Well, the weather predictions for this past Memorial weekend were not even close for our area. It was the annual Balloons Over Bavarian Inn and I didn’t think we would actually get to see the balloons due to the weather. The boys and I got to see the balloons Friday night and we all saw them on Saturday night. The kids had a lot of fun and Susan and I got to try out the first food truck in Frankenmuth.

I even found time to weed whack the ditch (really need a new weed-whacker…), clean up the grass growing through the cracks in the driveway and around the pond area, and mow the front lawn with the “fancy” pattern (hoping to get the backyard sometime this week).

We ended the weekend by going to the zoo yesterday and the kids had a blast. They were being so good; we decided to have a picnic and a second carousel ride. After we left, Ollie fell asleep in the truck and decided that was a good enough nap… it wasn’t. The kids were definitely tired and getting them going this morning was a bit of a chore.

All and all it was a pretty good weekend, we are thinking about camping out somewhere next year. Henry said he wanted to try staying the night in the tent in the backyard this summer, we’ll see how well that goes!

Signing up for a gravel road race in April in Michigan, you never know what you’re gonna get. The weather turned out to be pretty decent, me on the other hand… not so much. I had been battling a cold for a couple weeks before the race (4/6), it was still lingering the day of and to top it off I woke up with a headache and nauseous.

I stayed in a hotel in Grand Rapids and signed up for the race early enough to get a discount on the race fees, there was no way I wasn’t at least attempting to do the race. A quick stop for a banana and some gas for the truck and I was off to find the start line.

Without a steady data signal on my phone and not getting directions before I left, I drove around for awhile before I finally found registration and a place to park. Not knowing what the weather was going to be like, I packed all my cycling gear. After a quick trip to get my race number, I decided on bibs, tech shirt, shoe covers, tights, wind shell jacket, winter cycling gloves, and my buff. It was a little chilly before the race started, but I wasn’t too cold once we got rolling.

The race start had three waves and I was in the second. The first wave was called up and the second wavers filled in behind, I looked around and saw quite a few “Wave 2”s around me and thought I was good. Well, the folks in wave three were anxious to get going and lined up directly behind the first wave. When the gun went off for my wave, I had a hard time navigating through the crowd… I wasn’t the only one :(.

Being on a singlespeed, I had hoped to find a peleton to ride with, but that idea quickly faded after the botched start. Nobody likes a wheel-sucker, but that was the only way I was getting through the race. I spent most of my time behind a lady with a sweet LeMond road bike (with surprisingly narrow tires). Without her, I’m not sure I would have finished the race… definitely want to do this race again, maybe the fall race next time!