KCDIRTBIKERACING

Stumpjumper Trail Crew

2011-01-08T14:40:00.000-08:00

It is all here It's gonna stay there so keep visiting me @ http://trailcrew.specialized.com/

Bow Wow Wow whoa Yippie yo Yippie yeah

24 Solo

2010-10-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

Get the Scoop

Moab Cometh

2010-10-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get a few words out before the weekend.

Here they are STUMPY

Cruise the Blues

2010-08-29T17:38:00.000-07:00

Get it here... Stumpjumper Trail Crew! Word

Falcon 100 Report

2010-08-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

Off to the races...and heres the rest of the story...stumpycrew.com

SS National Champs

2010-07-18T12:47:00.001-07:00

stumpjumpertrailcrew

still

2010-07-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Bailey Hundo

2010-06-21T06:20:00.000-07:00

STUMPY CREW FOR REPORT

Bikes have been ridden and reports of activities reported on

2010-06-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

GO HERE STUMPJUMPER TRAIL CREW

Get on my spaceship and hover

2010-06-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

Something has to happen with this blog. At the moment I am not sure what. But I finally got a Internet connection that does not constantly disconnect itself, which took me filling up my lifetime quota of being on hold with comcast, so now I can give it some much needed attention.

I think everyone here knows that I live in Colorado Springs now, and work in the sales/marketing dept for Carmichael Training Systems. I have been absolutely loving my job and the needless to say I have been riding unprecedented amounts. My Stumpjumper has seen more feet of up and down than most bikes do in a lifetime. I have still been riding it as a singlespeed, much to the amusement of my new riding companions.

As well I have still been riding my Podium Fixed gear loads. Even full on deep into the Mountain rides, and I still find it as hilariously fun as ever. Living close to my Uncle Chris up in Denver is allowing us to ride with each other weekly and plot the course of Steel Podium Cycles for the future.

All in all Life is Good, Real Good. I am going to be able to start getting more pictures and posts up on the SJ site, so stay tuned there, and soon I will figure out the future of this blog, and as I like to say to my friends, Get on my space ship and hover.

Ride the Goose

2010-03-31T19:58:00.000-07:00

Check out my coverage from our SJTC rager in the desert HERE

Look down the page for Aren's sweet video shots. I'm loving it

Hills of Hell Postscript

2010-03-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

This was kinda one of the outer circles of the Inferno. Click here.

Wilson Lake

2010-03-01T06:37:00.001-08:00

My Pops digging out on our Sunday ride at Lake Wilson. Check out the SJTC for more pictures to get you psyched up for the Fat Tire Festival in May.

My Wonderful Wife

2010-02-22T15:18:00.000-08:00

Here is Amber at Swope Park getting some good work done while keeping me entertained. A little bit more a little bit more.

2010-02-05T09:35:00.000-08:00

JP and I have been keeping ourselves busy with all our 2010 plans. Lots of cool stuff to come from Shores Sports.

Just Winter

2010-01-04T06:28:00.001-08:00

My bike got pretty icey at the race on Thursdaay

Being covered in mud when it is less than 20 degrees makes clean up interesting.

Thanks to Rodger we got a few pics from this final event 0f 2009

At Christmas time I spent some quality time out on the trail in front of my parents house. It keeps you warm even when the wind is blowing 30mph and it is 7 degrees out.

The Season for gettin it

2009-12-11T06:26:00.000-08:00

Here is the bomb squad duo demonstrating via Iphone that indeed we had just knocked out a sweet ride at Blue River while the temperature was in the single digits Wednesday night.

This is Tuesday night Travis and I went out on MTB's in the slush snow, It was not really cold enough for us to be cold, but we were pretty wet by the end. Thursday I celebrated passing my Series 66 test with a five lap slam dance on my fixed gear at Swope. I am really hoping that I am the first person in the history of securities industry to celebrate anything with a fixed gear MTB ride.

Booyah

2009-12-06T19:31:00.000-08:00

WORD
One real fun thing to do is after you make a trick little piece of riding to hollar out, "Techno challenge No touchdowns." That is a little gem that Steve Heal brought to my life that now brings me regular delight.

Oh crap I am confused

AHHH

2009-11-29T08:08:00.000-08:00

I have not been recovering quickly. I am getting better but it has been awfully slow progress. I do think I have turned the corner.
Here is getting ready for a little trail ride at Smithville. Read more here

Inactivity

2009-11-15T17:20:00.000-08:00

I was hoping after my steady progress of recovery on Wednesday and Thursday I would be racing this weekend. I kinda platued on Friday and Saturday. This was my leg a few minutes ago and it is still hurting. Hurry up and wait.

2009-11-12T08:05:00.000-08:00

I got a new post up on a the Trailcrew Blog. Go there now.

Slow to Respond

2009-11-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

I know I have been bad with the new posts lately. I don't like it a bit, but something has to give at times, and it certainly is not going to be riding. The weekend was good. I raced on my Fixed gear Podium MTB Saturday at the Awesome Boss Cross race. I charged to a win in the SS class and held on for 6th in the open. I had my first Stumpjumper ride Sunday. Oh Oh oH yeah, good stuff. I just finished a post on it for the All New Stumpjumper Trail Crew Site, but it is not quite up yet because all of us riders seem to be pretty horrible at getting all the required "stuff" (internet language for important steps) done. I think I just read an email that one of the riders had hijacked the flickr site accidentaly, and it had to be "re done" (internet language for someone with skills to do some stuff).

Come out tomorrow night. Cross in the dark, there is lights in the park so do not hesitate because life is...too short

GAME ON

2009-10-29T14:13:00.001-07:00

I guess this makes it pretty Dang official. My new S Works Stumpjumper showed up in the mail yesterday, and along with it I official became one of the 8 members of the Stumpjumper Trail Crew. Needless to say I am totally stoked to ride this bike and participate in all the good times that the trail crew is going to have. Picking the bike up you can not believe it has 140 mm of travel, I am positive I have NEVER had a lighter geared MTB. Freakishly light.

Along with the bike came a smattering of sweet new gear. Some much needed new shoes, a new S Works MTB helmet topped the list for me. I have been daydreaming about all the sweet adventures next season is going to hold. Ouachita, Syllamo, Big Bear, are the first three things on my mind for 2010. Beyond that I am thinking Stage Race, and maybe one really long race.

Right now I am looking forward to Coronado's Challenge in late Novemeber, and the rest of cross season. I will be out on the trails as much as I can once this mess dries a little bit. And remember to anyone that can come and join us at Riverfront Park for a tuesday cross race. We meet at 6:00 and are racing shortly after. We have had good turn outs the first two weeks. Any lurkers out there wanna give cross a shot this is a good place to come see what it's all about. We had a couple of gals show up this week on brand new MTB's and wanted to see about racing cross. Pretty cool.

We have a new site that Specialized is building to house all of the Trail Crew and I will keep you updated when that is ready. I have been getting the background tour and it looks like it will be pretty cool. It certainly is going to expand my internet skills, and you know girls only like guys with great internet skills.

Tuesday night Cross Race

2009-10-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

If you want to do a 40 minute show and go race, meet at the west side of Berkley Riverfront Park, just below the Grand St. viaduct at 6:00 Tuesday night. We will pre-ride the course together and then do a 40 minute race. Hope to see you there.

Good Times at Bully Cup

2009-10-18T17:25:00.001-07:00

Me and my friends went out to Wyandotte Park to ride our bikes
I rode my bike around in circles until they told me to stop

Then I was given a case of Boulevard Pale Ale

Moab 24 hours 2009

2009-10-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

My fourth 24 hours of Moab is in the books. Being that it was the first race that I did not ride solo, it was much more comfortable than the previous outings.

Moab is all about bikes, when you drive into town and bikes are spilling out of every crack in the rock you feel pretty good about the future. Since I spent a healthy amount of time in Moab few years back it also has a nice familiar homey feeling that is nice to return to. On our way in Amber and I rode in Fruita, she conquered the Rustlers, Mary's, and one other loop I forget the name of, and we had an absolute riot. Over in Moab the next day I hooked up with my Dad and the team of misfits that he brought along for a obligatory loop of Slickrock Trail. On our way out we ran into a friend of mine who I have known since way back, who now happens to be the assistant mechanic for the Fisher team. He was there to support the mighty Chris Eatough, who very unfortunately became ill and was not able to compete. But Andrew joined us for an extremely fun ride out on the big rock. Friday morning we needed a little fun that was not the race course. Even though the course does have sections that thrill the heck out of you, it is certainly not the place you would go ride if you were coming for a riding trip to Moab. I took a crew of Scott, Craig, and Graham Aldredge (visiting form Flagstaff) out to one of the staples of the area, Soverign Trail. We made the out and back singletrack, and I was pleased to see how well the trail was holding up over the last few years. It was a little wider and a little sandier but still a great time. I would have loved to have some more energy to burn and keep on going into the Baby Steps network of trails, but we were already pushing the envelope with that ride, and we still went out to the course for a pre-ride with Aaron Elwell, when his plane arrived.

Race Day dawned beautiful, I was excited and feeling good as we got around and prepared base camp for the next 24 + hours of pushing it. We crammed onto the start line, and peered across the desert to the stubby bush that marked the turn around for the rabid herd of racers. I ran as hard as I could and very slowly. The powdery sand felt like I was pushing through cement, I thought I was never going to make it to my bike, then I karate kicked someone as I cyclocrossed onto my rig, it was chaos. I started rounding people and was soon with the lead group of about 7. Here in the story I become very embarrassed, this is perhaps the most boneheaded thing I have ever done in a race. We are climbing away and I start to recover from the initial effort, and all of a sudden it dawns on me that we have been climbing for a long time, too long. And right then Josh Tostado says, "this is wrong we have gone to far." I think to myself, "I am not wasting anymore time, turn around immediately and get on course." I U-turn and head back down the road, passed gawking riders coming the other way. I get to the 4 wheeler road that the race has always gone up one the first lap every other time I have done the race, and a volunteer says no not this way, you go around. Heart sick I turned back around and gunned it trying to pass the hordes of people that were now ahead of me. I spent a TON of energy and had a pathetic lap passing people and trying to salvage something. Of course now it I realize fully how dumb this was, but at the time it seemed to make sense. All I can say is Oh well.

Here is the deal, our team rode solid but not phenomenal, which is what it would have took to really be competitive out there. We clawed our way up to 7th overall and finished the race up still going strong. I think everyone had some dark moments out there and we all had some adrenaline spiked bliss. Because I was not feeling particularly sparky climbing, I threw caution to the wind descending, and had more than one out of control plummet down a rock fall that luckily enough always ended up on the rubber side. Good living.

I have one more MTB race planned this year at Coronado's Challenge, November 21st and 22nd in Lindsborg, Kansas. Besides that bit of fun it is just trail building time, riding the fixed gear, some cyclocross, and start thinking about next season.

I have a few announcements to make, but still getting my ducks in a row, so I got to hold off. See you all out there, way out there.

Moab quick update

2009-10-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

Greetings from vacation. Amber and I are in Great Bend with our feet in the air, after spending time at my grandparents in Denver. The race and the trip in Moab was a blast. We did not do as well as I hoped but we certainly had fun and tried our hardest. I am working on a full report and I will get it up shortly.

Parkville Weekend

2009-10-05T05:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a whirlwind weekend of racing in Kansas City. The Boss Cross crew lived up to their legend with two spectacular events in the idyllic little burg of Parkville, MO.

Day One was overcast and even a little chilly. My new bike arrived Thursday, and it truly felt like cross season pushing away from the house Saturday morning with long sleeves on and a crisp clean bike underneath me. It was a fun day of watching friends and cheering on teammates before my race rolled around at 2:00. It was perfect racing temps when we took to the line. The start as always looked pretty sketchy but my new light solid bike inspired me to a good third place out of the first corner start. I was happy with how I rode for the most part, I just needed some strength to follow some of the guys that went around. I pretty much sat glued to Chris Wallace's wheel, I went around a couple of times and tried to inject some speed, but it was not really helping anything. In the end Chris out sprinted me for 8th place and I finished 9th. Up at the Joe Schmaltz destroyed everyone, and Jeff Winkler went man style once again for a superb 2nd place finish ahead of Steve Tilford in 3rd. Kansas City is flying fast this season.

Day two was more of the same, more great weather, and the course was in reverse which felt even faster. I got a decent start but not as good as the day before, I was somewhere towards the back half of a 10-12 rider line up. The first couple of laps I was keeping in contact, but after digging up out from the river bank, I could not get it into my big chainring fast enough as the sprint down the back side began and lost those few critical lengths I needed to hold on. I was caught by Studnicki and Mills and rode behind them until Stud dropped back and Adam and I saw that Jonathon was dangling ahead of us currently in 6th place, I made a hard charge up and got onto Jonathon's wheel very briefly but the effort took a toll, I slipped away and was just beginning to regroup myself, when I decided to toss my glasses, that were completely sweat glazed, over to Travis. Well I made a little to exuberant of a throw jerking my handlebar sideways and sent myself sliding across the ground, I stood up and was just thinking, "you have got to be kidding me." That pretty much ended me riding worth a crap, I fought all I could but never really regained good speed. I think I was 10th in the end.

It was good last night, knowing I got those two great races in, and that is about 10% harder than I will be going next weekend in Moab, it is just 6 of those efforts. This is a rest and travel week. Amber and I leave tomorrow morning. The game plan is to ride in Fruita on Wednesday and then pre-rding the course Thursday and Friday. I am so excited not only to race but just to drive through the mountains and see friends that I have not seen in a long time. This trip is a very appropriate chapter marker for myself, when I get home I begin training for a new career. Tune in to the race at Granny Gear's website, I think we are in for a 24 hour dog fight.

Swayze Cyclocross Traveling Festival

2009-09-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

Wednesday Cross as told about here, happened tonight. Good times, lots of laughs, even some searing lungs. Be there next week. The Ethos crew that is on hand is planning some Urban Assault riding following the races, you are welcome to come.

More Cross more floundering around

2009-09-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the kickoff Destad Series race, which was held in Sar Ko Par park in Lenexa. This Sunday was also the launch of Ethos Racing. After months of plotting and planning we had sponsors and jerseys and were ready to go. Ethos had five riders at the race, and it was cool to see the beginning of our team taking shape.
My race was not that fun for me. I had an even worse than usual start, I took forever getting around people, I worked my way up to 9th, and then I came unhinged, I just sat down in the shade. I was pretty frustrated but that is just what you get.
Travis rode his first cross race and finished 4th in the Cat 4 and then 11th in the Cat 3/4. JP Shores flew the Ethos banner to good finishes in the Masters and 3/4 race.

On the up side for me I did get a great week of training in for Moab and one final good push through this week and then chill a bit up to the race. There will be more cross attempts this coming weekend, a twofer at English Landing in Parkville. Try try again

KC Cup @ Swope Park

2009-09-21T05:49:00.001-07:00

Since the initial time I pitched in some trail building hours over a year ago, I had been looking forward to yesterday. Racing on trails like phase I and II of Swope Park is, as you all know, what I like. Nothing about the day disappointed, it was all the fun I had anticipated.

The start of race was back down the road, where the race was yesterday. There had been some new trail cut in, some of which the cross race utilized, to get us back on to the main loop, and somewhat strung out before entering the woods. There were 42 experts taking off together, that just warms my heart, with the likes of Shad, Jeff Winkler, Craig and Scott the trail masters (and my teammates in a few weeks at Moab), Matt Gersib from Lincoln, Tige Lamb, Travis Donn racing his first expert race, among the rest.

