first ride since surgery...

and it wasn't even on a trainer or stationary. it was my girl that broke my leg, my carbon MTB. to/from roanoke park at granny light speed (took 20 minutes both ways..usually takes me a tad over ten).

leg felt great though. pedaling actually didn't hurt at all as long as I had low enough resistance (pu$$y gear). stuff that hurt the most was hoping curbs/potholes and track stands...anything putting pressure down through my leg, not horrible pain, just no strength.

felt so good to be back on a bike. so happy.

peace and riding!

KCCX dudes flying on the lawrence river trail...

damn i wanna go ride.

good news finally

no more crutches...no more boot...can start riding and other activity as I can handle it. Doc said it was "unbelievable" how good the range of motion was after 7 weeks.

trainer party anyone?

food and cycling...

britton's got some good thoughs...click me

i wrote an epic response to it. read it if you want. follow his blog. he's probably the most "real" semi-pro cyclist around the area. dude races at an open level in all disciplines (road, cx, mtb) and is a threat to podium any day. he's married, has two kids, both under three years old, owns two bike shops and is 26. nuts.

11 more days on crutches...

peace and riding!!!

revised 2012 tentative MTB schedule

Tentative UFD West Race Schedule

March 24 & 25 - God's Country Weekend @ Lawrence River Trail (Chris Locke)
April 8 - Team Colavita Mountain Bike Races @ TBA (Date Tentative, possibly move to summer) (Brett Shoffner)
May 5 and 6 - Kansas Fat Tire Festival @ Wilson Lake (Doug Chambers)
May 20 - Dirty Little Secret @ Fancy Creek State Park (Aaron Apel)
May 26 - Robidoux Roundup @ Krug Park (Randy Tracy)
September 9 - Tour de Lizard @ Camp Horizon (Bobby Smith)
September 30 - Rhett's Run @ Cosmo Park (Andy Schuette)

Tentative UFD East Race Schedule

March 25: (Sun) Mesa Lost Valley Luau (Mesa/Matt James) XC (Maybe even
push back into April? )
May 12: (Sat) Greensfelder (DRJ Racing/Bob Arnold) XC
May 20: (Sun) Broemmelsiek Challenge (Mitch Johnson) XC
June 17 (Sun) Leadbelt XC. St. Joe Park (Mark Grumke) XC
July Dirt Crits Castlewood (Every Thursday) Dirt Crits
July 14: (Sun) Castlewood (Big Shark/Pfoodman) XC
Aug 18: (Sun) Cyclewerx Crankfest. Cape Girardeau, MO (Cyclewerx/John
Dodd) XC
September 16 (Sun) Matson Hill - St. Charles (Walter Davis/Mike Barro -
Momentum) XC
September 30: (Sun) Rhetts Run (Andy Shuette/CBC) XC
October 5 (Sat): Cliff Cave Race - St. Louis (Rich Pierce/ICCC) XC

Tentative UFD Endurance Race Schedule
April 15 - BoneBender 3/6 hour @ Clinton Lake (Chris Locke)
June 2 - Dirty Kanza (Jim Cummings)
June 23 - Indian Camp Creek 3/6/12 hour (Todd Holtman)
September 8 - Sac River 6/12 hour (Jason Feagans)
October 13 - Burning at the Bluff @ Council Bluffs Lake (John Farinella)

*Looking to potentially add: OMBA Caramba/Springfield, Tour de Tick/Neosho, MO Single Speed Championships, Tall Oak Challenge, Knob Knoster, Warsaw, RIM, BT Epic, Melvern/Emporia*

boss cross #4

went and watched today...piss poor attendance. 85 total racers. pathetic KC!

it was a bad ass course in totally epic conditions. simultaneously wished i was racing and glad i wasn't. I think a lot of guys racing were wishing they weren't. Basically rained the entire day making the course slower and soupier. My crutches were actually getting stuck in the mud after awhile just spectating, it was pretty nasty.

get your ass out tomorrow. it's state. rain should be done it's looking like.

peace and riding!

2012 Tentative stuff...

Hosted a promoters meeting last night at my house. This is what we came up with:

Tentative UFD West & Endurance Race Schedule (from tonight's meeting)

March 24 & 25 - God's Country Weekend @ Lawrence River Trail (Chris Locke)
April 7 or 8 - Team Colavita Mountain Bike Races @ TBA (Date Tentative, possibly move to summer) (Brett Shoffner)
April 15 - BoneBender 3/6 hour @ Clinton Lake (Chris Locke)
May 5 and 6 - Kansas Fat Tire Festival @ Wilson Lake (Doug Chambers)
May 20 - Dirty Little Secret @ Fancy Creek State Park (Aaron Apel)
May 26 - Robidoux Roundup @ Krug Park (Randy Tracy)
June 2 - Dirty Kanza (Jim Cummings)
June 23 - Indian Camp Creek 3/6/12 hour (Todd Holtman)
September 8 - Sac River 6/12 hour (Jason Feagans)
September 9 - Tour de Lizard @ Camp Horizon (Bobby Smith)
September 30 - Rhett's Run @ Cosmo Park (Andy Schuette)
October 13 - Burning at the Bluff @ Council Bluffs Lake (John Farinella)

Looking to potentially add: OMBA Caramba/Springfield, Tour de Tick/Neosho, MO Single Speed Championships, Tall Oak Challenge, Knob Knoster, Warsaw, RIM, BT Epic, Melvern/Emporia.

Tentative UFD East (new 12-1)
March 25: (Sun) Mesa Lost Valley Luau (Mesa/Matt James) XC (Maybe even
push back into April? )
May 12: (Sat) Greensfelder (DRJ Racing/Bob Arnold) XC
May 20: (Sun) Broemmelsiek Challenge (Mitch Johnson) XC
June 17 (Sun) Leadbelt XC. St. Joe Park (Mark Grumke) XC
July Dirt Crits Castlewood (Every Thursday) Dirt Crits
July 14: (Sun) Castlewood (Big Shark/Pfoodman) XC
Aug 18: (Sun) Cyclewerx Crankfest. Cape Girardeau, MO (Cyclewerx/John
Dodd) XC
September 16 (Sun) Matson Hill - St. Charles (Walter Davis/Mike Barro -
Momentum) XC
September 30: (Sun) Rhetts Run (Andy Shuette/CBC) XC
October 5 (Sat): Cliff Cave Race - St. Louis (Rich Pierce/ICCC) XC

The big thing we all decided tonight is that promotion needs to be huge next year so we're going to start early and often.

Also looking to secure series sponsorships to start infusing some capital into the series to help promoters out with the initial costs as well as to help with end of year series awards. If you know of anyone or any company that might be interested in any way (cash, food, beer/beverages, swag, gift cards, whatever).

Definitely looking to cut down classes as well. G has full notes and will be sending them out soon.

peace and riding!!!

#occupytogether

#occupyCX



-from ChrisGO

gobble gobble. good luck at jingle cross! I'd be there racing if it weren't for this broken leg thing (have fun Lyles!)

peace and riding!

