62 Days TIll CX Season

I always say Robots & Ninjas will be the end of all of us. I think the Ninjas infiltrated my work & sabotaged one of my robots. I got to spend all day yesterday trying to get the damn thing to do what I wanted it to. After about 8 hours of programming & tweaking I threw in the towel & called in R2-D2's makers to come & try & remove the demons the ninjas stuck in it.

R2-D2

Off to State TT, almost time to start thinking 46t instead of 54t.

63 days till CX Season

64 days till CX Season

65 days till CX season!

66 days till cross

That's right only 66 more days till cross season. I could knock 14 days off that but I think 66 is a nice round number. Just State TT this weekend, some race in the SPR, & a couple of loops in KC then the real racing begins. I'll be starting out this cx season by getting my butt handed to me at the Hermann Invitational. The KC cross season this year is looking pretty good. Rumor has it that there is racing every weekend but 2 all the way till January. That's freaking nuts!

After this weekend the CX training begins. That means running, barriers, & time on the SS CX. Planning started last week by putting some feelers out for tires. I want to move up to 32mm Challanges this year. I plan on riding the Grifo again & adding the Grifo Dry to my arsenal as well (which means adding another set of tubbies to the wheel rack). My Slimen team mate Kyle is riding Dugast Rhinos this year, but I think they are a bit too spendy for this blue collar racer (I actually wear a green collar @ work). I'm thinking about retiring the pit bike as well. Why put money into 2 bikes when I can get one completely dialed in & work on get a real pit bike in the future. Though every time I didn't bring it to a race last year I needed it, so I'm torn.

I've also found a place that repairs tubular tires so I can save that Grifo I punctured last year for training. $20 for a new tube & base tape, which includes shipping. That's a steal. Now there is NO reason not to be on tubbies folks. If your not racing tubbies your not racing Cross (you know who I'm talking too).

There has been rumors about the Slimen CX kits but have yet to see any mock ups. I hear they are going to take kits to the next level. Rumor has it we're also getting the insulated long sleeve skin suits, very PRO. Thank god because I''m tired of freezing my jublies off. Not so PRO to freeze your boys off.

I hope that 66 days would hurry up & get over with!Mia's ready for CX, got her boots ready.

Baldwin City Road Race

PHOTOS

Sunday I headed up to Baldwin City, KS for my first road race in over 2 years. I raced the old men 35+ so I could race with some of my Slimen team mates. The day started off on the wrong foot when I over slept by about a half hour & had to hit the floor running. Luckily I had packed every thing in the car Sat night & all I had to do was pour the coffee & start driving. 2 hours later I hit Kansas City(yes I used the turbo). It helps that its now 4 lane all the way to KC via Clinton.

Back to oversleeping. Friday night my cell phone/alarm clock disappeared. Vanished off the face of the planet. I knew I had brought it in the house & put it on the counter after work Friday. I was pretty sure I didn't take it to the Big Smith show with me. But for the life of me could not find it. Turns out Mia had decided to play with it & managed to sneak it into her Papa's van. Finally Sunday Amber was able to track it down. Wasn't to worried about the phone or the numbers in it but would have been bummed to loose 2 years worth of Mia pics of it. This week they are getting downloaded for sure.

Back to the race. The 35+ race the largest field with half of them being from team 360(the old team x). It was nice of them to post their Sunday group ride for everyone to attend. The course isn't anything overly hard. The wind is what makes it hard, plus a hill top finish(big ring). We had to do 4 laps so I had planned on pretty much sitting in & hiding out. 360 had different plans. When we'd hit the cross winds they'd "gutter" us to the left making everyone ride the yellow line. When we'd hit the headwind section they'd have 1 or 2 guys sit up & cause big gaps. They had the numbers so they got to dictate tactics. After being intentionally gapped off a few times I said screw this & got to the front 2 rows & started marking one of the main 360 guys. On the 2nd lap 6 guys got away. Wasn't too worried about it since the wind was pretty hard. But we kept catching the 3/4 field so things were hard to keep track off. Just after the start of the 3rd lap Tom Price & Phil Gronniger attacked HARD! I took off chasing trying to bridge up. I burned a bunch of matches but was able to latch on & start pulling through.

When we hit the head wind section we kind of sputtered until Steve Songer(360) bridged up then I knew the break was going to work since he's one of their main guys. I figured I'd work enough to help stay away & hide at the back until someone would cry foul then work a little then go back to hiding. We managed to catch the break of 6 which had come apart so the main break became 9 with 2 teams having 2 guys each & me the lone Slimen & 1 Local Cycling guy, & 1 OKC Velo guy,& 1 strong unattached guy. On the 4 lap Tom & Phil put in a huge attack which I managed to cover but as soon as I bridged up they went again putting me hard on the rivet. Luckily Songer came through & we bridged on. In hind sight I probably should have let the group pull me back up but it sure looked like they were going to stay away. The hard effort to bridge brought about the cramps. I knew the hill top finish was going to kill me. I just sat in & tried to stretch a little over the last 5k.

