Mattie Turns 3

Here we are again, back in South Dakota. January feels like lightyears ago. It was a cool and wet spring in Arizona which made for lots of wildflowers, waterfalls and releasing lots of water from the damns to reduce flooding.

Mattie loves her new preschool, CASY, She goes 2 days a week and will be back in the fall. Toddlerhood is still wild and crazy. When she wakes up each morning she says “I got bigger!”

This week she rode her pedal bike for the first time by herself thanks to her momma. Now she’s off to the park and Hatchery and spillway by her own mobility which is cool.

The MBAA season felt long this year, I believe I’m in my 6th year now as director after being on the board for 2 or 3 years before that. We were able to mix it up with a mass start format for our last race due to snow in Flagstaff forcing us to move the race down to McDowell. It’s actually been a super nice May in Arizona with relatively cool temperatures. On race day it was only 70 degrees.

Grandma Marie passed away in March. Lots of good memories at my grandparents house in Wisconsin playing in Lake Michigan.

I raced Whiskey 50 in Prescott at the end of April. Planning on the Dakota Five-O and the Pike’s Peak Apex in September so I didn’t make a huge push to ride as much in January/February like I normally would. Luckily I’ve raced enough, especially the Whiskey, to trust my fueling and pacing and ended up pulling off a 2nd place.

We’ve been in South Dakota a little over a week and made a lot of progress on the garage and a handful of other projects. For the year you spend planning, ordering materials and strategizing, you are still always hit by curveballs, usually minor, but always good to brace yourself ahead of time for unknows when you start opening up walls and concrete, especially in bathrooms. So far things have gone really smooth on this garage remodel though.

Evie is doing the Pine Island Gravel Grinder so we’re going to go scope out the new racecourse this weekend and do some hiking with Mattie & Lucy. Cheers!

Desert snow. Seems to be a once a year occurrence lately.

Garage demo underway!

 

New Year, Same Shenanigans!

2023 is already upon us so here’s a photo dump and quick summary of the past few months. We left off in September, returning to AZ from Spearfish and  it was full steam into Evie’s school semester and me putting on the MBAA enduro series.

Mattie started pre-school, then got kicked out for pushing other kids on the playground. She started at a new school this week, doing well so far…

In addition to doing anything outdoors, she enjoys playing in the snow, toilet paper roll telescopes, scootering, bike riding, putting things in bags, playing with Lucy, climbing, and playing with friends.

We spent Christmas in Spearfish and got to enjoy a few days of -20 degrees (as the high!), but later that week it was back into the 50s. We arrived just after a massive winter storm so we got in some XC skiing, sledding and even a ride through the canyon after the snow melted.

I slipped on the ice near the end of our trip and banged up my other hip (not the one I fractured in 2018). Now they’ll be evenly calloused. It’s been about 2 weeks and it’s feeling much better.

The first MBAA XC race kicked off this past weekend. Nice to get my garage emptied from all the boxes of water bottles, bars, merch and other misc. race prep items.

Enjoy the host of photos from the past few months!

Fall colors in Arizona.
Always love when it snows on Four Peaks.
Mattie’s first pedal bike.
Christmas tree harvest in Spearfish in 3′ deep snow.
Bridal Veil falls frozen over.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Wrapping Up Another Great Summer!

4th of July Parade

We’re back in AZ after wrapping up a great summer in Spearfish, SD. The new house worked out even better than we could have imagined. Looking back through these photos the start of summer feels forever ago. We did lots of family hikes and playing in the creek with friends along with quite a few house projects.

The summer was capped off with the annual Dakota Five-O, best race / party of the year on one of the hottest days of the year this time around! I’ve been struggling with a hamstring injury, but it was still fun to ride. Evie raced single speed and had a great day. It’s pretty awesome to roll from your door to the start line in less than a minute.

Now that we’re back in AZ it’s full steam ahead working on the 4 enduro races that the MBAA has planned this fall in addition to preparing for the winter/spring XC series. If my hamstring gets better I will likely jump in and race the C4 in Cave Creek, one of the most fun races in AZ with a great post race party as well and close to home!

A few Summer Highlights:

    • Driving in Uncle Gil’s Model T in 4th of July Parade in Belle
    • Tubing the Sand Creek River with the Hansen’s
    • Hammocking by Iron Creek
    • Swimming at Iron Creek Lake
    • Many evening fireside chats by the Solo Stove with friends and neighbors
    • Another Dakota Five-O in the books

Enjoy the photos.

Lots of evenings spent sitting around the solo stove
Lucy was in doggy heavan
Lucy was in doggy heavan
We saw lots of mountain goats up close
We saw lots of mountain goats up close
Fresh new membrane
Fresh new membrane
Uncle Gil's model T
Uncle Gil’s model T
Driving in the 4th of July Parade
Driving in the 4th of July Parade
The whole family of mountain goats
The whole family of mountain goats
Mattie switched to a big girl bed
Mattie switched to a big girl bed
Trip back to Wisconsin
Trip back to Wisconsin
Mattie's first fish
Mattie’s first fish with Uncle Dave
Evie at the Five-O
Evie at the Five-O, single speed
Spearfish Falls, one of many waterfall adventures
Spearfish Falls, one of many waterfall adventures
Lots of hikes
Lots of hikes
See you next summer Spearfish!
See you next summer Spearfish!