Man, what a great weekend!
Halloween Friday night, weather was perfect for the kids running around the neighborhood. I quarantined myself to the garage and did some serious damage to the junk that I have had sitting on my shelves for years as it is good to get rid of useless stuff. Kriston who loves the whole Halloween deal was on candy patrol. Matt and Ben did what kids of their age do on this special night - probably better that we did not know what they were doing as they were at home on time and we did not get any phone calls.
Saturday started off sunny and cool – perfect for a long run. Ran 10.50 miles with the north Fargo guys at a 7:45/minute pace. Much more relaxing then the week before where we were ripping off 7:10's which just about killed me. Saturday afternoon it was like “get the stuff on the Fall TO DO list knocked off”. I was on cruise control and took advantage of the good weather and quite day to do a lot of the tasks required before the snow flies. It's official – it can now snow in our back yard because I have everything done – good deal.
Saturday night there was a surprise BD party for Al Kraft at the Speakeasy restaurant. Aldo did not have a clue – good food and good people.
After dinner, it was off to the annual Halloween party at the Tom and Kari Smith house. The following photos are of some of the crazy get ups that people were wearing.

A week ago prior to the start of a Lindenwood long run, Dave Breznay was sporting a beard and said that it itched like crazy and he was holding out until Halloween so that he could work it into his costume. The above photo is the result....funny as hell.

This is the principal of Carl Ben Middle School.......

Marilyn Laliberte came as a bunch of grapes. In my opinion, this was the best of show. She more or less had to stand against a wall for the evening. Nice work Mar.

Sunday AM – Fall back in time an hour which meant for an extra hour of sleep. The whole family plus Jake Richard's were off to Milaca, MN for the Rum River CX race.

Jake and Matt raced the C class and were one and two respectively in their Junior, 15 – 18 year old class. It was fun watching those two hammer it out the middle of the race. Jake who is one of the top Junior MTB riders in the country was on his mountain bike and not use to the barriers and continuous fast pace. Matt caught Jake on the 2nd lap and both of them worked together to reel a couple of riders in.

Pre-race cool guys. Big C field for this race. It was good to have Jake with us today.

Jake and Matt going over the barriers at the same time. Kriston was handing water bottles off to both guys and had her hands full. Hollywood helped by feeding Jake - thanks Jay.

Kriston and Ben enjoying the day.

My race followed and it was the same group of strong riders looking to get the hole shot from the start. I actually had a good start for once. The course has just about everything in it as far as skill requirements go which evens it out for everyone. Unfortunately I dropped a chain – twice. No mis-adjustment on my bike, just bad decisions on my part trying to pound the chain after remounting on an uphill. I lost some places and had to work hard to get them back. There were a couple of sections that just drained your energy – a bridge crossing that has diagonal boards spaced just right to suck your power and a really soft gravel road section that you could ride way to the right to avoid, but it was tough. If I was smarter, I would take the day prior to a bike race completely off from any big time exercise. I always say that, but since I enjoy the routine, it will be hard for me to change.Ben catching me in action.
I ended up 4th in my class – one away from the podium so progress is being made. I am only going to be able to ride one more race, the state championships on November 15th. I did not race as much this year, but that was in the plan. Lets hope that we get abundant snow early so that the ski season is long which makes for a great winter!
It was nice to have Kriston with us today. Luckily the weather was perfect and we were able to enjoy the day as a family.

Pat Lemieux pre A race. Pat and I go way back. In fact I have watched Pat grow up and become one of the best riders in the upper Mid West. I am big time proud of Pat and his accomplishments, he has a great future.

These kids never cease to amaze me in how fast they can chill out. The only thing that is not in this photo is the empty Mountain Dew cans. Post race is by far the best time of the day!