4 more weeks...

on crutches. not happy. but gotta do it so i can walk the rest of my life.

come see me. about to be at my house for 8 days by myself and I've already been bored out of my mind the past 3 weeks.

peace and gimping.

quickie

obviously, not much going on with a broken leg. It's healing well and quick I feel like. Can't believe it's already been 3 weeks since Boss Cross Halloween.

Of course, the first two weeks of November were fucking gorgeous. Many a time I wish I was on my bike, but whatever. Makes me realize that I need to ride as much as I used to when I was 21-22 and when it was nice out, I was out on a bike of some sort. I've also been wanting to run so badly. Amazing how that is when you can't walk...

hopefully stitches are coming out this morning and starting PT soon. I'm aiming to be back strong again by BoneBender in mid-April. Probably not 100% power wise, but I know my aerobic condition's going to get better from all the swimming, stationary bike, and eventually running I'm about to get on the next few months. This broken leg might have actually been a god-send for getting some sort of workout schedule set-up. Selfishly, the past few weeks have been all about me, which I am kind of sad to say I probably don't do enough of. Made me realize some priorities I have are screwed up and that really (even though I knew this all along) being with family/amigos and riding my bike are the best things in the world. I'm lucky to have 2 great bikes and lucky to have the amigos/family I have and I appreciate everything they do for me, truly. You can try to save the world all you want in front of a computer screen in a planning studio, but it leads to a dismal life. Having this discussion with a very beautiful girl made me realize once again that individualism and self-reliance breed isolation and loneliness.

Life is full of hypocrisies...

gotta get to the doc. out.

peace and riding!!!

surgery...

had surgery friday to repair my right ankle. it went well. ended up with a plate and 8 screws. Not too horrible. Am in some sort of high tech boot/cast thing for the next 2 weeks then hopefully i'll get to move onto an air cast.

Pain level is pretty shitty; I can really feel that plate burning in the leg. Normal unfortunately. Yesterday and today have been the worst, last night especially, after I took out my nerve block. That thing was a god send. I couldn't imagine how much i'd hurt without that on me the first 48 hours after surgery, It was a lifesaver. (basically I had a local anesthetic bag hooked into my knee through a soft catheter that numbed the nerve that transmits pain from the outside lower leg to your brain...aka awesome when you get metal put in to hold you back together). Medical technology is crazy. Doc said before I got cut that I should be riding normal again within 6-8 months. Full strength of before, assuming PT goes well, which I plan on hitting hard. I have a meeting with him in 2 weeks and after than am going to try and convince him to let me swim at least. I can already feel my right leg muscles wasting away and the couple extra pounds that are trying to take over. i have decided this is not an option. period.

halcyon holiday details are here: http://mtbkc.blogspot.com/2011/11/halcyon-holiday-gravel-grinder.html hope to see you there!

peace and riding!!!

boss cross broken leg...

well I broke my leg, as I'm sure you know by now. Having surgery to put my ankle back together tomorrow morning...joy! Now both my legs will be held together by screws!

Huge thanks to the following peeps:
*first dude who helped me sit up after I ate shit (can't remember your name, sorry),
*Mark Horn who helped carry my broken ass off the course,
*TJ (I think) the Trainer (Trek jacket),
*Jeremy Haynes and Joe Fox for the bitchin course! and support (good to know event promoters got your back),
*Sherri Hahn, USA Cycling official,
*Micah Gordon, Adam Keck and the rest of Team Colavita/Parisi Coffee powered by Volker Bikes (good racing boys!), and finally
*Racer X-Aubree Dock for being my personal ambulance/sitting for hours with me at KU Med waiting on slow ass doctors.

Thank you all for the initial help of getting me off the race course (since juniors and women were starting in about 90 seconds) and to the hospital. It was by far the most physical pain I've ever been in, and I've had a compound fracture, major joint dislocations, complete knee reconstruction, etc, etc.

now for the gory details!

Hadn't even put my kit on yet and was warming up in shorts and a hoodie. Bunny hopped the "barrier" then did the 180 on gravel, hucked the next "barrier" and was flying going in behind the large BMX berm. Well I soon found out that behind that berm was super super dry, loose and off camber. What comes next is a freak accident. Mistake #1, I was going way too fast for a "pre-lap" (I hadn;t seen or ridden the whole course yet), then I feel my front wheel start to wash and feathered my brakes, mistake #2 (should have just let her rip). My entire bike starts to slide out from under me towards the non-drive side/downhill side of the off-camber turn. Now here's where the freak shit comes in and stuff starts happening in slow motion. I feel me going down, ok no biggie, we've all had wheels slide out on us right? (especially cross), well I happened to be on an up-stroke pedal on my drive side leg (right and also uphill side). Somehow the angle that my bike fell was perfect to catch the tip of my foot right in the front triangle of my 29er. The bike continued to slide out downhill while my leg was caught...then basically I felt my leg snap in half. I'd never been so consciously aware of an major injury I was sustaining like at that moment, but as I said, it's like everything was in slow motion. First I felt my fibia snap. Straight up like a twig. Nastiest feeling I've ever experienced. Then I felt all the ligaments tear in half, almost like I was holding a piece of paper tearing it in my hands, but this was happening inside of my leg. By then I was skidding along the ground and remember telling myself as I felt the adrenaline shot hit me "fuck, this is going to hurt really bad in 5 seconds". Laid there, unclipped from the left side of my bike and got rolled off that then the pain hit and I started screaming. Screaming like a little bitch, but ya know, my foot had tried to tear off from my leg, no biggie.

Dudes came and said something about how it might just be a sprain cause sometimes they are worse, I said "ya I know, I've sprained ankles and you usually don't feel your bones or muscles tearing in half." That I think was enough they knew it was serious and they got the idea real quick that I was serious about getting off the course as to not delay any racing. Mark Horn's tall ass basically dragged me off the course over to the trailer where for some reason the best thing to put under my hanging broken leg was cones. Needless to say, I did not enjoy those cones. One of those things you probably had to be there for, but yes, I did not like them one bit.

Laid on the ground for awhile in stupid pain and decided fuck this, I need morphine, stat. Got a ride worked out and Aubree stepped up HUGE! btw-she had also just got 3rd place in the women's open race. total bad-a.

so, surgery manana for screws and a plate, then crutches for the next 6-8 weeks, fully healed in 12-14 (February). Thank god it's winter...I really wasn't looking forward to another season of bike commuting in KC winter. Now I don't have a choice...which sucks.

I also got a real boy job this week! Working for the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) on water quality issues and green infrastructure implementation. 20 hours a week when I have class, 40 when I don't. Good way to get around paying me benefits, but at least I'll have a steady income for this grad school thing I'm getting ready to start...

