Tuesday, August 25, 2009

school...

I had my first day at UMKC yesterday and already don't have a life outside of environmental design studio :/

I'm gonna hit taco tuesday tonight, swope thursday and cruise the blues this weekend with the bro and our ladies in tow. To grandmothers' house we go.

I gotta go to class now, hopefully i'll get a job later: interview at 2:30.

peace and dirt!!!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

More RIM pics


Thanks to Rob Stitt!!



Monday, August 17, 2009

RIM (w/ Pictures!!!)


Man!!! The Rapture In Misery (RIM) race this past weekend was stellar!!! Great single/double track in the forests of Crowder State Park, northern Missouri. First time I ever rode the trails up there and man they are sweet. Absolute KILLER climbs, and epic downhill rip sessions made for a couple gnarly crashes. My best one was the first lap coming down the "humpty-dumpty" section. After almost going OTB off of every drop at extreme speed, there is a 180* switch back at the bottom, that I didn't know about. First lap I kept going straight OTB into the woods hitting a few trees and picking up some gnar for later. Goddang though, I love that new wheelset I picked up last week. I guarentee that crash alone would have tacoed my previous wheels, not to mention the other 4-5 spills I took that day (I need to learn to trust my tires more, those Captains grip like a champ and I need to shred instead of beinga pussy). but anyway...great time.



Here's this blog's first pictures ever, thanks to the peeps that took them, one up top from Rich and one below from Kevin.


Peace and dirt!!!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

landahl :D

went out to landahl yesterday with Steele. We had an epic day to say the least.

#1) new build on the rasta 29r is fucking awesome!!!! new wheelset, king headset and xt cranks got that bitch lighter than my SS roadie, no lie. I felt like I was flying yesterday.

#2) I cleared sections out there I had NEVER cleared before, geared at 34-18. Bike handling skills are amazing on that light ass bike now :)

#3) our ride: drop in on tasty, all the way to the lollipop, watched steel hit a couple drops, finished the lollipop loop, dropped down to the scout camp, went back north on the unnamed trail (before you go all the way through camp) that takes you up to rim job then right to the 5 way meet up area...lower family trail, up the double track climb to the real family trail, both tech off shoots, back on family across to daves, down daves to wills, swedish erotica then wills back to tasty and up the hill to grab some food/more water. chilled for about 30 min to refuel, dropped back in on tasty down to rim job, rim all the way out 5-way, upper family all the way around to the double track before dave's drop-in and then back to car cause we both decided we were getting a little sloppy for the techy stuff out there.

#4) was ripping on the way home right behind 2 cops. thank god they ended up being prisoner transport! that got the heart rate going a little bit again with it sitting in my lap :/

#5) thursday night swope ride, be there!

peace and dirt!!!!!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

hmmmm...

welp, I finally made the call that's gonna keep me broke until at least spring :) My 29r wheels can't stand the beating I lay on them, so I finally am getting the bomb proof wheelset from Mr. Sean Burns: Captain Control 2bliss tires mounted to Stan's arches rims laced to chub hubs with DT Swiss spokes and nipples, built by Dale at bike source :D They should be absolutely bombproof, and if not, I will seriously consider going back to 26 inch wheels with really wide freeride/downhill rims (like the rhyno lites on my full sus). I am too damn poor to keep breaking/replacing stuff all the damn time. Everything I have read/heard about these wheels though make it seem like they should be able to hold up a 300 lb man without ever needing truing...hope thats true!

it also seems like I haven't been riding that much the past week/two, even though I do have over 125 miles this month already. however, after the hell of the last two weeks in July, it still seems like not as much. I've been really tired, likely from all the binge drinking I've been doing :/ there's a time and a place for everything, it's called college and I guess I'm living that up :) I have a feeling I'll easily hit 400 miles this month without really trying; between RIM, Cruise the Blues and all the training that needs to be done, it should be a cake walk.

the only thing keeping me awake right now is the stupid freshmen questions coming at me every few minutes here at JCCC...I do love the scenery here though :D

steele's gonna come up tomorrow and help me go break in the new wheelset, probably landahl :)

peace and dirt!

