t.u.r.d.

come join the fun bitches.

peace and riding!!!

Roanoke Park Trails...Grand Opening!!!

Come celebrate....we're almost done :)

Peace and riding!!!

Racing again

Did a "race" this past weekend (PIRATE CXC) for the first time since Eureka Springs Fatty Fest.  I "earned" second place.  Read up here.

Sitting on my ass the past semester drinking beer did me well this race.  Shit, actually just looking at the results I would have still gotten fourth without the time bonuses, behind GWiz, Tige, and Micah.  Umm, high five to me now cause I'm losing to all three of them any day of the week anyway.  So, I got first place in my book.

Street Cred starts this weekend.  All of February.  Also, more Pirate CXC on Feb. 23.  Come play!  I'm thinking no USAC races this year.  They're lame.

peace and riding!

crying...

literally.  anyone who knows what I've been up to the past 16 weeks knows what this means to me....

peace and riding!!!

phew...

officially done with the semester.  let's ride bikes

Dis how we do...

There's no lack of rock at Roanoke Park...

Thanks Jon Peck for the photos!

Peace and riding!!!

Roanoke Park Trail building, come help!!!

I build here:

We have this done and almost 1/3 of Phase 4 done already:

You should come help on these days:

 so we can go build here:

Check out swopetrails.com and go build there too!

Peace and riding!!!

roanoke park trail work days...

roanoke park BIG workday this weekend!!!

Hola Peeps!!!

PLEASE come help Saturday morning from 9:00-Noon (ish) during the Roanoke Park Trails BIG Workday!!! at the Roanoke Park Trails. We are aiming to have over 100 volunteers at this event (we had 84 last March during our initial BIG Workday):http://www.facebook.com/events/297279083720723/

We have almost a mile of trail in the park now and want to more than double that by next summer, but need lots of help! Everything to do on this workday from clearing new corridor (cutting back branches & honeysuckle) to dragging brush to the curb to hacking out wintercreeper with rogue hoes to raking leaves to tread work & bench cutting, etc. etc. etc. If you can't make the whole time, come out for the time you can; every little bit counts!!!  Pass it on :)

Please come out and help make trails a reality within Kansas City's urban core!!!

peace and riding!

Upcoming Swope Trail Work!!!!!

HOLA PEEPS!  

Santa Fe was awesome!  Got some great write-ups and pix coming soon.  But wanted to pass this along from Craig, Scott, and Travis...you know I'll be there!!!

http://swopetrails.com/

TRAILBUILDING...It's getting to be that time of the year again and your belly will be full of Halloween candy.  This could be a great way to burn off that nervous sugar energy.

 

We will be finishing up the Rancho-d-lux loop on November 3rd.  This will be the final phase of Rancho which will clean up several intersections, eliminate some legacy trail, and make a kid's specific loop.  We are very excited about how this will make the upper area of Camp Lake of the Woods flow for all users.

 

Once this section is complete we will be spending the remainder of the winter on working on the Wudchuk Run loop connecting the Eight Pin across the back of the Camp Lake of the Woods Property to the Red Cabin area.  This will probably be a 2yr project and add 4-6 miles to the Camp Lake of the Woods area.

 

Meeting Place:

Hogan/swimming pool at Camp Lake of the Woods on top of the hill. From the main Swope trailhead, drive up Oakwood Drive, take a left at the "Y" and continue on about 300 yards. See map on the right hand side of the Swope trails webpage for directions to the Swope Park trails.

 

Tools:

The usual trail tools...Rakes, Shovels, McLeods, Pulaskis, Rogue Hoes, Handsaws, Chainsaws, etc. If you don't have tools, come anyway...we should have plenty.

 

Recommended Clothing:

Long pants

Boots/Shoes with protection

Work Gloves

Safety Glasses

Bug Spray

 

Trail Tasting Afterwards:

If the trails are rideable and/or hikeable, we'll do a trail tasting of the new stuff. Workdays are the only time you'll get a chance to check out the new trail before it's open, so come work then get your ride on!

PEACE AND RIDING!

My IMBA breakout session presentation...

This is a video from my IMBA World Summit presentation given earlier this morning (10.11.12).  I talk about the Roanoke Park Project and how urban core trail systems can be catalysts for community sustainability through social connections and ecological restoration.