So, still looking forward to watching cross and drinking beer. I was always best at those anyway :D

peace and riding!!!

fu@k...

surgery later this week. not good when you don't own a car or have insurance.

peace and riding!!!

roanoke park

did the first ever group trail work day at roanoke today with myself as trail steward. awesome stuff. very inspiring. join this group to keep up with the latest news:

http://groups.google.com/group/roanoke-park-trails

trail blog here: http://www.roanokeparkkc.org/plans/trails

lots of pics coming. terrain we're working with is awesome, especially once the honeysuckle is gone.

peace and riding!

berryman epic weekend

not much to report from my race. I continue to suck because of lower back pain. This week that changes. I'm sick of not finishing races.



Went out super hot and came into Brazil Creek at about 59 minutes, 6 minutes up on my time last year. Then basically spent the next 10 miles with lower back spasms every time I tried to put some power out on climbs. Having worked there all summer I knew exactly what section 3 had coming up so I pulled the plug and got a beer from Jim D (Team Trail Monster) and played pit crew the rest of the day for Micah, Clay, and Burnsy.





KC brought the heat with all the usual suspects there: Jesse G Funk, GWiz, TDonn, Sarah W, Justin B, Drew, JonDot, Andrew W. Gabriel, Dr. Dover, Lyle and Cathy, Roger Dodger, Dan Doss, Dave Smith, etc. including Pappy Doug Long:



Plenty of STL Jerks were there too: including Nico and Stevie F. nico won the epic mustache contest and an SE bike on the weekend. steve won best wheelie while racing.




This dude won it finally...5x world champ...also pulled the most baller driving move ever at a stoplight in Cuba...total badass:



Afterwards much beer, BBQ, booze, and candies were consumed for recovery and relaxation by all. It was good.



Thanks to these two boys for going with and congrats on your finishes!




boss cross, 4x, then not racing again until jingle cross probably. gotta get that back better and stronger.

peace and riding!

Berryman Training Ride #2

Yesterday was stupid long. Longest time I'd been on a MTB in a long time...since last week :) But really, this was easily 15+ more miles than last week, although a lot more pavement.

Rode out to Wyandotte County Lake to hit some trail there...sweetness! Even the bridle trail wasn't horrible and had some STUPID descents and climbs. Super super rocky shit in a couple areas has my asshole puckered on the hardtail with the seat jacked up. Can't believe I didn't OTB.

Found some water out there and lo and behold DanO comes pulling up. We bs with him for a few then Clay gets a wild hair up his ass and wants to ride to the OGG Fest at Shawnee Mission Park. Uhhhhhhhh. Jump back on bridle trail going south around the lake to 91st street then somehow manage to get to SMP and ride a little sneaky and a little red trail then have a much needed re-fuel of a cheesburger, potato chips, and coca-cola. Decide to just head home since we're sitting at 47 miles already, and Clay again gets some wild hair up his ass and wants to take 67th back to antioch where it dead ends and we can pick up 71st. If you've never ridden 67th its part of the weekly KC hill ride...for a reason. Not exactly what I wanted to hit 50 miles into a ride, but damn good training. Gears are fucking awesome too I've decided. It's so nice to be in the perfect gear at all times and the biggest thing for me is recovering. It's vital that I can spin up a hill, then sit and spin for a minute before popping the gears back up and hammering some more. I had only a semi-close call to cramping and that was the last hill from 67th-71st on antioch. Last year, even if I were in a little better aerobic shape, I would have been cramping beyond belief cause I would have been on one gear the entire time. Single speed is hella fun don't get me wrong, I miss my SS MTB everyday...but I don't know what the hell I was doing trying to do 6-12 hour endurance mtb stuff on one and be competitive and/or able to walk after 7 hours.

So that being said, I'm gonna go blow my self up on 40 miles of fixie gravel this afternoon with Micah. Then rest alllllll week (other than TNU) for Berryman to get those legs in tip top shape. I'm feeling pretty damn good about a top-50 range again...still wanna podium in the age group but some fast boys finally did step up and it looks like Schott's gonna have to work for it even harder this year.

peace and riding!!!

berryman training

Today was the berryman training ride. Micah and Clay rode the whole time with me (plus some while I had to get the back stretched out very badly at swope). Britton also showed up and fucking hammered our asses hard on the road going there and on hills/the not too technical stuff before he disappeared as quick as he had appeared earlier.

I met Micah at the Plaza at 8:55 and Britton showed up right on the dot at 9:00 as we were getting ready to leave actually. He was on a mission on the Trolly Track Trail and Blue River Road getting to Minor Park. We still left at 9:00 and hammered hard to 59th street to meet Clay. Waited for a few minute and he came rolling down the hill finally. Britton then proceeded to put the hammer down. We made it to north Minor Park by 9:35. Micah said we were doing 20+ the whole time. Flying, especially when we hit the pretty much desolate Blue River Road.



Dropped in the very northern part of the river trail and rode that to the Martha Truman culvert and climb where I ran into Cotter. Britton went flying past and continued his hammer fest for a while by himself I guess. Somewhere along the way Micah had taken a wrong turn and Clay had gotten dropped on the Trolly Trail from the stupid pace. I went back to the culvert after talking with both of them and met them there. BK also rolled up at the same time so the group was back together for the first time in awhile. We climbed up to the east side did the first part of BoHaCa then Highline, BoHaCa back, then Basement to Ox Box to the Southern end Wagon-->Serengeti loop. Decided to hit some old school west side, and ended up dropping in behind the Sand Trap (super sneaky) and riding the old railroad bed until the west side sign board, then went down, crossed the river, then rode the river trail back north and out of the park where we took a dirty detour before hitting Blue River Road for the ride north to Swope.

Got to Swope and we had to climb the west side road hill to get some water at the top. That pretty much blew me up hard. Ended up riding about 3 miles of Swope before pulling out of that cause my back was done for. Stretched while Clay and Micah finished their lap then we took off headed back to the Trolly Trail Rode that back to 59th where we parted ways. Clay west, Micah north, and me east up the last hill.

Got home, showered, ate some great food, took a nap and and feeling ok. Back is more sore than my legs for sure. Lots of stretching. Great ride overall. Fun to hit Minor and Swope in the same day, hadn't done that in awhile.

peace and riding!

thanks sc

peace and riding!!!

more cx photos

can't get enough of my ugly mug? here ya go...





peace and riding!!!

boss cross #2

Not much to say about today's race, sick of excuses. I basically suck at cross right now, my hoods are all bent to shit and my front wheel needs trued something bad from eating shit on an off camber corner. Dialed it home for another 1/2 lap after that and pulled out. I probably shouldn't have raced the past two weekends since the shoulder/back weren't 100% from the Labor Day spill still. Whatever. I know what needs to be done now to be ready for October 30 and Boss CX #3.

