Say Ya To Da U.P.

This Memorial Weekend I decided to head up the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to spend the weekend with Kevin and his Mom and Dad. Kevin’s parents, Irv and Gerry, have a place on Little Shag Lake, near Gwinn, MI . To Minnesotans, their place would be called a “cabin” but to people in Upper Michigan, it’s called “camp.” The Perala camp is definitely one of my favorite places – it’s a log cabin built by Kevin’s grandpa in the mid 1930’s. It’s very rustic but beautiful. I’m always happy when we get out of the car and feel the familiar breezes and smells of Upper Michigan.

Irv and Gerry -- they've been married over 50 years!

The Perala Camp. The new roof was added last year.

The Boat House.

The outhouse. The camp has electricity and running water but no shower or a bathroom. I can tolerate this but it's usually the first thing I'm happy about leaving.

We left Thursday afternoon and arrived at camp around 11:00. We unpacked, which for those of you who know Kevin, it’s like unpacking for a safari expedition. We then visited with Irv and Gerry for a bit and then hit the sack.

Some of my sleeping companions.

Memorial Day weekend is traditionally a work weekend getting the camp ready for summer and there’s a lot of work to do on the family’s three properties around the lake. I, however, needed to get in some long rides so my end the bargain was that I would prep and cook all the meals.

I headed out Friday morning for a three hour ride. After the crazy hours of the legislative session and being around people all the time, it felt great to be out on my own in the peace and quiet with the sound of bike tires on paved roads. I headed north into a headwind to the abandoned KI Sawyer Air Force Base. I then headed east from there for a 10 mile stretch on rolling paved roads. The best part was when I turned south and had 10 miles of tailwind. I crisscrossed back to camp on a beautiful country road.

The last little climb to camp. It looks deceptive but I dread it every time.

Saturday, I had a planned 4 hour ride with a series of hill intervals. I decided to head to Marquette Mountain and do the road climb there which was over a mile long. I rode from camp which took me over an hour into a headwind. I did the climb 5 times but took an involuntary break in between -- I got two flats, used all my tubes and ran out of patches to repair the next flat. Kevin came to the rescue, driving the 25 minutes from camp with some extra tubes. I originally planned on going home with him in the van but knew I would regret that decision. So, I finished the hill repeats and headed home. The bike ride home was awesome as I had a tail wind most of the way!

I had planned on mountain biking on Sunday but Irv said they were predicting huge thunderstorms, hail, and damaging winds so I decided to not take a chance. Turns out, I could have ridden as the rain did not arrive until dinnertime. Instead, I had a nice day helping out at camp and even got dirty helping plant the vegetable garden. I'm looking forward to eating radishes, onions, and lettuce on our next visit and carrots, cucumbers, zucchini and beets on our visit later summer!

We got home last night and now I have my sights set on a good, hard week of training. My coach gave me some tough short rides and one long ride to do before my first race on Sunday.

Have a great week!

Ctrl-Alt-Del

My schedule has been a bit sporadic lately because of work and weather. Work primarily takes all my energy right now, mostly because of the uncertainty of things at the State Legislature. We are in the final days and legislative leaders and the Governor are trying to work together to solve a $935 million budget deficit. This means a lot of waiting and long hours at the Capitol but a weird need to be there for it all. Which means it's been hard for me to focus on training and good nutrition. For the most part, I bring all my food with me for the day but when I'm tired, and just want it all to be over, that's the last thing I want so I've been giving into a lot of unhealthy temptations lately. Oh well, life will get back to normal by Monday and I can get really serious about training. My first endurance race (a 100 mile mountain bike race) is the end of June and I’m getting nervous!

Although my training hasn't been as much as I want, I have been able to get out on the bike for some fun bike rides. Last Sunday, Nicole and I rode to a local bike race to cheer our friend Janet on in the Sport class. It was fun and made me even more excited to start racing.

I should have played the lottery last night. Usually this time of year, I am always working, but by an act of god, I didn't have to be at the Capitol last night. So, I went for a bike ride with Kevin, Janet, and Nicole. It was a great night and I had a blast mountain biking at Lebanon.

It’s amazing how intense my need is for fresh air and physical activity and how frustrated/depressed I get when I can’t get out for a bike ride. Between work and weather it’s been hard to get outside but after last night’s ride, all my frustration and sense of being in a rut is wiped away. It’s as if I hit ctrl-alt-del on my mental button and am reset. I’m happy, in a good a mood and feel great. Funny what an hour and half bike ride in the woods can do for me to make me feel that all is right with the world again.

Looking forward to sine die!

The sun finally came out!

What a great weekend we had. Luckily the weather forecasters were wrong about Saturday's forecast. We ended up with a sunny and warm weather all weekend.

I ended up not riding on Saturday for a whole host of reasons - mostly because I thought I would have to work at the Capitol on Sunday so I wanted to get errands/chores out of the way. Saturday night was spent with Kevin’s neighbor’s who were celebrating their 28th wedding anniversary.

Sunday was a great day. Kevin and I decided to do a combination road/mountain bike ride. We got on our full suspension mountain bikes and hit two of the local parks. We road the 10 or so miles to Harmon Park in Inver Grove Heights and met my friend, Janet, and did a lap with her. She rocked!

We then road the 10 or so miles to Lebanon Hills and did a loop there. It was very nice to ride on a single track trail in the woods. However, when we got to Lebanon, I was getting pretty tired. I even thought to myself “I definitely have more work to do to get ready for my first endurance race!” We were out for a total of 4 hours and I had that wonderful spent feeling when I got home.
The Legislative session will be done in two weeks and then my life becomes my own again. Then I can focus on training, can ride as much as possible, and spend time with my family.

I meant to take a few more pictures but I was having to much fun mountain biking.


My riding partner for the day.



The first leg of our trip.

Janet in her Peace Coffee team kit.