Taking a leap...

Turns out, somebody is a lot crazier than I am.

Dirty Kanza

May or may not get into this race, so I signed up for the Dirty Kanza last night.

200 miles of gravel goodness in Kansas should be interesting.

Amazing Soup

Only three days back at school and I am already missing the pleasures of being home. Few things make the holidays as special when spent with family, but great food always helps make it memorable as well. The smell of a certain meal can take you back to the very place you ate it and revive many memories of the people you ate it with. Certain dishes like my Mom's delicious holiday bread during December and Amy's pickle roll particularly stand out when thinking about the holidays. When thinking back on my travel experiences, along with the sights seen, my mind always comes back to the meals ate at night with the people I shared the day with are the memories that stand out the most.

This holiday was no different. Aj made some awesome meals, Mom made me two awesome breads that came out fresh at night and were gone by the lunch the next day, and Dad whipped up the best soup I have ever had.

School is fun, but home cooked meals will always be something cherished.

Pottery

May as well get a few posts submitted on the blog during January term. This past fall I took a pottery course at Luther and I have found an art form that I really enjoy. I am still working on a lot of skills on the wheel and I have learned some hand building techniques that I enjoy as well. It has been a great way to relax and relieve some of the stress created during the rigors of studying.

Here are some of the pieces I completed this past fall and a link of more on my flickr account.

Enjoy.

Look on the bright side

I love the fall!

Fall is my favorite time of the year. Cool temperatures make the air fresh and sharp. Leaves turning all sorts of colors make it a great time of year to be outside.

I was out over the weekend trying to do my part in trail maintenance. Raked about 3/4 of the pines before my rake broke. Turned out to come in handy that I was able to get out and clean Saturday afternoon, as we used the pines for part of the monthly time trial last night. Our time trial was the first "night ride" I have had in a long time. I forget how incredible it is to ride in the woods at night. Our trails provide excellent scenery while riding along the ridge above town. Coming up the hill from complete darkness besides your headlight providing you with 20 feet of visibility to viewing Decorah lit up through the trees is pretty awesome.





I am going to visit Aj in Portland on Friday. School has been terribly busy which is a bummer because I thought my senior year should be a little more relaxed. We start fall break on Friday until Wednesday so I will be spending my time out west. Aj has some awesome things planned while I am there. I am hoping for a bike tour of Portland over the weekend and on Tuesday we are climbing Mount St. Helens. It's going to be an awesome break!

Heck of the North

This past weekend was the first annual Heck of the North gravel race in Duluth, MN. 102 miles of some of the most scenic, remote, and beautiful countryside I have ever seen. Total time on the day was 8 hours exactly. 7 hours 30 minutes on the bike. Very happy to get my first gravel/endurance race and gravel century out of the way. Heading into the race I was nervous because of my lack of training, but the legs held up well. Nutrition went as smooth as it could have (Thanks, Aj) and still had more gas than expected at the end of the race. I feel as though I could have pushed harder, but with it being my first race I did not know exactly what to expect. Looking forward to the next event I can participate in and work on improving.

Here is a link to the few photos I took during the race. The race itself was approximately 75% gravel (washboard), 10% pavement and 5% "singletrack." Check make sure to check out the "singletrack" pictures. That stuff was nuts and not ridable by my standards....kudos to anybody who attempted.

Go Easy.