Halloween Bunny

Happy Halloween!

Moms & Babies from our childbirth prep class: Robin & Colette, Kara & Selah, Kelsey & Tate, Kelley & Shannon, Mia & Ani

Cold Snow Wind Rain

Can you say COLD SNOW RAIN WIND... I think there were other 4 letter words uttered like pain and hurt but it was an awesome course at Green Acres tubing hill in Lake Elmo. The course included a sand crossing, epic hill climb, fast descents, muddy switchbacks and a great bunch of spectators to brave the 37 degree 58 MPH winds. There were 35 men in the cat 4 race poised to push each other to their limits. The race started by sending the group to the first climb of the day. I was caught behind a group that quickly dismounted and slowed the pace. I managed to weave my way through the bunch and made my up the lung busting hill. With my heart rate maxed out I settled in to ride with the lead group. Too many over achievers in the group and 3 riders got away after the first set of barriers.

I remained on the hunt the entire race hoping my mountain bike skills would help me catch the roadies that broke away early. I had one slight mishap when a rider went down in the sand crossing directly in front of me and tested my bike handling skills. I cleared the sand section without hitting a fellow rider and keeping myself up right. The near accident gave me a rush of adrenaline that enabled me to actually stay on the bike for the next accent(I ran up the hill 2 of 5 laps).

With the help of the cowbell crew (more cow) and my mother handing off water bottles to me each lap I finished 7th overall. Mark representing the House of Pizza improved from the previous day to finish a respectable 12th place. Still no sign of Ray........ there must have been a warm pot of coffee and gooey pastries nearby.

Beard Contest

Who's beard is better? http://checkoutmybeard.blogspot.com

Afton CX

Monte raced cyclo-cross at Afton on Saturday and his parents were up for the weekend as well. It was a sunny but cold autumn day. Hagen's came out to show their support too. This climb looked pretty grueling! Monte took 10th place on his class and Mondloch took 16th. 

The Wrong Way

Monte competed in a cyclo-cross race held at the Devil's Glen Park in Bettendorf, IA on Sunday. My parents came and thoroughly enjoyed watching Monte jump over hurdles with his bike. They had never seen anything like it before. Anyway, there were maybe 20-25 participants in the race. Monte started off great, he was right up front... then all of a sudden we hear "Wrong way! You're going the wrong way!" Yep - Monte veered off-course in a poorly marked area, therefore losing his nice lead. Needless to say, this really irked him and gave him plenty of motivation and adrenaline to catch up with the leaders....

And catch up he did! Most exciting race I've seen him do so far - by the time the last lap came around, he had shortened the gap between himself and the leader, Will, by only 10 seconds. Everyone was going nuts. And in the course of that last lap, Monte passed Will on the running-up-hill-with-your-bike part and never looked back! He won - even though he lost time and went off-course at the beginning!

Will was a cool guy - he and Monte shook hands after the race and Will said he just "bonked" on that last lap. And I think he was surprised to hear that Monte was the guy who had gone off-course... and still won! (yes, I'm proud)

What a Payne

Vanessa is now a Payne! :) She and Josh got married this past Saturday in Iowa. What a fun wedding! Congrats and hope everyone was feeling OK on Sunday morning.... the keg beer, Dos Eqius, and Tecate were free-flowing most of the evening!

Theo Wirth

Cyclo-cross race in Theo Wirth this past Sunday. There were 103 riders in my class - several more than last weekend. Newman, Bill C., and Ray all rode. It was nice to have spectators there along with the fam (thanks Mollie, Hagen and Chad). Beautiful fall colors. Fast race - best I've felt during a race, even though I felt like I was going to throw up beforehand. 

 

Beer & Wisconsin

Ani's 1st beer...? Well, not really, but it was her 1st Grantoberfest!

Also, Monte was in South Dakota the majority of last week for work, so Ani and I took a short trip to Wausau, WI to see the Bueno family. They just had their little boy, Gage, 3 weeks ago. Funny to see the difference in size between the two...

 

She's a Star... for 3 seconds

Yes, Ani did make her TV debut last Saturday morning! The video is below - she shows up about the 3:21 mark, so I'll spare you from watching the entire thing (unless you want to learn how to make a juicy lucy in your own kitchen).  

Cyclo-Cross Recap

Short legs make for bad crossers. Good cyclo-crossers make it look incredibly easy. Dry courses (Saturday) are much easier to ride than wet, sandy, muddy ones (today). Running in sand sucks - but running in sand with your bike on your shoulder.... impossible and energy-depleting. Mountain bikers are more courteous than cyclo-crossers. Road bikers are too skinny. Running, biking, and jumping over stuff makes you really exhausted. People watching cross races shouldn't drink the free coffee. My shoulder hurts from carrying my bike - lifting 20 lbs. repeatedly on your shoulder hurts. I like cross.

TV Debut

Ani will be making her TV debut this coming Saturday... 

Jana, Ani and I did lunch at the 5-8 Club today. The restaurant is celebrating their 80th anniversary this year with all kinds of festivities. So today, an employee approached us and asked all about Ani, how old she was, etc. She commented that they didn't regularly serve tables with 2 younger gals and a baby and asked if we would mind being filmed for a spot on Kare 11, a local news station. 

A few minutes later, a camera man came to our table and filmed Ani just hanging out in her car seat. I think it's just going to be a quick snippit of her in a video collage showing other 5-8 Club patrons, but still - it's her 1st TV appearance, so that's kind of cool. Such a random thing! 

Ani Jo

Here are some recent pics of our little peanut...

Monte's 1st cyclo-cross races are this weekend. The Legolas will be making its debut!