Maplelag Mayhem

Trent and I went out to Maplelag this morning only to be skunked by the formitable deer fly. About halfway through our first lap we were being eaten alive by deer flies and mosquitos. It wasn't too bad when we were on the ski trails, but in the singletrack, of which there is plenty, it was unbearable. Speaking of bears. It was like that old cartoon where the bear goes looking for honey and a swarm of bees attack and chase him through the woods until he jumps in a lake and uses a straw to breathe under water. Yeah, it was just like that except instead of bees it was deer flys. On our way out of the woods, on the ski trails, Trent said he could see a cloud of them behind me. Like they were drafting off me. It was crazy. So we went and found a nice gravel road just outside of Maplelag to put some miles on. That made up for the misery in the woods. Overall a good time was had by all. Here are a couple pictures.

Trent tried to get a picture of the chasing swarm, but all that showed up in the picture were a couple deer flies biting my right butt cheek.

Trent passing me on his cush ride.

There he goes, never to be seen again : )

My artsy shot of the ride.

Rick and I went out to Turtle River yesterday for some Nine Mile training. Rick brought his 98 Gary Fisher Kaitai. A very sweet bicycle. I have dibs on it when you decide to retire it Rick : ) Anyway we did three laps in the 90+ heat with the heat index at 106F. Very sticky. Rick got the Kaitai dialed in and ready to rock at Nine Mile. Watch out Trent : ) Here's a picture tribute to the bikes and riders of old : ) Enjoy.

Hope everyone had a good Fourth of July. I know I did. I ran the 10k race up in Grand Forks in the morning. At a blistering pace of 56:15 : ) 61st out of 88. Not too bad for zero running in months. I think the guy who won did it in 33 minutes. That'll give you some perspective as to how slow of a runner I am. Anyway, I just wanted to finish something this year. Mission accomplished. Had some good burgers and beans in the afternoon and watched the fireworks go off as a rain storm rolled into town. Crazy stuff. Here are a couple of fireworks pictures I tried to capture. I especially like the last one. Happy fifth of July!

Fun ride with Trent up at Turtle River State Park yesterday. The new jerseys were snug, but I think that made us faster : ) Less than a month until Nine Mile. Here are a couple TBB pictures.