Coming into the hill I thought maybe I should get in the 38 (I'm running a 38 this year so there isn't much change from cx), but figured if I had any chance I'd better big ring it. We hit the base & my legs started to feel ok so I waited for the attack from Tom or Phil. It came at 200 meteres to go I last about 10 sec then popped/cramped big time. In that time span a pretty big gap opened up & I tried to hold on but Songer came around me on the line once again & I struggled in for 4th. It turned out to be a lot harder race than I figured it would be. The numbers showed some really hard efforts. I hit my max HR twice.

I need to post more photos

Amber broke down & bought us a new digi cam. I have yet to post any pics from it & for that I'm sorry. I have a ton & will do a picture dump soon. Life has been pretty hectic & time is of a premium.

I'm still riding to work about 3x a week. It's crazy how tired it makes you(though I think most of that is getting up @ 3:45am). But by the numbers I've been seeing lately 2 a days are starting to pay off. One of these days I'm going to get to a mtb race I promise. I should have raced Sunday but decided after 3 weeks of racing I needed a break to mow the hay field that used to be my back yard. Well actually Amber mowed while I weed eated & dug up the front yard. A little landscaping project that Amber has wanted me to work on for awhile.

Sunday Mia moved into the Big Girl Bed. No more baby jail for her. She's taking to it pretty well & isn't getting up too much. Hopefully she does better with it than she has been doing with the potty training.

This Friday night were going to Republic to watch an outdoor Big Smith Show. Surprisingly I haven't seen them in a couple of years. They probably have been wondering where I've been since it wasn't too long ago I was @ about every show.

Sunday its off to Kansas for a road race. I'm supposed to race the Master's to help out the Slimen team. I don't expect any results from myself since I'll be playing the domestique role.

Farasy I haven't forgotten about you; the trailer or the kiddo just time is short sorry.

08 AR State TT

Long wknd to "race" 40k. I had ulterior motives so the full aero onslaught wasn't brung. Even without all the weapons still rode a 57:40(3rd in Cat 3's) which is only 15 seconds off my PR on a notoriously slow course. My #'s sucked but leaves plenty of room for improvement in the next 4 weeks before MO State TT. I'm going to try & shoot for 43KPH this year but my legs will make the ultimate decision. Lots of time to be spent on the TT bike between now & then (which means commuting on it yuk!). Racing a 40k with only being on the tt bike twice was not such a hot idea. Weather was good enough to use the long sleeve Ridley skinsuit since I don't have a Slimen skin suit yet. I have a feeling I'll have to break out the old multi color for State, I know how its a crowd favorite.

Amber & Mia gave me the fat hook up for Dad's day. Four wheel Bags, a new rain coat, & a blinky that can be seen from the moon. Broke in the wheel bags this weekend. Why I've never owned any till now is beyond me. It was nice not to get grease in the back of the Volvo. THe blinky I put into use this AM. Holy crap that thing is bright. Its a Planet Bike so the Dunsmuir's are supporting CX. In more ways than one. I'm going to try not to use the rain cape if I can help it. I'm too damn old to be riding in the rain but better safe than sorry with the weather we've been having lately.

Has Jimmy had that kid yet? & if so why are there no pics on his damn blog?

Hijacked

I hijacked these photos from Winghaven

I think the Slimen Unis make me look like a ninja.

BUSY Weekend

This weekend was very, very busy, but extremely fun. Friday afternoon my sister dropped off the twins for us to take to meet my mom. When I got home from work we loaded up & went to the greater greater metro area of Seymour to meet my mom so she could take Mia & the twins for the weekend.

Saturday we loaded up the Volvo, drove across town to pick up Amber's cousin & boyfriend to go to the STL with us to watch the Dave Mathews Show. JP was already up there to meet up with some friends of his wife(see JP isn't my gay lover(see comment in a previous post)). Once up there & after me playing a little mind game with Amber & her cousin. Very gullible girls those two. I yelled there's Dave as we were driving past Busch Stadium & I thought they were going to jump out of the car. Made me laugh.

After getting checked into the Hyatt Regency Riverside hotel(very fancy but over priced) we loaded up a taxi & headed over to the Brewery for some free beer & I guess the tour. Its been several years since I took the tour but the outcome is still the same. Free beer & an attempt to get more than the alloted 2. We were successful on both counts.

After the tour we headed on over to the show. For some reason the Black Crowes only played for 45 minutes so we got to hear most of their set while standing in various lines. Dave came on almost straight away & did not disappoint putting on an awesome show that lasted several hours. They even had a HD screen behind the band that was bigger than the side of a tractor trailer. Busch Stadium is a great venue for concert. With the stage in center field you get the back drop being the arch & all the high rises. Pretty cool.