Here's some pictures from this weekend...







peace and riding!

boss cx 1

leaked air in my tire for the last 75% of the race. Pretty much killed any chance I had at getting top 50% (which I was comfortably in before I had to sit up and get to the pit before I rolled my tire off the rim). Gonna try the hutch's tomorrow. I'm getting tubeless stuff set-up this week, I'm sick of having flats damn near every cross race. With the varied terrain of every different venue it is impossible to dial in a good PSI with tubes Today was especially hard with dirt, gravel, grass, sand, roots, rocks, you name it we had it today.

great course boss cx boys, keep it up. Raytown BMX course should be kickass on October 30!!! Yep, you read right. Don't wanna miss that one.

I still started hot as hell settling in behind Britton and Kent early then let DanO and Lyles around me after a bit (all 4 of these dudes are on my team). After that I blocked/slowed a few guys down for a couple laps I felt the rear getting super squishy in the corners, got off and sure enough it was definitely a lot lower than I had started with. Got Jon Peck to run a pump to the pit for me, I aired up , got lapped and finished out. At least I can say that. That's about it.

On a good note, I did rip Swope something fierce on Thursday. MTB is still where I'm most comfortable. CX will be better. Just gotta keep working on that short intensity thing. DanO had a good comparison today about CX pace to 6/12 hour MTB pace: "CX pace requires the energy of a 5th grader getting ready to run a race on the playground." Hopefully this shit will pay off at Berryman. Then it's full on CX through MO states.

Tomorrow is another 40 min SS Boss CX race then I'm back on the MTB for a bit on the next two weekends for LONG stuff. Berryman is soon and I want to get in the top-5 under-30. Probably more like top-10 because of the talent that's coming this year to try and take out Schott. Tuesday Universes at Hyde Park this week, then every day between that and the next Tuesday I will be riding MTB as much as possible. I miss trails because I've been CX-ing it up a lot, not smart this time of year when the weather's perfect.

peace and riding!!!

manion's photos

boss cross 1/2 later this afternoon and tomorrow. 40 min SS races. I'll be bottom 25%. Sad but true.

so enjoy these photos from manion's instead! more to come once people on our team quit copyrighting me :)







peace and riding!

manion's day 2

today was better. a lot better than yesterday for sure.

SS race started really really well actually. Got into 4th right off the bat and held that for about 2 laps until 2 peeps rolled past while I was gassing out. Laps 3 and 4 were settling in and just riding smart keeping 6th secured. I actually was right on Kent, Britton and Mark's wheel and we opened a teeny gap for the first 1/2 lap, then they ditched me in the Mr. Stitches zig-zags. Dudes climb way better than I do. I hadn't warmed up at all for this race and I regretted it a little cause I was actually doing ok for the first part. Of course, this course suits me probably the most out of anyone who races CX. Very technical and MTB-like. Damn near a short track race (pretty much was without fat tires, which probably would have been better a lot of times). Anyway finished 6th, ok but should probably really be in 4th behind Britton, Kent, and Mark. They're just flat out faster than I am.

CAT 3/4 race started eh cause I was 3rd row back and had just raced the SS. Still managed to squeeze into the top-10 and ride the train for the first 1/2 lap until we hit Mr. Stitches and everyone started breaking up. Still was in the top-10 for 3 laps until my derailer started chunking everywhere, not pretty sounds or shifts so I walked a while, got lapped by the leaders eventually, grabbed the SS out of the pit and finished my last lap for dead last other than those that pulled out. But I finished and probably would have been top-15ish at the end. I know a couple dudes behind me would have caught my ass blowing up the last 2 laps had I ridden them. Oh well, still a great workout. Definitely think I can start hanging towards the front-ish of the packs if I can keep the intensity up for 30-40 minutes instead of 10-15.

Running starts tomorrow. Gonna wake up and do it at 7:30 every morning before classes, maybe. At least for a few days. Tuesday Night Universes. Wednesday night/Thursday night will probably be MTB this week. Saturday/Sunday is Boss Cross 1 & 2 baby. Probably SS only these races too, unless I can figure out how to get two bikes up there.

peace and riding!!!

first cross races...

out of shape, lungs were on fire after about 2 minutes of both races I did (SS and 3/4). shoulder/chest/back is definitely not 100% healed up yet. SS I started ok, not great by any means. I slowly faded through the first 1.5 laps until I could recover a bit coming out of the spiral of death and hitting pavement/flat grass for a few seconds. Then full throttled the corners leading over to the zig-zags, and of course ended up eating shit hard on an off camber turn on a front tire wash. Twisted the shit out of my bars then rode the last 1/2ish lap with my bars at about a 45* angle to the left. Pulled out after 2 laps (of the 4 lap race) to take aleve and do the 3/4 race in 30 minutes.

3/4 race started really really well. I hit in 4th going through the twisty shit and up through the barriers. Few guys passed me on the back grass straight away cause my mtb 34-11 gearing wasn't big enough to go as fast as fully geared CX boys. Then settled in around 7-8ish through the next few laps until I pulled myself again cause my back/shoulder were toast. Probably a dumb move even trying to race again, but it made me realize I can halfway hang with the top-10ish 3 dudes when I have gears.

Right now I'm good for about 10-15 minutes of CX-type intensity. Not good when races are 30-45 minutes. I think I really am going to try and start running every morning for 30-45 minutes to try and simulate the cardio that cross needs, then hit CX practices hard on Tuesday/Wednesday nights. Have fun long MTB rides in between to keep the endurance and tech skills up. I think running will do a lot though to help.

I've already kind of put myself all in for jingle cross preparation, at least for the next 7ish weeks. I am really not worried about Berryman honestly. Kind of weird...I can go out an pop off 60-75 miles no problem riding at my own pace during endurance events, but get popped in 10 minutes during CX races. Probably something to that...and that's why Todd Wells is ultra badass haha.

peace and riding!!!

fall racing...

These are races I am fully committed too this fall. I trimmed the schedule a lot to try and hit well for all of these races; i'll especially be trying to build up for Jingle Cross and MO State. Depending on how those go, I may hit chicago on new years and madison for nationals a week later. know enough people in that area that I could probably find a few places to crash.

*September 24 Manion’s Cross
*September 25 Manion’s Cross
*October 1 Boss Cross #1
*October 2 Boss Cross #2
*October 22 Berryman Epic
*October 30 Boss Cross #3
*November 5 360 Cup
*November 6 Boulevard Cup
*November 19 DeStad Cup
*November 20 DeStad Cup
*November 25 Jingle Cross Rock (spectating Friday)
*November 26 Jingle Cross Rock
*November 27 Jingle Cross Rock
*December 3 Boss Cross #4
*December 4 Missouri State Cyclocross Championships
*December 17 Halcyon Holiday Gravel Grinder

may hit a few more, may hit one or two less of these...hope to see you there!

peace and riding!

looking ahead

well, i might actually start to really trai for once in my life for a couple of upcoming events I have already committed myself too, haha. Berryman Epic is a month away and I'm feeling about 75/25 confidence for that one. 60ish miles with 48 or so on single track with LOTS of climbing (about 125+foot/mile on the single track, about 100 foot/mile overall). Did well last year, 7th in the age group. Looking to crack that top-10 again, hopefully top-5 if everything goes smoothly.