I got off in a good position, I hopped around Scott at the first road. Craig was on the front sending the pace up, Shad was on his wheel then I was on Jeff's. We got into the actual trail and Craig was flexing his muscles early. Unfortunately the first decent claimed two rear tires and that was Craig and Scott's. Jeff let me around him up a bit more and I was soon on Shad's wheel. Shad was hurting me bad on all the pedaling, I was recovering in the rockier sections. Towards the end of the lap Shad bobbled at the base of a climb and I went around him. Popping out of the trail and continuing climbing up the road Shad was back on my wheel. I lead around the 2nd lap, Shad was always right there. Starting the third lap he went back around me on the pavement, and I set on his wheel. We were getting into a lot of lapped traffic, which was getting stressful, I never made the opportunity to go back around, looking back I should have tried somewhere before heading into Wudchuk Run, but I really did not have the energy. The highlight came as we started making our way down the final decent, He both boosted over this sweet little jump that I always look at but never fully commit to, Shad did it perfectly and I just mimicked him. We came out onto the road together after the long stair step climb, Shad reved up the pace and when he went into a sprint towards the line I went into a spin towards the line.

It was a great day of racing and I think everyone that was there was stoked. Like I said yesterday, I believe a long grand tradition has just begun.

Inauspicious Beginning

2009-09-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

Cross World is here. Today marked the beginning of Cyclocross 2009-10. I do not yet have a cross bike but I did not let the details detour me. Actually I had not planned on racing today at all, but after a morning Spin Pizza ride and pulling in to see all the beautiful tape outlining the course and the barriers and all the people on bikes, I could not help myself. This was all on top of me having my customary fall allergy explosion and feeling pretty crappy, I did not expect much this weekend after they way I have been feeling, so why save myself for Sunday's race. I unloaded the Epic MTB and checked to make sure I could pop over the barriers without having to get off and headed to the start line. I went hard for a brief period but I felt horrible and just kept going slower and slower. Shadd Schriner rocked his way to the win holding off Mark Studnicki and Brian Jenson, well done Shadd. Even though I was a bit miserable riding it was still good to be apart of the proceedings and hopefully it blew some snot out of me to make room for oxygen tomorrow.

The first ever Swope Park MTB race is being held tomorrow. Hopefully a long tradition is getting its start.

Stumpjumper Trail Crew

2009-09-15T04:26:00.000-07:00

A few days ago Craig asked me what bike I was wanting to race next year, a topic I am always keen on discussing, and had been milling over myself on the interweb just the day before. "You know, I am thinking about racing a Stumpjumper." Not exactly what he was thinking I would say but none the less he listened as I told of the merits of bikes with loads of travel that only weigh what my hardtails did 10 years ago.

So yesterday he alerted me of this cool interweb contest of sorts to choose the members of the first ever assembled Stumpjumper Trail Crew, This looks right up my ally, so here I am officially throwing my name in the hat and making my case why I belong as one of the 8 founding members.

They are looking for avid mountain bikers who ride a lot. A lot is a fairly relaitve phrase, but I do not believe their are any circles of mountain bikers that would not consider the amount that I ride as a lot. A little snapshot of the past three days has my tally of miles aboard 4 inches of travel and tires wider than 2 inches as firmly over 150. In the greater picture I have consistently been logging miles in dirt for the last 15 years of my life, I have taken the wonderful opportunity to ride dirt pedal bikes in every corner of the country, on all manner of terrain, both riding and racing. I am an avid mountain biker that rides a lot.

They want people who can tell a good story. That will be a little harder for me to quantify. But I do have a few stories in my bag that sound good around a campfire. Do you want to hear about the time Amber and I were four wheel drifting corners in a deluge of rain to get down to the Mah Da Hey trail in North Dakota, only to discover the next day we were on a knifes edge ridge with death plummets on either side. Or the time I was racing in Steamboat Springs in a 24 hour race and got blown of my bike by lightning. I like my story of my first 12 hour race in Nebraska, Amber, Her Dad, and I-with a collection of crappy lights, a half a loaf of bread, some peanut butter. I also like the story about my Dad and I sleeping in the airport in Vancouver. I have a nice little tale of riding on the Navajo Reservation and coming across people living at in the middle of NOWHERE offering me food and tea. There are plenty of stories from my first 27 years of life, there should be many more to come, and I feel I am pretty decent at telling them.

Now it does look like I may be a little more racer boy than they are looking for here in this group, and I will never claim to be otherwise. Even though my legs are not shaved and I log a lot more hours on fat tires than skinny I believe in racing. At its most basic level it is an all out trail ride with good friends, the more complex element involves combining your values with long term projections, making a plan and then laying your soul on the line to see what your made of(that all can be a frightening prospect, and may never overcome). I believe I have a balance between the different sides of racing, and the MTB industry would do well to take a cue from myself and my many racing mates on how to throw down and still keep our world attractive to the outsiders looking in.

I also fit right in on the trail care side if the coin. My father and I initially created the trails that have mutated into Lake Wilson's supreme dream ribbon. Myself and my trail partner Bob Behrens scratched in a network of trails along the Arkansas River in Great Bend, KS. And now that I am in Kansas City I have put many hours into the beginning of the masterpiece that will be Swope Park. There is absolutely nothing that gets my crank turning like Swope Park-the future is so exciting for the miles and miles of steep rocky root infested trails that will be smack in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri.

Specialized wants riders that can lead group rides. I think I am well qualified in that regard. Currently I lead 3 rides a week for Spin Pizza, and every weekend we do not race put together a small band of rangers to assault either Landahl or Swope. I also guided in this cool little mountain biking location called Moab, Utah for 6 months. This is a duty I can perform at a high proficiency level.

Specialized wants riders that respect and our respected by their mountain biking peers. I know how hard I have worked so that I can feel I have my place in our greater mountain bike community. Anyone who I witness take the time and make the effort to really live out what they love in bikes is a friend of mine. I can not speak for everyone out there but I believe they feel the same of me. If that is true of you reading this I would appreciate you leaving a note in the comments for me to prove this to Specialized's Stumpjumper Trail Crew assembly team.

There is my pitch, I will hope for the best, which is hands loose on the bars, elbows bent, hips floating over the saddle, left foot leading, bike leaning subtly inside, eyeing the outside bank in the bench, that should give you just enough time to straighten it up to bump jump the root garden just ahead.

Binder Lake and a long weekend

2009-09-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

It rained in Kansas City all day Friday and radar showed clouds swirling above Jeff City. A few phone calls and we found out it was nothing more than clouds. Travis and I set sail on I70 Saturday morning. We arrived at Binder Lake around 10:30 for the noon -six race set to take place. A little drizzle greeted us and made the lower sections of the course a touch greasy, nothin to complain about though. Good Ol' Le Mans start, I was to my bike third and into the trail first with Chris Ploch in tow. We quickly were by ourselves motoring along. After a little creek crossing and hard left I slipped out and Chris took the lead. I followed him around the first lap until he handed off to Tom Albert. Travis and I planned on doing two laps in a pull, so I followed Tom until half way around then I went around him and built up a 1 minute lead or so. Travis smoked out his first lap and Chris just briged up to him and came in 20 seconds or so ahead of Travis. Travis reeled it back in on Tom, and with Chris and I headed out we were deadlocked. I followed Chris the entire lap, I was feeling good but the pace was defintly quick and taking a toll on me. When Chris passed back to Tom I tried to keep the pace rolling and went around with the intention of giving Travis a healthy lead. It was working as I had built around 2 minutes at the half way point, but little teaser cramps were shooting up my left leg. The harderst climb on the back half put me over the top, full on gracilis lock down. I spent a couple of heart sickening minutes pulled over trying to get it to relax away. After what felt like an eternity it did, I limped in the mile and half that was left and dejectedly handed back off to Travis. Travis tore into his lap and kept the damage minimal until on his forth lap he found himself pulled over, cramped up. He came in and we smiled and laughed and he called out as I took off, "How about one lap at a time." Sounds good. With a steady diet of stretching, massage, and bio freeze, I was feeling better but was still a little gun shy about tearing into the lap with everything I had, I poured in a little juice and still turned a decent lap. Travis went out for his last lap, and I told him to make sure and get around quick enough to send me out for one more. He did, with time to spare, and I got to go out and rally around in the woods once more. The course was sweet, and it was beautiful in the trees, I really enjoyed my final lap.
Chris and Tom kept the gas on the whole time and finished 10 minutes or so ahead of us, it was a blast having them to chase. I hope we get to do it again soon.
And speaking of gas on the whole time, Jeff Winkler, on a six inch travel Scott roosted everyone in the solo class by MILES. He finished only a couple of minutes behind Travis and I. Holy Crap was he flying, it was one of the most impressive sights I have seen at a bike race this year. Hats off to Jeff.

Having Monday off we had a nice little gathering at Landahl. It was slick on the rocks but still a blast. My crashes always come in pairs, and after last weeks tree kissing I thought I was off the hook when I kept it upright at the race. Landahl delivered on my dualist fate, A stupid flop over on my shoulder and hand is making right side endeavors rather challenging. Luckily I was able break into the Peanut Butter this morning using my legs and left hand. I should be feeling better soon, but not right now.
Swope is two weeks away, and then Cross Season begins. Keep up

Cruise the Blues

2009-09-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

Cruise the Blues 2009 is in the books. It was another Epic year on the farm. 178 racers made there way out to somewhere east of Tipton, Kansas to the Palen family homestead, to take on their choice of the 6 mile joy course or the 13 mile glory course. My racing partner this year was Travis, who was this time leading us off at the start of the race. We gathered in the cow pins with our respective class racers and a local boy sang the Star Spangled Banner acapella while we watched a small flag blowing in the Kansas breeze, it was a pretty surreal moment, and I am pretty sure that I was not the only one who looked around at the sight and thought, "only in America."
Travis turned in a sold 56 minute lap and put me out on course third after Mike Marchand and my Dad just ahead. I caught my Dad in the opening trees and caught Mike a few miles later. I pulled away from Mike in the trees but he would flit back up to me out in the open fields. Travis did another 56 and put me back out still in the lead and growing. Always at this race I can never breath on the first lap and on the second lap I felt much better. I was not going much faster but I felt a lot better doing it. That lap ended up the fastest of the race at 52:34 and I was told was a new course record. Travis once again went out and did another 56 to finish his shift. I went into my third lap feeling good and ready to bust out my last one, then it went south. I was about to the U-turn in the first creek section when I called out to a buddy I was coming up behind and then clipped my handlebar on a tree, jerked the bar sideways and I hit the tree, then I hit the ground hard. It all happened really fast and I was more than a little stunned. I quickly took inventory and everything checked out to be in rideable shape, just knocked a little sideways in a few places. I was OK but the inside of my leg took a pretty good shot and it was painful to keep on. I rode hard on, but with a couple miles to go the leg I hit was cramping and I had to slow down and pedal with one leg some. I finally got in and we hung on to win, but it was not how I wanted to finish it up, and boy have a been sore since Saturday.
Travis and I were joined by our wives who raced in the glory class as well and rode quite well to finish second in their race. We danced and enjoyed ourselves at the after party and limped back over to Beloit, Kansas to stay the night and begin recovering.
Don't any of you miss this race, it is just plain cool.

get yourself together

2009-08-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

Get yourself to Cruise The Blues, and you too could win sweet medals.

Rapture In Misery

2009-08-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

This year marked my fourth consecutive Rapture In Misery 12 hour Race. The past three years I have ran the gamut of Duo, 3 man, and last year Solo class racing, so I figured it was time to recycle back to Duo. Of course my season long racing mate Travis was up for the task.
Last weekend we made a little recon mission up to check out the course. We rode for three hours and suffered like dogs. Yeah it was hot outside but mainly the course whipped us all. The prospect of 12 hours of going hard sitting around 50 minutes and getting back on to hammer again seemed daunting at the least.
Race morning started early packing four people, three bikes, and enough stuff to see us through into Travis's Subaru. We had tents sticking up into the back seat, wheels crammed all around us, Amber and I sitting in one corner of the backseat, and Dana slammed all the way forward in her passenger seat, but by golly we were not going to take two cars. We were there soon enough and began the comical episode of us assembling some ancient lawn tent of Dana's, this thing was a relic, but I did not make it any easier by leaving out a few key poles. All the snickering bystanders better get while the gettin's good.
I started off the race for us with the stupid run that I have done way to many times. Actually I do not hate the run as much as I like to complain about it. I was real happy that this run was up a fairly steep hill. For whatever reason I have always been a much better uphill runner comparatively, and you do not have to smash you legs as much as running along flat ground in carbon sole bike shoes. I was 2nd to my bike and followed Tieg Lamb pulling myself and a train of others down the initial stretch of trail. I was a little to comfortable riding behind him and went around on the first chance uphill. I looked back as we crossed the dam and was pleased to see Craig Stoeltzing on my wheel. I rolled off the front up the first major climb, I was trying to take it easy but it seemed much more fun to go fast and I was not feeling to bad at the pace I was carrying along.
I handed off to Travis and stopped the clock at 42 minutes and a few seconds, which would remain the fastest lap for the race. Travis continued a blistering pace with a 44 minute lap, and handed back off to me with a substantial lead beginning to form. My second lap was on the long side of 42 minutes and I felt pretty rough actually, the food I ate was not digesting well and I was feeling overheated and wasted a good bit of my bottle pouring it over my head. I came in and sent Travis back out and I let my stomach normal out, which it did pretty well. My third lap was probably my most fun lap of the race, I felt good and clouds had the sun blocked and the temperature dropped enough to really aid you in pedaling your brains out. Travis's 3rd lap was miserable for him, his stomach had gone south worse than mine and he felt horrible when he came in. All he mumbled was, "I am getting sick." I could tell he was not joking around. I told him to have two bottles ready when I came back and I would do two laps. Although I slowed to do the two in a row it was pretty fun and I enjoyed myself the whole time. Travis got feeling chipper again and headed back out, he bounced back quickly and turned some more good laps. My 6th lap was a little more eventful. On the opening descent I slipped of my line and cut my sidewall. I hate getting flats, it just takes me out of race mode and into chuck my bike into the pond mood, but I changed it and carried on. By the end of my lap it started to do some bonafide raining, it felt all nice and refreshing but the last section of singletrack was slick already. Travis went out again with his lights on and slick trail under tread, I did not envy him. That would have been me had he not let me get in a extra dry/light lap, interesting how things work out for me isn't it. So the rain picked up, I sat around somber about the next four hours of in the dark mud riding. I was looking down the barrel of two laps no matter how you calculated the time, trust me I had ran every circumstance. Travis was about ten minutes from getting back around when the weather report and trail reports made the decision easy for Heartland. No one would go out after 9:00, the race was finished. Yahoo, Travis sauntered in a few minutes later and I thanked my lucky stars I had a flat tire or Travis would have beat the 9:00 barrier and I would be out there pitching a Missouri mud hole sized fit. Interesting isn't it.
Well we were in the lead when it was over so that means you win, and we had a fun time breaking down the relic tent in the rain and stuffing it back into the car which was now extra full with the North Face bags we scored in the awards. Unfortunately they kept sliding off and hitting me in the head as I slumbered.
The drive home was my turn to feel crappy. I made Travis pull over so I could get some water and some fresh air. But the bed felt good that night.

Until next time you can enjoy Amber Chambers's latest article here.

2009-08-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

I know I have posted this picture on here before but it never fails to cracks me up.
This is what I looked like last time I raced at Crowder. I am hoping this weekend works out better. Hope to see everyone there, If you miss it you are a Square.

Spin Pizza Plaza Ride

2009-08-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

Spin Plaza Ride Revised
Find more Bike Rides in Kansas City, Missouri

Eyes to the Future

2009-08-04T17:58:00.001-07:00

Moab, Utah-October 10th and 11th- 24 hour National Championships

Distance: 14.91 Miles Climbing Dist: 7.85 mi. Climb Elevation: 1,360 ft.

Part of the beauty of life as a bike racer is by nature we do not dwell on things long. It is always on to the next thing, something in our head to keep us excited and motivated. That is the part of it all I am the most addicted to, the excitment and motivation. Always the thought...This is the one we want.