Sunday I got up & around to head over to the Tour de Winghaven. Cool course but needs to have the fields separated. 130 guys in a cat 3/4 race is retarded. Some of the worst, if not the worst, bike handling/sketchiness I ever seen. People can be outright dumb. Throw in a super hard head wind & everyone puts on their idiot caps. Plus it was like 102 degrees. I pretty much rode around in the pack. I did bridge up to a break that I thought might go clear but they chased us down after a lap. Ended up 18th in the field sprint. Which is all right since I was a little overheated & starting to dehydrate. Went through 2 bottles in an hour. Knew I should have carried the 3rd one. It was a chip race so got to see my lap placings. 57,36,45,2,5,61,67,53,51,18 see what I mean about riding around in the pack? Funny side story is that I got told I was looking skinner than past years before the race. Thing is I'm 5-8lbs heavier than I normally am. I guess its the Slimen Unis. Black is slimming.

After the race I had to haul butt home since I had SRC's box tickets (suite 1 on the first base line)for the Cardinals game Sunday night. Made it home in time to get to the game at the top of the second inning. Was a good time & the cards came back from a 6-2 deficit to win with a walk off 3 run homer in the bottom of the 10th. That was my first walk off homer game so that was pretty cool.

Needless to say I'm a little tired today. I'm also still suffering a little from getting a little dehydrated Sunday. All that coupled with the rain made me drive to work this AM. Feel like a slacker but can't totally cook my legs since Sunday is the AR State TT. Really want to do a descent time to see where my form is at for the MO State TT. What sucks is this will be the 3rd straight weekend in a hotel bed.

Watch this

Part 1


part2


Or the whole thing in one shot

Another anniversery of sorts

2 years ago was the day that change my anatomy forever. oh well shit happens.

On to bigger things. Didn't ride into work this AM. It didn't take much to change my mind but the 40 mph winds & following deluge were enough incentive to go back to bed for an hour. Last night the winds were 30-40 mph sustained. Totally wrecked me. The last 8k of my commute went straight into the wind. I was pedaling my ass off & only going 14kph. Crazy! I did have a cross to tail wind @ one point for quite awhile. I thought I had set a 5min PR but just fell short. I'm discovering that two a days messes with your Perceived Exertion. I think I'm nailing it & really I'm just futzing along. The tiredness in the legs sneaks up & fools you. My commute in the other morning I thought I had put in a pretty good effort only to discover my average heart rate was 116. I'll write that one off as a recovery ride. All things considered I'm starting to like getting my training in by commuting. You rack up the kilometers & if your careful you can get the intensity in too. Now I just have to commute in on the internet junk a few times before I have to race it. The hills by Fantastic Caverns will be a ball on that over geared lead weight.

Riverside Storm & MTB Spec'ing

Steve Tilford has some pics on his blog of the storm that canceled Sunday's race. Read the blog entry about Toyota United. I'm not pointing fingers but doesn't Tilford's guys usually take all the prize money @ races? Though not to the extent Toyota Untied did. They did pretty much ruin the race from what I heard.

My mtb fork finally showed up so its time to build her up & start hitting the dirt! I guess they had production problems & didn't ship them till this week. 1.27kg claimed weight will be nice compared to my old lead rod I was hauling around. I have Hayes Stoker Carbon's to stop me. This is my first go around with disc brakes so it could be interesting. The rotors are attached to Sun Ringle hoops.
The brake levers will be attached to Answer Hyperlite Carbon bar & ATAC XC lite stem.
I'm guessing when all is said and done my mtb will be around 9 kilos give or take.

Tulsa Tough

Did ok about as I expected. 21st on Friday night(one place out of the cash) after starting on the back off the field of 104. A very fast figure 8 course. Missed being caught up in a few crashes. Having cx skills helps out a ton in tight crits. Didn't feel bad & never really had to dig too deep, just sat in & got some moto pacing in. I really was more interested in the act of racing than the results since I haven't raced in 5.5 months. Now the rust is starting to come off & its time to build the speed for state TT.

Saturday was hot & fast. I did OK got 27th out of a field of 95. Was near the front most of the race just hanging out. about 15-20 min to go starting overheating a little since this was my first exposure of the year to 90+ heat. Recovered some after having to avoid several crashes. Everybody thinks they have a chance of winning big crits. They can't except that someone has to finish in the pack & its more than likely going to be them. Hell the 3's field is stacked with with lifer 3's & they come out of the wood work for the amount of cash on hand @ Tulsa. Anyway a fun race besides a few idiots who need to learn to corner(cat 4 wanne be's). Had to actually hop a curb after having some idiot dive in on me in a turn.