Monday, August 10, 2009

racing update

here's my planned fall race schedule:

August 15: RIM 6-hour duo with Mark Kern
August 29: Cruise the Blues 5-hour duo with my Brother
September 5/6: 24 hours of Iowa 4-man team with Ben Bolin, Micah Luffman, and Keith Brown
September 13: Bearcat Cross
September 19: Swope Zoo Cross
September 20: KC Cup MTB XC race (20-29 sport class)
September 27: Diamond Blackfan Cross
October 11: Chris Cross
October 17: Capitol Cup Cross
October 18: Boulevard Cup Cross
October 25: Smithville Cross Festival
November 7: Grand Prix HPT Cross
November 8: Veterans Cross
November 15: KS States/DeStaad Cup Cross
December 31: Cross off the Old Year
January 3: Epic Holiday Cross
January 10: Grote Prjis Cross

dependant on money of course, so I'll do about 1/3 of what's listed. For sure RIM, CtB, 24 of Iowa, KC Cup MTB, Boulevard Cup and KS States, as well as the last 3 cross races probably (since I'll be on winter break from school)...the other cross races depend on cash flow and homework load.

i get around #2

got out to clinton lake last night on the full suspension......omg, awesomeness. white trail, blue trail, red trail, skills park, road back in the dark as a storm was rolling in. damn good times with my boy steele.

found out too he's finally gonna make the move out to denver for sure in a few months. we've kicked it since high school, not to mention, ummm yea, good times for sure. i know he'll dig it for sure though, being able to use his bottlerocket everyday and the new fuel he just got, plus they have a real freeride/downhill scene there. and I got a place to go ride in CO now :)

but anyway, we started out on white, switched over to blue at the first road crossing, hit the red/shoreline trail, back on blue for a couple miles, switched back over to white until the beach, then blue to the skills park. made 20ish runs through the features then headed on the road back because it was dark and lightning was all around. it was fun riding with steele even though he drops my ass big time on that fuel of his. just had to work a little harder/go a little faster than normal, but maybe that was just the full sus. Quite sure that both shocks are in need of a rebuild/tuning/whatever you do to make them better again. I forgot how much climbing sucked ass on a double boinger. man going down is fun though, as was the skills park :)

peace and dirt!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

I get around...

got to hit swope, shawnee mission park and landahl this week :D

damn we have some fine single-track in Kansas City.

RIM next week with Mark Kern, 6 hour duo.  Depending on funds then I may do the Jackson County DU the next week, but probably wait unti Cruise the Blues with the bro.

summer finally decided to show up.  :/

It's getting dusty out, make sure you got the drifting skills up to snuff.

peace and bone dry dirt!

Monday, August 3, 2009

no motivation

since last thursday's ride to lawrence I have had absolutely no motivation do ride/work out/do much of anything other than sleep. I did end up getting 15 miles in on Friday, still 13 short of the 500 goal, but I just couldn't muster any legs or desire. ended up sleeping all Friday afternoon, went out Friday night and stayed up until 7 am. so saturday was a complete wash for riding as well, because I slept until 2 pm and was hungover like I hadn't been in a long while. I guess 180 shots and other free booze between you, a girl and another couple will do that do a man. It ended up being well worth it though, if you know what I mean ;)

so I slept more saturday, woke up for like 2 hours saturday night, checked my bank account, cried myself back to sleep, then woke up at 2 am. Roomie was just ending her shift at angels around 3 when i was looking for a midnight snack, so we went down to YJ's and she bought me some breakfast :)

got home, drank some svedka and slept some more. woke up around 10 sunday and went for a little spin to clear my head/body before a shower. Tried to go to the library only to find out it was only open from 1-6 on sundays so I went back home for a little bit, grabbed some food, then hit the library at 1. used some interwebs and got a landscape architecture graphics book and another history of city design book, good times. went home, changes out, hopped the full suspension to go give it its first run at swope. man, I will say, it was nice having gears again for the road ride to swope, and having a big ring to bomb down the hill, not to mention the suspension for the backside gnar. oh how I've missed my double boinger baby :D got in 2.5 laps at swope, and hitched a ride home with ben mccall back to midtown. he lives 2 blocks from me, literally, so we'll probably be riding together quite a bit.

woke up this morning and couldn't believe I had to spin 20 miles to JCCC. no motivation still. but I hopped on, put the iPod in and up loud and hammered. made it to JCCC in less than an hour :)

now I'm feeling like a nap, but my legs and body finally feel like the liquor is almost gone

peace and dirt!