Some Awesome Pictures

2009-08-01T11:50:00.001-07:00

Travis preparing his #plate for aerodynamic efficiency
Me weaving through people and bikes to get to my bike at the start of the race

Craig finishing a lap touching his chest
Craig starting out on a lap touching his chest
The final feet of my first lap

On the podium for the 4 man expert division

Jason finishes us the race and quickly begins to rehydrate

On the podium for fastest lap

Freeze Frame...ha ha ha that's funny

24 hours of 9 mile

2009-07-28T05:47:00.000-07:00

Yup that is what we were looking for. Craig Stoeltzing, Jason Gaikowski, Travis Donn, and myself won convincingly in Wausau, WI at the 2nd of three stops for the Granny Gear 24 hour National Series. It was one to savor for sure.

Thursday morning early we headed out of KC. Amber and I were riding with Travis, and Craig was caravan'ing with Jim Cummins and Dave Burnett, leaving room in his car for Jason on the way home who would be flying into Wausau after business obligations in Dallas. Thursday we hooked up with Pappy Long and James Shefflet for our first glimpse of the 2009 course. I was happy to find that you entered your first section of singletrack much sooner than previous years I raced there. The first half of the race was a little to much doubletrack, but it made the miles go by quickly. There was some awesome singletrack sections in first half and particularly one long run that kept getting rockier, tighter, and more downhill at the same time until it shot you out of the woods all grinning and churning. The 2nd half of the course you lead off with the most taxing climbs of the trail, but they were not much after thinking back on Big Bear, and then some great singletrack that took a lot of focus to ride fast. They had it marked as just over 14 miles long, we could tell that it was going to be fast, like never take it out of the big ring fast.

I was leading us off which meant doing the run, which seemed unusually long. I sprinted (Cameron style sprint) to the first U-turn of the run, so as to not get trampled from the 238 people behind me. I think I was something like 6th or 8th to my bike and then I was in 2nd entering singletrack. I went into the lead after the first section of trail, but some dude bridged up to me from behind. We were storming along together, and he attacked out on the road and pulled me along for awhile, then I went hard up the roller climbs and could not shake him. Then we relaxed a bit and worked together with his big wheels charging the doubletrack and me leading through the singletrack. After doing the majority of the work he let me roll into the tent first, and send Jason out in the lead for the first lap. All of us had good 1st laps and established a lead in our first rotation. Our main rival team from Montana was something like 10 minutes down when I got the baton the second time. This was my lap to try for the fastest lap, without having to run at the start I thought I would have comfortably had a sub 1 hour lap, but now with that effort in the legs and moving heavily into lapped traffic it was going to be far from comfortable to hit my sub hour goal. My half way check was good, 27 minutes and change, but I knew the second half of the course was not as fast and much tighter for passing. I kept steady and only had one incident with a lady tipping right in front of me through some rocks and me having to start cyclocross season a couple of months early. In the tent to swipe the card and stop my time 59.59, how sweet a difference one second can make. It would hold up as the fastest lap for the event.

Craig had to endure a punchy little rain storm that came over in the afternoon, it initially slowed the trails, but as soon as the gravel soil drank up the water it made the course much better. My third lap was a blast with the singletrack packed in and allowing you to relax more through the corners instead of drifting and fighting for traction every corner. The sun went down while I was out and I finished the last few miles with my headlamp on. Night time is where the race is won or lost, teams can flounder through the trails making mistakes and getting frustrated while wasting precious energy, or if everyone stays positive and keeps the morale up and keeps having fun and staying focused you can bring the sun up well on your way to the podium. Everyone on our team did a great job of staying consistent and not making mistakes. Travis was a 24 hour rookie but you would not have known it by his lap times or his attitude, I did not have any doubts that he would not ride phenomenally well, but I was still impressed with his efforts. I had the last night lap and saw the sun rise on the trail, that experience is worth millions. My 5th lap was my worst for sure, I went the slowest and was in the most discomfort. I never really slept a wink and all the campfire breathing was making my chest pretty wheezy. With the sun coming up and Jason finishing his 5th lap we were all left with one to go. Everyone was storming in the morning. Sometimes you get those magic morning legs and you will like a bill and just have more fun than you ever do riding. I was definitely was having that kind of lap on my last lap. I knew the trail and was feeling pretty decent and a couple of miles in I lapped and dropped the Montana rider. Jason finished us off and we took top honors.
After picking up camp and enjoying a drink with the team, I promptly crashed in a stupor in a lawn chair. I woke up a few minutes before the awards and wobbled over to where the podium was. For winning the fastest lap competition I got to put on a crown and mount the podium by myself, that was enjoyable. Our team won and got some nice Light and Motion lights. We cruised over to a burger joint where I had Ice Tea, Sweet Fries, and a BBQ Bacon Cheese Burger, all capitals. The drive home was no ridiculous marathon like West Virginia, but we did drive south of St. Paul before getting a room and it took lots of loud music and rolling the windows down and sticking my head out to wake up.
24 hours of 9 mile was a wonderful experience and just what we had been training hard for. 2 down and 1 to go. Moab in October, We Will Be Ready, all capitals. But first there is a good bit of local fun with RIM, Cruise the Blues, KC Cup, and more.
Love ya, Love your Show.

Cramp Alexander Emporia, KS

2009-07-21T04:30:00.000-07:00

I had not been to ride the trails in Emporia for quite some time so it was nice to have a good reason to get down there and see something new. JP Shores of Shores Sports picked Amber and I up in the morning to head south, it took us two tries to get the bikes secured on but we managed. It was a friendly crowd that gathered for the race and it sure was great seeing everyone. Gary, JP, and I rode a pre-lap, a mix of wooded trail-open grass pasture trail-and 3 miles of dirt roads. The start of the race came just before 12:30 and local shop owner Matt Brown was anxious to put the hurt on us. Matt has always been known for his raging starts, but mix that with his local trails and hang on. I was following Matt with Shadd following me. The first up hill I charged around Matt and went for all I was worth for the next two miles. That did not even dent Shadd at all, he came around me on the dirt roads and towed me around at what felt like 30 mph. Back in the singletrack I thought I was recovering some as we started lap 2 of 4. Back through the trails and out on the road and after a quick little drink Shadd ramped it back up and drug me around some more. We got back to the singletrack and I was in serious difficulty. Shadd was riding my legs off and I had horrible cramp in my side from trying to drink Cytomax with my heart rate off the charts. The start of lap three I came unplugged. Hopefully it was just all the intensity of the last three weeks attempting to get ready for 9 mile , but it was pretty discouraging that I could not get recovered and find some legs to enjoy riding the rest of the race. My only reprieve came from Marv, Matts Dad, getting me a cold bottle of water to start the final section of singletrack, that shot a little life into my legs. It always takes me a few moments of being grouchy after a crappy race to bring my mood back around but some Mexican food at Casa Ramos with good company and I was on my way up.
Thank you Leland, Bobby, Matt, Marv, and all the other people that helped put the race on. It sure is fun to drive an hour and a half to a great MTB race, please do it again.
So that pretty much set the tone for this week. Lots of recovery riding on the ticket and leave the upper register alone to see what I can manage in Wisconsin. More than enough work has been done I just got to trust that I can pull it together. Remember that Granny Gear will be posting the lap by lap updates and I will twitter away until my phone dies, hopefully it makes it longer than last time.
Keep enjoying your summer and keep riding bikes more. Talk at you when I get home.

MWFTS Springfield

2009-07-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

I just got my computer back from a buddy who did some much needed maintenance, but it slowed me down on getting a weekend race report out to my faithful readers, Thank you all very much by the way for tuning in...
Sunday morning Travis, Steve, and myself headed south into the teeth of a rain storm that crashed into our car for the better part of an hour. We all remained upbeat despite the sheets of rain falling from the sky. A few minutes after I joked that I could see it breaking up on the horizon we shot out the other side and were headed towards sunshine and high temps. The turnout looked encouraging as we pulled into the venue and saw all the regulars milling about beginning their pre-race rituals, or whatever they were doing. Travis and I took an eventful pre ride with my getting stung by multiple bugs and him breaking a pedal with several miles to go. There are certain things that my pain tolerance is not particularly high and bug stings is certainly one of them, I complained an inordinate amount and pretty much told anyone that would listen how I got stung not once but twice.
It was a sweater by the time we got started at 12:30. The trails were groomed and were totally fun to ride. The course was basically backwards from the 12 hour I did there last year with some extra mileage thrown in. We were off and rather quickly a lead group of four formed with Chris Ploch, Aaron Elwell, Shadd Shriener, and myself. Chris lead for a lap and a half, we were at a semi race pace with all of us chatting and generally enjoying ourselves. The course had some many turns this way and that, that it was a bit defeating to try and go faster because that just meant more breaking and accelerating. Aaron had a pedal problem and it took him out of the pace line, then on lap two Shadd went around Chris and started putting the screws to us. After letting a few meters slip away I went around Chris and chased up to Shadd and we went into the final lap together. Shadd and I were both riding well and me not being known for my sprinting prowess decided I better go around and make a dig if I wanted to try and win. I passed Shadd at the top of one of the longer climbs which left us with two sizeable climbs and 3 or so miles of singletrack to the finish. As we were descending I got that feeling that makes your heart sink, flat tire time. I stopped and pulled out a thick piece of wire that jumped up and bit me. My first CO2 I shot straight in hopping Stans would fill the whole, no such luck. I put my tube in as Chris and Aaron passed by and I rode into the finish to claim fourth and lucky for me they were paying four deep. All in all it was pretty dang fun, and Steve won a Redline Monocog in the raffle afterwards. The race promoters did a wonderful job and deserve to be commended for their efforts cleaning the trails and making everything run efficiently.
Coming this weekend do not forget about Cramp Alexander in Emporia Kansas. All you need to know is here.

2009-07-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

The Spin Pizza rides have been going awesome. We had over 40 riders this Monday night. We even got ourselves a little press going, Check us out! Do not forget Saturday morning from the Spin Pizza at Chipman and Pryor-meet at 9:15 and ride at 9:30.
Richard Lozoff and I before the ride. Gail and Richard have four Spin Pizza locations in the city, you need to get yourself on their mailing list because you can get some amazing discounts.

2009-06-28T19:11:00.001-07:00

With a full season of racing planned out it is nice to have some time to rest and train in the middle of it. I took a week off after Big Bear and started in fresh last weekend on riding hard again. It took a few days for the motivation to return but now I have 9 mile firmly in my sights. I busted out some solid training days throughout the week, lots of long tempo work trying to lay some big watts down, to get ready for the pedal-fest that is 24 hours of Nine Mile. We will be in action next at Springfield, MO on the 12th for the next MWFTS event, and then the following weekend in Emporia, KS for their innagural XC race, then leaving for Nine Mile Forest in Wausaw, WI. But before any of that we have my favorite holiday to go celebrate in Great Bend. July 4th in Great Bend, KS is the stuff and I can hardly wait to ride some of the trails and see stuff blow up.

Old school pic shredding the local river trails in Great Bend

Some Pics

2009-06-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

team

me going

Craig going

Scott

me
race food
the legend

2009 24 hours of Big Bear

2009-06-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

It has come and gone and it was every bit as great as I had anticipated. I still feel the effects in my body and I wanted to write it down before the soreness and weariness go away because it helps me savor it that little bit more. I have said it on here plenty before but I just cannot help repeating myself that 24 hour relay races are my absolute favorite way to ride a bike.

We got on the road Wednesday with a later start than we wanted due to Jason's plane ride home from New York being cancelled. It was a pretty huge bummer that he had to fly back to Kansas City before he drove nearly all the way back from where he was being held up. He did a masterful job of not complaining about the absurdity of the situation and just carrying on. Thursday afternoon we got our first crack at the trail. It had been raining a ton in West Virgina and lucky for us all this trail holds up to ride able conditions even with loads of water being poured on top of it. But that does not mean you are not going to pay for it somehow, all the wet made a already demanding course simply brutal. Your rolling speed was drained and you had to work so hard for all the momentum you earned, no freebies here. The rocks and roots were slick but not in the way you might expect, the fine gravel of the dirt helped you cling to the rocks even when they were covered over in the motor oil like wet dirt. We rode another lap on Friday, it had rained more and was harder yet, all the climbs were infinitely harder because you had to work so hard to get to the base of the hill. All that said the course was still a riot. Plenty of descending, plenty of fast singletrack, plenty of places you were rewarded for being able to ride fast through a mess of rocks. The crown jewel of the course is about a 2 mile stretch that begins in a soft pine forest with huge pushed up berms, that gives way to a mostly downhill rhythm section that you can scream through if you can get people out of your way fast enough and committ to some tough lines at speed, and that gives way to a monster downhill that gets progressively faster until you are at breakneck speeds plummeting through terrain where you better not stop and contemplate what you are doing. The lap ended with two back to back monster climbs that were punishing everyone, they were ferocious and would make your stomach hurt standing in the exchange tent waiting for your teammate and your turn on the course.

Race day went smoothly up to the start, My team has all a been through many of these before and we had a great campsite set up and all our bases covered. Amber came to help and Andy Smith came over from DC to keep us company and help out with whatever he could. We had a darn good team in all. Scott was doing the first lap, the energy on that start line was out of control. Everyone took off like they were shot from a cannon, it was incredible to watch. Scott had a phenomenal start, rode a great lap, and put me out in 7th overall. I caught and passed all the team racers that were ahead of us, but two outstanding Solo racers remained ahead of me. My first lap turned out to be my fastest lap at 1:10.27, it came up just short of the fastest lap for the event to Josh Tostado's 1:10.14. Craig and Jason took their pulls and the story of the race began to form. We were chasing the West Virgina team lead by local hero Gunnar Shoogren, and a Pittsburgh team was knocking on our backdoor. I think we were about 12 minutes down when the sun went down. We battled hard through the night, at one point we pulled to 6 minutes and change behind the WV team. We could not get over the hump but were putting some solid real estate between us and third place. It was odd how my laps fell into order. I ended up doing five laps, but only had one night lap. I went out just after midnight and had a wildly enjoyable lap, and came back in solidly under my goal of keeping it sub 1:20. After that I went to sleep and did not wake up until the sun was up. It was good to get the sleep, but I did not do as good of a job preparing for that lap as I should have. My nutrition was a little low and I should have had my bike in better shape, my first lap the next morning was only around a minute faster than my night lap. With sun rise it was looking increasingly like we would not be catching the team ahead of us. Scott and I had the final two laps of the race and we did cut back into their lead by ten minutes to finish a respectable 19 minutes behind. My last lap was painful bliss, the course was getting a touch drier and I was chasing hard trying to get up to a five man team that had started a few minutes ahead of me. I had a solid lap with a 1:13 but it was not quite enough to bridge us to the 5 man dude who finished :30 seconds ahead of me. It was fun to have someone to chase and give my last lap a little boost.

We broke down camp quickly and had everything loaded up into the two vehicles before the awards. It is always fun to stand on the podium with your boys and put your hands in the air after such a big effort. It provided good motivation for the rest of the season and hopefully returning to do battle again next year. We ate huge hamburgers and got in the car to put some hours in. Actually I knew what was going to happen. Jason was not going to stop until we got home. This is where the story goes from awesome racing to legendary. Immediately after leaving Morgantown I was rendered completely useless in the passenger seat as Amber and Jason chatted and started going, it just took a bit and I regained consciousness and we motored up and onto I70 pointed West. Amber slept while Jason and I talked about the race and whatever else to help pass the time. Soon Columbus, Ohio was in the rear view mirror and Jason drove on. We came to Indianapolis in the dark and pushed on. Around about midnight I got behind the wheel for a short stint, I took us to the west side of St. Louis and we re-grouped at Quick Trip, Jason bought a large Coke and a strudel. I became, as Jason put it, "a puddle of flesh," in the passenger seat and he moved forward. A hour outside of KC I came to, We were entering thunderstorms and with a hour to go a bit of humanity leaked from Jason when he said, "I'm ready to be done." I was awake and amazed as we drove into the lights and the rain of Kansas City. Jason dropped Amber and I off at Craig's house and we got in our car for the painful drive across town to our bed, which we hit at 5:30 AM. Unbelievable.