I also registered for Jingle Cross Rock. Maybe you've heard of it. 3 races in 2 days for me (SS Saturday, SS x2 Sunday). Damn good deal too..pre reg on for those 3 races were a cool $72. Berryman alone was $69 after fees. Of course, I'll ride twice as far at berryman in a day than I will race at jingle. I'm more going for the party and to block for teammates :) Really though, with the cx scene we have here coming up, it'll be easy to hit race situation training 4x a week (Tuesday night Universes, Swayze, Sat/Sun races). Throw in recovery Monday, and MTB on most Wednesday (Pirate) and all Thursday (Swope) nights, Friday total rest. I think I'm gonna try to start running 2-4 miles every morning too before school to get the metabolism burning hard. I've been shedding more weight slowly since the big summer drop, mainly due to diet changes. Less alcohol needs to be the next step and I think I can get 10 more lbs off my gut pretty easily by jingle cross. That would be badass and I'm probably just wishful thinking, especially since cold weather/short days is about to hit and depression will set in. Ahhhh, nature.

anyone want to race ft. collins and/or louisville?

Peace and riding!!!

season of change...

check this out: http://mtbkc.blogspot.com/2011/09/tuesday-night-universes.html

been riding a lot at swope and the on the "river route" road ride on the fixie. kind of alternating between super intense short (hour or so) training for CX and long 4-7 hour sustained efforts still for RIM, Burning at the Bluff and Berryman Epic. I've decided to do RIM as a training race for 12 hours. This years focus is Berryman and getting top 5 in the under-29 category. As long as I have my rear wheel issues solved by then I should be golden hopefully.

Speaking of my rear wheel issues...BK and I tried to use some lighter gauge (and lighter weight) spokes for my rear wheel build. Well, unfortunately I ride like a maniac and destroy shit at a higher rate than the normal user. Those that saw my rear wheel at Swope know what I'm talking about. After a re-build and a few truings/tension fixes it still keeps going out every time I try to shred trail. The light gauge spokes are just too flimsy for my fat ass monster trucking through gnar. Hopefully the new heavier gauge spokes we're putting on this week will solve the problems. I think it will.

swope has been primo. Had a nice little spill on jaw breaker on labor day monday and separated my shoulder. that sucked and still kind of hurts but isn't killing my riding too badly. hit the trails a couple times and definitely notice the pain in the shoulder, collarbone, and neck area. Lots of aleve has been helping a little. hit minor park a couple weeks ago too...shit is in great shape right now, do it.

love the cooler weather but not looking forward to the freezing cold to come soon. looking forward to CX but gonna miss mtb.

pretty sure i'm in for grad school for this january at umkc. should be ok as long as i figure out how to pay for it.

peace and riding!!!

school.

i'm never gonna finish.

working on the roanoke master plan...hopefully done by the first..we'll see.

29er is ready to rip swope tomorrow. see you there.

peace and riding!

all in for berryman...

so spoke pony sucked. I was in 2nd (thought I was in first) in my age group after the first lap, then my rear wheel blew up. All 32 spokes. not pretty. I had a 3 mile hike out then pulled the plug and drank beer. still got 4th though.

so monday a few of mi amigos and I decided to ride to lawrence, starting in the downpour at about 10 am. first 2 hours were in pouring rain. Quite epic. Once we got out to olathe though and out of town, the sunny skies opened up and the gravel road sections on 143rd street were perfect. Got to lawrence and went straight to free state. good stuff. I rode the cross bike, fixie at 34-13. and we rode with our backpacks full of gear for 3 days. my back and kneew were toasted.

yesterday (wed) we came back. It was slow going, especially for the other 3 guys. They were still hurting bad from monday. I finally had to take off the last 5-6 miles cause I was only grinding that thing over at 35-40 rpm tops and my knees were screaming to actually spin it out. That felt good.

CX fixie bike on gravel is so fun. for me it's probably 1) mtb, 2) CX, 3) gravel grinder fixie style. Although I do enjoy them all immensly, i would rail single track every day though if I could. CX is fun when trails go to shit. and gravel is great when cx is done. my 3 seasons.

getting signed up for berryman right now...fuck ya.

peace and riding!!!

new build

thanks to volker bikes!!!



peace and riding!!!

ozark wrap/life thoughts

back home. awesomeness. Got back Thursday afternoon. Rode Swope Thursday night, then had minsky's and PBR. home is the best.

The week prior to getting back I had spent camping in far southeastern Missouri, nearing Arkansas, doing work on the southern sections of the OT. Work was ok, really really hot (100+ everyday) and really really overgrown trail. One day was an epic 8 mile hike/trim with a couple other guys. Not the most fun of things but making skrilla is the name of the game.

Anyway, the area we were staying in was first in Eminance, Missouri on the Jack's Fork River, then at Big Springs National Park on the Current River. Absolutely beautiful area, crystal clear free flowing streams, huge old(er) growth forest, turquoise springs, caves, cliffs, etc, etc etc. The entire week I didn't take ONE pedal stroke. It was pretty sad, but most of the time we were working 5-1 or 2 and it was time to sit in the river when were done cause by then it was usually 105-110*. Making camp fires to cook really sucks when its already a billion degrees. Should have just brought salads for all week. hamburgers and failed mac and cheese were getting pretty old by the end of the week.

Got damn close to hitting a century...finished with 96 miles of trail trimmed that I was a part of. Also build some trail reroutes, creek crossings, did a turnpike, debermed with a mini skid steer, lopped/sawed many many branches/trees across the trail (all by hand :/), and did an insane amount of planning and logistical work to make everyday happen. HUGE Thanks to Aaron B for giving me something to do this summer. and to Mason to coming down to work with me after a few weeks...I would have gone insane had I been there the ENTIRE time by myself.

So 2 months of my life is gone and really in the long run I have nothing to show for it other than a couple things I may remember the rest of my life (5 hour long float trip with cliff jumping after our last day of work will be one of those). I had a lot of time to think while out in the woods the past 2 months; some times good, some not so great. It's lonely and extremely isolating being virtually in the middle of the backcountry for that long. Half the time we were at least staying in the Potosi house, but the other half where we worked/camped were mentally and physically exhausting.

I guess I'm just getting old and really actually starting to come to terms with it. My high school sweetheart (does anyone really still use that shit? I guess I do) is getting married. My YOUNGER brother is about to have his SECOND kid. My sister is 4 years younger than I am and we're both graduating college this year then starting grad school hopefully, me in December, her in May. I'm 25 years old but feel like I should be 19 still chilling with my boys everyday smoking a ton of herb not caring about a damn thing in the world. But that's over, I don't hang with those guys anymore, they've all got real jobs mostly away from here now, I'm not high 24-7 anymore. I've finally come to terms with how my father was murdered on my 19th birthday, how I had to drop out of college 3x before being able to start back up at 21, how I had to take care of my brothers and sisters when I was 19 years old, play up the stone face/no emotion to be the rock for the family all the while dying inside, how my girlfriend of 3 years during all of this just turned her back on me, how I lost 2 college wrestling opportunities (and the opportunity to get my education paid for). Life sucks ass sometimes, but honestly I can really say I have it good. I love life and wouldn't change a damn thing about it. The times I have with the people I love and who love me are really all that matter in the end anyway (unless you do something crazy enough to be put in a history book and be taught to second graders). Riding my MTB ripping a trail is the best time in the world to me, especially being able to do it with some buddies.

