Jamie Thingelstad

I got a cold the day before we go to Europe! Argh!

It’s Chris Tersteeg’s fault – he gave it to me. I’ve got a depth charge of vitamins, medicine and other herbal things trying to get me better. Hopefully it’ll pass soon.

Bikes are boxed up, bags are 95% packed and carry-on is ready to go. Tomorrow we sleep by the Eiffel Tower.

Way back in February I submitted my entry for the Chequamegon Fat Tire race. I’ve done the “Fat 40” for the last three years and it’s always a great time. Of course, while I’m slogging myself across the 42 miles (there are 2 more miles at the end just to slap you around a little bit) I don’t always think it is so much fun.

The Fat 40 is limited to 1,700 riders (there is a shorter 12 mile race that comprises another 800 entrants but I’ve never applied for that one). This year I received the wrong notice back – the one telling me I did not get selected in the drawing! See, over 3,000 people applied and there is a lottery. I was not one of the lucky ones.

There was only one more option. They have an essay contest “50 Ways to Ride the Chequamegon”. I entered it months ago and have been waiting, and waiting. I just got my letter today telling me…

…your essay was selected as a winner in this year’s contest.

Yes! Now I get to suffer with everyone else. I also get to suffer with my brother-in-law who I convinced to enter for the first time ever (he of course got selected in the lottery right off).

Time to start training! Eek!

Tammy and I dropped our bikes off at Erik’s Bike Shop tonight to get them packed in the Trico Iron Cases that I got on eBay what seems like forever ago. I had also just gotten a tune-up on my bike and replaced the chain which led to the unfortunate issue of realizing my rear cogs were all worn out so my new chain was slipping (always take some test rides!). So, new cog set is going on and I’m taking the opportunity to go from a 12-23T like I usually ride to a more “Alpe d’Huez friendly” 12-27T. I think I’ll be very thankful for those four additional teeth when suffering up the climbs.

Will pick the bikes up on Thursday. Rest of packing will be happening soon. Need to download French and Swiss maps to my eTrex Vista GPS (yes, I will be posting some GPS data as well – I can’t help myself). Fly out on Saturday!

I also got one of my books to read during the trip. Amazon delivered Heft on Wheels today by Mike Magnuson. Looks like fun reading, and probably some stuff I can relate to.

Tammy and I went and helped my mom today with the demolition of her kitchen. She’s been working on her new house for the last year and this is the start of probably the biggest project, but also the one with the most impact, a new kitchen. We went over to help her gut the room to the studs and got plenty dirty in the process.

Tammy and I did the ALARC Legends 5k this morning. Tammy has just started taking a running class with ALARC and they had an included pancake breakfast after the run which was enough for me to get on board. 🙂

Tammy ran it in 25:13 and I around 26:30. It was a nice run, a little humid and I was glad it started at 7:30am to avoid any heat.

This run is called Legends because they invite a number of Minnesota runners that have had an impact in the running world. A number of marathon record holders were there as well as a 90 year old dude out running with all of us. I hope I’m so energetic at 90!

We had our second “on the water” session in our Learn to Row class tonight at MRC. Tonight was significantly better than the first night. We did a much better job of setting (leveling) the boat and we had a more authoritative coxswain (she said it was her first time, but I find that hard to believe) which gave me more confidence. We did a number of drills tonight. First we rowed four at a time. In this configuration either the bow four or stern four will row while the other four level the boat. This is nice as even if you really mess up the four that are leveling will keep things generally stable. We then did six at a time, which is the same story just with six rowing and only two leveling. I was in seat 6 tonight on port side. I liked that spot better than seat 5 that I was in last time (the bow seat is seat 1 and the seat in front of the coxswain is seat 8). Tammy was stroke seat or seat 8 tonight and did an awesome job setting the stroke for the boat.

At the midpoint of our class we actually started rowing all 8! That was very impressive. The first stroke that you all make together just launches the boat forward. It wasn’t pretty at all times as we are very, very green but it was pretty good. Apparently our class is progressing fairly quickly.

Tammy and I are both enjoying the class. I really like the team atmosphere of rowing. It reminds me in many ways of riding a pace line on the bike. I find the technical terms enjoyable (again, like cycling) and I like how you work together to create such amazing speed on the boat. We are both interested in continuing into the novice program at MRC which allows you to row in eights for the season. Who knows, maybe we’ll get in a league. 🙂

See first class and rowing pictures.

Tammy and I are taking the “Learn to Row” class at the Minneapolis Rowing Club. Tonight was our third class which was our first class to really get out on the water. We are taking the class with 10 people and learning to row a sweep eight. We will also have one day where we will scull which is the one-person boats.

I got a little uneasy when the boat got wobbly (not set). Our instructor reassured us that it is very hard to flip an eight, but I wasn’t buying it.

Rowing is pretty fun so far. I’ll try to get some pictures on our weekend classes.

Every year TCBC holds it’s annual 4th of July ride called the Watermelon Ride. It’s aptly named since there is a lunch afterward where large amounts of watermelon are made available. Tammy and I had not done this ride in the past but had wanted to. It is a great route, very flat which makes it a very managable fun ride for the holiday weekend. Two ride options are available with milage of 25 or 55 miles. We did the longer route. Couldn’t have asked for a nicer day on the bike to get some comfortable miles in.

Tonight Tammy and I planned to cap off a really great 4th of July weekend with a trip to the Taste of Minnesota, also known as “the taste”. We hadn’t been to the Taste since 2002 when it was at the state capitol for the last time. Taste is usually a fun afternoon of food that is fried and should not be consumed on anything approaching a regular basis with a good background of outdoor music and sunshine.

We made plans to go to the Taste with our good friends Tracy and Jeff. We arrived early and started to explore the new venue. The Taste is now on Harriet Island instead of the Capitol grounds. That’s a big change but we were left a little surprised by all the other changes.

The Taste has gotten a lot bigger. A lot of new things have been added and none of them, in our humble opinion, have added to the event in a positive way at all. Tammy and I did a quick trip around after wading through the new fair rides (what are those doing here?) and the sea of “interesting” people and were dismayed at everything.

We decided to call an audible and get Tracy and Jeff on the cell phone and change our plans at the last minute to go to the Downtowner Woodfire Grill which was nearby. We had a great dinner and conversation saving a near disastrous evening at the now pathetic Taste.

We’ve removed the Taste from our summer calendar for good.

A hint to the committee that organizes the taste. We already have one State Fair, we don’t need another. It seems that the Taste is just trying to become another fair with none of the legacy of the Butter Heads in the Dairy building to make it fun. Instead, it’s turned into a dirty, grimy mess. We’ll consider going back when the event gets back to its roots.