XC Columbia, MO

2009-06-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

Another Mid West Fat Tire race this past weekend in Columbia, MO. There was a good turn out in Cosmo Park made up of mostly people not from Kansas City. If I had a dollar for every complaint I have heard this year about there not being local races I would be well to do, and then a race 1:30 hours away and 20 or so KC racers are there, hmmm. Anyway, it was raining a bit while we got registered. Travis and I changed into race duds and rode a lap. Even though we were splashing up a bit of water all in all the trails was still fine, and with the next storm missing to the south I could tell it was going to be in great shape in just a short bit. The sun came poking out and we all began to sweat immediately. Luckily we made a late decision to bring Amber along and with her water bottle handing up expertise, that would prove crucial.
A good group of experts toed the line, it was cool to have Josh Johnson on the start line, and Dave Breslin decided not to do the long haul class. The race was a quick start, a GT dirt coalition rider named Jonathon took of like a canon and shredded the opening descent, Dave was in 2nd and I was chasing them both in 3rd. Dave came up behind a marathon racer on a quick tight climb and could not get around, I carried momentum around them both towards the top of the hill and began to chase Jonathon. With Dave in tow we caught Jonathon fairly quickly and I went around him and made a hard dig on the climb to leave Dave. I had a bit of a gap going into a long climb that I thought I was going to big ring pin it up the whole thing, instead I was not looking down the correct trail and pin'd it right through the yellow tape. I scrambled up the climb on my feet, and Dave was with me looking like he was feeling a lot better than me. Dave rode behind me until we started the 2nd lap and then he went around, I tried to chase and kept pulling him back a bit on the climbs but awhile later he was out of sight. Time checks from helpful trail side observers had me anywhere between thirty seconds to a minute back, on my third lap I started feeling in a grove, a reliable source gave me 35 second gap up to Dave. I tried to raise the pace again but every time I did the heat felt oppressing and I had to slow down. I finished my fourth lap and there was confusion at the line if I had finished or not, Dave had come in a minute earlier-under the 1:30 mark-so he had to go back out. I came in right at 1:30-or so we are guessing-and so I went over to the shade of out pop up and began eating grapes. I really did not want to do another lap so it was OK with me. Behind me it was more confusion. The GT rider finished third, but there was some question about if he was on the right course the whole time. Chris Ploch was just behind him and he certainly was on the right course the whole time. Josh Johnson and Mike Best rounded out the paying places.
Travis Donn was in a knock out drag down race that unfortunately ended with the opposing rider not finishing due to mechanicals, but Travis did take his second W in a row. The rest of our KC crew all had respectable finishes, and most importantly were there.
After the lengthy awards, we all went and ate Shakespeare Pizza. The tales grew bigger and our bellies were filled.

Wednesday it is off to West Virginia. I will be sending twitter updates onto my blog about our teams progress. And as always you can keep up with the race with real time results at Granny Gears website. I will let you know how it goes.

From Emporia

2009-05-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

Check out the bike race in Emporia, Kansas at crampalexanderrace.blogspot.com

Coming Up

More Oklahoma Dirt

2009-05-25T06:42:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the 918XC race team for a spectacular event at Keystone Lake west of Tulsa, Oklahoma. First of all there was $2,000 up for 5 places in the Cat 1 class. That is a whole lot of money in the MTB world, and it is darn fun to race for money. It identifies the value that we as racers put on our preparation and race day performance, we get to trade value for value, and whether it is selling a bike to someone who is excited about it, or doing a fit for someone who gets a lot of benefit from your work, or racing a bike as hard as you can, that is pretty much my favorite feeling in the world.
The race course was seriously challenging. There was no one bit that was extremely hard on its own, but when you added up the non stop rock garden with quick poppy steeps, it was taking a toll on your body right from the start. Travis Donn, Aaron Elwell, and I rode a few laps on Saturday, and it was an eye opening ride and I think we were all like, "This should be interesting." We were celebrating Dana, Travis's wife's, Birthday on the trip. She was a good sport to come along for the trip and to celebrate by ordering way more food than we needed at Freddie's Steakhouse and falling asleep early back at the hotel. The hotel guy got us excited to lounge by the pool but we arrived to find the pool covered up and him saying, "too cold, maybe tomorrow." I was not impressed with that service, but we slept good.
Travis raced first on Sunday. He took off with Fury in his eyes and gaped to group on the opening climb, from his account he suffered numerable OTB catapults, but still managed to annihilate the closest competition. It is awesome to watch him getting faster every race, he is quickly turning into a phenomenal MTB racer.
Our race start got pushed back to noon. The prize purse attracted a good size field in the expert class, estimations of my crew had it over 20 racers taking off together. We started at the base of a long hill, that after 50 yards or so of pavement funneled you into a grassy/gravely singletrack beside the road up to the top of the hill. I was 5th into the grass, passed one guy before the top and poised to shoot around to Ray Hall's wheel at the top. I gassed it, and some Mad Duck rider and I traded a few elbows. I was in position to ride him into the bushes and go into the trail in second, but he seemed determined to have a collision with me if need be so I let him in. Immediately the guy started to coast and Ray, who is incredibly strong and an incredibly daft bike handler on his home trail, began walking away from us. I was getting pretty frustrated riding behind the other racer. I did not like to be the antagonist that I was, but I at least wanted a chance to try and stay with Ray. The Mad Duck rider continued to flounder and the gap grew, one rider even passed us both when Mad Duck dropped his chain after skipping off a rock and I plowed into him and dropped my chain as well. The first straight climb I went around him and began to ride my own race. It was obvious I was not going to reel in Ray unless he imploded (which did not appear likely) so I just rode hard and steady and hoped the gap behind me was opening.
The rest of the race I focused on riding as smooth and fast as I could through the endless rocks. Travis was giving me helpful time checks that helped me gauge my effort in the second half of the race. I was sucking down bottle after bottle of Heed and I ate three packets of Gu- it was about as much calories as I have ever taken in in a two hour race. Amber and Dana were perfect in the pits keeping everything cold and encouraging us on. I came to the finish line in 1:54 minutes, a distant second place to Ray Hall of 918XC Racing. Ray rode impressively to say the least. Aaron Elwell got around the rest of the field and rounded out the top three. I was pretty stoked to get cut a check for my racing effort.
In other notables Doung "Pappy" Long took second in a phenomenal race in the expert 50+ category. Three riders duked it out hard, and Doug earned a well fought runner up. My Dad came all the way from Great Bend to participate and did three laps with the expert class with his brand new Golden Belt Bicycle jersey. The kids race was a hilarious affair, but as is not surprising the kid with the Mohawk took top honors. Lyle Riedy showed his form is coming around and put in a solid three laps looking strong.
We pulled all the ticks off and hopped back in the car for the drive home. Good Ol' Oklahoma Braums provided the recovery in form of Bacon Cheese Burger, Fries, and a Peanut Butter Cup Milkshake. You better believe it.

OKC Dirty Six & Ethos Racing

2009-05-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

Jesse Gross, Travis Donn, and I headed down after BikeSource closed on Saturday to Oklahoma City. This was the first race in the Ridin Dirty endurance series, it was a 6 hour at Lake Thunderbird outside on Norman, OK. We arrived at a friend of Jesse and Travis's that had a sweet little apartment in Bricktown just after 11:00. There was a international triathlon that took place on Saturday and Andy was already hosting a couple of Brazilians and one Swede that had competed that day, so it was a full house. We all crashed hard, and got a good nights sleep before the race.
Thunderbird is a sandy maze of trails with endless bermed out corners set in a sea of poison ivy. We did not pre-ride the trail, but I have raced there a few times in the past so I knew the basic style. Laps were just under 7 miles so Travis and I decided to do two at a time. I took the first pull, and was the first one on my bike at the Le Mans start, and we never looked back. The course was hit pretty hard by rain the week before and it did not look like it had seen much action lately. My first lap was my slowest of the day, an even by my second lap the trail had picked up speed considerably with all the tires over it.
Travis took solid pulls the whole race and conceded no time to our pursuers. Our lead was steadily growing, and the trail kept getting more and more fun. By my third set of laps everything was clicking and did my fastest two laps and set fast lap for the day at 31:14. Travis knocked out one more and we finished a few minutes after 3:00 to seal the deal. The race was expertly ran and it was a shame that the rain had scared off many people. The people that were there all got treated to an awesome day of racing. Hopefully we can make the other races in the series and support all their hard work.
This was the first event for what will become Ethos Racing team. Under the banner for the first time it was good to chalk up a nice W. More to come.

2009 Kansas Fat Tire Festival

2009-05-04T05:48:00.001-07:00

Over the past decade+ I have had little consistency in my yearly race calendar. I have raced all kinds of races all over but rarely do I get to make it back time and again to races, or the races no longer exist. The exception to that is my Dad's race at Lake Wilson State Park. I believe that I have participated in a race at Lake Wilson every year since I was in middle school. Adding on to that, I have ridden more miles in the dirt at Lake Wilson than probably any other trail in my personal singletracking quest. The memories stretch out in an endless string of endorphin charged euphoric bliss. Stomping out the initial trail with my Dad and a group of friends hopping up and down in a single file line, attempting to smooth out the ground. Cold winter rides that had to be prematurely finished to make it back to high school basketball practice. Riding deep into the night on my first 29er singlespeed, scraping out the remnants of peanut butter in a jar that I found in the back of my ragged out Toyota Camry, to power one more lap. My Dad and Bob Behrens staying up all night, feeding me food and encouraging me as I prepared for my first 24 hour race. Innumerable ticks, countless poison ivy breakouts, many too many snake avoidance bunny hops, one humongous wildcat sighting, the list could go on and on.
2009's event only brought more of the same good times. The Saturday afternoon hill climb was the usual painful affair. We all lined up at the big rock at the bottom and my good friend Herb Phillips sent us all off in one minute intervals. I had the brain dialed all the way down and my fork locked out with the bike shifted into the big chainring. I dropped the hammer for all I was worth and I believe my 2:16 was my best posted time since the addition of the S curves right after the road crossing. I had closer competition than some years with Bill Klinesmith running a 2:26 and a handful of other racers including my Uncle Chris, and Mike Maurchin just seconds behind him. Saturday afternoon we rode some more of the course and I enjoyed greatly the new sections of trail, I was pretty psyched to let one uncork the next day. My Dad put our lot up in a sweet little B-n-B in Wilson, where we got a good nights sleep and had a stellar breakfast. Simple Haven Bed and Breakfast is a wonderful little spot that if anyone is ever looking for a unique and relaxing MTB weekend this would make a perfect package. Even though it drizzled all night the trails were not affected, in fact they were probably better than they would have been bone dry. Racing mate Travis Donn and I took a little warm up before the race, four miles in he had got a feel for what the trail was like and decided that was warmed up enough, this trail will do that to you. I had decided that this race needed to be a real hard workout day for me, being that it is a tough 24 miles, and West Virgina is now only a month away, I wanted to whip myself silly by the end. I got out and was pushing a big gear and really trying to ride hard, I was having so much fun the positive sensations kept snowballing the whole race until the end was just a blur of trail and happiness. Since the course has been changing every year lately I cannot really compare my times, but I felt better than ever before.
Steve and Elizabeth Heal graced us with their presence coming down from Denver for the race. It was wonderful to see them again, and Liz won the women's Expert race convincingly. Travis Donn has now progressed onto his 3rd MTB race and was once again 2nd in his Sport division. The Singlespeeders were raging, they went 1, 2, 3, in the one lap race. Salina Jon, took top honors with Great Benders in the next two places. Morgan Stevens was the sole women's SS'er, she crushed the course. Their was also a host of youngster's that was quite impressive. The Smith Family from Hays, Kansas had two boys that had an enthusiasm for mountain biking like I have never witnessed, another little tike from Lawerence shredded the kids course, and in true kids course winner fashion continued to ride his BMX bike all day long up and down the gravel piles in the parking lot. Dodge Nily is the rising star in Great Bend. Although he qualifies yet for the kids race he took on the adults and smoked out an insanely fast time for I kid who I doubt weighs 70 lbs. Even his light weight bike is like me racing on a 40+ lb machine. Props to everyone who came out, signed up, and went as hard as they could. That takes courage and is a honorable endeavor.
Another year in the books, another successful Kansas Fat Tire Festival.

Tour De Tick

2009-04-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

I played my cards right this time around. A couple of weeks ago I figured that Bone Bender would be a mess if it even happened at all. So I made plans with Travis Donn to head south to Neosho, MO and the third race in the Midwest Fat Tire Series. Right on schedule it was pouring rain Saturday morning, as I heard the race reports trickle into the shop I was happy I was racing the next day.
Travis and I headed down early Sunday morning through a onslaught of rain that lasted deep into Missouri. We kept looking at his phone and seeing that it was not raining in Neosho, but looking ahead we did not see how that was possible. The clouds did begin to break up and we were both getting excited as we pulled in to the race venue.
At registration we were told that it had rained possibly four inches the day before but that it was OK to ride. So we put on our gear and went out for a lap. It was real wet but in that soil type it did not really matter. There was plenty of mud holes and puddles but it was all the fun kind of wet, not the zap the life out you and your bike mud that we know so well in the Kansas City region.
Unfortunately there was not a big turn out, I am sure the weather scared off a lot of folks that had to travel a fair distance to get their anyway. The expert class went of first and I snuck into the singletrack in the lead. I immediately dropped the hammer on the first climb and started to open a gap. I kept on and rode nice and steady the rest of the race. As always with the Fat Tire Series races it was a timed event instead of a set distance, I am not a fan of this style of racing because it promotes me to race conservatively because you really do not know what to expect. Especially in a mud race like that there is a huge difference between racing 18 miles and 24 miles in terms of exertion. It ended up I came through my finishing my third lap in right at 1:30, I still had a lap in the tank and I was a little disappointed that I did not ride harder.
Oh well, it was a great course, good traveling companion (who got 2nd in his sport class race in his second bike race ever), and a good day of racing all around. My Epic again rode sicker than the sickest dog. Even though it was completely wrecked from all the mud I never had the slightest problem and it let me hammer in the big chainring the whole race and never let me down. Looking at the Sea Otter results I think it is pretty clear what the fastest XC bike in the world is right now. Specialized dominated the whole event, even went 1,2,3 in the short track with a win for the new Carbon 29er. Sicker than the sickest dog.
Next week is another Duathlon in Lawrence, then the following weekend is my Dad's race at Lake Wilson State Park. Don't miss it.