/rant over.

peace and riding!

trail work

As most all know I have been spending the summer in the Missouri Ozarks working on and maintaining the Ozark Trail.

I am wrapping up my last week here with a trip down south near the Arkansas border. The past two evenings were spent in Eminance, MO on the Jack's Fork River. Absolutely beautiful. The whole area reminded me a lot of the Smokey Mountains, especially when we went up to a ridge and watched a rainstorm come in to the valley last night. Very very cool.

This is an area we worked on last week while Aaron Browning, Landahl Trail Manager, was here. Too bad there's no pic of me on the mini skid-steer I got to play on :) We built a little turnpike to get through a boggy, horsed up area.



For those interested, basically we lined both sides of the trail with large boulders then laid down some strips of geofabrication in the boggy soil to help firm it up and hold everything in place. We used a smalle culvert pipe to direct water drainage, then a layer of gravel/sand (local creek bed dredge), then a layer of geofabric with 2 ends out on either side as to fold it over. More gravel, "sausage" the geofabric, then more gravel/sand on top and soil if you can find any around to sprinkle/mix in on the very top. Doing it this way builds the trail surface up 1-2 feet, so excavation isn't needed. It is fairly easy to do if materials are readily available and looks pretty cool when done.

As of my count today, I have 325+ hours working and 82 miles of trail trimmed since I've been here. Throw in a few days of creek crossing building and bench cutting and it's been a great summer for learning tons about trail building and maintenance. Hopefully it will pay off with Roanoke this fall. I am looking forward to it.

My last week here will be spend at working down south some more and staying at Big Springs National Rec Area in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. We already dropped camp there before having to come back to Potosi for another worker (hence why you get a rando blog post) and will be making the long drive back tonight as soon as he gets here. I plan on not a lot of sleep this week between work, and hopefully a few rides and at least one float on the Current River.

peace and riding!

bike riding time

has every terrain type imaginable for Missouri. good stuff to dig around the house for a quick loop. even though today i stopped twice to down complete bottles of water.

upcoming stuff includes:

spoke pony showdown at swope, 6 hour, <29 male solo.

Cruise the Blues 5 hour team with my brother. May cause Dizziness needs to defend its title. And I have fastest loop time 2 years running for the shorter loop. Gonna be real fast this year with gears.

Slaughter Pen Jam, maybe. If anyone else is interested let me know.

SAC River 12 hour Goodtime MTB race, solo male. This may be a maybe too so I can save funds for later CX racing.

September 17/18: Dogfish Cross in Hermann

Rapture in Misery 12 hour solo male <29. September, with gears. Yes.

October 1/2 Boss Cross!!

Burning at the Bluff 12 hour solo male. This is a must do race. Council Bluffs trails are awesomely dope.

October 15: Big Roanoke Park Workday

Berryman Epic!!!!!!

Then full on cx baby. Maybe even do SS nationals @ Madison if stuff works out right.

Back in KC next weekend. Hope to make First Fridays at the Volker 18th and Wyandotte Shop. Best shop in town.

Ride at Swope Sunday anyone???

peace and riding!

more stl...

brommelsiek video

This is from the start...thanks to BULLDOG.

Still pic pulled from vid:


I flash by at around 0:35 in 4th position of the sport class start. Notice the amount of guys behind me. I would stay ahead of all of them, plus pass the Mizzou dude in front of me to finish 3rd overall sport, 2nd in 20s class. 1 & 2 in the hole shot were also 1/2 overall in sport and 1 & 1 respectively in 20s and 30s classes. Not bad for not having gears.

Notice the RPM I'm spinning at compared to everyone else. Good stuff.



Peace and riding!!!

st. louis circles

Awesomely epic weekend in st. louis. And I got 2nd place on my single speed against the dudes with gears.

Friday evening had Mason and I rolling out of Potosi to get up to the lou. Got there and met up with a friend, Mr. Andrew Graff. He and I decided we needed to drink a 1/5 of vodka and we decided that Castlewood State Park would be a great place to do that. So we hiked in a little on the trail, found a sweet ass bluff overlooking the extremely swollen Missouri river, then proceeded to get schwasty faced. Good times. Pretty sure we ended up at a Quik Trip at some point for $0.69 fountain drinks and 2 for $2 hot dogs. Ahhhh, not too different from home :)

Andrew left us around 10:00 to go see Harry Potter with some ladies so we headed towards the Arch. I had never seen it that up close, only from highways passing by. It's pretty insane; hell of an engineering marvel that's for sure. The whole area reminded me of downtown Kansas City actually. Glitzy, upscale, surely overpriced bars/restaurants slowly creep to extreme ghettoness, then slowly creeps back to the ultra nice. Ah, old cities are pretty cool. Plus is was cool to be on the Mississippi riverfront for awhile. Think the Missouri is swollen? Ya, all that water plus a lot more dumps into the Mississippi. Crazy to see a river that large.

Any who, we were planning on trying to bum a camp down by the Mississippi riverfront and found out real quick that wasn't happening. So we decided to try to find a place along the Missouri out towards St. Charles. After a few hikes/scouting looks, we found the craziest place ever to set up camp. 40 feet from the swollen river, in the floodplain still, standing water everywhere from flooding that was in the area within the last 2 weeks. But it gets better...under a railroad bridge along HWY 370 as it crosses the river. Total hobo camp. It was badass, other than waking up 3x during the 4 hours of sleep I got because of locomotives roaring over the top of us. However, how many people can say they've seen the bottom of a moving train because they were sleeping under it? I can.

We broke down camp around 7 am to get out of there before we were spotted by the locals. Ended up driving through downtown St. Charles and I saw a sign for a bike shop cafe. We took a quick u-turn and stopped to check it out and hopefully get some real food in us. The Second Street Bike Stop Cafe was by far one of the coolest places I'd ever been too. Where else can you order an egg/cheese/peppers/onions wrap, an iced vanilla latte and buy new Ergon integrated bar end grips, all at 7:30 am from the same nice lady? No place in Kansas City, that's for damn sure. Pretty sweet to see the right side of the shop with bike gear/mechanics stand, and the left side full of food and coffee making equipment. Damn good food too. I recommend the Juarez wrap.