Peace and riding!!!

Quick thoughts...

I got to ride my bike for fun yesterday.

It was a blast.

Clinton Lake skills park, Cactus Ridge and Campground 3 loops.  Super fun.  I was actually ripping too (at least it felt like I was).  One section of Cactus Ridge is STUPID technical...cleaned it all, but barely.  I forgot how good of tech rider I am.  The handling skills have always been there, but the cardio is not, and definitely not right now.

Some other things...

People are starting to realize that MTB racing is dead around here.  After 2 years of yelling and half a year of not giving a fuck anymore, other people are finally realizing what I've been seeing for a long time.  We have 0 races scheduled for next year MTB-wise.  Z.E.R.O.  Whatever, not my problem anymore...

One thing I pride myself on is that I cut through the bullshit, period.  I don't care who you are, what your "title" is, when your were born, or how much money you have.  If other people did the same thing, then a lot of stuff in our world would be better off.  If you wanna step up and be a leader, then step up.  If you want things to change, then change them.  If you want to do something, then do it!

Don't die wishing you had done something or treated someone differently.

peace and riding!

See you in December!!!

Taking 15 hours of graduate credit...working 20 hours a week at Mid-America Regional Council...trying to finish the Roanoke Park Trails project...trying to start the Kessler Park Trails project...

I never sleep.  Literally.

I definitely never ride my bike, other than to get to/from the next place I need to get to and am most likely running a few minutes late for.  Not the ideal life right now, a little TOO busy, but that should mean that this springtime should be a little TOO un-busy :)

MANION'S SATURDAY!!! GO RACE CROSS.

Man cross....haven't even thought of it and it's already here.  I know this complete season is gone too.  I am not racing or planning on racing any time soon and have -75 minutes to give to training.  To say I'm in horrible shape is a tad of an understatement.

keep coming to build trail with me...keep riding your bike...I'll be joining again soon, promise!

peace and riding!!!

Save the date jerks...

Save the date! 

The best winter gravel adventure is coming up fast!!!

December 15, 2012
Start/finish @ Sunflower Bike Shop
9:00 am start
100k of your favorite Kansas crunchiness.
*There is a shorter route available that skips the Wellsville loop.

Course map here: http://www.mapmytri.com/routes/view/26131428

Get on it!!  Hope to see you there!

Peace and riding!!!

PS - Is it ever going to rain??  I honestly have had zero desire to go ride trails until it rains...a third trip in three years to the hospital because of dryness is not in my cards so I've been pussing out on ripping the trails up.  We can't even finish up trails at Roanoke cause there's no soil moisture...zero zilch nada.  It's bad.

Colavita Cross Country Challenge thank-yous

Two weeks ago we had a badass mountain bike race.  My front room and I are finally recovered.  After reflecting for a while it was truly amazing the quality of event we put on.  Dirt lovin' good times were had by everyone there.  The one complaint I got was that I only made medals for the kids and not everyone (and maybe a couple USAC infractions that our wonder official, Curtis Martell, let slide).  We had a great course, great scoring/registration, great prizes, great venue.  We were cleaned up and could have left the park before 1:00 pm if the last few of us hadn't stayed to take it all in for a few minutes; most other MTB races aren't even finished by 1:00 pm and we had all awards out, the entire course markings picked up, all the trash in the right spots, and it literally looked like no one had been out there.  After expenses we ended up donating quite a chunk to the Trail Masons for continued work at WYCO (and CAT 1/SS/Marathon got paid and paid decently well, which is also unheard of for a local MTB race).  You all may not know, but the Trail Mason's master plan with WYCO parks calls for over 30 miles of trails like those to go all around the lake.  They have built the current 6 miles with less than $1500.  The race $$$ will go a long way to getting their next 2.5 mile section and more opened soon.  It is because of our great team and volunteer group that we brought it.  Everyone on this list helped clean up afterwards too!!!  Special thank you to the following for their contributions:

Thank you to UFD and the 118 racers that braved the heat!!!

Britton: Parisi coffee, Celler Rat gift certificates, numbers, prizes, Volker Bikes sponsorship, Tallgrass beer.  BK's the best.

