What a weekend and first days of the week

Well, another weekend flew and it was fantastic (for the most part).
I was asked to go wrench at the Treadman Duathlon down in Pine Island, MN. I got my bike all ready to race. My Salsa El gogo is my trusty steed. I put the race wheels on and loaded it up into the truck to drive down Saturday morning. Well, 5am came very early and it was 40 degrees out. Needless to say after 2hrs of sleep, the drive down there, and me being a baby when it comes to cold weather I decided not to race. After I did the bike mechanic stuff and everyone got onto their bikes from the run I left that joint.

Sunday was the real day. Mtn bike race up in St. Cloud on the jail trail. It was a great time. I got to see the boys from Revolution Cycle and Ski. Hung out and chatted with Ron and Ben. It was good to see them and to catch up. They put on a great race and got some good support for Mid Minnesota Cycling Club. Mason, Elagnor, Oumar, Adam, and I raced. It was a blast. We all had fun, especially Mason! Mason did get some crowd points by going through the tough rock garden until he made it without stopping. I think everyone placed in their age-group except Mason and me.... Hmmm... I think it is cause I am too slow and Mason likes to please the crowd!

I was offered the 4th grade long-term sub position as well! I am very excited and nervous at the same time. I am excited to teach. It is in a great area and I will get to work with an amazing staff.  I am bummed because I wanted to go out to 24 hour mtn bike nationals to support Mike in his quest to be national champ, but I start on October 1st (possibly sooner if the teacher has her baby before then) and that is the day we would be driving back. It would have been great to hang out with everyone and run around the woods handing out nutrition/giving support to Mike. I am thinking next year???

I'm tired. Going to bed because tomorrow I am going to shadow the teacher for the day. I need to make sure I got a good group of students!

Crazy day

Ahhhh another post on the blog. I had an interview today for the West St. Paul Public Schools. The position is for a 4th grade long-term sub position. It would last from October through November. I think it went well and the atmosphere was very friendly. I could definitely see myself teaching there. I usually get nervous before an interview but today I wasn't nervous at all (which is good?) I would be pretty excited to get the position because it would put me one step closer to a full time position. I did joke and tell them I could be the next Will Schuester (from GLEE) because their school is an arts and health magnet school. They laughed and enjoyed my comment. They said they will let me know by next week. It is scary, but I love teaching. It is a great challenge that is very rewarding.

This weekend is Revolution's Single Track Escape mtn bike race. I am going to be racing it too; on Jared's single speed. It is a nice bike especially considering that when I go slow I can blame it on not having any harder gears to shift to. I am going with a lot of friends, so it will be a great time. I will race and cheer. If Mason wins the race I will buy him some Chipotle, or McDonald's...

My big race this fall is going to be the Wild Duluth 50k. I need to kick my running self into gear. I have been slacking lately and running 30-40 miles a week only. Over the next few weeks I plan on really hitting the running hard by doing some long runs and some real long runs on some trails. There are some good running trails by Gear West, but I think that Hyland has to have some of my favorite trail running (its mostly on the ski trails though). Ideally I would love to get up to Duluth and put in a long run on the hiking trail because that trail is rough, fun, and very tough. It will harden me up in no time! Hahaha.

Well I think that is all for now. I will post again very soon. Right now I am dog sitting Theo. Theo is a crazy, but a very nice dog.

 “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”

Just started!

After much flip-flopping I decided to start a blog. It will have random thoughts, race reports, exciting news things, possibly some training stuff, etc...
I have no idea how many times I will actually post, but I hope to do it frequently. I think it will be fun and I know a few people who do this blog thingy, so I might as well join the club! Haha

These pics are from a 12hr mtn bike race that my friend Mason and I did. It was the Minnesota 24 http://www.24minnesota.com  It was down in Red Wing and we did the 2-person 12hr race. We were Blokes with Spokes! Both of us rode the Surly Puglsey for the first time. That bike is awesome. I love Surly even more now after riding this bike. I never thought I would be doing something like this because I used to be head-over-heels over triathlons. Over the years I have found tris starting to become very expensive and I needed a little change. I think I have found my new sport (besides running of course!) I will be getting my own bike soon. I have been borrowing a felt nine solo from Jared (fellow mechanic and friend) and that bike is fun. Though I do need my own so I won't feel bad if I break something! Once I get that bike I think there will only be maybe 6 bikes I still would like to own... I think my goal is to be like Ben Doom, dominator of long races and owner of many awesome bikes. Also emulate Mike Schroden, destroyer of 12 and 24 hour mtn bike races!

I think that is good for a first blog post! More to come. Enjoy. Cheers? Nah, I am not cool enough for cheers.

This is me loving it

Mason killin it out there