OUCH-ita

2009-04-07T06:24:00.000-07:00

It is Tuesday morning and I am still drilled from this weekend. At the moment I can not remember a one day event that dished out as much punishment as the 80 mile route of the Ouachita Challenge.
My traveling companion for the weekend was Mark Cole, we headed down Saturday morning with Gerard and Tim Green in caravan with us. Early afternoon we arrived at the Highway 27 fishing village and headed out for a quick 1:30 sampling of a middle section of trail. It was a good stretch for to see having been on everything up to that point and been on the final 20 miles a few times it gave me a glimpse of what was to come. The other fortuitous event was Mark slicing the side wall of a tire and my front tire randomly spouting Stans out of a little pinhole. When we got back to the vehicles we B-lined it to Hot Springs arriving just as the bike shop was closing to pick up some burlier side wall tires for the next day. Back at the accommodations provided by Scott and Craig we mounted our new rubber and freshened up the bikes. I also got to enjoy lasagna left overs that hit the spot. I slept like a champ and woke up to nearly an ideal racing temperature of 65 degrees.
As we were getting things around at the race venue a little weather dropped in dribbling some rain but also dropping the temps a good bit. Everything about this race form a organizational stand point is phenomenal. There are countless volunteers, and every last one of them that I had dealings with were exhaustively helpful and friendly, I simply can not say enough about how impressed I was with the entire outfit.
The BIG group rolled out of Oden at 8:00 and it was obvious by the depth of talent on the start line that this was going to be a epic battle. At the base of the first climb leading up to trail a lead group formed and as I big ringed the first handful of climbs I grinned to myself knowing what torture lay ahead at this type of pace. I went into the first check point in fifth, two 60 mile racers were ahead of me and 2 80 mile racers were ahead of me, and Garth Prosser was right behind me. In one of the first of ten thousand creek crossings Texas strongman Brian Fawley had slit a tire and was stopped for repairs, having seen this He-man race plenty in the past and witness the way he was climbing at the start of the race, I knew a whole bunch of bad luck was going to pile on him to keep him behind me.
The singletrack at the start of the middle third of the race in super fast. Garth was just pounding the pedals and staying on his wheel across this section was a serious injection to the pace I would be going on my own. We started a long fast climb that I remembered well from our fall trip and Garth hollered back to me that all the zig-zags and sheer cliff side we were on was causing vertigo. The exact thing had happened to me in the fall, and I knew the steep pitches at the top would not be in his favor. I passed Garth on the first scramble and pined my ears back for the roaring decent off of the mountain. I just caught a glimpse of second place as I took to the highway for the short stint of road before disappearing into what would feel like a thirty mile climb. In the first of a series of steep rises I caught the Ergon rider who was fiddling with his bike, now in second place with over half the race to go I just tried to forget about what all lay ahead and just eat and drink and not wreck.
At the half-way checkpoint the army of volunteers meet me with my drop bag and were eager to do all they could to help out. Skip was there, what happened I never found out, but as always Lincoln, Nebraska, offered me more than a little help to keep the wheels rolling forward. More climbing leaving the check point, the Ergon rider had overtaken me at the stop and Garth was back with me, but as the climbing turned to hike a bikes I distanced away and was soon plodding uphill with the current leader Kip Biese. After following Kip downhill for awhile I passed him at the base of another crushing climb, and now was in the lead and nothing to do but grit it out. This whole section between the 2nd and 3rd checkpoints was beyond brutal, nothing about it was easy and there was nowhere to hide. My legs were feeling strong but already my upper body was starting to cramp. My typical out of the saddle big gear climbing style does not always hold out, and I was time and time again charging uphill until the snakes started crawling around in my forearms and different parts of my back cramping. I was relegated to in the saddle, draping my useless appendages over the grips and spinning until it would reside enough to try again. All things considered I was still moving decently well. Towards the top of the final climb before heading onto Blowout Mountain, Brian caught back up from his flat tire. He was simply looking phenomenal, so strong, and as always his good attitude made getting blown past a little easier to deal with. We rolled into the third checkpoint together, but I had no illusion of climbing with him over Blowout. There was a long way to go yet and this was not the time to set the entire book of matches ablaze. Blowout Mountain is tough, lots of small chainring spinning and odd little rock gardens that a fresh rider would not hardly consider, but one hanging on the edge finds to be that gentle nudge over the precipice. At the top I seemed to recover quickly and was trying to focus on riding fast downhill and not simply cruising the way I tend to at points like this in a race. I came into the final check point excited and ready to leave it all on Big Brushy. Things went South, ALL was left about three miles from the top of Big Brushy. My upper body was simply not cooperating. Earlier in the race the cramps would recede quickly and I would get another few minutes of hammering before plopping back in the saddle for the spinathon. Now I could not hardly come out of the saddle at all, all the 60 mile racers that were walking up the climb seemed to barely be going slower than I was on my bike. I was getting angry and just wanted it to be over, it was not over and the tenacious Garth Prosser rounded me, pushing the middle chainring and looking possessed, had there been a car to get into I probably would have just said screw it. That was not an option. Finally I got to the top, no one else caught me and I finally turned the anger into something positive and went flailing away in my biggest gear down the dirt road decent. I was bound and determined that if anyone else was going to catch me it would have to be a super human effort. After what seemed like ages I made it to the finish line.
Even laying in the grass after the race I was hurting to bad to be honestly relieved that it was over. The Seagal Boys brought me two PBR's, I was to tired to drink one of them, the pizza that Dave Burnett secured for me was delicious but was having trouble working its way down my esophagus, I could not remember being inside out like this.
7:20 minutes, 3rd place, and a suffer fest that has me grinning while I write this, I simply do not get it sometimes. That is just the way it is.
Kansas City secured 4 of the top ten spots in the 80 mile race. I will be interested to see how many finishers there were after they post the results.
My new bicycle worked Phenomenally well, I love it so much, and it makes me look forward to the rest of the season that much more.

come out and ride

2009-03-24T05:39:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a new group ride in the area you should swing by Bike Source on Wednesday nights. I have started a road ride that leaves late, after we close down at 8:00, and heads out into the dark for a few hours of rambling. It is a super low key ride, but is going to be a blast. Last week we rode a couple of hours with forays into the skate park and hitting some bike paths. I wrecked hard in the skate park on my road bike, and that seemed to be my companion's highlight, so I will work hard to keep up the entertainment. Bring lights if you got em, if not just follow close. Call me at the store or email me if you have any questions.

StL MtB

2009-03-23T06:39:00.000-07:00

I went over to the other side of Misery for my first straight up MTB race of the year this weekend. After a burner of a day at the bike shop it was a nice sigh to hop in the backseat with a couple of buddies, I got laugh, relax, and get ready to race. The course was at Linwood College outside of St. Charles somewhere. It was a fast course with little singletrack, but the trail that was part of the course was extremely fun. We started with a few miles down a dirt road, the expert field was 20 or so strong and we were kicking up a good pace along the gravel. You made a long steep plunge down to the start finish line and then went into the 9+ mile loop. Climbing up away from the finish line I moved to the front of the group and kept a steady pace into the first singletrack section. I got a little gap on Mike Best and a strong chase group just behind him, not really knowing what the course was like I just decided it was best to stick to the age old MTB adage, "when in doubt gas it." I continued grabbing a second here and there, and looked back a couple of times to see Mike Best was joined by one other chaser, Chris Ploch raging on a singlespeed. After the climb back up the hill to start lap 2 I looked once more and they had not made up ground on me, I was feeling pretty steady and just rode consistently until I got into lap three and started opening it up once again. At the finish line Mike was still real close I think within a minute and Chris had spun himself mad into 3rd place.

After the race we all sat around in the grass laughing and enjoying the beautiful weather. After the awards we went and ate at the Tavern in Defiance, MO. In another stroke of luck the waitress brought us a extra gonzo burger. It was a good day

Crit Racing

2009-03-15T05:46:00.000-07:00

When you get your mind thinking you will race it is a pretty hard let down if you don't get to follow up. Since the MTB race was postponed I went back to Clinton Lake for the second race in the Spring Fling Crit Series. Even though I enjoy criterium racing and I really like watching them, it is pretty odd racing. I sat in until after the first points sprint, then I tried to be up racing as much as I could. Nothing exciting happened, we all stayed together. I was pretty happy with my legs for the first effort as such this year. Every big one hour effort I get in means that race pace on my laps at West Virginia the second weekend of June will be a little swifter and a little more comfortable.

09 Underway

2009-03-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

Kicking the race season off for me was this weekends 'Devil's Revenge' off-road dualathlon. After taking a year hiatus the series is back, with this being the first of three races. I had planned on doing this series since I saw the dates announced, but it was only a few weeks ago that Brian Prosser reminded me at the shop that it was quick approaching and gave me the mental image of the pain that could be if I did not get running soon. That was enough to spur a run every few days, and after a few I started enjoying it like I once did back in High School. Since I have a base of aerobic fitness, I really just need to beat on my legs enough to hold up and let the years of bike racing do the rest.
It was perfect weather on the start line, overcast and a nice cooling wind. Tony Raboin and another good runner took off faster than I could and I already trailed 30 yards or so entering the woods. Once in the trails I began to distance the people that were behind me and was beginning to slowly reel in the leaders. I went around the runner in between Tony and I and was keeping pace with the front. About half way through the run I was feeling real good and was running right with Tony, things in the run would have stayed considerably less painful had I not rolled my right foot on some uneven surface. I heard a little pop from my foot and spent a minute or so stumbling down the trail hoping the pain would ease up. It did enough, and I continued on and entered the bike transition right behind Tony.

Since my Epic is not scheduled to arrive for another few weeks I went ahead and raced my fixed gear 29er. Even though I have ridden it a ton and feel confident going pretty hard on it I was still apprehensive about picking it up to race pace. I went into the lead and just focused on riding smooth and not making to many errors. The ride was uneventful, and even though I knew I wasn't slaying it, it would be enough to win. My right foot was having difficulty and I was happy to see the finish line.
It is hard to tell right now how bad my foot is. A blue bubble has formed on it, and I have been icing it off and on since we got home. I have no muscle strength to pull my toes towards me, but it does not hurt to bend it around manually. I have a light week of training planned this week, so maybe it will be a good thing. Rarely do I stay the course of a rest week, hammering is much more satisfying.

burning

weekend report

2009-03-02T03:54:00.000-08:00

Snow instead of a race. Saturday morning I was planning on doing the the first Spring Fling Crit, but a fresh few inches of white canceled that. I still managed to get some super quality riding and running in, so I felt good about the weekend.

It won't be long now. Warm months are coming and a few promising days this week. Soon Tuesday night crits will begin, and then Thursday night short track MTB racing. Life will accelerate once more and hopefully I will be ready to accelerate my rear wheel. One fun thing that will be new for me this year is a Monday night beginner/recovery ride out of Spin! Pizza. We will be starting rides in May, and if you are interested it is going to be a great ride to help new cyclists learn to ride in a group on the road and spin your legs easy after a weekend of crushing. Triple bonus is you will get 10% off their delicious pizza if you show for the ride. I will post more details as we get closer.

Racing should begin in earnest next weekend, so I will look for you there.

One of the most entertaining riders to watch is keeping busy so far this season. Sprinting along side Cavendish, even taking a win in Qatar, and winning early classics, it appears Tom Boonen is on Super Man form. Paris Roubaix should be a blast to watch.

2009-02-18T16:26:00.000-08:00

I have not had much happening the last few weeks outside of the normal. Work has been steady and my new role as a fitter has been a fresh new addition to my days. It is fun working closer with customers to see what we can figure out to take their cycling to the next level. I am always inspired by people when I am doing our pre fit assessment and we are talking about their goals and what they want out of their bike, and to hear their aspirations and drive to get better. When bikes make us better humans I get all soft inside.

After this weekend the racing will start to pick back up for me. My next few weeks should be a steady flow of racing. I am going to participate in all 3 of the off-road duathlon's coming up, since I have ran 3 times now I figure I should be golden. And certainly I will be at the 3/6 that is on the horizon, plus maybe mix in road races on the other weeks. I am registered and set to go for the Ouachita Challenge 80 miler slightly further into spring, and would like to get into Missouri for some XC races to help tone up for the 24 hour onslaught.

After vowing at the beginning of the year that I would not ride a trainer this winter, I failed miserably and jumped on the hamster wheel just as many hours as in the past. I get outside a lot by some peoples standard but as winter wears on and the collective weather pattern takes a toll on the singletrack I start to get less creative about riding outside and instead turn to measly indoor pedaling. Unlike riding outside I do not enjoy, in the traditional sense of the word, riding on a trainer while it is under way, yet I am always happy in the end and my day subsequently goes smoother while the laundry pile does not multiply as fast. I will be able to fold it away again here in a month or two but for now that is just how I am going to roll, nowhere.

2009-02-11T10:41:00.000-08:00

"they are less about talk and more about getting the job done,"

24 hour Nationals is set to take place in Moab for 2009.

I like having fun in Moab.

2009-02-01T17:23:00.000-08:00

Unique riding from Perry Lake on super warm winter weekend. Apparently as the water freezes and expands the ice cracks and piles up on the shore. We rode the better part of the day with local guide Lyle Riedy.

2009

2009-01-30T05:14:00.000-08:00

Sitting around the check in counter at work the other day several of us agreed that it had recently dawned on us that we are in the midst of a good winter for trailriding. Although there has been a trickle of moisture here and there it has basically been cold enough to keep a consistent flow of rides on the frozen trails, and only once has it been a complete icescapade. Back about a month ago a sizable crew was out on Blue River riding singletrack that you could have ice skated sections of. I remember getting back to my car after being out 3 hours and feeling like I had cheated death. All in all the hours are racking up better so far this year than the past couple of seasons, I really hope I can keep this momentum rolling for the second half of winter.

The highlights on my 2009 calendar are for all three of the Granny Gear 24 hour races. We have a seasoned team of racers and we are all excited about trying to throw down. I think I have wrote it on here before but team 24 hour races are basically my favorite thing to do in the world. You are still stupid tired, your head is still frazzled, you are still eating as much as you can possibly get into your system, but most importantly you are still riding fast. I cannot wait to be in West Virginia at 3:00 AM going ridiculously fast over some slimy roots, not consciously thinking about a thing, your mind in that zone where the only thing it knows is maximum velocity down the trail. I love when one of your buddies comes in from a lap all totally buzzing, telling you some kind of crazy story that always starts with, "you know that one section..." I am definitely motivated for our team to try and get out there and win some races, but most importantly I just want to be going bogus fast having a freaking riot. When I get real happy riding I get this feeling that my brain is swelling up and my checks hurt from smiling even though I haven't been smiling. I want to get that feeling allot.

fixed MTB

2009-01-15T06:54:00.000-08:00

This is the latest frame from my Uncle Chris. I wanted a dedicated fixed gear with a stouter tube set than my current SS, horizontal drops instead of sliders, and no rear brake mounts. The fork was made for me by Jay at Stoic Cycles , right outta Great Bend, Kansas. Notice the little kick plates on top of the fork, for resting your weary legs on a downhill that you do not want to spin down. That comes in handy when spinning your trail riding gear through town to the trailhead. Huge base miles will soon be spent aboard this battle rig.

Bike Racing

2009-01-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

I have had a whirlwind week, and it seems like just a day ago I was here writing on the last race. On Monday morning I caught my flight to San Jose and arrived mid day in sunny California. I have to say California really is as good as all the people who live there say it is. Even when it was overcast and drizzling it was over 50 degrees. My classes were a blast and I felt like a learned a ton. One of my instructors was from Lincoln, Nebraska (so that seemed right on par for any of my cycling undertakings) and the other had an incredibly deep knowledge of bike fitting and has been in the game from the beginning. Actually he and Andy Pruit were on their way together to Majorca, Spain to do fits on the Saxo Bank team and get them all set on their new Tarmac's. I thought it was pretty cool he was teaching me before he went out to fit Fabian Cancalara and Jens Voight, two of my all time favorites.

The week flew past and before I knew it I was back at KCI on my way to a friends birthday party. Sunday morning dawned, and unfortunately my sister, who lives with Amber and I, ate something bad last night and was having a serious bout with food poisoning. After she blacked out in the hallway we decided it was time to visit the ER. So rushing from there Amber and I came home and she got ready to go to Bike Source and I got ready to go to the final cross race of the season. 42 degrees the bank read as I passed into Old Town Shawnee, not California, but I will take it. A little warm up and thanks to Tom Price I got some nourishment that had been neglected in the mornings hustle. A few more folks were on the line this week, I believe it was the biggest turnout since Nationals. At the start I thought I was clipped in and stood on it hard and about nutted myself rolling over my pedal, so I was the last one to the dirt. That proved fortunate when there was a tangle in the first corner, and even more fortunate when there was another around a bend just ahead. I think I was in second without even accelerating. Bill Marshal was trooping away in the lead and I was sitting on his wheel. Bill was charging real well, but Shadd and Chris Wallace (just home from his Euro national team leg one, he returns for Worlds coming soon) made there way up to us. Chris kept the pace rolling and went streaking away, Shadd chased on to his wheel and I was with Shadd. Wallace was just destroying the pedals and every time he could he was punching the pace with Shadd and I in serious difficulty. When a gap formed between Shadd and Chris I jumped across and was on Wallace for a brief and painful lap. He expelled me and I struggled for a lap or two to keep it together to fend of the racers behind. As I settled into my groove I was pleased with how I was riding, and in no way ready to call it a season, but that's what it is. 2008 Cross season is in the books and it was the stuff that lifetimes should be comprised of. On the upside I won the overall in the Series 60, which came as a nice surprise.

