MNSCS #8 - Border Battle MN vs. WI

White Tail Ridge in River Falls, WI - August 16.

Flowing, fast hardpack singletrack; roots and rocks; short, steep downhill and uphill sections; uphill switchbacks; grassy, wide open field sections; technical climbs; generous amount of flowing doubletrack.... According to the MNSCS site, this describes the Border Battle Race this morning. 

Monte's race results*:

Sport Men 35-39

6th place in age group

45th place overall

*official results not on the website yet, but these are the stats Monte gave me when he looked at the results posted right after the race.

Start of the race - Monte is in a blue shirt with white helmet.

The finish

It's my vote to have a community play area at every bike race! 

MNSCS #7 - Buck Hill Birch Bump

Buck Hill Birch Bump in Burnsville - August 9.

This fun and fast cross-country course covers a 2.7 mile loop. The trails offer some fun single track and a small amount of climbing. 

Monte's race results:

Sport Men 35-39

2nd place in age group

29th place overall

Time: 1:00:56

Start of race. Monte is in the green.

Packy is in red.

Ani and her new friend Claire with a cow bell. Go Daddy!

What is this? Ani is learning to share?! Amy, Ani, Mariza, and Caden after the race.

MNSCS #5 - Memorial Classic

Memorial Classic in Red Wing, MN - July 12.

This Red Wing course offered fast sections for strong riders, tight and twisty single track for the technically adept, and a few good climbs for those who like to go up. Monte's favorite course thus far.

Monte's race results:

Sport Men 35-39

1st place in age group! (out of 11 riders in that class/age group)

31st place overall

Time: 1:15:40

Start of the race. Monte's the 2nd one from the left in a black jersey, white helmet.

The exciting finish - Monte pulling ahead of his competitor just in the nick of time. That guy ended up being 2nd place in his age group so it was a tight race.

Note: We missed MNSCS #4 - we were in Iowa.

MNSCS #3 - Dirt Spanker

Dirt Spanker Classic in Mt. Du Lac - June 14.

With a 5-mile loop that consisted of leg burning climbs, screaming descents and rolling singletrack, this course challenges every rider! 

Monte's race results:

Sport Men 35-39

4th place in age group 

26th place overall

Time: 1:17:01

A little mishap on the way up a climb going into his second lap.... Monte's chain got caught in between the spokes and the cog of the rear cassette. He had to stop on the hill and remove the rear wheel to fix it, which cost him a couple of minutes. The 3rd place guy in his age group only finished 15 seconds ahead of him, so he was close to being top 3.  

Start of the race - Ani and I watched from the middle of the hill.

Monte's in the green shirt. This was the start of the race.... an uphill climb that, and I quote Monte, "made Whistler seem like child's play!"

Continuing up.

The downhill finish.

Note: We missed MNSCS #2 - Monte was in Canada.

 

MNSCS #1 - Erik's Spring Cup

And the mountain bike season is upon us again! Today was the kickoff of the MNSCS in Inver Grove Heights. Monte took 1st place in his age group in the sport class, and 3rd place overall! 

Sport - Men 35 to 39 

Total Finishers in this class/age group: 27 

 

Monte Dirks 1:01:20.3 1st place

Matthew Johnson 1:01:22.7 2nd place

Reinhart Baumann 1:03:11.1 3rd place.... etc.

Starting line - Monte's in the blue jersey

Mike is in the HOP jersey and Monte is rounding the corner behind him.

Ani tackling Chubbers, the most popular dog at the race.

HOP team

A Day of Firsts

Yesterday was definitely a day of firsts.... Hagen's 1st mountain bike race, Newman's 1st race (as of lately) where he did not have any issues with his bike breaking down, and Monte's 1st place finish!

The final race for the MNSCS series was in St. Cloud on Saturday. Monte got out in front of the pack right at the start, which was his goal. It's definitely easier that way rather than trying to pass riders on the narrow bike trails through the woods. A bunch of us watched the race at certain points, so it was exciting to see Monte in the lead and then finish 1st in his age group and 1st overall in the sport class! He received a cool granite trophy with a disc brake rotor attached to the top and was even interviewed afterwards for the MNSCS website. Nice work, Monte!

Lipstick on a Pig

The subject seemed appropriate considering all that went on this past week in the crazy political world. A friend mentioned to me the other day how the media and politicians are such parasites and feed off each other, thus sometimes fabricating stories that aren't even relevant to any of the real issues they should be discussing. How true. Can't wait for this whole political B.S. to be done with so we can quit hearing about both campaigns!

Maybe it's extra irritating since I've now reverted back to being a little sleep deprived again! Ani was doing so well sleeping the whole night through for over a month up until 2 weeks ago. Now she wakes up at least once, sometimes twice, a night. That's rough when you're used to 8+ hours of solid, uninterrupted sleep! But we think she's going through a growth spurt and/or possibly teething. She will be 4 months old after this coming week. Time is FLYING with her!

I'm still on the lookout for a part-time job. My extended maternity leave has been nice though, I can't complain. I've had a few interviews - had 2 offers but one of the jobs sounded extremely boring and it was 35-40 hours a week (hello, part-time?!), and the other one sounded good, it was 2-1/2 days a week, close to the daycare we have picked out and everything - but the pay was horrible! We would have paid the daycare more per hour to watch Ani than I would be making!

Monte's got a big weekend ahead - 2 bike races. The last race for the MNSCS is in St. Cloud on Saturday and the other one is Sunday's Urban Assault Ride: "Pedal-powered teams of two hit checkpoints all over town - completing crazy obstacle courses at each stop." Monte and Newman are the twosome. Lots of biking to look forward to.

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! 

2nd MNSCS race and ramblings

So I've challenged myself to ride as many of the MNSCS races this year as summer entertainment. The second race in a series of 10 was held last Sunday @ Afton Alps our so called ski hill up here in Minnesota. While it's lack of altitude or shall I say incline does not pose a threat during the winter months when I occasional ski there...riding up the hill numerous times on a mountain bike after 4 days of rain was not the best use of my time. Lets just say I jumped out to a good start being in the top 6 for the first lap but soon found my legs to be a be inadequate on this day. The course not only proved to be wet, muddy, and down right treacherous on the descents. I ejected from my bike on the first lap in a rock garden that was more like a mud slide. After picking up the pieces I made my way through the rest of the race without incident (I cannot say the same for Newman). In the 30 to 35 year old class I finished 10th and 44th over all so I guess it wasn't the worst day on the bike. Newman who is world renowned for having bike issues incurred a flat tire before the race even started by riding over an old lift ticket thingamajig that hangs from your coat. While the tire was repaired before the race started Newman soon found this to be the least of his worries. Shortly after finishing the race I noticed Newman had beat me to the finish line which could have happen but I didn't remember him passing me. Come to find out his rear derailleur ripped completely off rendering the bike useless. Newman's bad luck with the bike continues.

In other news I was out for an evening bike ride through ST Paul and witnessed a gentleman free climbing a retaining wall (weird) and a 14 year old boy boxing with his dad in the park ( straight out of rocky). I also found a tape measure on the ride today but did not pick it up. However, if anyone needs a tape measure I 'll ride by there tomorrow and get it for you.

Erik's Spring Cup

Even though this was a couple weeks ago, I wanted to give a shout out to Monte for placing 6th in his class on his 1st mountain bike race of the season! Erik's Spring Cup was in Inver Grove Heights on May 11th. There are 10 or 11 races this season for the Minnesota State Championship Series (MNSCS) and he plans on participating in the majority of them.