Didn't have too much to do, so we headed for Klondike Park, since I was told that it is the must ride trail of the area. I rode a quick, very short lap and got the first flat I'd had in 4-5 months, damn! Tried changing it and the tube I had had a hole in it from stuffing it in on top of my multi-tool, arghhhh. Last tube from the racing stash and I got it back up and going. Mason took a quick spin on the plastic big wheel (my 29r) and ended up crashing coming down from the top of the hill. BIke was all good, Mason's wrist not so much. Very swollen...more on this.

Andy Mac ended up meeting us out there around noon and he and I spun a lap on the east side of the park, using the Katy Trail to connect us back to the park's west side. Klondike trails are pretty sweet, nothing too redic. A couple skinnies, a couple extremely well built teeter-totters, and a nice platform jump that you can get anywhere from 4-10 feet of air off of depending on how east you hit it. I did the smaller 2 foot rock drop off to the left side. Wish I had some rear travel sometimes, or not such a nice bike so I wouldn't feel bad on the inevitable crash. Ok, both of those are lies. Except I would kill for a carbon enduro from specialized. sickkkkkk.

After ripping some trail for awhile we headed back into the burbs and grabbed some chinese buffet around 3:00 pm. I murdered some food in preparation for Sunday, since I still had not decided what class to enter in. We then went to Ft. Zumuwalt park where Andy Mac and I jammed some guitars and I blew on a little harp action as well. It was good, damn good. Around 6:00 we started heading back towards Klondike where we were sitting up camp for the night. After a stop at a bike shop for tubes/GU, Wal-Mart for dinner, and a quick check of Brommelseik, we were back at Klondike. I got the tent up and was out by 9:00 pm I bet. Slept like a baby. Best I'd slept all summer while out camping. It was good stuff for sure.

Woke up about 6:45 hearing Mason get into the car. I still hadn't decided what class to race, so we got camp torn down and headed to Brommelseik. Got there around 8 am and I got registered...for the CAT 2, 20-29 class. Racing the single speed against the boys with gears. I didn't have the highest hopes, but was gonna give it my best. It was absolutely insane seeing how many people came out for this race, and especially all the lady racers!!! Hot chicks on sick bikes? Yes please.

Watched a little marathon class and beginner class. Did a pre-lap. This course was gonna be super super fast. 100% throttle the whole time. 4.5 miles, not really much technical with a few short steepish climbs. the 34-20 gearing on the jamis was perfect. Marathon guys were cranking out 20-23 minute laps for the fastest guys, so I was hoping to throw down in there somewhere about. I had some amazing pre-race nutrition of a nutella sammich, nut-tritous bar from Planters, gummy life savers, some jet blackberry gu, some margerita clif shot blocks, and a ton of water/gatorade. oh, and half a red bull. I was ready.

Got a nice little 10 minute warm-up in actually before they called us to staging. Did a little 3 minute spin to get the legs loose, then did some short sprint intervals just to peg my cadence and heart rate for a bit, then 3 minutes of spin around again to keep fresh. CAT 1 guys/gals/singlespeeders started before us and I got a great position on the line, middleish towards the inside. I knew the hole shot would be vital for the sketchy creek crossing we had to hit very soon. Gun went and I had a little trouble getting my left leg clipped in but finally found the clip and pedaled my ass off to hit the hole shot in 4th behind 2 other guys in my age group and a 30-something year old guy. I was soon up to 3rd, 2nd in my age, since the Mizzou dude directly in front of me bobbled in the creek and wiped out making the turn up the gravel climb. I punched the climb and all of a sudden the 3 of us up front were opening up a huge gap. Mizzou latched back on about 1/4 of the way through and sucked my wheel for about 1/2 a lap. I let him around me in a grassy section so I could return the favor and get pulled through 1 of the 2 LONG sections of prairie trail. Anyone who has ridded Palen's farm (cruise the blues), Brommelseik is the st. louis version. Mizzou dude and I were neck and neck going through start finish where Mason gave me a hand-up of a gu and a fresh bottle of ice cold water. I think this kind of took some wind out of Mizzou dude's sails since I heard him mumble something to me about the handups (he was wearing a black camelback...it was hot, not the best choice.) He ended up bobbling through the creek again, so I punched the climb again and really got the heart rate pegged up and started flowing like crazy. Somewhere in the mix, not really sure where, Mizzou dude started bonking and a CBC guy from another class got on my wheel, as well as another dude who was in my class. I asked them if I could suck their wheel through the 1st grassy section and they obliged. Awesome! problem was the dude in my class stated pulling away from CBC and I...no good, oh well, still sitting 3rd in class, 5th overall. Second lap had a lot of passing singlespeed class guys, cat 1 women, and marathon peeps. Awesome course for passing though, even in the wooded sections.

So I come through start/finish again, Mason hands me another gu and fresh bottle and I'm off again in front of CBC who had stopped to self-handup. Settle in behind a couple single speeders who are ripping at about the perfect pace I want to be. I suck their wheels the rest of the lap and finish the 13.5 miles in 1:08.47. Damn!

First impressions were, I finished and got 3rd, 4th overall in cat 2. Didn't blow up, ever have to stop, and only bobbled my bike once trying to put a bottle back in the cage during a grassy section. Found out the other dude from my class who had passed me earlier flatted out! So I finished 2nd on the day, 3rd overall CAT 2. Every other person in CAT 2 had gears. What up st. louis! hahahahahaha. I finished 4 minutes off our age group/overall cat 2 winner. not bad. I think with gears I win that race easily. After peeping times, my laps would have put me on the podium for the SS class as well. Extreme confidence booster, especially since this was my first real race of the year. I was just surprised that my heart didn't explode. working/training down here in the forest is starting to pay off :)

So no pics yet, but there will be hopefully. Tons of people out snapping stuff and got the coolest plaque for an award! You gotta see it to believe it. It involves cedar wood, co2 cartridges, and mtb tires. It looks sweet!

After the race, we ended up in the hospital. Mason's hand was swollen like crazy. Looks like it's not broken, but lots of tendon/ligament damage. Epic trips aren't so until you make a trip to the hospital...check.

By then it was 6:30 and I had eaten nothing all day but the aforementioned pre-race nutrition. Found a bar/grill, got an ice cold 22 oz beer and a chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. Yep heaven. Gassed up and headed back to Potosi and the OTA house.

great trip. great times with great people. special shout out to Mason for the handups during the race. They were perfect and absolutely vital for me finishing the way I did.

so st. louis doesn't suck so badly. I'd like to take another trip/two up there sometime soon to do a few other things we didn't get to do...six flags, the zoo, cardinals game, riding other places, dirt jumping, etc. One day.

peace and riding!!!

this weekend...

racing brommelsiek this weekend...hopefully. mason just came in and said his car is overheating...great. I really can't take another weekend stuck in potosi.

i realized today how mundane my summer life has become, because I have basically put myself into indentured servitude in order to pay hospital bills and loans. Not having health care for 7+ years caught up with me finally. Although...which is worse? about 4 grand in hospital/dr bills, or the monthly payments I would have made for the past 7 years at who knows $$$ a month. That shit isn't cheap when you're trying to buy it privately. but anyway, enough of the health care rant.

i realized this all because I was thinking about it and I haven't been on my bike 1 second for over a week. After spending 8-10 hours a day in the heat with a weedeater, camelback, 2 water bottles, 3 bottles of gas, 3 necessary tools, and a spool of trimmer line strapped to your back it kind of kills your motivation to do anything but sit in the air conditioning after work, eat a ton of calories and drink a ton of water to revive yourself, and zone out watching internet TV/videos. I really can see how people can be so lazy at their homes. I am glad I caught myself in this though. It seems it's only when we're not out in the forest camping that I get extremely lazy. Technological temptations and climate control take over the time I should be riding or writing/learning new music or other stuff. Next week is another camp week. Hopefully it will mean more fun activity and less vegging out after work. Camping at Council Bluffs last week was great. We paddled/spillway jumped one night, I rode another, and played guitar the third night. Lot more productive than burning through hulu...or writing a blog post about nothing.

