Minnesota Trippin'

We started our journey to Minnesota on July 1st about mid-morning.  We packed the truck as if we were taking the house with us.  Our first stop over the next two days would be with my some of my in-laws in West Virginia, and to pick up our nephew.  It was just like all of our previous trips up to West Virginia, nothing exciting just six hours of highway driving.  We got to the in-laws some time after 4pm and got out what we needed for the night.  We hit up a Mexican restaurant that night for dinner and I called it a night around 10pm since we would be up the next day at 5am and I was the designated driver. 
The next morning came and we loaded the bicycles on the back of the truck.  Loaded up the kids in the backseat with enough electronic devices from DVD players to Nintendo DS's to keep them entertained for the next nine hours to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Our secret weapon that my wife packed was lollipops for when the natives started getting restless.  Of course that would happen when you have a three year-old strapped into a car seat for that amount of time.  After the nine hour drive we pull into Hawthorne Suites, and unpack the necessities for the night.  I get the boys and we unload the bikes and take them for a two mile ride down the Cedar River Trail to work the legs out after sitting for that long. 



Rockin' the Twin Six

 After waking up we grabbed some breakfast at the hotel before heading out for the last four hours to Minnesota.  We pulled into the farm right after noon.  The farm is where my wife's grandma lives in farmhouse that is around one hundred years old and nearly four tenths of a mile off the road.  It is surrounded by a few ponds and corn fields as far as you can see.  After unpacking the truck and grabbing some lunch I headed out for my first gravel ride.  Never done a gravel ride and on the drive in we passed kept passing gravel road after gravel road and I had to put some miles in to see what it was like.  I did a thirty mile ride and was eating up every mile of it.  I was on the Niner One9 and was running a 32x18 gearing which I needed my Fisticuff with the 2x10 to really crank some miles, that will be with me on the next trip out there.

For the Fourth of July we took the kids to the town of Okabena for a parade.  They collected more candy than what they have gotten combined for the last two Halloweens.  The following day we took a two hour trip north up to Minneapolis.  First stop, Twin Six.  Great visiting the company that I am racing for this year and hopefully down the road also.  I was a kid in a candy store with all the T6 gear around me.  The crew there was awesome in giving us the tour and seeing a few things that are coming down the pipe.  We checked into our hotel right across from the next stop at Mall of America.  We ended up spending 6+ hours in there from lunch until dinner.  We covered all three floors and went to the aquarium before grabbing dinner at Tony Roma's.  One of the only places the kids and I wanted to go was the Lego store.  Which we waited until almost last to visit, so that I would not be carrying around the bag of legos the entire time.  They had above the store these gigantic lego scenes that were larger than life.  One was a thirty-four foot robot, another was a helipcopter with lego SWAT members repelling down, a knight fighting this creature with a bull-head.  To believe that all of this was made completely of legos.  Along with this were pictures outisde the store made completely out of legos.  The next day we took the kids to the Minnesota Zoo.  It was fairly warm out that day, but since Minnesota gets so cold right much of the exhibits were inside which gave some relieve from the heat. Afterwards we drove back to the farm to make it in time for dinner. 

I was needing to hit some singletrack and had found this place up in Mankato called Mt. Kato Ski Resort that has mountain bike trails from May to October.  It cost $8/day to ride there.  Being my first experience at singletrack in Minnesota it was good riding.  Any day on the bike is better than none.  I found one of the people in the office there and he gave me the lay of the land on how the trails were laid out and a map.  First trail that you go up is Kato Climb and that is what you do to get to the top where all the ski lifts drop you off in the winter.  My first loop out went like this Kato Climb>Frog Pond Loop>Outlook Traverse>Back Loop>Get Tight>Cedar Climb>Killer Toad Climb>Dead Horse>The Maze>Staircase>Compressor>Cabin Run.  The only trails that really had me on my toes and using a lot of braking on the down hills were Dead Horse and Compressor.  The switchbacks on Compressor had you almost doing track stands to make the turns.  Cedar Climb and Staircase had the tougher of the climbs.  My second loop went like this Kato Climb>Frog Pond Loop>Outlook Traverse>Back Loop>Get Tight>Cedar Climb>Killer Toad Climb>Low Line>The Maze>Staircase>Ridge Run>Back Home>Cabin Run.  After getting out of the new Twin Six Masher jersey and socks I picked up the other day at Twin Six.  I went and got two chicken tacos and chicken burrito from Taco John's. 

