Jack celebrated his 12th last week. Had a couple of friends over than we went up to the lake cabin for the night as well for some good times. Said this probably a few weeks ago, kids are growing up TOO FAST!
A couple of weeks ago a nice white oak lakeside was struck by lightning. There was a Paul Bunyan size tooth pick that came out of the ordeal and the tree looked like it was going to hang on but probably go through a slow death with the crack. Last week it spit in two from wind.
It fell right on the lakeside singletrack covering up a pretty long section.
Basically cut it up to make clear for the singletrack.
The trees that fall on the trails, just the birch, maple and oak, we cut up to blocks, if we can, and split for the wood stoves. This year we have a student for Macedonia helping out for the summer. His name is Kire and he has been awesome. His work ethic is incredible with a great attitude, no complaining or reasoning. He definitely has split more than any other student. All the sheds are full pretty much and the pile above is reserve. Ready for early snow and cold!
Last week he helped me out most days and was fun visiting with him and learning about his culture a bit. He is going to school to learn how to run a winery. He has family that is in the business now and told he how they will pick grapes for 10 days straight up to 10 hours a day in 30 Celsius. The end of the week was a sad one for him as he lost his two best friends in a freak car/train accident. A group of five were going down this mountain type road and lost control and rolled on to a train track. No one died but some were in rough shape. The ones okay were pulling others out of the car before a train came and hit his best friend and another friend as they were not able to get out in time. Just makes you sick.
Pulaski work on the main loop. The Twin lakes loop is riding really nice and should be a great addition to the race this year. It isn't quite as demanding with not as steep up and downs and has pretty good flow with more pumpy and bermy stuff. If you pre-ride anything before the race, do the loop so you know where the typical surprise stuff is.
Saturday Tom Heilman and the FM Trailbuilders put on a race at Johnson park. Jake and I made the short trip over to partake in the action. It was a real fun course actually and they did a great job working with what they had and the challenges of a very wet summer and the Red River that wiped out a lot of trail this spring. A ongoing battle but they are plugging away to keep some trails open and opportunities for mtbers in the area. The regulars were there including the Wenzel family and good to see them. Has been to long and not frequent enough. It felt good to pin a number on again and do a race. I did a race here back in the 90's and these types of events are great. You don't feel like you have to ride a certain bike, drive a certain car or belong to a a certain health club. Not sure if it will work to do any series races this year, guess it would only be one, but maybe do a few cross races include state cx if it works out. Just being able to ride and feel more normal without the arms and upper shoulders totally getting tight and stiff is great.
Jonell and I finally got out on the tandem. Screaming down the forest roads with the big wheels always a good time. The sugar creek road is perfect for it and never gets old riding on this back road east side of Big Sugarbush lake.
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