#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!