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!