Ryan and I were at Lebbanon Hills this past Thursday, when I decided to hit the log pile harder and faster than I have before. This would have been like the 2nd or third time I have hit the log pile, but I decided to do the jump before it.
It was sweet. My back tire got air as I was coming up which almost led me to go over the handle bars. This is why at the end I was laughing.
We had a great time in Vegas this weekend for the Memorial Day weekend. We stayed at Planet Hollywood which we quickly came to like better than New York New York, where we stayed back in November. Room for room they are fairly even, but for overall quality of the hotel and casino Planet Hollywood is definitely better. The restaurants, service, design, it was much better than New York New York. Not to mention the location on the strip is more central to all of the action.
We arrived Friday night and quickly made our way to the hotel after a quick stop at In-Out Burger for dinner. It was delicious. At the hotel, Amy made a timely tip to the host checking us in which secured us a nice view of the strip from our room. The construction site you can see across the street is the mega Vegas development known as the City Center. After getting settled in we met up with Amanda, Matt, Al, Chris, Jill, and Narrisa for drinks at the Trader Vick’s outside of Planet Hollywood. We ended up being out until 4a.m. just chilling and talking with everyone.
Saturday morning we woke up at 8a.m., yes that is 4 hours of sleep, to head out to go mountain biking. We went to Red Rock a well know local area of good desert mountain biking. We rented Cannondale full suspension bikes from McGhies Out Post. Despite the 90* heat it was a great ride. The terrain was VERY rocky. And I do not mean the kind of rocks that you can just bike over, these were the kinds you have to dodge if you do not want to flip over on your bike. On top of this there was a lot of sandy areas, which are less than ideal trail terrain. It was an amazing ride though with the mountains and desert scenery. Definitely unlike any other riding Amy or I have done before. While out on the trails, there are TONS of them, we met two locals Dave and Sergio. They ended up being our unofficial tour guides. After a few questions regarding how to follow the trails they offered to just show us around. It was awesome.
After Mountain biking, we headed to the Hoover dam. This was my third time seeing it in the past year and I must say it was still amazing to see. Amy enjoyed it, but after about 20 minutes was ready to leave on account of being tired from a lack of sleep.
Upon getting back to our room we took a quick nap, and headed out to see Cirque Du Soleil “O” at the Bellagio. “O” was awesome. The acrobatics would have been great dry, but they did it soaking wet. The entire show you just think someone is going to fall and die any minute. About a quarter of the way into the we realized the music was live which when you see the amazing show they put on, and then to add the complexity of live music it just seems to be a cherry on top. Promo video of “O”
Sunday we had breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi, at the base of Paris’ Eiffel Tower. It was good food. Amy’s enjoyed her crepes and I had a steak with fries. I was a bit disappointed as the steak was a thin sliced steak but it was quite delicious. The server was not mediocre at best. She placed the wrong order for my plate and when asked about it denied. Later on she admitted that she had ordered the wrong plate but her demeanor about the whole thing was just irritating and not what would be expected of such a restaurant.
After breakfast we headed to the outlet mall off the strip to do a little shopping. I ended up getting almost a whole new wardrobe of clothes for work, and for a great price. Amy and I found it amusing that the outlet store, mind you in the desert, had a Burton store. Yes Burton snowboarding clothing, and we are in the desert. We laughed.
Later in the evening we met up with our friend who was celebrating her birthday. She had rented a limo to cruise up and down the strip with. It was a good time. By the end of the night Amy and I were exhausted.
Monday was one of those “eh” kind of days. We were so tired from being up late all weekend that we did not really want to do anything. I wanted to get some poker chips from as many casinos as we could so we burnt our Monday afternoon going into about 18 casinos to get a single $1 chip. It was good exercise, plus it gave us a chance to see a lot of the casino floors. By Monday evening when we boarded our flight we were all partied out and ready to return home. Amy ended the weekend being up a few dollars from her few small gambling endeavors, and I had my 19 $1 poker chips as souvenirs. At that was our exciting Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas.
Today Amy and I hit Lebanon Hills for our first trail off the year. The weather was a perfect 65* out and a beautiful sunny day. Being as this was our first time out for the season we hit the easiest of the trails, but it was still a great ride. It was great to finally get out there and use our new bikes what they are made for, not the boring street riding. I was having some difficulties getting the timing for my shifting correct but all in all my Hardrock was solid. I could definitely see wanting a full suspension bike in the future, but I like the workout of the hardtail.
Amy riding Lebanon Hills
Nate riding Lebanon Hills
We complete the 2009 Minnesota Ironman Bike Ride. We did the 30 mile course in 2 hours and 50 minutes. At about 10 a.m. the misty rain that had been going since we started turned into full out raining and at times down pouring. Despite the 40* temperatures, the 10 mph winds, and of course the rain, we still went out there and completed the ride.
Last night realizing that it would definitely be raining, we went to Gander Mountain and purchased some water-proof pants. The water-proof pants and the rain coats Amy bought a week ago were definitely hte best gear purchases we have made in preperation for this event. If we had been wearing the cotton clothing we were wearing for training today, we would have been soaked and miserable just from the first 2 hours of mist. Overall Amy and I had a great time and will definitely being participating next year. Maybe if the weather is nice next year we will do the 65 mile(or not).
Now that we have completed the Ironman it is time to start hitting the real fun stuff, the mountain biking trails. Lebanon Hills, Murphy-Hanrehan, and of course the River Bottoms (North & South).
~Nathan
~Amy
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