Good day ehh!

Hey hey, another gorgeous MN fall weekend has come and gone. The weather was phenomenal, I really don't think I could have asked for much more truthfully.
Let's start with the Trans-Provence update:
Day 5: Jerome Clementz beat Nicolas Vouilloz by 1 second for the number one spot of the day. The bad news is Ben Cruz hurt his ankle. The good news is that it must not have been that bad because he was back on day 6 to ride, however doesn't appear that he was 100% as he wasn't in the top 20, bummer but good showing Ben you're young and super talented so you will have many more chances to come! Weir finish 4th after flatting, that sucks.
Day 6: Nicolas Vouilloz beat Jerome Clementz by 1 second, so the stage is set for an epic battle heading into Monaco. I can't wait to see the results! This is probably the coolest event, race, ride I've ever seen and I definitely have to do it some day! Mark Weir even said it's the best race he's ever raced. Now that says something.
Click  HERE for the complete write up and videos of day 5 & 6 thanks to vitalmtb.com!

The weekend: My mom rolled in Thursday night and Friday evening we went to look at flowers and then the ladies went to do some dress shopping. After that we all went to BW's for some wings and beer. Again, not good service. Honestly if Kelly's sister wasn't affiliated with this place. I don't know if I would keep coming back. The food is good but it's good at other places too, hmmm.  After dinner we went back home and just hung out for  a bit. The ladies had some more dress and flower shopping to do in the morning and I was to meet a guy from out of town to show him around Lebanon.

This guy from Canada, Matt, posted on the MORC site to see if anyone could show him around the local trails. I asked which one he said leb, I said heck yeah I don't have anything better to do. He was in town because his wife was running a marathon in the Twin Cities on Sunday. We met at 10am at the trail head and road for a good 3hrs, some were around 25miles give or take. I forgot to turn on my GPS. I knwo how dumb! haha oh well.
He was a super nice guy. He lives in Thunder Bay and works as a Therapist for the mentally insane people, I think. He said he gets to play games and basically lead recess for them. Sounds fun to me, haha. To boot he was a really solid rider. He said he races DH and XC. Perfect, can't beat that combo some of the best and my idols did the same, John Tomac and Mark Weir! At the beginning the legs felt like lead and I was riding like shit. I don't know what it was maybe nerves. Who knows but by about half way through the first blue section it was starting to come around and by the start of black I was beginning to feel it a little more. I could definitely tell he was in better shape then me. He wasn't needed breaks at all and not breathing as hard. I told him he could lead if he wanted to go faster but he was content to have me run point and shout out the up coming features. After black and double black I was on point and finding my lines. I had finally loosened up and was in attack position and was off the rear break and simply using the front to scrub speed. We flew out of the blue and through the green. Took a break, ate a granola bar and headed back in for another blue, double black and blue out and I was feeling in the first half. Big whip, or at least it felt big for me, off the table. Smooth like butter on the landing and just carried speed and hauled through that first section! However by the time we were through the double black I was fatiguing quickly and starting to make mistakes. I was out of water and I could tell I was reaching the end of my successfully riding for the day.

It was great riding with Matt.  He was a great rider and I love riding with better people it inspires and pushes me to be better! He had tons of great stories and had rode a lot of cool places that are on my list. I told him that we might be going to Whistler for our honey moon and I should be able to ride at least one day. He gave me some pointers and told me some of the trails he enjoyed the most. I'm glad I stepped up and said I would help him out. Plus it's a mtb karma boost!

Kelly checked two more things off the wedding list. We booked our florest and she picked out her dress. I heard it beautiful but of course I haven't seen it yet. So I can only imagine!

Here are a few pictures of our ride: Matt did do the log ride but I didn't get that on film, just the crashes, haha.

Hope you had fun Matt, I also hope to get up to Thunder Bay and go ride up there. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Keep it real!