Friday we got up at 4am to start our nice 14 hour drive back to West Virginia and that was one hell of a caffeine induced drive.  Had some Little Caesar's Pizza when we got to my brother-in-law's house hit the sack at 10pm and didn't wake until 9am.  That was some good hard sleeping and much needed with another 6 hours of driving to get to the casa.  It was nice vacation with lots of driving, but that is the best way to see this great country that we live in and to see how other parts of the U.S of A is living. 

K-38 in Wilmington

The picture speaks for itself.  I have an earlier post that talks about Tower 7 on Wrightsville Beach that is the sister restuarant of K-38.  Best Tex-Mex in Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach.  Check it out when down there.

Briar Patch - TORC #1 2011 Race Series

First race of the TORC 2011 XC Series here in the Triangle was at Briar Chapel located south of Chapel Hill, NC. Great course, very flowy and then they mix in the rock garden sections with each lap being six miles. Racing in the Single Speed division we had three laps and it was going to be a tough day with some of the guys out there. I knew I had to pace myself with the heat being high 80's with 60% humidity at the 11am start time. They have a nice gravel road start that is around a mile to help spread everyone out before hitting the singletrack. I hit the woods in 6^th and it was a good pace that I knew I could hold the entire race. For the first and second lap it was fairly uneventful except having to stop in the middle of a rock garden since the guy in front of me came to a dead stop and left me nowhere to go. I started having a minor stomach issue about two miles into the last lap, so backed it off and popped some chews when I hit the doubletrack climb. Started picking the pace back up when with about two miles to go I catch my front tire in a rocky section going up hill and just eat it hard. Luckily the rocks I landed on were smooth and not jagged, but they were not forgiving at all. I got myself up and the guy behind me who couldn’t see it, but he heard the crash and all the profanity that went with it. I sat on a nice grassy clearing about ten feet away for about a minute to check myself over since my arm was throbbing and bleeding and couldn’t close my hand all the way. One of the other rocks gave me a nice kidney punch when I landed on it. I ended up finishing 9th in the Single Speed Division with a time of 1:51:53.  I must have laid there in the grass longer than I thought since it looks like I lost a good 7 minutes or so, oh well crashes happen. 


Rockin' The Twin Six Metal Kit



All in all, glad I finished the race without a DNF or last. It took two stitches to close my elbow up and hoping to be back on the bike within the next week when I get more range out of my arm.

Pig Butt

Well I started my morning at 9am prepping the butt for the rest of the day.  My choice of spices to rub onto the butt were salt, pepper, brown sugar, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder.  They were not put on in order and no measuring just straight eye balling it.  The butt hit the charcoal grill at 9:30 with some indirect heat for the next eight hours.  After about two hours  I took the mesquite wood chips that have been soaking and placed them on the coals.  During the eight hours the butt was getting flipped and rotated every two hours.  Also, made some coleslaw to go along with it for dinner.  For the coleslaw I use a bag of coleslaw mix and use the dressing recipe from this coleslaw recipe.  Pulled the butt off the grill after the eight hours and let it rest for about 30 minutes to let the juices redistribute throughout it.  Here is the vinegar based sauce that I use and nothing is better than eastern North Carolina barbeque sauce.  Then the fun began by pulling the butt apart and below is the finished product.

Muddy Buddy 2011

Another Muddy Buddy is in the books making it my 5th and the 3rd with The Fox.  The Fox and I headed up to Richmond, VA on Saturday 30th for the Muddy Buddy race at Pocahontas State Park on May 1st.  We have our normal routine for the weekend.  We left Raleigh around lunchtime and stopped to grab something to eat along the way.  We rolled into Chester and stopped at our hotel (Marriott) which is the same one for the last 3 years.  It in a great location since it is 10 miles from the race and it is a Marriott need not say more.  Then we headed over to Blue Ridge Mountain Sports for packet pick-up.  As normal we just like to take it easy the day before the race, so we hit up Dick Sporting Goods and then a bicycle shop. 

