2010 City of Lakes Loppet

3 year old Dylan skiing the Luminary Loppet

6 year old Gunnar in front and 4 Year old Wyatt behind.

Both pause from racing for a quick picture

It doesn't happen much anymore but I made the podium

Lynn going into the Spiral of Death

After spending many hours getting two sets of tires studded up for Lynn (wife) and myself ,the Penn Ice-Cycle Loppet would be a great test for my weary body and the new skins. After finishing the Arrowhead Ultra four days before I was ready for some super intense lung busting racing. (not) The race went well fortunately for me the third place guy flatted and I rode to a third place finish. yeah. Up next was Lynn, I managed to snap off a couple of pics at the start and the first few laps. I admit I chatted with friends for most of her race and missed the three crashes she took due to lack of sidewall studs in her tires. I did manage to see her finish 5th ,not bad for not riding since October.

The day was not over yet, now it was time to cruise back home and pick up the kiddies and bring them back for the Luminary Loppet. Having rented skis for the kids (all 3 of them) a few days before,I was leary as to whether we would make it five feet much less 5K . They did great, we practiced on Friday and by the time we hit the Luminary it was old hat for them. We made it around the lake much sooner than we thought. With that we had time to check out the snow sculptures and see if we could score some free hot chocolate. With the kids donning chocolate moustaches it was now around 10pm and time to head home. Exhausted from the days activities, it was a perfect day.

Pics from creek ride

Creek Ride

Some guy peeing on my van

This ride turned out to be the best MLK day I've ever had. I got out of work early and called a couple friends. Luckily they both had the day off and were earger to ride ,the weather was perfect, 25-30 and sunny. We did about 6-7 miles of road until we reached a good ice covered section of Minnehaha creek. From there we went a good five miles upcreek until it turned to snow again. Backtracking from there we exited at Lake Harriet and continued around the lakes to the Midtown Greenway with a stop for some ethnic delights at the Global Market. Once inside while munching on eggrolls in the entryway Mark thought it would be a good idea to show how quickly he could activate his blackjack collapsible batton. A passerby explained how bad those things hurt, we belived him. From there we continued on to the Mississippi River, dropping in under the Lake street bridge. Riding on large rivers is a bit freaky ,but all the foot traffic made it seem acceptable. Exiting near the Ford lock and dam we made are way back to the vehicles on the other side of the river from Fort Snelling. Winter rides don't get much better.