The Lucas.

These pictures of Lucas just make me laugh!

CB blue ribbon special.

Rich put on a great race. I wasn't to sure about racing the backside of Castlewood but it was a lot of fun and brought back a lot of memories of when I first started riding. It was probably one of the most mellow races I have had. Mitch and the rest of the local endurance guys were still pretty tired from the 6hr race the weekend before and I was still tired from our vacation. The race started off slow to the first climb. Picked it up a little and got a good lead. Nothing much changed the rest of the race, just rode. I got a flat on the 5th are 6th lap that maybe cost me 4 minutes. Picked up the pace some after that just to make up for lost time. Going into the last lap I realized that if I pushed it I could make the cut off and do another lap. For the first time in a 3hr race that I can remember I didn't go after making the cut off to do another lap. . Yep it was a mellow race! Finished in First place, Rich hooked us up with a awesome payout for the marathon class, thanks big! Ended up with a hrt rate in the 150s and a little over 36 miles avg speed 12.1. One of these days I will get the garmin to upload again. Looking forward to Burnin at the Bluff 12hr!

Flying.

We were not sure how Lucas would do this time flying. Last time we went to Denmark he was kind of a handfull but he also had to sit in my lap the whole time. This time he was great. We left for Hamburg airport at 3 30am, 8 30pm St Louis time and didnt reach our door step until 6 30pm the next day. He slept some but not much. It didnt take long after we got home and he told Mom he wanted to go to bed, for anybody that has a 4yr old you know that never happens!

Thumbs up for another great trip!

The North Sea.

We had spent a day last week over by the North sea. Me and Johan discovered a bike path with a small sign. The small sign was a simple little sign that showed a nice bike path that reaches all the way around the North Sea. I asked my father in law what he thought. Its funny because this is how it starts. With Johan I dont think he ever thinks anything is impossable just maybe tough in finding the time to do it. He already has some good ideas on the best way to accomplish this. With his experience in long distance riding. Finished the Paris Brest Paris twice, the first time in 2003 which is what got me interested in endurance racing to begin with. I think its a must, a great long term goal. It would be at least 3 are 4yrs down the road anyway but that is what I love about the endurance stuff, your always finding new ways to push yourself farther. Links. The North Sea The main link. The North Sea cycle route. This would be awesome!

Great weekend.

This last weekend was great in so many ways. The biggest reason we came here this time was to attend Bettina's brother Andreas wedding. It was truly special in so many ways. Once we get back home and Bettina uploads all of the pics than I will do a better write up. For now I will just do a little recap of the weekend. Friday we went to This town to help set up for the reception. The place was pretty amazing, you could see the sea from the windows of the reception hall and from our hotel room and the beach was right across the street. Me and Bettina's Dad stayed with Bettina's brother Friday night and spent Saturday morning helping him get ready for the wedding, are basically just to pass the time. That was very cool to be a part of and very special to see. The calmness that Andreas showed was a true sign of how much he was ready for his wedding. The wedding was very sweet and the reception was like nothing I have ever been at before. Bettina and her brothers speach went perfect and was very heartfelt and I am so proud of her for making it through it with only a few tears. I am not sure what time we made it to bed but I remember a little conversation about how neat it would be to go swimming in the morning, I would be thinking it was mostly alchohol talk but with me and Johan if its said its probably getting done. Well me, Bettina's dad and Ula made it for the swim. It didnt last long, COLD! But it was fun. Me and Johan's bike ride back to Løgumkloster later that day wasnt near the fun but still good. I remember asking him at one point if he had some toothpicks to keep our eyes open and that maybe it would of been better to of wore our swim suits home with all of the rain we were riding through. Lucky for us we had a headwind all the way home to. When we were finishing up the ride we both looked at each other with a smile, maybe it was that with any ride they are all great rides, or maybe it was just that we were simply finishing up one truly special weekend.

A nice place.

We have been enjoying some nice days, a lot of great food and good family times. A little history of Løgumkloster. Here. One of the best things about being here is how easy it is to get around by bike. Enjoyed a good ride with my Father in law yesterday. There is nothing like seeing the countryside from the comfort of a bicycle. Good times.

Whats up.

After the CW race it was re build time. Decided to work the Spanish lake race which was awesome, first time I ever worked a race. With the way the Midwest fattire series works it is kind of a must if your going to try and do all of the races and felt it would be selfish not to. It was awesome watching everybody suffer, made me really miss racing. It was a good experience to see the race from a promoters point of view and a heck of a lot of fun to help out, cant wait to do it again some time. Since then I have been putting some good miles back on the bike to get ready for the rest of the season. This last weekends big ride went great. Jim got some of his friends to come down and I knew this one was going to hurt. Jim was already talking world record before we ever really got rolling. I missed the last time they had a good group and that time they did the ride in 4 25 are something with 8 guys. Today it would be faster. Although myself I dropped off with about 5 miles to go and was stoked to of lasted that long. Felt super good. Jim said they made it back in 4hrs and 20 minutes. I ended up only about 3 minutes back, thought it would of been a lot more. This hurt way more than the solo effort I did back in May. A lot of really good things going on right now, will be posting up some good stuff in the near future.