it up a notch this time of year. Than in the xc, Jake catches up to Doug Swanson in a tech single section and Doug said to "get on his wheel" Jake hung on for about a half lap before getting dropped. He said when he saw Brendan and SKJ he knew he "was in trouble". Super proud of that effort.
Checking with Maplelag/Paramount riders Eric Oftedahl, Jake,and Matt and Steve Wenzel, before start of tt. Super proud of the team en route to the overall title for the xc. Check out the team site of riders and nephews racing. 
Kyia and Kris Anderson leading skills clinic in between Saturday races. Thanks much guys. I am sure it is tough to come up and not race. Lot of comments from participants so it is very much appreciated.
John Sandberg bringing in the big Itasca Sport sign originally from Grand Rapids, MN. Thanks much John, we will hang it proudly in the lodge.
Jake blowing out part of the course on Thursday. Jake blew out the entire course with the leaf blower on his back walking a lot of miles. The wind had him take issue and he was talking about blowing out Saturday night with headlamp but the wind was blowing high on tree tops and not on the forest floor so it turned out all good. Jake did all the taping this year which saved me a good chunk of time.
Jack babysitting SKJ's beautiful girl Kiera. Little people are awesome and tons of them running around over the weekend.
It isn't often the bottomless cookie jars get bottomed out. Like I said, bikers can eat!
Joe Surla one of the few riders still racing sporting the Loppet shirt from 93. Thanks again Joe and everyone else for the great weekend. One of the highlights of the weekend was riding a lap with Jake and Jon Monday afternoon before the rains moved in. The course was buffed out perfect from all the racing and was fun hearing Jake highlight the race.
2 comments:
We were riding comfortably behind Bergman until suicide and when I saw Bergman wasn't going to hit it hard, I attacked and Jake stayed with me. Then he proceeded to drop me after taking to the front at the end of the the next ski trail. If he beat me I was going to go to the front of his bike, look at the number plate and say "Is that a green plate you got on there?". lol
Good stuff Eric. Great job racin' again and thanks for waving the flag!
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