John W: Food!!!  Amazing as always sir!

Ann Pai: Registration/Scoring.  

Venasa: Registration/Scoring.  Venasa and Ann held the reg/scoring down!!!  Without these ladies things would have been lost.

Kris Presnell: Reg/Scoring.  Irreplaceable.  Thanks, Kris!

Dan O.  Reg/scoring, finding pappy when his head was not good.  Thanks DanO!

Michael Ellis - Registration/scoring

Justin Bay - Registration/scoring.  Justin and Michael were part of our indispensable reg/scoring team.  You guys literally carried our event.  So critical in MTB races and all the more difficult with our number cluster.

Jake S: Parking duty, reg/scoring, Door to Door Organics gift certificates.  Jake also helped with pretty much anything asked of him.

Roger W: Water hoses and water!, chinese hats, course markings Saturday morning.  And he won the marathon race, amazing.

Erik Elving: Registration/Scoring, water hoses, Applebee's Gift Certificates, general badassery.  Erik, I can't even remember everything you helped with, which is nothing new, thank you!

Josh B: Parking duty.  Critical with what we were working with.

Jon Sink: Parking duty.  Showed up, took a piece of paper without me saying much, and it worked.  

Levon: Parking duty, staple gun, course marking Saturday morning, final clean up.  Thanks bro!

Adam K: Parking duty, Port-A-Potties, final clean up.  We didn't have shit everywhere.  That's a win!

David N: Parking duty, course marking Saturday morning, final clean up 

Nate S: Midwest Mountain Bike Patrol (MMBP), water hoses.  Thank you Nate and MMBP for your assistance, helping Pappy out, and for getting all our course markings after the races!!!

Curtis Martell - Our chillin' official.

Andy Schuette - UFD results, UFD webmaster/promoter, and USAC results

Cliff Jones - Co-promoter.  Cliff did as much or more work than I did getting this event ready.  He personally weedeated every single inch of our course, designed the race layout with Shane (really designed the whole system), hooked up the county permitting process, helped me mark the course Friday night, led group rides/race preview rides, got us zip ties in the morning, helped reg/scoring, did MMBP, helped with final clean up, etc etc etc.  He was truly the co-promoter of this event and it could have not gone off without Cliff or any of the rest of your contributions.

Finally, we gotta shout out to our sponsors.  Nothing is free/cheap without them :)

Trail Masons!

Wyandotte County Parks and Recreation!

Pot Pie!

Door to Door Organics!

Celler Rat!

Applebee's!

Parisi Coffee!

Colavita Pasta and EVOO!

and of course,

Volker Bicycles!!!

I know I forgot a lot...

We do it all again in 6 weeks for Manion's Cyclocross baby!!!  Then Colavita Cup in November!

thank you all again.  After it's been 2 weeks, I can say, yes, I do want to promote a race again :)  ...one thing is for sure, C4 will definitely be back at WYCO!!!

--brett

PS:  Since this is super long, here are some of the upcoming MTB opportunities still left:

Swope Dush Dash, A group night ride, Swope Park Trails, 8.11.12

Cruise the Blues 5 hour endurance solo/team race, Glen Elder Kansas, 8.25.12

24 Hours of Iowa solo/team race, Boone Iowa, 9.8/9.12 (I WANT TO DO THIS AS A TEAM!!!)

Slaughter Pen Jam (all disciplines), Bentonville Arkansas, 9.8/9.12 - or this would be cool too :)

Sac River 6/12 hour endurance solo/team race, Springfield Missouri, 9.8.12

Tour de Lizard, Ark City Kansas, 9.9.12 XC/Marathon, UFD West #8

Northwest Arkansas Championships (all disciplines), 9.15.12, West Fork Arkansas (Devil's Den)

Tall Oak Challenge 6 hour solo/team race, Jeff City Missouri, 9.23.12

Rhett's Run, Columbia Missouri, 9.30.12 XC/Marathon, UFD West #9, Series Championship

Castlewood Race Two XC/Endurance, UFD East #10/UFD Series Finale

Burning at the Bluff 6/12 hour solo/team race, Potosi Missouri, 10.13.12

Berryman Epic, Steelville Missouri, 10.27.12

Attila the Hun XC/marathon, 11.18.12, Little Rock Arkansas

CCCC is over....

