Weekend Warriors

 Last week Jon went up to Warroad to hang out with one of his hockey buddies he has gotten to known from summer hockey, fishing and swimming in the big lake and doing Warroad stuff. Warroad played in a hs tourney last weekend and they said Jon could play with them. My dad and I went over to Friday's came to catch the action. Never thought I would see Jon wear a Warroad jersey facing off against Grand Rapids.

I'ver never watched a game in the Grand Rapids arena. Nice barn and like photos of all GR players that have played Pro.

 With da boys after the game.

 Jens played in his last tourney down in Alex over the weekend. His team won all four games to take the championship.

 Proud Grandmas.

 Sunday I went back east to meet up with Jake and race in the Great Hawk Chase mtb race which was race #5 in the Minnesota mtb series.. Bottom line it was a great race. The first lap was brutal. The start was fast, 10 minutes of all out ski trail pounding before we finally hit the singletrack. Last two laps were a total blast and racing sensations haven't experienced in 5 years. Went down hard after taking some risks trying to put a little time on Jeff Colbert but thankfully came through with no. Full report and video on skinnyski report.

The course had one technical section with a nice rock garden and the rest was super fast flowy bermy stuff. Fun stuff for sure. Passed by Quadna, home of the former Snappling Snapper and Spirit Mountain which had the Powder Monkey, on the way home and those were courses that were my cup of tea. Raw, rough, technical. Everything new built these days is purpose built which appeals to most riders and bottom line is a good thing.

 Monday afternoon back east again. Jonell and I took Jack to Italian Camp near Hackensack. There were 6 stations to stop by for check in. One was the mess hall for espresso shots and fresh cookie.

 There is a old sauna right on the lake that probably isn't seeing much action this week with the hot temps.

 Being a stone throw from Akeley, had to swing by Paul Bunyan State Forest for some deep woods dirt bike trail mountain biking. Lot of rain over the weekend in the area combined with rain forest like conditions. Rode for 1.5hrs, finding more new singletrack from the last time I was there. There is some incredible riding there from forest road, specifically built technical atv trail and dirt bike only trails including some that are super technical and don't get roosted and ridden so much since tight. If you are in the area, check it out. Ask Steve Wenzel for some good heads up as he has pounded some serious miles up there. You could do close to a 100 mile mostly singletrack loop in the entire forest.