I am taking this beautiful late fall/early winter to catch up a bit. Life has been good. Very good in fact. That said, it has not been without some busyness, growth and challenges on time and energy. More on that later. But it feels good to be drinking coffee and getting this stuff out on this beautiful late fall/early winter day here in MN. Good coffee is helping too! So let’s get started.

Sunset Happy Hour - One of our favorite spots in Steamboat Springs, Colorado

The above picture seems like months ago already, but I’ll start off with the biggest and most fun adventure from the last few months. Jen and I got to spend 3 weeks in Colorado with a long stint at my brother and sister in law’s property in Steamboat Springs. Thanks again Scott and Steph, you are so kind and generous. We had planned this trip earlier in the year as part of our year long, 25 year anniversary celebration. We had such an incredible trip together and had the good fortune of visiting family, doing a lot of fall hiking, and visiting with friends. We also worked remotely during most of this time and I, of course, also rode my bike when time permitted. I’ll share more about the riding and the bike I rode out west in future posts but this trip wasn’t about that. Riding was the sprinkle on the sundae or donut kinda thing….Just a bonus. We had an incredible time together. So thankful for the whole experience. For me, I expect that this will be my end of the year highlight of for sure.

Speaking of sprinkles, I also celebrated another year around the sun in late October. I always plan a ride for my birthday and this year it was a low key, ride to my favorite rock and overlook for coffee, treats and community with friends. It was an amazing day for me spending time with friends I love and appreciate. It was also special that my friend Darrel was in town from Kansas and got to join us. That was extra special. It was a great day.

Another real joy was just last weekend in Madison, WI. Jen and I got to be there for our daughter’s first marathon. It brought such great joy to both of us to see our daughter set a goal and achieve it. It was also great to see my wife join her for a few miles. Seeing these two run off into the distance side by side near mile 20/21 brought a great amount of joy to my life.

On the bike front, I have mostly been riding my Tumbleweed bikes, both the Stargazer and new Sunliner. I am finding them both to be chameleons and super easy to change up to meet my moods and desired experiences. FYI - I have a post mostly written about my Stargazer and an update to Product 10. Look for that soon.

In other news, most of my friends and family know this already, but I am back working full time in a new industry and new role. My focus has been mostly on learning that job, building relationships across the globe, learning the software to support it and develop tools to perform at the level I want to perform. It’s taken a lot of my energy the past few months. I see the mental drain of the steep learning curve subsiding a bit in the near future so I can get back to working on both my mental and physical fitness again, both of which have suffered a bit since I started.

I also made a one day trip to Chicago to pick up a car of ours that broke down and needed to be left in Chicago and repaired. In the spirit of making the best of it, I took a few hours to walk and do some street photography before driving home. I really do love walking in a big city. Chicago has so much and is so big compared to Minneapolis/Saint Paul. It just gives me so much inspiration and energy.

So now that I have the catch up post completed, I am able to set my sites on other things I have been working on. I’ll be back soon with a new creative project to share as well as a lot of bike and photography content.

Time to Catch Up

Project 10 - Update #1

Desert Binge