I will try and keep a few interesting posts popping up here and there, but the racing is a little slim for a bit. But certainly not long, I will detail my 09 plans here in the next week or so. Till then, Cheers.

Holiday Cross

2009-01-04T17:18:00.000-08:00

I was cold today. A little wind blowing and cold temps and it felt down right Arctic out. The sun was shining in the 3/4 race and the course was developing a slimy layer on top that was mucking up their bikes. I quickly unloaded my fixed gear and put it in the pits. It was nice that the officials let us roll some laps while the 3/4 race was going on, that seems completely reasonable as long as we do everything we can to stay out of the way of racers on the course. That made me feel a little better towards USA Cycling whom I had just sent a $150 to renew my license, I was racking my brain trying to remember what they had done for me in 2008. Today's hero was Alex Edwards stepping up to the top race after a season combating at the lead of the 3/4's. Always a relief to see the young chargers leading the way. Only a handful of us were on the start line, but I was proud to be amongst the crew assembled. Off into the race and Mark Studnicki lead the charge,Shadd rounded him, I chased after Shadd, I hung on for the first half of the race before succumbing to cold and tiredness. As my bike was going south in the mud I grabbed my fixed gear for the final few laps, it was a good time and I was happy when it was over. One more race left in the season, that is kind of sad, cyclocross is allot of fun.

I get to spend the week in Morgan Hill, California at the Specialized headquarters becoming a certified Body Geometry Fit Technician. I am pretty stoked to learn the program and ride in some 60 degree weather that I see in the forecast. I have always been interested in bike fit after the first time I received a professional fit and felt the huge difference it made for me. I will give a full account upon my return.

Cross out the last year

2009-01-01T03:58:00.000-08:00

Pierson Park had a good festive feel to it when Amber and I arrived Wednesday afternoon. Everyone seemed to think a cold cross race was the best way to end 2008, and I had to agree. Apparently in Belgium they race cross everyday between Christmas and New Years. Here you can race three times in 7 days, that is probably good enough. The course was pretty cool, an uphill paved start, a couple of playground box crossings, and a log run up. Brad Cole (in town for the Holidays) took the hole shot. Shadd went around a minute in and I chased onto Shadd up the first climb. I sorta hung with him for the first two laps, then it was off the back and time to ride by myself. The course was fun though, so the remaining time went quick and I hung on for second place. Props go out to William Prann for stepping up and doing the big boy race, and Brad Cole for coming out to race during his vacation.

I did not make it to midnight but at least I am up early to go for a ride on the first day of 2009. Let's all ride more in 2009.

the right tool for the job once

2008-12-28T16:32:00.000-08:00

No matter how good my intentions are I just cannot do two cross races a day. As of today I have given up ever thinking that I will race twice. At least I did make it out to the final Boss Cross race of the year (I missed the previous two due to other two wheel related debauchery) in Parkville along the mighty Missouri. 1:00 start time for the singlespeed race, that went off with the 3/4's, gave the ground plenty of time to de-thaw and become quite the mess. I really did not ride before the race but I could tell that I brought the right tool for the job. The fixed gear 29er was cutting a pretty nice line through the mud and not bogging down with only one disk brake up front. I won the bike race but I am not sure who won the foot race behind me. I had every attention of turning right around and doing the 1,2,3 race but just riding through the muck was tiring and my knees were oddly hurting real bad. So I threw in the towel and went to work where I was supposed to be to begin with.

Nearly every fixed gear ride I become a little more fascinated with all the fun that can be had. Me and a few other boys took advantage of the 60+ degree weather for a full on night time urban fixed gear freeride extravaganza. There was one man on this mission that sailed his rigid fixed gear of a drop that most people would want a downhill bike for. Ridiculous loads of fun.

Wednesday there is a cross race. Pretty cool, but I will only be participating in one event.

2008-12-16T20:00:00.000-08:00

Joe Houston (the worlds fastest clydesdale who is actually a clydesdale and not some 6 foot 4 inch meathead) passed these pics along to me and I am paying it forward.
me

Yes

Shadd and the person behind Shadd taking a picture of the guy taking a picture of Shadd

Isn't it ironic.

Ryan Trebon, the fastest man in dirt on a weird road bike

Had I had the wheels this guy was racing on I would have been like 6 feet ahead of him at this point in the race

I really cannot even make jokes about this because Tilford is 96 years old and was in the top twenty. Rumors are he is leaving HRRC to race for AARP in 2009. The only holdup is the contract stipulation that if it below -17 degrees outside you have to wear knee warmers.

At this point in the race I apparently decided to sit up and just coast for a awhile

CX Cross Nationals

2008-12-15T03:57:00.000-08:00

Big events are just plain fun. All the team cars, tents, bikes, stars, colorful race kits. It is just cool, and when it is in your town it is even better. I arrived early to the venue to take it all in for a time before starting prep for my race at 1:30. The Collegiate D2 race was good entertainment with multiple attacks out of the sizable lead group. I was hanging out on the middle of the hillside wearing my jean jacket just for coolness factor because it was over 60 degrees already. Around 10:00 I was standing at the tape to watch the first turn of the women's collegiate race when we got hit by a wall of cold air. Never have I felt a temperature drop that sharply that instantly, it was around a thirty degree nose dive that has us all running to our cars for more layers. Well crap, I thought by the forecast I was going to be racing in fifty five degrees and the front would hit later in the afternoon after I was safely tucked away back home. It took me thirty minutes to quit being a pansy and harden up.

I heard we were supposed to be in the start grid at 1:05. What a sight it is to see 100 skinny fools hopping around in lycra shivering and looking nervous for 25 minutes. I was plate number 129 but there was a whole bunch of no shows so it did not really seem like it was as many people as I was anticipating. I was in good spirits at the start with adrenaline coursing through the veins, I was talking crap to the guys around me for fun because they all looked like death warmed over, and I wanted to act crazy enough they would give me a little more room when we took off. 30 seconds to go and then a whistle and then run into the back of the people ahead of me. You are kidding me, a false whistle. I minute later we were off for real. The first several corners were stand still bottle necking, which of course calls for some aggro idiot to shoulder his bike and come fullbacking through everyone, this is ALWAYS the first person you go around when everyone can start pedaling. I started jumping around groups as the course opened up, the hillside was perfect for my singlespeeder climbing style and it seemed like I was passing people on the hill every lap. But things were certainly no bed of roses, from the opening lap my hands had gone into another stratosphere of cold, I was in difficulty descending because my fingers had no dexterity, it felt like I had hoves instead of hands. It was hard to hang on and near impossible to brake or shift. Then in the second half of the race my toes were in screaming pain, I was dreading hitting the barriers because I thought a foot was going to crack off. As well my third appendage was suffering horribly, and you know toes and fingers I can live without but, you know that just isn't going to fly.

I was trying all I could to stay competitive and I worked my way into a group that was pushing it well and giving me something to chase. I had two laps to go when Ryan Trebon shot past like a missile, it was spectacular to see and well worth the 50 bucks and pre stages of frost bite. I knew I was probably going to get lapped, but that does not make it any easier to cope with when you are thinking wow I am having a decent race for me and I am NOT EVEN IN THE REALM of these riders. The top 5 all lapped me. Trebon is one of the top 10 cross racers in the world right now. I really hope he goes and shows it at the World Championships. I finished 45 place. I think there was right around 100 actual starters, so that puts me in the top half. The top half of the Unites States elite level cyclocross racers. That is how I am putting it.

Now to brag on my wife, she recently got her second article published by the Under Current, an online and hard copy paper that she has recently been asked to help out more with. I am proud of her.

I will try and post some Cross National pics as they become available. Cheers

no news is good news

2008-12-04T04:32:00.000-08:00

I have not had much to report on lately. Things have fallen into a routine of bundling up for cold rides and early mornings on frozen trails. With only cross nationals left in the race season it basically is over for me. I am looking forward to the adrenaline kick in the pants of taking off with the all star cast that will be assembled, and I do like all the climbing on the course, but unfortunately I am nowhere near (as in not on the same lap)as fast as these guys. So it kind of makes for that fun place to be in, where there is absolutely no pressure or expectations I am putting on my self and can just enjoy the event.

It is Thursday night, and that means late night adventures. I will be getting to test out my new Seca 700 race that I picked up from my Dad when I was home over Thanksgiving. I rode once in Great Bend with it and was quite impressed, I am looking forward to riding in rocks to see if it casts as clear of a light as I expect. It should come in handy in 2009.

I want to go back to Arkansas, see how happy I was there.

Thanks

2008-11-24T18:55:00.000-08:00

I decided not to travel this weekend and give the local singletrack some overdue attention. I think it had been a month since I had been to Landahl. All summer long I pretty much was making it once a week, but with cross dominating my days off I had not driven over lately. Saturday morning was a meeting of the minds at Landahl. I was fixed and just ready to drill myself, that plan pretty much worked out. Multiple laps of 10 and 11 drove the nail into the coffin. When I got home I ate and fell asleep.

Sunday was a spectacular Fall day, the kind that make you love living in the Midwest. Amber and I spent the day at Swope, we broke up rock that we are spreading in the opening switchbacks of the trail to help make it a little more all conditions. Then I rode several laps, hopping in with all the people that were dropping by. We estimated that 30 people were on the trail between 8:00 and 3:00. Pretty amazing for a 1.5 mile trail that has only been open a week. I did not talk to one person that wasn't raving.

I think I have rode over two weeks without missing a day. The rain has been holding off and you gotta get while the gettin's good.

Kansas CX State Championships

2008-11-16T16:05:00.000-08:00

State Championships this year looked a little different than last season, instead of a white knuckle drive up to Leavenworth through a Blizzard, it was a sunny Sunday stroll. After walking a lap I parked myself in the grass to watch the first three races. The 3/4 race was, as always, a spirited affair with a good battle between Aaron Elwell and Andrew Coe developing. Andrew went off the front and had a commanding lead, but Aaron shook free from the chase group and clawed his way up to Andrew's wheel. Aaron rode hard but could not shake Coe, the recent Seattle transplant, ended up out sprinting Aaron for the title. Good entertainment.

Congratulations to Bike Source employee and 360 teammate David White for his Win of the 35+ Masters class. And I wish a speedy recovery to Ted Moore and Tom Price. Word was Ted may have broke ribs and Tom a collarbone. We do not have enough racers the way it is, we do not need to loose the good guys.

I felt odd warming up, not bad at all just not real energetic. I got off to a decent start. I was on Kyle Bush's wheel and he was steady, keeping us with the front group. Joe, Brian, and Shadd started to get a gap and I was stuck a few wheels back. After a lap of seeing what was going to happen I started to put in a earnest chase. It took awhile but I made it up to the three of them. I hung on for a few attacks but it was causing me much difficulty. Shadd and Brian checked out and Joe was on my wheel, I really had nothing from the surges and was just waiting to recover and not go dreadfully slow. Joe put in a impressive chase and latched back on to Shadd and Brian. I recovered win I saw the 5 laps to go sign and started racing again. The race was gone ahead of me but I needed to ride well to hold of the chasers behind me. I felt like I was picking up speed the final laps and was really enjoying myself. 4th on the day and I believe it was good enough to move me into 2nd in the series, we will see for sure when they post results. Congratulations to Shadd Smith for the State Championship title and Series overall title.

Keep your eyes peeled here, in hopes Chris Wallace will take another step towards representing us in Belgium in a few weeks.

In the meantime enjoy this big timing.

SWOPE OPENS!

2008-11-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

Congratulations on this achievement to the people who made it possible. The future is bright for kcdirtbiking.

This is a big deal.

Weekend Report

2008-11-10T03:33:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning a crew of earthmovers convened at Swope park for what would be the final major session of trail work before the grand opening of Phase 1 next Saturday. The trailhead was finished in grand style with a huge inviting bench cut that will make any dirt monger start salivating. After a few hours of work we knocked back a good many laps, and I was giddy as can be, simply put, I love the trails at Swope. Anybody that can, try and make it for the opening next Saturday morning, details can be found here.

Sunday morning and we were up and at'em on our way to Leavenworth. While Amber settled into her registration duties I walked the course and decided it looked like a good time. There was an entertaining cat 3/4 race, a strong mix of guys were racing hard at the front, real good to see.

Our race had a little bigger field than the past few races which was nice. A couple of laps in I was dangling seconds back off the lead group, I could not bridge up and had to settle in for my own race. It was cool to see youngster Chris Wallace up on the front on Jenson's wheel. Those two quickly started to put time into Shadd and Bill Marshall ahead of me. This race was as poor as I have felt physically yet this season, I did not feel like I had any punch but I was still tempo'ing along fine enough, and I was happy because I was still having a good time on the course. Shadd and Bill were a long ways ahead of me, but the last two laps Adam Mills was breathing down my neck. Since we were racing for the last money position I was not going to be taking it easy the last laps. Luckily I had just enough to hang on, a little bit of cash for food before I headed into work for inventory scanning. A nice busy weekend.
Oh yeah my new Yeti cross bike is sweet.

I vote for singletrack

2008-11-04T08:49:00.001-08:00

Me standing on my singletrack platform while campaigning down in Arkansas.

There is simply to much to say to try and tell the whole story of riding for 5 days in the Ouachita Mountains. 6 dudes riding huge trails in beautiful country, it simply does not get any better.

I made one last campaign surge this morning at Blue River, I hope it is enough. Man it sure would be sweet if singletrack was the new President.

Lunch break on the Pinnacle

swing hard in case you make contact

2008-10-27T02:51:00.000-07:00

Wow that was some weekend of racing, I am not sure where to begin. When you look at the area cyclocross schedule there is a ton of racing going on here, a lot of people are putting time and money into letting us all go out and have fun. Paceline Products is a sponsor of everything that happens in the area cycling related. If you value racing every weekend as much as I do patronize these guys so we can keep this train rolling. Obviously all the promoters of the area are busting their butts, let's not let them down on our end.

Saturday was a fun race for sure. Josh Johnson came over from the other side of Missouri and threw down hard on us all. A couple of laps in I heard him say, "Did I give Shadd enough of a lead?" Well I considered Shadd in a different time zone at that point, but Josh put on a show and tracked him down for the win. I was a distant third but still fairly happy with my effort.

Sunday was the same course with a few small tweaks, and the wind was raging up of off the lake. The run up from the video in the post below was changed up so that you approached it from the other side. I rolled up it easily the day before and even though the angle was not as nice I thought I could do the same thing again. MAJOR DISASTER pre-riding! I nosed into the hill and snapped my frame along the top tube and down tube. It was totally my stupidity that caused it, and I am completely sick about losing my bike. I have had it for right at a year, and it has treated my real well. I think a little Dirty Kanza soul leaked out onto the ground where I broke it. I had my 29er SS in the pits and I was just planning on racing that and getting in a workout and having some fun. But along came that Ridley Carbon machine. Rich Anderson, hands down my favorite person in the world, let me once again race his amazing bike. I denied at first thinking about what just happened and how I could not possibly afford to repeat some type of incident on that bike. But I could not resist for long. I set the seat height and did a few laps, it made me smile wide. I cannot express how grateful I am Rich.

I don't suck as bad at starting when my bike is that light. I was in a much better position than usuall into the dirt. Bill Marshal and I traded pulls on the first two laps and kept Shadd somewhat in check. After Bill surged on the pavement I punched it again and made up alot of ground. I caught Shadd on the third lap. After sitting in a half of a lap I went around but did not surge just tried to ride fast and steady. Very very slowly I opened up a second here and there and began to build a lead. Never ever did I have what I would call a comfortable lead but I went into the bell lap fairly certain I could hang on. I was very excited that I scored the fastest bell lap prime. My two days of racing could have been a Ridley advertisement. That bike corners amazing, climbs amazing, so much fun. Unfortunately I have a new bike to buy and I don't think I will be happy with much. I would race bikes even if I was getting spanked all over the place all the time, it is just such a good feeling to go out and leave it all on the course. But combine that with winning, that is enough to make you nearly crazy.

