Rebecca Sauber Wins Buck Hill Birch Bump

The Minnesota mountain bike family hit the trails on the slopes of the Buck Hill ski complex in suburban Burnsville on June 29, an unlikely location that served as the nursery for America's most successful skier, Lindsay Vonn. This time the slopes were dominated by speedy endurance star Rebecca Sauber, who shot away from a small women's elite field and won the event by a large margin.

A smile on her face as she crosses the finish line.

 

  

Alone on the last lap.

North Star Grand Prix Ladies 2014

A field of 106 lady cyclists signed up for the first stage time trial of the North Star Grand Prix in Minnesota on June 11 and when the agony was over on Sunday Durango, Colorado native Carmen Small of the Specialized-Lululemon team was the 2014 champion after taking the yellow jersey from United Health Care's Alison Powers in the Cannon Falls road race stage and holding her advantage through the final day's Stillwater criterium. Canadian champion Leah Kirchmann took the third spot on the podium for Optum Pro Cycling.

A number of the ladies had something to be proud of during the course of the contest. Californian Coryn Rivera won the field sprint in both of the flat criteriums in downtown St. Paul and Uptown Minneapolis in the kit of United Health Care. Vanderkitten rider Gillian Carleton won the Menomonie, WI road race and her team mate Lizzie Williams ran away from the field up Chilkoot Hill in the Stillwater criterium to win the festival's final stage. Local high school grad Kelly Catlin finished 15th in the GC for the Kakookies College All-stars. Overall winner Carmen Small talks over old times at the start line with former team mate Jade Wilcoxson. Coryn Rivera, many times a junior national champion, has found a place on the new United Health Care squad. Aussie rider Lizzie Williams emerged from a ten year retirement to join Vanderkitten in late 2013 and win the Chilkoot Hill stage at Stillwater with an impressive breakaway. Williams relaxes after her strenuous effort on Sunday afternoon. Consummate pro and Olympic silver medalist Lauren Tamayo does the work for the new United Health Care team,chasing the breakaways and leading out the sprints for Coryn Rivera. Canadian star Leah Kirchmann not only won third in the GC, she also took the best young rider jersey. Colavita-Finecooking rider Olivia Dillon placed ninth in the GC. Young Tibco veteran Samantha Schneider lines up next to new Optim rider Maura Kinsella.

Shamrock Capitol Criterium

Junior phenomenon Kelly Catlin leads the ladies field up the hill to the Minnesota State Capitol building as she wins the state criterium championship on June 1. Catlin finished 9th in last years world junior road racing championships in Tuscany, Italy. Abby Reuss and Melissa Dahlmann took second and third.

Jordan Cullen gets some company on his extended but failed breakaway. Grand Performance rider Tony Olson won the pro-1-2 event for the second consecutive year.

The Hmong Market

Sunday, May 25, was the first day of summery weather in central Minnesota after a long, hard winter and a generally unpleasant spring and an opportunity for the Twin Cities' southeast Asian population to do some outdoor shopping at their international market on the corner of Marion St. and Como Ave. in St. Paul. The market is the place to find traditional Hmong and Karen clothing and food. At this time of the year it's also the spot to pick out the seedlings for this summer's garden. Individuals are selling pepper, tomato and melon plants as well as plants not generally available on the northern plains. The venue was packed with gardeners making their choices.

2014 Tuesday Night Worlds at the Fair

The road cycling season in the Twin City area gets underway with the Tuesday Night Worlds at the Fair, a weekly criterium on the Minnesota State Fair Grounds.

The combined women's field lines up for their 25 minutes of laps around Machinery Hill on May 20.

90 Year-Old Drugrunner Gets 3 Years in the Federal Pen

Ninety-year old WWII bronze star winner Leo Sharp has been sentenced to 3 years in federal prison for his part in a major cocaine distribution ring. Federal agents discovered Sharp by recording telephone conversations between other suspects in an investigation of the conspiracy and arrested him on a Michigan highway with $3 million worth of cocaine in his pickup truck. According to US district judge Nancy Edmunds, if she didn't send Sharp to prison for his crime, drug dealers would get the wrong message, being: "If you want to inoculate your organization from punishment … get an elderly person to do your deliveries for you, because they're not going to go to prison for it."


Is the logic of that statement correct? Does Mr. Drug Dealer look at his operation and think that if the distribution network is composed of geriatrics, they might receive lesser punishments than their younger counterparts and then ...go right back to work dealing drugs? Drug dealers probably try to hire people that they can rely upon that are unlikely  to stand out as stereotypical criminals. If these underlings are apprehended, it's all over for them. Mr. D.D. loses these employees for a long time. But then he gets others. The "War on Drugs", an expensive failure, has never discouraged the participation of those willing to take a chance on its rewards. Sending a 90 year-old to the big house is unlikely to change that dynamic.

"an involuntary termination for reasons other than for cause."

That's how Target Corp. describes the departure of CEO Gregg Steinhafel as the troubled discount retailer attempts to move on from a disastrous data breach, failed Canadian expansion and low sales, as we're told here. In spite of this trifecta of misfortune, Steinhafel will depart the Minnesota company with a $15.9 million severance package. In the previous two years combined the 35-year Target veteran earned $33.6 million in cash and stock awards.