Summer to Fall

Every summer there are always a couple storms that bring a few trees down. Whether it was the saturated ground or the shear strength of the wind, we had one storm early July that brought down nearly 200 trees, the time when we were in Iceland. The same storm took down probably hundreds of thousands of trees in northern MN. Some places worse such as the Hill City area. Two weeks after that big storm, we had a few more trees come down. The first time I was on the Laddies Loppet bike course after we were in Iceland, there were probably 75 trees down on the course. Not something you want to come home to when you are on vacation but better now than the day before the bike race or after 6" of fresh snow that has just been groomed out!

   

 I posted a ride on Strava with photos of the downed trees and within a hour or so, 4 people contacted me within 30 minutes offering to help. All were different days so it worked out perfect. We were able to clear all the trees in four days and can't thank Collin Gunderson (above) Steve Wenzel, Pat Crary and Ben Olson for their help.

Steve helping clear a big red oak. This is on new trail, big time mess some really nice trees coming down.

Ben helping clear the last tree on the fourth day!

Pat blowing and clearing sticks!

A few days later after we cleared all those initial trees, we had another storm blow down 12 trees on the bike course alone. Jens helped me clear all those trees. Jens a big help the rest of the summer doing dirt work and what not on the course.

 

I would like to say Hudson helped out but he was the usual side kick like always.  This is the last downhill on the Twin Lakes singletrack, took about 3 hours to clear this area.

 

Summer happenings.....Jack serving up a couple of fresh pizzas this summer. Jack worked at the pizza "shack" this summer, working at nights including a few days a week with the closing shift. That would make for a late night, sometimes not home until 2-3am. Now with school and cross country starting, just working on Sunday nights. Mom and dad proud of his commitment and dedication.

Jens carving it up on a still evening. Water skied more this year than probably any summer.

 Hit up a couple mountain bike races in August, including the MNMBS race at Spirit Mountain. Spirit hadn't been used in a few years but one of my favorite courses in the Midwest if not the country. Good old school mountain biking with sustained climbing and technical descending. Ben Olson and I raced together the entire time which was appropriate considering how close we are in fitness etc. It's been awesome to train with Ben once a week or so. His skill set and fitness level for only racing four four years is impressive.

Last year I did the Seeley Pre-Fat and had a blast so was on top of the list if it worked out. Scheduled allowed and Jonell and Jens came along. Rained all night and most of the race making for some good old fashioned mud, slim and drivetrain riding.

Last forest road pretty soupy. Not able to use the whole course with fears of damaging trail, good call, just made for more forest road than liked. All good.

Spend the night and next day in Duluth, checking out the tall ships and hooked up with Jake and his girlfriend Anna.

Sunday Jens, Jake and I look advantage of the lifts at Spirit mountain. First time lift service mountain biking. We had a good time and hope to get back this fall but not likely.

I said I would never lift service mountain bike!!

End of August Jon finished his training at MAP in the cities. Big shout to the Horsager family for hosting. His hand heeled up nicely and back to full on training and able to sneak in a mountain bike ride at home with Jake and I before heading to Sioux Falls fall camp with hopes to make the final roster cut.

Send off!

A few days later after Jon went down, I went down for the evening for a meet and greet with players, families and team personal.

Excited for this new opportunity for Jon, doing what he loves to do.

Labor day weekend was the 26th Laddies Loppet at Maplelag. It has become a very special weekend for us with so many friends made over the years and humbled by the loyalty of folks that keep coming back year after year. It is neat to see guys that now have kids, many in the mid teens ripping it up. With the Maplelag course being more "classic" or "old school" it is assuring to see the parents introduce and export them to this with the majority of new trail build being flow trail. The race weekend is always a nice time for most of the Maplelag Mountain Bike Racing team to get together. Keeps growing every year. Top notch people that do a lot outside of racing for the mountain bike community.

Jake was back for the week, mixing it up in the racing action, having fun with solid results both days.

If you read the Iceland post, you saw my excitement for the waffle station. It really was a hit to me so I talked to Jonell about doing it for the Laddies Loppet. We served up waffles to the longer races, thanks Deb, Amanda and Carlene and staff for a job well done.

Nothing is official until Jonell signs off on it! Jonell continues to go above and beyond making things work and top shelf.

The short track races on Sunday something always look forward to. Each race was exciting, especially the Sport, Comp and Expert races that had sprint finishes. Great stuff.

All together at the lake cabin before everyone was went on their way to Fall happenings. The time together was short but always good.