It was sweet that my parents were in town and got to come out to the race. It is a good youthful feeling to have them hollering out from the sidelines. We all visited one of our team 360 sponsors last night for supper. Tapas at La Bodega was the perfect ending to the day.

And the best news of all, It is vacation time. Me and 5 other ramblers are taking knobby tires down into the hills of Arkansas for 5 days of riding riding riding. Wednesday through Sunday of epic rides. I have not had a good ole MTB vacation forever. I am so happy I can't hardly believe
it. When I return I will be equipped with pictures and stories.

Here are my pictures from Sunday.

2008-10-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

All my rowdy friends are here on Saturday Morning

I had a good time.

See ya'll again tomorrow

Bully Cross

2008-10-20T06:32:00.000-07:00

The race report for me looks exactly like Saturday's. I moved into third and got a gap but I could not hold on as Bill Stolte pounded me down. The weekend was a great fitness builder and I just need about ten minutes more and I will be racing real well.Jenson strings us out early in the start of Sunday's Boulevard Cup race held at the sight of last years nationals. The weather was better than last time I visited.
Jenson, Stolte, Joe, Chris Wallace and Shadd at the first barrier section

Tom and I hit the barriers and avoid each other. Stolte tracking me down. I thought I was going to hang on for a minute. Stolte says No.Jenson was attacking hard and early, but Joe is the man of the day and he is only eighteen. Awesome.

Joe went off the front later in the race and did not look back. Well put young man.
Hitting the barriers and a nice reasonable pace to keep my groin muscles intact. Notice NRC points Champion Kelly Benjamin cheering us on in the back ground. Always good to have the fastest female road racer in the country out drinking beers and cheering.

Easy does it

Shadd Shriner moving out through the tall barriers. Shadd persevered for solid races Saturday and Sunday.
Early in the race Jenson is leading the charge

This was a fun U-turn that went into a ripping little piece of ditch trail. You could feel your tires breaking free and sliding downhill. Volker Cycles store owner Britton Cusiak attacked here in the 3/4 race but the only one to pay was him slamming the ground, as we were laughing about it after the race all he had to say was, "That hurt."

A couple of corners later and the pain would stop. Immediately I think that was fun, I can't wait till next week. That is just messed up.

Capital Cross

2008-10-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

Day one of my first two-fer weekend of the year. With the way things have been going the last few weeks of racing I have to admit I was not to excited this week about the race today. I thought about bailing and trail working out at Swope instead but my racer boy attitude kicked in yesterday and I started getting stoked.

Amber's parents were in town celebrating her birthday with us. We did what I do best and ate BBQ last night. Then we went and did some sight seeing around KC. Here they are this morning before we all headed to the race.

The day could not have been more wonderful. Blue skies and perfect temperature were sure to translate into spirited racing. The course was long and hard due to the soft ground that sapped your strength, and the "mound of mercy" kicked you while you were down. Here Aaron Elwell tops out on the mound.

My racing has been the same all my life, it does not matter what kind of race I start horribly slow. Go like an go like an All American for the middle portion of the event, and finish with a nice cool down at the end, actually I am going insanely hard it just looks like a nice cool down to all those spectating. This biological phenomena did lend itself to some success in 24 hour racing because that middle portion was fairly substantial. On par for course I believe I was the last person to hit the first barrier today and did not start moving up until well into the lap. Luckily there was lots of passing room and the field was not to big. It took a few laps but I made it up to the leaders except for Brian Jenson dangling off the front. My bike is suffering from a long list of ailments with 10 speed topping it off, but without going into to much of detail I was reduced to a very select few gears that were not always conducive to rapid progress. I was charging trying to reel in Jenson. Bill Stolte was on my wheel and we had pulled in Joe Schmaltz who was now holding strong on the back. With three to go Bill and I traded attacks, I caught a bit of fresh legs and surged away and in the process made the most cut into Jenson since the start line. Had the race ended on the bell lap I would have took second by about ten seconds, but alas the dreaded last lap when everyone but me all of a sudden seems to come to life. I was pushing for all I had but it wasn't enough as Joe blew past me like I was a lapped rider, and soon enough Bill followed. Well at least I rode the money train out for fourth place and final pay out position. Good enough for a Qudoba Burrito and a Good time.
Me followed by Bill followed by Joe followed by I pop like the fourth of July

Burning in the Bluff

2008-10-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

What a sweet weekend. I have been looking forward to this for a long time and am not disappointed at all on Monday morning. Craig Stoeltzing, Myself, and Graham Aldredge were the posse that headed over to Council Bluffs Lake for the Burning in the Bluffs 12 hour race. We had a full load in Craig's Honda wagon. But it went like a champ the whole trip. We arrived early morning on Saturday and crawled into the tent at 12:30 or so. Perfect camping weather was lending itself to some top notch sleep until the craziest music you ever heard came on over the loud speakers at 7:00. We decided later it was some kind of Jazz, Folk, Mexican Circus music hybrid that I would have thought was in my dreams if the others would not have confirmed it to be real. We pulled ourselves together and went and stood in line to get marked and pick up our timing chips. It was at this point I caught my first ever real life glimpse of the 2009 S-Works Epic, sick sick sick. This will be my 09 race bike.

I had first lap duties and I was feeling pretty good about it. It was going to be a short dash to the bikes and then we were on and rocketing downhill. Craig caught this sweet picture of me emerging from the smoke bomb someone had lit in the middle of the bikes. I love these races.

The first lap was going well. I moved from 5th into the singletrack up to the leader and we were putting massive time on everyone. I was climbing strong and waiting for the last mile long climb to attack up to the first transition. Between mile 8 and 9 disaster struck when I sliced my tire on a rock. The copious amounts of Stans wouldn't seal it, my CO2 dispenser was squirting air everywhere but into my tube. Finally a passing racer lent me his and I got rolling again. I was pretty bummed when I came in. Graham and Craig both pulled their weight with solid laps.

I was ready to throw down on my second lap. I had traded in my 29er for the Epic we had brought along as a back up bike. I crushed for about 11 miles and then I imploded. I crept in the final miles resigned that I was not going to bring us back and to enjoy riding the rest of the day. From there on out it was all fun with all of the team turning solid laps and basking in the beautiful weather. My third lap was fine, not fast but I had a great time and at least kept everything moving at a reasonable pace. The race for 1st place was intense with the top two teams so close lap after lap. I was trying not to think about how much fun it would have been to be mixing it up in that. All of us had Super Duper night laps. I simply could not have enjoyed mine more, and I found Craig feeling the same way when I came back. Graham did our last lap and he was a champ storming around the lake with a solid time and reeling in a few minutes on the teams ahead of us. He is one tough 17 year old. The days work was still good for a podium finish and warm fuzzies around the camp fire.

Racing all day and then crawling back into the tent without showering only to get up and ride some more the next morning is a pretty unique feeling. That is what the agenda called for and is what we did. The famous Dan Firman of Rolla, MO was our guide for a wonderful jaunt on the middle fork section of the Ozark trail. We rode for an hour of spectacular Ozark woods riding before turning around to do it back in the other direction. We made a dirt road detour half way back that turned out to be perfectly lovely riding beside babbling brooks, green pastures, and happy horses. All the elements of a turn of the century novel.

Dan and Craig lead the way down the idyllic road. Soon after this picture we would be eating cheese burgers and fries.

2008-09-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

A picture is worth a thousands words huh. Well not if the camera is in my hands, then it is going to take a thousand words for you to figure out what you are looking at.
The Start of the 3/4 Race. Young Graham Aldredge powering my Goldy from last year. I told him earlier in the week, "this bike only goes off the front." He made good destroying the strong field on the won speed.

This was a cool Lockian addition to the course. Two quick down and ups across a small ridge that felt neat once you got in the rhythm. The other Lockian addition was subtracted by the people that can do such things. There was set to be a ramp boosting you over a barrier if you choose to shoot off. Even though it was painfully simple someone would have got brilliant and wrecked their eyeballs out. It was set to be a classic, oh well.The rest of the 3/4 field rolling by. There is a High Gear factory team rider in there. Garret Seacat was on his way to upsetting the pack from his back row starting position until a flat tire saved the lives of all those he was about to pass. But apparently their sponsor is throwing down for new DuraAce Tubeless wheels and Hutchinson tires (Bulldog up front-Piranha in the back) for the whole team to guarantee their name appears in lights when the Ace Squad makes it to the start line.

More awesome camera work. Josh Taylor of our 360 team got the hole shot.
Josh Talyor in a nice silhouette shot. I will take $350.00 for it
Graham leaving no doubt on the last lap.
Cross racing makes my body feel old. Things always hurt way more than I think they should. I ride all the time, hard alot, and I have been doing that for a long time. One hour of head banging racing and I am moaning and groaning for days.

Cross #0-2

2008-09-28T17:06:00.001-07:00

So far this season is not off to a flying start. Today was yet a new set of problems and frustrations. I felt great again warming up, and with the temps rising I knew that attrition was going to be the name of the game. I went ahead and bolted on a water bottle cage so I could carry some fluids for the hour long effort. The course was really fun. I was enjoying rolling laps even at a moderate pace. We lined up with Shadd relegated to the back for preriding the course during a race. I am not sure why he was the one picked out since everyone was, but hating on the fastest guy is a common theme in our world. He gave a friendly "sure" to the official and bolted through everyone about 20 yards into the race. I was not really to excited at the start just hoping to roll away and make a move up into the money spots 15 minutes in or so. Unfortunately that would not be the case, in the first minute of the race Tom Price's front wheel lost traction and he slid out and into me. I hit the ground pretty dang hard, cracked my der. hanger and bent my rear wheel. I tossed my bike Trebon style to make me feel a little better, and then attempted to bend things straight enough to ride. I made it eventually around to the pits with my bike unrideable and all in a huff and asked if I could have anyone's bike. Rich Anderson of Cow Town Cycling, was very kind and handed me up his singlespeed and I took off. I was happy to be riding and would have gladly ridden the whole race on that bike but Rich handed me up his A bike, a sweet Ridley Carbon rig that rode amazingly well. Shouldering a 16 lb bike is alot easier than a 20 lb one. Looking back on it that is so kind of him to let me ride his bikes, even more so because his race was the next one after mine. I think it shows why there was over 200 hundred racers out today, it is a great scene with great people. I rode well, I could tell by watching where I was meeting the leaders around the course that I would have been very competitive. I caught four people and was happy to get in the hour workout. No dice this week.

If anyone out there is headed to Omaha on Sunday only contact me.

Cross #1

2008-09-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

With cyclocross season starting a month earlier this year than last I really have not had the build up of excitement that I had last season waiting for the first race to roll around. I have been enjoying Yeti spotting, learning to ride a fixed gear and throwing in a little bit of work at Swope Park. Luckily I woke up early Saturday morning because I went to the shop and put on a new drivetrain at 5:00 AM. I hate to say it because I wanted to love SRAM's road groups but the Shimano chains and cassettes work loads better. After a few hours digging around in the dirt at Swope, Amber and I came home real quick so I could grab my gear and head East to Mike Gaherty's house where I was going to hop in his big rig pickup for the drive to Herman, MO. Herman is a quaint little village right along the Katy trail that is all Wineries and B&B's. It began to sink in as we pulled up to the venue and I caught I glimpse of the epic stair run up that I should have prepared more for this. As I was riding my pre-laps I realized that this could get ugly and I needed to let it rip and see what happens. I received a call up but that still had me on the third row of an 8 wide field that was going to be cramming into a narrow chicane just seconds into the race. When the race started I tried to be as aggressive as possible and I got through the tight stuff in decent shape but it was still disheartening to see the leaders 30 seconds ahead before I got where I could chase. The legs were certainly there, I was passing people and moving up solidly, although I knew it was not a good sign that I was reduced to walking the stairs on the initial lap. That aside I continued to move up and worked my way into 5th place and it seemed like a couple laps in a row I was reeling in Bill Stolte who was in 4th. With 6 laps to go I went into the sand section pretty hot and stumbled and pulled my groin pretty fiercely. I knew immediately it was not good but went on a bit more until I fell out of the money places. I pulled over and watched the rest of the race from the sidelines getting some good motivation to start training hard and have a solid cross season. Even though it went crappy I had a fun time and was happy I went. December cross national is a ways away but it is time to start laying it down to have a good showing in front of the hometown folks.

Sunday in Lenexa, be there.

Wet n Wild

2008-09-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

I complain a lot about rain, too much as a matter of fact. I don't need to spend time moaning about something I have no control over. This week afforded plenty of time to think on such matters while it poured epic amounts from the sky. Wednesday morning was the first day I rode after the 12 hour race, and all I did was pedal down the paved trail 20 minutes or so to this little spot in the woods where there are a handful of dirt jumps to exercise my Yeti 575. Even though the trails are micro and I am about as good of a dirt jumper as Keanu Reeves is an actor, I left amazed how simple it is, Dirt + Bike=Much Fun. Thursday I had a horrible ride on my road bike where I nearly wrecked in the wet numerous times, was swooped by a couple of cars, and was just generally on pins and needles the whole time. Road biking is all fine and what not but basically the whole crux of that is going insanely fast, when you are just out podonking around you might as well be on treadmill. Friday morning brought torrential rains, true downpour, flash flood warnings and all. I sat on the couch contemplating how I can get out of our lease and move back to the southwest. Then I just got mad at myself for being such a baby and a complainer. I love Kansas City, I choose to live here and rain is part of the gig. I grabbed the fixed gear and rain jacket and headed out. I do not really know what route I rode, I just rode around. Sometimes I could not tell if I was headed up a sidewalk or a drainage ditch, I am not joking. Pedestrian bridges were being covered in rushing water, cars were sliding around, and my bike was spectacularly cleaned. I was not out long, maybe a hour and half but it was like being baptised. There has always been some element within me that wants to be in defiance of something, and when I am out there in the downpour riding along I don't know what I am defying, but I know it is something, and I know I am winning. Saturday morning was the exact same story, rain pounding and the forecast did not show it letting up. Straight onto the bike and into the wet. I figured out on Friday that if it is not cold outside rain jackets are completely stupid. Does it really matter if my arms and chest are not wet? Of course I can understand avoiding hypothermia if it is cold, but besides that leave that nasty piece of something plastic at home, use it to cover a wood pile or something of the sorts. Saturday during one of the particular fierce sessions of rain a car at a stop light rolled down his window and asked if I was training for something? I think he was hoping for The Tour de France, or the Olympics. "The Apocalypse," I smiled back to him. He looked uncomfortable and rolled up his window before I could hand him a pamphlet. Sunday was my first day off work that I was not running around crazy in a long time. My good friend Jim Cummins and I hooked up for a solid knobby tire urban ride. I was on my bike over 5 hours by the time I rolled back in to the drive way. Alright I am a mountain biker, I cannot always ride trails, but I can stop complaining and always make the best of it. I am going to try real hard at this. I remember reading a story in some cycling publication a long time ago that ended with, "Never give up, Never accept the ordinary." That is something to burn into your brain.

