The Annual "Thanks" Post

I know I have posted on the facebook some quick thanks... I like to be a little more verbose as it is very true that the race would not happen without a bunch of people doing things essentially out of the kindness of their heart (because we probably are pretty close to the bottom of "sponsor" bang for the buck... actually promoting etc. is NOT my/our strongsuit.

So... here goes (in no particular order):

1) Rider/racers - Thanks for being fun to be around for a day! Also, it is appreciated that no one has resorted to physical violence as we hand out leg 3 notes when you know that "Heath's Hill" is coming up. Even if you haven't ridden the "Rok" before you have heard of it (generally). Note - thanks to those who donated to the race we didn't lose any money and should be able to guarantee 2 or 3 port-a-potties.

2) My family - Carly is awesome! Both in helping on the day of the race at the checkpoints and finish, and in letting be get away for hours at a time to do course recon, riding, etc. I couldn't do it if there was even a bit of hesitation. Thanks to the grandparents too for watching the kids all day!

3) Mississippi National Golf Links - The convenience and safety of the golf course (as opposed to bombing through town like olden days) is so awesome! I saw a handful of folks leaving from the clubhouse so hopefully the golf club was cool with our using the lot again. It helped that it was very cool and probably not really that big of a golf day... Finishing on with Lehrbach is part of the race... so moving the start/finish is not something that I would want to do.

4) Red Wing Brewery - It's a small place and can get packed pretty quick... but for my money it's the best pizza in town (I recommend the spicy italian but sub pepperoni for the roast beef), and there is a pretty good variety of beer too. (I'm no beer drinker so I'll leave that for others to determine). Norm and the whole crew are great folks and allowing us to set-up shop the night before makes things that much easier for us (and those that can get into Red Wing Friday) on the morning of the race.

5) Twin Six - Thanks again for bringing a bag of swag that we can lay out for racers to grab as they finish. NOTE - we suck at actually giving these out in a good manner that actually gets value for them... and they still bring stuff after years and years of doing so.

6) Trek Bikes - They brought down some sweet lights and hats and stuff... the same can be said as for Twin Six. Bringing stuff without the allure of a lot of publicity says a lot.

Last and very much not least ...

Thanks to Jake and Larry for helping out on the race day. Larry is always ready to help wherever it's needed, and to pore over lists at checkpoints until everything makes sense. Jake is the "social" one of the bunch, so having him available for the finish area is awesome. We couldn't do it without them. The fact that Jake made the flight back from Denver says a lot.

Next year would make for 10... I think we're a go at least right now. Pencil in April 1 or April 8 (depending on work schedules... I think it'll be April 1), 2017... I REAAAAALLY want to change the course, even a little to make old GPS files useless. But we'll see what happens.

Note - I went through all of the results that I could find. There are 3 riders who have done every Ragnarok... Brandt Elson, Heath Weisbrod and Eddie Karow.

Thanks again!