Oh my gosh that is me!

As I got closer I was like “Yeah sweet that is a Hardrock”. As I moved in for a closer inspection I realized the rider was wearing a jersey just like mine. This thought was quickly followed by the realization that the shorts looked just like mine too. And all three items looked just like mine because the very photo I was staring at was a photo of me that Amy took at Lebanon Hills mountain biking park. The very photo I posted here back in May of 2009 regarding Amy and I’s first ride of that year.
It is great to see that when Dakota County needs to demonstrate the extremely extremeness of their park system they chose to use photos of me. My primary concern now is what are they going to do when their parks are filled with visitors due to this awesome flyer? This flyer is for an event to discuss Fall 2011 mountain bike construction at Lebanon Hills park.

I hope that in the future they decided that copyright laws are in place for a reason. A  little bit of respect goes a long way. It’s not really a big deal as I am more than happy to share my photos for such uses, but permission should be granted before one creates a flyer that is distributed to the public (see the little copyright symbol at the bottom of this page?). It is disappointing that our own government feels a Google image search is a fair place to use as a stock photography site for the creation of advertisements. That being said, Amy and I find this whole thing quite hilarious!

The flyer that is banking on my extremeness

Nate riding Lebanon Hills (Original photo)

Sunday was another beautiful day and we did a 10 mile bike ride.  Biked into Rosemount to return some library books and pick up a book I had on hold.  We’ve biked so much this season in cold weather that it felt so incredibly weird to be biking in the sunshine and not freezing our bums off.  It was a refreshing experience.

Sunday evening,Matt and Megan, our fall small group leaders, picked us up to head to the Science Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The scrolls were amazing.  The exhibit consists of lots of pottery and history about the scrolls.  I was surprised at the amount of scroll displayed, I thought there would be more.  There 6 pieces in all, and most of them were just that, pieces.  The biggest piece was a scroll from Psalms, it was actually quite long.  It was amazing to think that these scraps of parchment were able to withstand the test of time for 2000 years before being discovered.  After the scrolls we had fun playing around in the rest of the Science Museum.  Nathan really enjoyed the gadgetry they had to make fire, light, clouds, and other various things. 

Eventually we wrapped up there and headed to Cosetta’s for dinner.  I’ve eaten there once before, Nathan never.  It was so amazingly delicious.  We shared a few different dishes: lasagna, mostaciolli, gorgonzola pasta salad, and a slice of pizza.  Mmmmm.  So good.  During dinner I commented that we shouldn’t have gotten so much food, we could have gotten tiramisu for dessert then.  Nathan, being the awesome husband that he is, said we should just get some to go!  So we did, we got tiramisu and a cannoli to eat at home later that night.  It was delicious, but Nathan of course said my tiramisu is better

Looking forward to the ride home, though my leg muscles are still singing now… 

I am treating myself to lunch out today!!!  Going to bike over to Jimmy John’s because I totally deserve it   Ham sub and giant pickle here I come!!!

Add-in: I made it home in 55 minutes last night!  It was a great ride in beautiful weather and  I enjoyed rocking out with my ipod on the way home.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/10/biking.google.maps/index.html?hpt=C2

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 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.

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). 

Ironman Training Map

Overall, coming to the close of day 9 of owning my Hardrock Sport I have put 98.3 miles on it. That is about 10.9 miles per day so far. I am going to try to stick to a fixed distance of 5 miles per day Monday through Friday as to not burn myself out. Last thursday I biked almost 10 miles between the morning and evening, then Friday morning I bike 10.3 before work. I am getting a bit to crazy I think training for the Ironman. Though I must admit street riding is getting boring, I am ready for some trails.