Border Battle & Brandi

First off, Monte had the chance to compete in the inaugural Border Battle, race #9 in the 2008 Wisconsin Off Road Series (WORS) and race #8 of the 2008 Minnesota State Championship Series (MNSCS). It was held on Sunday. He had a great time, felt the best he's ever felt during a race, and placed 8th in his age group finishing at 1:11:36.6. Ani enjoyed watching Daddy too.

Secondly, Monte and I left the little one with Hagens last night to see the wonderful Brandi Carlile at the Fair. She played a free show at the Leinie Lodge Bandshell and like the other 2 times we've seen her, she was phenomenal. Her voice is so good live. 

After the show, we see people lined up for autographs - so I get in line. Everyone else in line seemed to have an album, CD, or play list for her to sign....I have nothing! The only paper I could find in my purse was old receipts and it seemed cheesy for me to ask her to sign the back of my ATM receipt, so I thought - my shirt. I was wearing a Brandi Carlile shirt that Monte had bought me for Christmas last year. 

So I get up to her and kind of clam up, not really sure what to say.... and Monte is going to make fun of me forever for this, because all I said to her was "Can you sign my shirt?" And she said "Sure." That's it. That was our conversation, if you can call it that. No "Hi Brandi." No "Love your music." No "Great show tonight." Just me asking her to sign my shirt and then she moved on to the person behind me. Nice work! 

RAGBRAI - Day 4

July 23, 2008

Left the Sig Ep house at 6:15 am. A/C, bathroom, and laundry were awesome. Feeling a little slow/hungover today. I stopped for awesome cinnamon roll and coffee as well as farm boys' breakfast burrito. Best. Food. Period. 

Ran into Des Moines guy; he was pushing compared to my tired legs. I did not ride like the first three days. It was mostly a flat day. I took a good dip in a swimming pool that no one else stopped for, which was weird. Also stopped at a slip-n-slide and for the world's best homemade ice cream sandwich - great conversation with a grandmother who was trying to send her kids to Spain with the proceeds.

Tonight, I'm camping by a pool and watching crazy guys belly flop all night. There was a baked potato bar which was OK - and Jim in the RV next to me gave me a plate of spaghetti. I think he felt bad for me. Camping by Team Old Yeller who I camped by the first day. Can you say Joe? Low humidity and cooler temps were nice but head winds were tough. It's 8:40 pm - good night.

RAGBRAI - Day 3

July 22, 2008

Up and at 'em early - 5:38 am. I had breakfast at camp, Kris Kakes at 6 am. It was a fundraiser for the local girls' swim team. The day flew by - the only good stops were Ogden and Boone. In Ogden, there was an ice-cold cafeteria that was empty (daddy likey!) For those who know me well, I don't like heat!

I met up with a family from Des Moines in Boone. The young kid had a Motorola jersey on, which I thought was cool. By noon, I had made it to the destination city of the day - beautiful Ames, home of the mighty Clones. Zach and Steve helped me get a room at the Sig Ep house - A/C, baby! Also had the luxury of a nice shower and shave AND got to do a load of my laundry. 

Debated on HP, Whiskey Creek, or Great Plains. Styx and the Nadas played that night... at first I thought people were saying the band's name was "Six", so I didn't know who they were, but was confused that somehow Roti did! After the shows - day old Jimmy John's bread. 

RAGBRAI - Day 2

July 21, 2008

What a great morning - woke up to a beautiful sky at 5:38 am and had pancakes and sausage before leaving town. I rode the 100-mile route today, which meant all hills all the time.

Along the way, I ran into Kevin and Karrie from California. Karrie is from St. Paul. Also met a girl named Rose who rode with me for a bit, she was riding a Colnago. I spoke with a guy around my age at lunch from Wisconsin. He talked about wanting to tour more. 

After a long day in the saddle, I had dinner with Jerry from camp at the Elks Club - they had good pasta and an awesome marshmallow brownie dessert.

RAGBRAI - Day 1

Excerpts from Monte's journal during RAGBRAI...

July 20, 2008

The morning started off slow. We were stopped at a train for about 5 minutes. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Weather is better than average, 70 degrees and high humidity. With the wind in our face we rode the rolling hills of western Iowa. Surprisingly many folks don't like hills. Even with my 30+ pounds in gear, the hills were enjoyable to me as were the rows of corn.

We stopped in every town on the way for water and a bite to eat. The most unusual sight of the day was the lady riding with a dog - who had its own helmet. She had a sticker on her bike which read "You would look look hotter with a helmet."

We had an awesome lunch at a meat market in Minden. Ran into Roti, fellow Cyclone, who did the whole ride as well. My parents and I ate dinner together - unfortunately, a guy we dubbed "Rude Dude" decided to eat at the same restaurant, and he was not a happy camper with all the RAGBRAI folks riding through his town and the fact that dinner at the local diner was $1 more than normal which was 8 bucks.

I found a place to tent and met Joe/Doctor/Garrison Keeler fan. Now I'm off for some suds....

2:30 AM: Wind hail on its way. Big dilemma - pack it all up or not. Jerry who is a self contained rider says yes so I do. I end up at a house across the road - FALSE ALARM. Put tent back up. It's cool.

Big and Small

OK, this photo makes our daughter look super small while at the same time making the papasan chair look enormous! Thought it was funny.

It's the Small Stuff

Small milestone... no crying during Ani's bath tonight!  :)