For dinner that night we hit up Bandito's Burrito Lounge just like we have for the two years prior.  This place has some of the best burritos and tacos I have had along with great salsa.  We all know if the salsa sucks more likely the food will too.  This year we went a different route and ordered the mahi mahi tacos instead of a two pound burrito that makes you feel uncomfortable the rest of the night.  My tacos were great, The Fox on the other hand had a hairy taco for his second one, but still finished eating.  Yes, we both served in the military and pretty sure we had eaten much worse.  Of course they did not charge him for his meal.  Our next plan was to head back to the hotel, check the bike over again, watch some track and field on ESPN, then head over to Hooters to catch some UFC.  We ended up just checking out the bike and watching track and field.  It was nearly ten o'clock and we didn't feel like going to Hooters to drink beer since we had to get up at 5:30 the next morning.  We have done it in the past, but not this time, yes we know LAME.

Almost forgot, this year we changed our team name to Pelotas De Acero which translate to Balls of Steel.  So, we get to Pocahontas State Park around 6 - 6:15 that morning go get our tshirts that they ran out of at early packet pick-up.  Head back to car to get everything ready for the race and give us enough time for the normal pre-race multiple trips to the bathroom a/k/a port-o-johns.  Finally race time has come upon us around 8 am that morning, but we are the 4th wave to go so the wait ends up being another fifteen to twenty minutes.  We wish we were wave 1, so that there would be no in front of us to contend with on the trail and make finding the bike at the obstacles a lot easier.  For as many people that we had in front of us our race went pretty smooth through all the transitions.  I couldn't find the bike for about 10 seconds at one transition and they threw in an obstacle right before the mud pit.  It was a nice 20 foot rope climb with a climb down on the other side. Our time was 45:33 for the 7 mile course.  We ended up 2nd in our division and 9th overall which is not to shabby.  Next year, it is on and looking to take 1st in division and hopefully make top 5 in the overall.

Riva's Trattoria

In Greensboro for work and right around the corner from the hotel is this great restaurant called Riva's Trattoria.  It is located at 257 North Greene Street.  It is a fairly small restaurant that could hold roughly 50 people.  I had the Chicken Sopressata as my meal and it comes with a house salad that I had the House Vinaigrette.  All the salad dressing are made in house and lots of the ingredients are local and organic when possible.   The chicken was lightly breaded and had the soppresatta on top with some shredded provolone cheese.  The linguine was cooked perfect also along with the pomodoro sauce that they are not skimpy with at all.  Enough sauce left over in the bowl that I could use my slice of bread to finish cleaning the bowl. 

For dessert I had to try the Piccolo Cannoli, which is three miniature cannolis.  They had normal filling with mini chocolate chips on each end.  To top it off they were sprinkled with cocoa powder and a light whipped cream on the side.  These were so good that I thought about ordering another plate of them.  Who knows, maybe walk over there just for dessert tonight.

The portions are perfect size for the price and they give you plenty.  Price wise it is no more expensive then going to one of the chain Italian restaurants around town except you do not get the downhome feeling when you are sitting there and knowing the food is made from scratch right there.

Pancakes, Hibachi and Ice Cream

Just about every weekend the kids request pancakes for breakfast.  This morning I made some of my favorite pancakes, BACON with Granny Smith Apples.  The pancake batter that I use is from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.
Here is the recipe:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons cooking oil
I normally add a little extra flour or milk depending on how thick you want the batter.
For the BACON and Granny Smith Apple pancakes I cook the bacon so it will crumple up easily.  The apples are chopped to about half inch cubes.  First, I add some butter to the pan and then pour out the pancake to about ten inches.  Let it cook for two or three minutes until it looks like it is cooked halfway through and then add the bacon and apples.  Flip the pancake over and finish cooking it.  I have added lots of other things to pancakes, very rarely do we have just plain pancakes.
The other ways we have had them are:
bacon
chocolate chip
banana
blueberries

For lunch we went and had hibachi at Kanki at Crabtree Valley Mall .  I had the chicken hibachi and then ordered the Kizuna sushi roll also.

And, to wrap-up our day of eating that it was turning out to be we went to one of the best homemade ice cream joints around and it is Sunny Sky's Ice Cream on Highway 55 in Angier.  If you show up at this place in the middle of the summer on a weekend this place is hopping with lots of people.  They have over ninety flavors and two of them are filled with heat.  The Exitwound and then Cold Sweat which is the one you have to sign a waiver for.  Between the four of us we had Caramel Praline, Key Lime Pie, Watermelon Sherbet and Cotton Candy.  They have been featured on Food Network show - Kid in a Candy Store.  If you are in the area you need to stop and check this place out and don't forget your cash or you are out of luck.  Cash only.