We've Got Some Telepathic Voodoo Witchcraft Skills!

I was on a cycling forum last week and the title of one of the threads was "42 degrees, went for a ride, how do you guys do it?" Hah! I think we were down as low -23º f (-31º c) in Lakeville at one point during last week's bout with frigid temps. I'd loved to have taken Ralph from Florida out for a ride with me so he could see that his 42º was easily very doable.

I had some use-or-lose vacation time I needed to burn up so I took last Monday off and headed for the river to spend a couple hours on the trails in the coldest air I've ever ridden in: -15º f (-26º c). It isn't often we get temps that cold during daylight hours and I wanted to take advantage of the conditions to improve on my personal all-time low riding temp, substantially improving on my old record of -4º f. I had to smile a little watching a guy on the news later that day with his dire warning to not go out unless absolutely necessary because of the dangerously cold temperature. If he'd only known how much fun I had out there and how comfortable I was but yeah, I get that those temps aren't for everyone. It's no wonder that I had the trails all to myself.

I'm getting much more comfortable on my fat-tire bike but it's taken me lots of miles to get to this point. It's so unlike any riding I've ever done. Subtle weight shifts and turning the bars just enough when needed are key skills to negotiate the bends of the trail without giving up too much speed. It sounds simple enough but it's not. Also, figuring out what tire pressure to use depending on trail conditions is also as important as anything. 8 psi seems to be working well for me lately.

I finally climbed aboard my CompuTrainer on Wednesday and suffered the punishment of an indoor workout. I needed that. There's nothing better for pushing me but lately, being outside and on my Mukluk is where it's at.

Rachel submitted our Amazing Race application form and accompanying video a couple months ago but we never heard back from the show's producers. I suppose we're not surprised given the number of applications they receive each season, I believe in excess of 12,000 on average. She did a great job putting it together, focusing on the fact that the show has never featured a stepfather/stepdaughter combination in any previous season. The producers stress that the show is as much about relationships as the race itself and that's why we felt we had an 'in' with our relationship being what it is. But we erred in our video submission so maybe it was all for naught. We didn't realize until it was too late that our video needed to show us interacting with one another, which it doesn't. She'll be taking a break from school next year so we'll maybe have another chance or two to make another submission. It's such a long-shot but who knows?

I can totally see people pulling for us ...I can hear them now...

"I really like that Rachel and Kevin team!" and "yeah, I wanna see them win!"

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