Sac River 12 hour

2008-09-09T05:23:00.000-07:00

Team 360 Fixie rendezvoused at Church's Chicken (just a descent away from the future Swope Trail mega system) to pile into Jason's car for the trip down to Springfield. We arrived at the course a short few hours later and found a prime camping spot complete with gazebo, picnic table, and monster shade tree. It began to rain as a friend of Craig's showed up who was going solo and we got to add his pop up tent to our arsenal of weather combating devices. The turnout was not looking spectacular as it neared high noon. I had been designated first lap man but was not really thinking a warm up was appropriate given the field size and drizzle that was coming down. The rain stopped as we gathered for the pre-race meeting. The organizer asked if we wanted to make it a 6 hour due to rain, it did me well to hear the resounding NO from the racers. The first lap got under way and I cruised in behind a duo racer who took the lead and I took a few miles to acquaint myself with the trail conditions and get in the grove of the fixed gear. I went around him when I sensed we were at the bottom of a substantial climb. Another climb later you were at the top of the trail system and began winding through some quite rocky terrain back down the hill. It was proper trail racing the whole lap and made for incredibly engaging fixed gear racing. My second lap it began to rain again and the course was starting to get pretty slick, luckily rolling resistance was not effected much and it was pure fun slipping and sliding around.

Jason took the next set of laps and had the first of two unfortunate tire roll offs but all in all rode two solid laps. Craig, armed with his new battle rig, stormed the trail and sent me back onto the course with a solid lead. My next two laps were amazingly fun, it was just all smiles and good times. Racing the fixed gear is a blast, one second you will ride something incredibly smooth and fast and feel like a million bucks, next thing you know you rookie some corner and feel like a total Freddy. I kept repeating the mantra of Mad-Eye Moody from Harry Potter, "Constant Vigilance." I got the goods being the first racer. My third set of laps was still in the light, although the last two miles was fairly dark it was not bonafide night laps. Jason and Craig did their last sets in the dark and then we did one lap a piece at the end so we stayed all even. My night lap was unfortunately lack luster. I felt great but just was struggling to get in a groove where I was really rocking. We finished with 21 laps, several laps ahead of second place I believe. We received a nice little check to help cover the day and reloaded into the car and hit the trail home at about 1:00. Jason continued the pace home and dropped me off sometime around 3:30 I think. Yet another awesome race and I look forward to many more team events with the Woodchucks. Add Scott into the mix and you got a 24 hour wrecking crew that will be primed for destroying the dreams of lesser teams in 2009.

blood guts and gore veins in my teeth end quote

2008-09-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

I get mean nasty and terrible when the trails are not rideable. After a weekend of trail shredage you would think I would get topped off a bit and could endure a few days of bike path riding. Not so. I want dirt I need dirt.

Jason Gaikowski, Craig Stoeltzing and myself are headed to Springfield, MO for the Sac River 12 hour this coming weekend. You know what I want, a mud bath knock down drag out bloody brawl. I am in the mood for a sufferfest and am truely hoping the weather delivers.

"You're our boy"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8DtpdXZi0M

Ahhhh

2008-09-01T05:14:00.000-07:00

Cruise the Blues is in the books for 2008. The turnout was on par, and the weather was cooperative, thankfully because after the flooding in the creek just a week before the trail was in no mood for rain. Apparently a small militia of volunteers had been out for several days before the race rebuilding bridges, rerouting sections that had been lost, and trying to get things in race shape. My dad and I pre-rode a lap to check it out and it did not have the normal feel that you are riding with an electric assist engine strapped aboard. It more felt like if you stopped pedaling you would be at a stand still in three feet. But we all could tell a few thousand tires over it and it would get fast again. They herded us into start pins in our seperate classes so we could tell who we were actually racing against . I kept a leary eye over my shoulder for Doug's farm hand Kip to start prodding folks with one of those electric zapper things that I imagine he is fond of using. We were off, as I tried to lift the pace a few miles into the race I found the opposite happening. I was slowing down and feeling poor, I could not get any oxygen into the lungs and was wheezing and feeling dizzy. I made due as best as I could and finally got around to my Dad. He went out and did a solid first lap and I sat in the shade and started to feel better. When he came around I had cleared out the pipes and was ready to redeem myself. My second lap was better, and we started to distance ourselves ahead. After my third lap it was evident no other racers would be following us out on a 6th lap, so my Dad got to chill and ride a fun lap with the trail getting the conveyer belt feel going on that makes it so addicting.

Post race chilling was a good time of catching up with the central Kansas crowd and watching the FOUR kids races! You cannot believe how many kids there were. After the award ceremony Amber and I had to hit the road. I was working Sunday and I didn't want to drive until 3:00 in the morning. Leaving the Blue Hills south bound to the interstate the sun was setting and the surreal colors of sunset were flooding the valleys. There was no more beautiful place on earth. If I could bottle up what I was feeling I would be a millionaire. It would be called Ahhhh.

Get to Cruise the Blues

2008-08-26T05:38:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest events of the season is this coming weekend out in Kansas farm country. Doug and Traci Palen host a 5 hour race on a 14 mile singletrack speedway known since 2004 as Cruise the Blues. There is nothing else like it, the race stages literally in their back yard and navigates through creek bottom and pasture land. Log rides, rollers, berms, bridges, and jumps speckle the course. They have had a radar station where they clock your speed and award the winner. This year I have heard that music stations are set up throughout the course pumping out the Blues Rock that the race goes hand in hand with. After burning through your laps they serve up a big plate O BBQ and you can prepare for the ensuing Barn Party. That is right, they set up stage right in the barn and a live jam band pumps out the goods. This is where Keith Thompson takes over, you will want to identify who this crazy farmer is and learn of his dance moves. Doug and Traci allow people to camp out in the yard before and after the race, so you can go crazy if need be. I know it all sounds to good to be true, you better come see for yourself.

My Dad and I got in a two day team training camp this past weekend while Amber and I went home to see her parents new house. Sunday was dirt roads on singlespeeds and Monday we attacked his hill trail, Monday night we got back to KC and I caught another ride at Blue River and rode until it was dark. We are launching a Chambers assault on the Duo class at the Cruise the Blues. I anticipate fun.

RIM 2008

2008-08-18T00:58:00.000-07:00

I spend more time these days thinking, "why do I like these long events." Long races can be unbelievably hard, and on the surface are rather pointless. Sure I love riding my bike, yes riding on great singletrack is the best place to ride a bike, but all of that could well be accomplished without the undertaking of whatever Ultra Endurance race that so many of us sign up for so many times. I had these thoughts mulling over in my head somewhere 5-6 hours into the race Saturday, when I came up on a singlespeeder approaching the base of the hill. I watched him fluidly stand on the pedals, lean forward swinging the bike beautifully with his cadence through the rock strewn climb. It made an impact on me immediately. Outside the Nelson Atkins museum, etched into the stone is a quote something to the effect of, "The soul has greater need of the ideal than the real." Stuck somewhere in the poise of that rider attacking the climb I saw the ideal man, defying the laws of nature aboard his mindfully crafted machine armed with determination and skill. I don't think I will ever completely understand what it is about bike racing that I value so much. Yet when I catch glimpses of it it helps me rationalize all of this crazy behavior.

The race could not have been any better. The weather was great, the trails were phenomenal. My legs stayed strong the whole day. Some of the many highlights included, running real slow to my bike and still being in fine position, riding a lap with Aaron Elwell before he had to leave for other engagements, eating a ton of Pina Colada shot blocks, the drinking contingent that always offered their support in the form of beating a cooler like bongos and smashing cans, Amber, feeling good enough to really enjoy the night laps, my parents showing up towards the end of the race, and winning.

RIM LOOMS

2008-08-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

The only race with Lazer Beams

Just finished up riding at Landahl, and the RIM course is primo. Apparently the Boys of Swope have been turning their attention to ribbonizing the Landahl trails. Jeff Winkler found me going backwards on the course and we rode together for a couple of laps. I was riding a 6 and 6 big rig, while he was pushing a svelte carbon mama, but we chatted and had a good time.

If you have not seen me lately on the trails you may have missed my new Yeti 575. Yeti Race colors and a nice XT kit, it is making for some serious smiling. My MTB stable is looking pretty sharp right now. Hopefully we continue to have dry trails.

Everyone come out for the festivities this coming Saturday, it is the last Heartland Race of the year, and should be a good time for all.

For a continued good blogging time hop over to Team Seagul's page. Apparently they will grace us with their presence at RIM.

The other Tiffany Springs Park

2008-08-08T04:50:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday sucked royaly. After a morning at the DMV I was looking forward to clearing my head at the first Short Track race. I left work in plenty of time to wade through the rush hour and ride awhile before the race. As is par for course I left with only glancing at the directions, I was looking for an exit that did not exist and when I reached the 129-435 Junction North of the Airport I knew I went to far. I called a local shop and that sent me further spiraling into the Northland Maze and wandered around on Tiffany Springs Parkway for awhile. My cell phone died, as is par for course, disconnecting me from any competent help, and leaving only gas station clerks (one man pointed the direction he would not have to rotate his hips to point to and said, "that way"). It should figure Tiffany Springs Parkway leads to Tiffany Springs Park but it only leads to Dead Ends and road closures. I found Tiffany Springs Park and Sports Complex at about ten minutes before the race was scheduled to take off. Pulled into the parking lot looking for the familiar glow of Primal Wear Jersey's that always signifies this is where the Dirt Race is at, No glow. I attempted to circle the park looking for another parking area. Clock is up, race started already and I determined there is another Tiffany Springs Park out there. When I got back home and took time to study the directions I realized my error, and the error of all the QuikTrip employees along the way. I guess this week was a rest week.

Cycle City Short Track Series

2008-07-29T05:31:00.000-07:00

Well what do you know

http://www.cyclecitykc.com/

All August long. This is great news. Thank you Joe.

UNTITLED

2008-07-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

So the horrible news came from Craig Stoeltzing at work on Tuesday. He approached me with a long face and said, "bad news, Landahl is cancelled." Bummer, I was amped for the fixed gear rampage. I do not understand why this race could not get a foot hold, but I understand why Granny Gear pulled out, with not a single team registered.

5 of us had a steller ride at Blue River last night. It was good ol'fashioned MTB fun. Alot of laughing and talking crap, and wrecks, and cleaning sections that we should have wrecked on. We finished at about midnight and I was jazzed enough I did not fall asleep forever. Geez that is the stuff.

Joel and I are rolling south to the Flint Hills this weekend. Death Ride. I hope we live.

And last on the blogging agenda. I have been hearing much talk of Short Track racing in KC. What of it, lets make it happen. Any interested parties contact me and tell me what you want. My tentative idea is a 30 minute race around 7:00 p.m. out at Blue River. We could tag it on to Taco Tuesday or do a whole different night and place. If I do not hear back from anyone I will set a plan and we will race out the summer. If there is four of us cool, three of us we will race, two people it's mano y mano. Just me, I will go ride high line. Plan on next week.

SMP ENDURO

2008-07-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

I had been looking forward to the Shawnee Mission Park 3/6 since I saw the schedule come out. Since Amber and I's apartment is a 15 minute pedal from the singletrack I end up there a good bit. I just decided a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to do the 6 hour, I have put in a solid handful of 4+ hour rides, and figured it would be a cool event to try and win. The race started with the traditional Le Mans run, where I promptly felt like my calf was about to cramp up, wonderful. My first 2 laps I rode quite conservatively, I knew the rocks and heat were going to take a major toll. I also figured flat tires could play a role and since I was unable to get my rear tire to set up tubeless the day before I was racing with a tube and quite worried about it lasting. At the end of my 2nd lap I believe I was down 4-5 minutes on Jeff Winkler. On the 3rd lap I took back a couple of minutes, and caught him half way around the 4th lap. At that point I tried to settle in and keep my eye on the long haul. I never stopped during the race, Amber did a great job of keeping everything ready so I could roll through grab my 2 bottles, sport beans, and pretzels, and keep on. It was tough race, my hands and arms were tired, luckily my legs stayed fairly strong throughout the race. I rolled out of the woods on my 11th lap and heard two minutes to go until 6:00. I did not need to sprint in and go out again so I cruised and finished right a 6:00. Nice day of riding. Thank You to th Heartland Race Crew, Amber, and everyone who came out to make this inaugural event a success

2008-07-17T06:45:00.000-07:00

I recently got my SS back from my Uncle who repainted it for me. He built it back in January but I rushed the paint job so I could race it at Old Pueblo and had to have it re-done. It is looking hot now.Jones Bar-Ti Fork-Columbus Frame-White Ind Cranks-Stans Wheels-Toupe Saddle-King Cages

Love it.

locked and loaded

2008-07-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a whirl wind week. The full summer force of bike shop life is well under way. Long days, long rides, lots of lots of stuff. Sometimes I realize just how much therapy bike riding is for me. The last few weeks I have been making it out to Blue River a ton, a number of times I have been out till 1:00 AM pedaling the singlespeed, breaking down the spiders work.

Bike Source is fielding a team for 24 hours of Landahl. I am not gonna beat around the bush, we want to win the overall on fixed gears. Scott Capstack, Craig Stoeltzing, Travis Stephens, and myself. Scott and Craig are golden, I have fitness, Travis can ride a fixed gear like nobodies business. I have fixed gear ride number 2 under me. My 1st ride was a 4 hour effort that left me so sore I could hardly walk for two days. Today was ride 2. Blue River again, two solid hours of riding. I now have a total of six trips across High Line in me, each one I am a little faster, little smoother, learning the tricks. It is fun to be learning something new.

Saturday was my first ever Lenexa Midnight Ride. I had heard the stories and was totally pumped all week. I was having trouble imagining 1000 bike riders taking to the streets, but there they were. We warmed up at Blake's house making sure everyone had the essentials. It was about 4 miles over to the start and I could tell the Electra Townie was a prime choice for the evening. After registration we rendezvoused at Jerry's Bait Shop and jammed to some band called Soul Bandit. They were throwing down pretty hard on the saxophone. Ben Fishman and I made up Team Townie (he had purchased the matching red three speed to mine earlier in the day) We made like Soul Bandits and skipped ahead of some 600 people to get up to the end of the first wave of riders to be released. It reminded me of being the noisy kid at the back of class as we kept the riders entertained waiting for midnight. Fishman and I took off right from the start. It took us about 5 miles but at the turnaround we had passed the 200 riders in front of us and were sitting 3rd and 4th. I was talking so much crap to all the guys on road bikes, it was hilarious. We hauled down into the tunnels and caught the next 2 people. As well Bob Gregor came from behind and was rallying with us. It was a tough dig up the hill out of the tunnels. The foot forward technology of the townie does not lend itself well to climbing out of the saddle. I was now drilling it across the flats on Bob's wheel. I was drafting going 24 MPH. I had to be careful with the raked out front end to keep my distance back. We were insight on the finish line when disaster struck. The engineers at Electra had not tested for high speed sprint launches to the finish line. I dropped my chain, feet went sprawling off the pedals, I was bouncing along, feet trying to run, trying to keep my private part damage to a minimum. I was braced to hit the ground but it never came, I rode it out on my top tube. I put my chain back on and rode gingerly across the finish line with everyone who had witnessed it ecstatic about the whole incident. Ben and I rejoined Soul Bandit for the final few songs and headed out into the night. All in all the Lenexa Midnight Ride is pretty much the greatest thing ever.

Soggy Bottom

2008-07-09T04:43:00.000-07:00

Mark Cole, Graham, and I took the long way to the tuesday nighter and rode through some refreshing rain showers. There is nothing better than being on your bike soaking wet and not giving a rip.

Shadd was on his rain bike, didn't get the chance to ask if it was to preserve the drivetrain or not wreck the race rig. Another thing that nothing is better than is people making the conscious decision, "I could hit the ground, better take this bike."

A small field was out, but I tried to keep it entertaining with a barrage of attacks. All of which got nowhere.

I attacked at the top of the hill with three to go. Got a little gap and held on for two laps. As the field caught me my lone teammate Dean Parker gave me a push in the back so I immediately tried again. Thanks DeanO.

Amber made it home from a week in Newport Beach, California. Good to have her home, and thanks for coming out and taking pictures.

Like Mike

2008-07-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

I was as shocked as everyone else in the MTB community when I got the news this past fall Mike Janelle had passed away in his sleep. I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to spend some time hanging out with Mike and racing against him. He was the real deal in every way. Visit the website his friends created for him and make a donation if you can. http://www.livelikemike.org