Easter Weekend

Easter weekend we always try to go someplace due to the boys being out of school but the main reason is because the swim season is over and we just need to get away. We originally planned on going west to Red Lodge for skiing, but backed out with the lack of snow. Guess what, RLM was pounded last week and the skiing would have been awesome! That is the luck of the draw and we went with it. Check in on Jay Richard's writings by clicking here for more details as they were out there.....

Instead of west we headed southeast and spent the weekend in Minneapolis with the Clow's - Tom, Tracy and Anders. Good people to hang out with! We did not have an agenda and just rolled with the flow.

Matt and I brought our bikes and met up with Kent Throlson and Chad Weisgram for a Saturday morning ride. A bit windy, but bright sun made for an excellent days ride. Matt is changing out tires on his cross bike to smoothies for the summer. Kriston and Ben went shopping with Tracy Clow, Tom and Anders stayed back in Bloomington and rode their bikes a bit more local.
Kent Throlson knows his way around and took us on his typical Wednesday night training ride that he called the "St. Paul Hills". Mpls/St. Paul is known for its great bike trails and we took full advantage.
We were riding on the edge of the Mississippi for this photo. Right before I took this photo we had just had to tip toe through a real greasy spot of left over high water residue. Matt, Kent and I were on our cross bikes and were fine, Chad Weisgram was on his road bike and plugged up his brakes not to mention get his new white road shoes muddy. We all were amused. Right after I took this photo, KT was looking at the underside of the bridge in the photo, curved into me and went head over heals on his ass. No damage done but a lot of drama in a short period of time.

The photo above does not do justice as to how steep this hill is - the Ramsey Hill. Kent told us that it can be trouble in the winter due to cars not being able to make it past the stop sign at the end due to icy roads. Lots of nice climbing on the ride.
The famous Summit Drive, St. Paul. 4 feet of bike lane, something that you DO NOT see in Fargo. Made for a real comfortable ride and everyone knew where they were suppose to be. I could get use to riding in the area real fast. Beautiful homes, protected from the wind and courteous drivers.

Thanks for the tour Kent!
Matt and I headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and a bite to eat prior to meeting up with Kriston and Ben. We discovered Sonic Burger - yum. Talk about awesome post ride food! It is fun to watch Matt eat a double jalapeno cheese burger and not even blink. No Sonic Burgers in Fgo so we were taking advantage.

Next stop was the Mall of America. Yes that is what I said. I am not a mall guy at all but it was fun to watch people and hang out. We went into the Apple Store where Ben had a chance to get his hands on the new Apple Ipad. Did not take Ben long to figure it out and put it on his wish list. The technology is very cool.

Always a sweet bike to see and take a photo of.
All of us wen out to dinner with Kent, his date Colleen and Pat Lemieux to a nice place called the Chatter Box just down the street from Kent's place. Good beer and food and the place was not too crazy.
Kriston chatting it up with the waiter. Really got a kick out of his side burns. Ironic story is that when Ben and I were in the Apple Store at the Mall of America all of the employees were wearing blue T-shirts promoting the new Ipad. I asked one of the employees if they were selling the T-shirts someplace in which they said "no, sorry". The guy I asked turned out to be our waiter at the restaurant...cool.

Overall great day!

On Sunday morning Tom and I ventured out for a 10 mile run from the door of the hotel. We went out and around on the Bloomington bike trails. Lots of things to see right in the city. It was a great start to the week of running.
Since almost everything in the city was closed due to Easter we made our way North rather early. Stopped into Trader Joes in Maplegrove to load up on peanut butter. Kriston loves that store and manages to find ways to get there or have other people stop on a regular basis. Ben liked the sign on the door going to the back room. Makes total sense.

Other then I don't think that Kriston got enough shopping in it was a great weekend. No agenda and no place to be always help. Plus the weather was fine and we were hanging out with good people which makes it all good! Cheers!