catching up again

really hoping this doesn't become habit only posting once a week but still haven't figured out the internet situation at home so until then this is what i've got.friday morning brought an awesome pugsley ride with jeff with a solid mix of snowmobile trails and groomed xc ski trails. note: ski trails were not harmed. we didn't touch the classical tracks and the skating area had firmed up enough we were barely leaving tread patterns in the snow. that and the walkers had rutted it out so bad we should be the least of anyone's concern.
friday afternoon brought a beautiful drive through the backcountry roads of winneshiek and allamakee counties scouting and doing final recon on the saturday century for std.
sunday was larsson's birthday party at the roller skating rink. lots of chaos and plenty of opportunities for disaster but all went well. he got to open a few gifts sunday night and showed off his engineering skills with some star wars legos.
monday morning headed out for some snowmobile trails around vernon springs in cresco. this is about as close as you'll get to mountain biking around here in the winter. rolling, wooded terrain with snow conditions that require a certain level of bike handling skills. awesome stuff. only because i'm really smart did i decide to play volleyball monday night. which became a double header. which became pissed off knees and a reminder of my rotator cuff issue. tuesday morning took off with a group of high-end roadies on lightweight geared carbon weapons for 50+ miles of gravel. yes, i was on a single speed. yes, i got completely worked. yes, i slept very well that night.
tuesday night brought larsson's birthday dinner (almost had him talked into mexican but in the end he chose mcdonald's), more gifts and some more lego work. dude doesn't like cake so he got a cinnamon roll with six candles this morning for breakfast. final bike work today preparing for cirrem, riding friday fixed to make sure everything's dialed, suffering to begin at 10a.m. saturday.