The Pirate pretty much sums up the Colavita Cross Country Challenge...

More on it later...I need sleep...

Peace and riding!!!

come race in my race!!!

Details here:  http://www.facebook.com/events/115980758539805/

See you tomorrow!  Free beer, how can you turn that down?  Plus our course is the tittzz.

peace and racing!!!

Colavita Cross Country Challenge

Hey jerks.  I'm promoting a race this year.  A real race.  Like sanctioned and you have to pay for it and all that jazz.  Come do it.  The course is fucking awesome.  

More here:  http://www.facebook.com/events/115980758539805/

4.5 miles, 700 foot of climbing...gonna be awesome.

Peace and riding!!!

eureka springs coming up..

Actually been on the bike a bit recently...

Rode up to KCI from downtown to meet my sister flying in from South Carolina.  That was an adventure.

Rode EFI at Blue River and Swope with Matt.  Awesome.

Did some McCoy's ride Colavita Lovin'.  Ya baby.

Rode up with the Pirate and MaxiThad and did a smithville humpday ride.  shenanigans were undoubtedly had.  we rode everything and then some more in the dark.  very fun.

Did a hammer fest dirty urban loop with Chuck and Micah...30+ mph on MTBs the whole way on Manchester from Winchester/Coal Mine Road to 17th Street.  Killer.  Dirty double track, isle of capri trail, and levee gravel.  Finished with a climb up Roanoke and a climb up Paseo to home.

Did a super late night ride by myself one night riding the boulevards.  Paseo, Linwood, Karnes, Roanoke, Plaza, Cleaver, Paseo.  Short but fun at 4 am.

Did this with Griffin.  

Other than being slowed up by another dude and being way behind schedule, and it being 100*, we killed it.  Thanks to Matt for hooking us up with water and a ride from BSL to Quik Trip a few miles away.  That AC and H2O was lifesaver.

Rode some sweet squishy bikes at the Specialized demo at Swope, also with Matt.  Saw pretty much everyone and their brother their.

Catted up to a 1 and finally bought my license.  Registered for Eureka Springs Fat Tire Fest.  I'm gonna get my ass kicked.  I think if I just ride my pace and survive the heat I might surprise myself once the other people blow up.  The hard tail 29er is made for that race too.  I eat leatherwood like Mike Tyson eats your children.

Riding to work has been hot.  Been hopping the bus a bit more frequently but got the new code to our shower today so full on commuting is back on.  Even riding the mile to class sucks, dripping by the time I get there.  Always fun walking into class looking like you ran through a sprinkler.

Went home last weekend, chilled, and watched some Tour of Lawrence action.  A Colavita Tradition.

So ya, good rides, good times, and great people.  Boom.

Peace and riding!!!

For Sale: Pake

hey blog gang:

i need money ASAP to pay tuition so I am selling my pake.  here's a picture of her and i in all our glory:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_FnagCYryzWKnV13LXwgWrKCeEwtERf_790ZhamHlwQ2zO5ZiPYrOyfnbNlMOa6lQl1e0YsaOyJO7CV1VoCFQPIZtrYib0CIBt9tGidcPdShvrc5-ZtlR8tRhyLDHyZrxTIvcKP61dkoe/s1600/bossbeer.jpg

i built this up using all parts I personally chose....that means this bike is indestructible.  Some of the spex:

pake c-muter frameset 52cm

IRO Carbon fork

velocity A-23 rims laced to shimano 105 hubs

truvativ FireX crankset

hollowtech bottom bracket

ritchey seatpost/headset/stem

salsa bell lap bars

the rear is set up as a single speed with spacers (currently geared at 34-16)

surly tugnut

tektro linear pull brakes

shimano hoods

I also have the following sets of tires I will throw in if you want them: continental tour ride 28c road tires (really good shape), iro crossfires 32c (worn but still good), hutchinson piranhas 34c (really good condition).

you can run this bike single speed, as a 1x, or with full range of gears.  Great tire clearance (gotten 42c on before).  good for a road bike or CX bike.  great commuter also (hence the frame name).

price: $600.

let me know if you or any one you know is interested.

peace and riding!!!