The 'Cycle' of Friendship

We did something that we have never done before and we can’t wait to do again!  My husband and I opened our home to two bikers from the Nature Valley Grand Prix bike race that wrapped up on Sunday.

It was a wonderful experience that I recommend. Brad and Chris came into our home as house guests and left as our friends.

My plan was to do a more regular blog during the week they stayed with us, but found it very difficult to find time to sit down and write. So here is our week in a nutshell…

I first found out about becoming a host family through a recent article on Patch.com. I thought it sounded interesting and decided to fill out the online form. I was delighted when I received an email stating that we would be hosting two bikers from the Horizon team. This was a great motivator to get my fridge cleaned out!

Brad and Chris arrived on Monday evening in a small VW GTI car packed with everything they would need for the week. It reminded me of a clown car as the just kept pulling stuff out and I wondered how it all fit in there!  Our finished basement became their home and they were no strangers to the kitchen either.

These boys can eat! They are very strict about eating their last meal about 3 hours prior to race time and rice is the chosen food to fill up on. Their rice cooker was used no less than two times every day. They had lots of interesting recipes that included special rice bowls for immediately after the race to refuel. The rice bowls did not look very appealing and I was thankful they never offered to "share."

I will never look at rice the same way.

With a busy schedule of six races in just five days, there wasn’t a lot of down time for Brad and Chris. We were able to enjoy a couple meals with them and relished in all the information they provided on the subject of road bike racing.  Since my husband and I would rather hit a mountain bike trail instead of the road, we found the subject of road bike racing to be a whole new world. They would occassionally need to "translate" their bike talk so we could understand. A "sticky bottle" is when a biker receives a water bottle from the team car and holds on a little longer than necessary for a "free ride."

Brad and Chris were very polite and helpful, always cleaning up in the kitchen and even unloading the dishwasher nearly every day for me. They were more than happy to play with Evan and even shared their lunch with him.

On Saturday evening, Brad and Chris made dinner for us that of course included rice! It was a wonderful meal and I made sure to get a copy of the recipe.

Although we did not make it to the races during the week, we made sure that we were on the sidelines cheering for them as they traveled to Wisconsin on Saturday and finished in Stillwater on Sunday.  It was so much fun having somebody that you know to watch and cheer on.

I was sad to see them leave but hope that they will be able to join us again next year!

Heather Hampton is the owner and instructor for Baby Boot Camp in Woodbury.  She would love to talk to you about how simple it is to get more fruits and vegetables into your diet with Juice Plus. Contact Heather by email (Heather.Hampton@BabyBootCamp.com) or phone (651.321.1871).  Find Heather on Facebook and LinkedIn