State Cyclocross

Yesterday was the State Cyclocross Race - click on link to view some amazing photos. Unfortunately you won't see any of Monte during his actual Cat 3 race, but you will see he and Hagen trying to dodge a punch or two?! I guess the bullhorn heckling didn't sit well w/ some Wisconsin folks.

The weather was extra fun too - Monte honestly enjoyed all the snow because it made it a "true" cyclocross race and was more technical, which is what he's good at. So the "roadies" had a tougher time. Even the guys who continually took 1st and 2nd place in the Cat 3 races all season didn't finish - they just dropped out.

Monte was in 5th on the first lap and ended up in 12th. I wish we could have seen more of the race, but Ani and I were huddling together for warmth under the heated tent and she really didn't last too long w/ all the bulky snow gear we had her in - I was even in my entire ski outfit sans ski boots! Wet and heavy snow all day.

What are we going to do every weekend now that the cc season is over??? And if you want see what the race really looked like, here is a super cool video of the Cat 1/2 race.

Jackson Meadows & Green Acres

Both of these cyclo-cross races were two weekends ago.

Jackson Meadows

Awesome action shot!

Green Acres

Ani is such a good cheerleader, you can hear her in the background switching between "Go Daddy" and "Go Monte". Monte is in the blue jersey, white helmet, red bike.

Halloween

Ani posing by the "indoor" pumpkin and hoping it doesn't get eaten by squirrels like the rest of our "outdoor" pumpkins did!

Monte now rides Cat 3 cyclo-cross this year. I have a few videos of the race from last weekend at Green Acres that I will eventually post. This one was from the Fridley Fright Cyclo-Cross race on Halloween. Monte placed 20th in his category.

Super excited for candy!

Thanksgiving in Pictures

Thanksgiving last weekend was spent in Iowa with my family. We did a lot in the 36 hours we were there!

Ani & Meggie

Look at all those blue eyes - 2nd cousins Ella & Avery

Marcy with baby Preston

Jingle Cross Race in Iowa City. Monte was going to ride in it but had been sick the week before. We saw a lot of MN bikers, which was neat. One word can describe the experience pretty well - muddy!

Crazy Jingle Cross hill

Crazy daughter

Being silly with Papa

3 generations

Gage & Kennedy stopped by

Out at Hoot Owl Hill

Jami hooked up the Belgian horses and took us for a ride

On the hayrack ride

CX Championships

MN State Championships in Crystal, MN - Saturday, Nov 14

7th in category

7th overall

Monte and Hagen raced while Amy played photographer. Hagen was told there was a prize for last place (DFL) so he was shooting for that, but I believe he ended up 2nd to last.

Nice work on this one, Amy - a great motion shot! Aaron is in total focus and the background is blurred. I need to use this mode for the next race!

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GP Zac Daap CX in Crystal, MN - Sunday, Nov 15

12th in category

14th overall

Basically same race course but different day and not the championships.

And another CX season we can close the book on. They go so fast and are a lot of fun. This weekend, we'll be sitting around wondering what to do with ourselves. :)

Halloween & CX Weekend

Our little cow.... We had a couple Halloween celebrations last week - a childbirth class party at Kara & Morgan's, a pumpkin carving party at her school, and of course her first time trick-or-treating around the neighborhood (which really meant gathering candy for Mom & Dad, although we did give her 2 small Reese's to eat once we returned home!) It was fun for Monte & I as well, as we were able to meet more of our neighbors and it was just a nice feeling to see everyone out that night.

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Red Barn CX in Taylors Falls, MN - Saturday, Oct 31

10th in category

10th overall

Coldest one yet. Monte didn't feel the best going into it. We had to sit in the car to watch the last 2 laps - reason #1: it was freezing; reason #2: Ani threw a fit and was on "constant whine" mode. In the car she was fine!

Crossinacs Fridley Fall Back in Fridley, MN - Sunday, Nov 1

8th in category

8th overall

This course mostly wrapped around the grounds of the middle school.

Green Acres Is The Place To Be

Green Acres CX in Lake Elmo, MN - Sunday, Oct 25

7th in category

7th overall

We did the Green Acres course last season as well. This course is a lot of fun - there are steep hills, good recovery areas, plenty of mud and sand to ride through, and a lot of spectators. We started off up the steep hill in order to string out the riders, so I knew I had to put the hammer down right away to get up front.

Coming off the hill, I was in 2nd place and that quickly changed to 1st place. I knew there was a group of strong riders behind me so I just needed to push myself as hard as possible to stay out in front and hope the other guys couldn't hang. It felt awesome to be out in front with people chasing me, hearing my name over the loud speaker, and people cheering for me who didn't even know me.

I'm not really a road biker like the rest of these guys who are about 140 lbs. dripping wet. My boyish figure caught up to me and I couldn't sustain the pace I had set. The major climb proved to be my undoing. It was a great day of racing and I had a lot of fun. Probably was the best course we'll ride all year.

And they're off!

The initial climb

Making the switchback descent (Monte's in 2nd)

Just about ready to take the lead

Down He Goes

The Bikery's Jackson Meadow CX in Marine on St. Croix, MN - Saturday, Oct 24

The race course was set up on the Marine Trail System surrounding the very architecturally unique Jackson Meadow Community. Course consisted of a mixture of well-marked, wide and relatively smooth grassy hiking paths, plus blacktopped roads.

14th in category

16th overall

Beautiful day for the race. At the beginning, Monte was in the top 10 but he unfortunately took a spill at the end of the 1st lap and lost 5 or 6 spots. He and Hagen enjoyed the course and we all marveled at the interesting white homes in Jackson Meadow.

Race Results

Nice warm weekend for CX races in Wisconsin. We're happy that the autumn weather has finally made an appearance, and not winter.

Baker Orchard CX in Centuria, WI - Saturday, Oct 17

Riders raced through a historic 100-year-old orchard barn.

16th in category

17th overall

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Big Ring Flyers CX in Hudson, WI - Sunday, Oct 18

Race was mostly flat, set up around the Hudson YMCA.

10th in category

10th overall

Ani cheering for Dad