I guess I just needed to vent about racing. i am ready to race some mtb stuff, but have no real desire to train, especially push myself to high intensity stuff like I need to be. I've only done one race this year, the Dirty Kanza, and that didn't turn out well. Now I need to decide if I want to race marathon, single speed or sport class this weekend. I'm leaning towards sport to see how I do on the SS in the 19-29 sport class, and so I can hopefully get some upgrade points to get up to cat 1 soon and really get my ass whooped.

peace and riding!!!

go do this.

do this: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=212965835412663

it'll be awesome. kind of thinking about going back to town for it and borrowing a road bike...probably not though. I can ride 115 miles of single track one way down here. Plus there's a hell of a lot more climbing here anyway :) and the now 26 mile berryman loop, the council bluffs lake loop (which by the way...more in a sec), middlefork loop, endless gravel and fire roads to make loops out of, st joe state park with tons of trails 20 miles away by gravel/pavement, blah blah blah. too bad most days i'm so worn out from working that when i do go ride i feel pooptastic.

so council bluffs lake. rode the loop this week one night while we were camping there for work. god damn, that is a 12 mile loop. ripping contour trail, stupid steep and long climbs and decents, buttery smooth trail, walk-through technical stuff (and I pride myself of riding any technical line, I probably can out there on fresh legs and/or with gears or an easier SS gearing), gravel road, double track, a short stretch of paved trail by the beach. It was a bit bushy, especially to KC standards, so that definitely made it that more interesting trying to see lines and up the trail. you definitely have to keep your shit up though or you will fall in the lake, the trail is literally that close in a few areas. Burnin' at the Bluff 12 hour just popped up on my radar big time. Perfect place for a 12 hour race. it has everything you ask for in a great mtb loop. Recovery sections seem to magically appear just when you need them. Can't wait for that with a 1x9 in october...heaven.

don't forget about the courtois challenge.

peace and riding!

brazil creek

Ben McCall came down saturday and rode around with me for awhile. He realized pretty quick it's a lot (a lot) different than kc riding.





there's what we did. Started at berryman campground and went east on the berryman loop towards brazil creek. Made it about a mile before stopping the first time, then another mile, then another, hahaha. climbing's a little different out here :) Got to 5ish miles and a gravel road and I asked Ben if he was ready for our first detour of the day. Took a couple miles of ridgeline gravel/fire road around a couple big single track climbs up from the creek bottoms then jumped back in for the last couple miles of flatish singletrack to the brazil creek campground. Ben was pretty concerned after I told him we were at least 9 miles from the car by roads, and about 15 by singletrack hahaha. So we did a horrible paved climb up W, then jumped back on gravel going back towards the berryman campground. Rode until Fire Road 2607 and jumped back in to do the last few miles of single track back to Berryman. ben was pretty spent, and actually (very very suprisingly) I was feeling amazing. got back to the campground and he headed back to kc. that's a hell of an epic day. KC-->Berryman-->KC all in one day. f that.

I actually feel great right now too and will probably go for a little spin this afternoon for 3-4 hours to keep the legs fresh for castlewood next weekend. I'm gonna race the 3 hour marathon on my singlespeed. hopefully i can show some stl peeps what up. In all reality if I placed in the top 50% I'd be happy.

peace and riding!!!

st. joe state park

Went over to St. Joe State Park yesterday for some riding action while Mason fished. No good map and no help from the rangers left me exploring. Ended up riding singletrack, double track, gravel road, fire road, atv trail, hare scramble trail, tailings dunes, and paved trail. Stupid steep climbs, and pucker factor downhills with some ripping stuff along the ridges. All in all it was fun. I rode for 3+ hours and never even got close to riding probably 25% of what is packed in that 8500 acres. The old mine areas are pretty cool too.

Here are some more "abstract water color paintings" for you to enjoy. Maybe someday I'll have a real camera, or at least a cell phone that takes ok pics.






peace and riding!!!

new stuff...

ordering up gears and a new fork for the plastic bike. hopefully it'll make me faster in long races/allow me to survive longer. xo twister shift, x9 derailluer, pg-970 11-34 cassette, new rear stan's wheel, and it's looking like a fox rlc 29r fork...mmmmmmmm.

thanks to bk for the hook-up through countless e-mails. he's the best shop sponsor a team can have. stupid good team deals and great communication. he's a nice dude too.

time to get to work so i can pay for all this shit...

peace and riding!!

meeting celebrities

...of cycling blogs. That's right folks, I Brett Shoffner, met Casey F. Ryback of Team Segal fame this evening and enjoyed a wonderful authentic Mexican meal in his presence. I was so awe struck by his wit that I barely said anything, plus we showed up a few minutes late, I had weed-eated all day, and was filling my face full of chips and wonderful steak chile verde cause I was starving.

and dude knows his movie quotes. This I am 100% serious about. Knew a Top Gun reference on the spot. Amazing.

be jealous.

The Manimal, Jesse G, and Nick V of Epic Cycling fame were also here. They all rode middlefork today and crashed at the OTA house last night. It was good to see some KC locals. The forest gets pretty lonely.

peace and riding!!!

one of the few times in my life...

...I wish I had a road bike. Although I did hit some nasty gravel in a few spots. 95% was pavement though, not the smoothest, but 2.2 mtb tires at 45 psi don't roll very fast.





Did this in about 2-2.5 hours with a gas station stop a little over halfway through for a $0.69 bottle of grape vess and a king sized peanut butter twix (aka saturday bunch). not bad for a SS mtb geared 34-20 with aforementioned tires and PSI. Road bike would kick ass around here though, I'm not gonna lie. Here's some more craptastic cell phone pics for you to enjoy...saw some pretty cool shit today, including 4-5 mine tailings lakes...one was damn near glowing green...weird!


potosi correctional center...this is where the state of missouri used to kill people...literally.


mineral point, mo...population 384.


this road was paved...but about as smooth as gravel.


downtown potosi.


potosi prison entrance, probably can't see the 4 foot of razor wire on top of the fences.


yep, sickness.

peace and riding!!!