I didnt fall!, a fun game, and LOTS of pics.

Heyo! Happy Tuesday! 

Ok, so elephant in the room, you may have noticed a few changes to the ol’ blog.  I’m going to be working on some new things this week, so just bear with me as I have absolutely NO idea what I’m doing, and my skills with computers and technology are pretty slim.  When I’m done I’m hoping things are a little more organized, fun and make your time spent reading a little more enjoyable :).  Also, if any of you (all 5 of you that read this thing), have anything you would like to see me add, talk about, or whatever, comment or let me know!

Ok, now that’s out of the way, let talk about this past weekend!  It was a fun one.  As I mentioned earlier, Jake and I were heading down to Northfield, MN for the MN State Gravel Championships.  This was the inaugural race, but I have to say, after this weekend, I will definitely do it again, it was such a blast!  I was racing in a 10 mile Time Trial on Saturday morning, along with Nichole, Nathan, and our friend Craig.  Jake and I drove down that morning and met them to get our numbers and packets, then we made our way to the start.  The way a time trial works is that instead of everyone starting at the same time, you go in 30 second increments.  We took our places and one by one we took off.  The gravel roads were really nice, and I a pretty sweet bike to ride thanks to a friend (THANKS JOB!!).  I got passed by a lot of people, but I was just out there to have fun so I really didn’t care, I gave a thumbs up to everyone that flew past me (Looking at you Nathan and Craig!).  I finished in about 40 min. which I have NO clue if that’s even good or not, and I didn’t get lost or fall off my bike – win!.  Nichole came in a little bit after me – yea!  Sorry Nichole, but I need to take this one, probably the ONLY time I will ever beat you :)

waiting in the warm car before the start



how cute is Nichole?! 





action shot!


 We hung around at the finish for a bit, before heading back to Nichole and Nathan’s house.  They let us stay there for the weekend, since Jake’s race was on Sunday.  We got to their house, had some burgers for lunch, then got our cow suits on to be the designated “cheer herd” for the second race in the series that afternoon.  After we got back from that, I had a 4 mile run to do, so Jake and I went out for that.  I’m going to do you all a favor and not talk about this run, it was ugly.  A combination of doing my long run (12 miles) the previous day, and the bike race, my quads felt shredded.  I got it done, but it definitely wasn’t the most fun I’ve ever had.  We got back, cleaned up, then I got to work making dinner for the evening.  I’ll post the recipes this week, but I made sausage and black bean soup and French apple pie.  Nichole put together a tasty salad and Craig brought over homemade bread, and our other friend, Jeff (who also raced on Sunday), brought some snacks.  I would say we ate well that evening.  We also drank well too, which was helpful for me because of the game we played after dinner.


soup and salad - yum!



SO GOOD!

Ok, has anyone played or heard of Cards Against Humanity?? 

Oh, good Lord.  I don’t think I have laughed that hard in a long time.  It is the most inappropriate, hysterical game I’ve ever played, and I was in tears more than once.  My face hurt from laughing so much.  Word of advice, play this game, just not with children, and preferably after you’ve had a few drinks :).

 Sunday morning we got up, and headed over to Craig’s house to have breakfast.  Let me tell you, he makes some mean French toast.  The guys (Jake, Craig, and Jeff) got their stuff ready for their race, and we went to the start to see them off.  Their race was 88 miles….woof.  Nichole and I watched them start then went back to the house. I got in a strength workout while she did some work, and we waited for Nathan to get home (he was roller-skiing that morning).  Once he was home we drove to the finish and waited for the guys to get there.  We hung around at the finish area for a bit, they had hot soup for all the riders which was nice, and handed out prizes.

We packed up our stuff, and headed home.  It was so nice to get out of town for the weekend, even if it was only an hour away.  I already can’t wait until next year, maybe I’ll try and beat my time!



This is Stella about 10 minuted after we got home - she was pooped!