Busy, busy is all I can say.  Also, I have discover and use Twitter a lot more which in essence is why I have not posted as often.
None the less, activities at the Wenzel home have and continue to be going full blast.  Both Matt and Ben have finished swimming for the summer and have transitioned over to running for the Fargo North Cross Country team.  Kriston, bless her heart is always making sure the ship is steering straight.

Last Saturday, Matt, Jake Richard's and myself piled into the Honda and headed to Colorado for a week of mountain biking.  Matt and I went last year as I had a ticket to ride the Leadville 100 but this year was a no pressure occasion as I did not get a pass to ride the LT100 and it was just time to ride.

We met the same group of guys as last year with the addition of a few more.  A large group of 12 makes for a lot of laughs and interesting conversation.

It was nice to have Jake join us.  Jake works hard racing all season and trains hard.  For him to come and just enjoy riding in the mountains without racing is all good.  The photo above is on Smugglers Mountain outside Aspen, CO.  The rest of the group had arrived a day earlier and was out riding another section.  Matt, Jake and I spoke to the locals and discovered this cool area.  Knee pounding climb felt good after sitting in the car for two days!  Jake and Matt can ride......both climb like billy goats and descend the scary stuff like they are riding on a sidewalk. 

Our goal for the week was to ride as much as possible.  The Cement Creek trail system is just outside of Crested Butte, CO.  3 big climbs followed by 3 technical descents.  We had not ridden this trail in the past and put it on the top of the list for the week.

Team Maplelag/Paramount was well represented.  Photo above was taken just before we hit the single track onto one of the most sought after mountain bike rides in the country the "401 Trail" outside of Crested Butte.

On Thursday morning as a group we transitioned from Crested Butte to Leadville, CO.  On the way we stopped at the base of Monarch Pass to ride the famous trail along the Continental Divide.  We loaded our bikes onto an outfitters trailer that took us up to the pass and we essentially descend 3000 feet back to the car.  Sounds easy, but it was an epic day including torrential rain and hail as we were in the middle of the ride.  You never know when the weather is going to change which requires you to be prepared in which we all were.

Jake and Matt and me on an alpine ridge along the top of Monarch Pass.  Spectacular views and awesome riding.  

Matt and I on top of Columbine Peak, the turn around point for the Leadville 100.  Bluebird day and another excellent bike ride was all we needed to extend our stay in CO for another day.

Matt Engen was the only one of our group to get the pass to ride the LT100.  I accompanied Matt to the start and enjoyed the pre-race jitters even though I was not riding.  

Team Radio Shack pro rider Levi Leipheimer making his way to the start.  Lance was scheduled to race but bailed during the week.  There were a lot of big name riders toeing the line which was another reason that it was worth staying another day, Jake and Matt enjoyed seeing all the pros.  We blasted out of town to head home right after the start.  Fortunately we were able to follow the race reports on Matt's phone learning that Levi beat Lances record time finish and won the race.  Matt Engen dropped 20 minutes off of his last years time and came in at 10 hours 57 minutes.  Good job ME!

Overall it was an excellent week of biking.  Rough totals for the 6 days of riding were over 20 hours in the saddle and 18,000 + feet of elevation climbed.  It was a safe and happy time with friends and my son.  Can't get much better then that.