Sunday's race was canceled due to SEVERE weather. I think in 20 years its the first race I've ever had called off due to weather. I've had them cut short but never completely called off the day off. The weather was pretty horrible & Riverside Drive did look like it had been hit by a tornado.

This weekend its Dave Mathews on Saturday & Winghaven Crit on Sunday; A twofer. With gas like it is you have to multi task trips. Next Sunday I'm heading down to Arkansas for their state TT. I need to get in some time on the internet junk before State if I'm going to break 56 this year.

3rd Anniversery Quiz

5/29/05 the date of my first post. To see how much attention you guys pay here's a quiz on me. I'll post the results & the winner Monday. The winner might even win a prize. Maybe.

1) What's one of my other hobbies? Hint its not drinking.

2) What's my favorite beer & no its never made me puke? Bonus if you know the place I like to drink my favorite beer.

3) How many teams have I raced for in the the time I've been blogging? (careful this is a trick question)

4) How many races have I won in that same time period?

5) How long have Amber & I been married? Bonus if you know how long we've owned our house.

6) Type of car I drive?

7) Type of bike I ride?

8) Where was I born? Bonus what's my current racing age?

9) When was Mia born? Bonus what's her favorite toys name?

10) How many dog's do I have? Bonus if you know there name & sex.

11) Who is the mysterious JP? Bonus if you say he drives a girl car & what show that's from.

12) How many times have I ran the Turkey Trot? How many times have I done it under 19minutes?

13) What's the farthest I've run?

14) What place did my team get at AR Nationals?

15) How many times have I posted? Up till this one.

16) What do I do for a living?

17) What does Amber do for a living?

18) How many bikes do I own?

19) Where did I go to college?

20) What was my one claim to fame as a mountain biker in the 90's?

21) Bonus question: How many surgeries have I had since starting blogging?

OUCH!!!

Forecast for Tulsa this weekend sucks! Hotter than Hell. Its going to be a sufferfest! Between no racing for 5 months & the heat I'm going to get my butt handed to me. I'll have to pull out my best Ninja moves to hang.

click, click, click

The Excalibur has been making a clicking noise that has all but drove me out of my mind. If it wasn't for the Inno I would have lost my mind a few weeks ago. I've pulled the pedals, changed the saddle, adjusted bolts, pulled the BB, tightened crank bolts, & just about everything imaginable to get the annoyance gone but all to no avail. Then one day riding home from work a light bulb came on. What if the noise was the seat post flexing inside the frame? So taking some of my own advice I hacked off the excess & crossed my fingers. Guess what? No more annoying click, click!!!

How freaking Pro is this??

Now the Excalibur is sporting a Scottish flag as will all my other bikes.

Tulsa Tough is just around the corner. It was the last race I did before I broke my collarbone. I think its fitting it will be my first road race back; the Joey @ State crit in '06 doesn't count since I was still hurt. It'll also be the first time sporting the Slimen kit. I'll be going into it with a heavy commuting load but having not raced since Nationals its time to feel the burn again.

A Happy Belated BDay

After a whirlwind weekend I'm still trying to catch my breath. Friday was Mia's second Birthday or as she says: "Happy Birthday you you." Saturday was Amber's Birthday (age left out). Saturday night we went out for dinner on what will be our last night out as a family till Mia is 16. Let's put it this way, I don't recommend going out with a toddler who has hit the terrible two's. Sunday we had a party for the girl's. Lots of Dora the Explorer cake, balloons, & Dora related gifts. Throw in riding to work all week(4x), mowing(twice), a hard Saturday ride, weed eating, power washing the deck, too much sun, & I was ready for bed at about 3:30 Sunday afternoon. I'm still not woke up this AM after a ride to work & half a pot of coffee. I'll post pics tonight as soon as I round them all up. Long week ahead with Memorial Day Weekend. I had planned on racing but it sounds like a trip to the lake will be in order instead. Maybe I'll get in a 6.5 hour ride on Saturday instead.

Bike to Work Week

May 12-16 is Bike/Bus/Walk to Work Week. Sign up if you haven't. I'm my companies sole participant. Though after a little more research carpooling counts so I might get a few more signed up. We're quite away from the SPR so its a haul. For me its about 43 kilometers one way. Makes a nice double training day, except I have to hit the road by 4:30 to make it to work in time to shower & make coffee before my 6:30am start time. Then I work till 5pm & ride home making it about 6:30pm when I get home. Makes for a long day, but hey I'm getting in the kilometers.



I've been doing it now for a couple of weeks. Usually I'll ride 3 days to work. This week I'm shooting for all 5 if the rain holds off. Had a close call last night but managed to stay dry even though the skies got really dark. One plus besides kilometers is gas savings. A conservative estimate is I'm saving about $150/ month in gas. That's almost a new CX bike by CX season. Sweet!

Multiplying

Friday afternoon Amber hit me with some news. That's right we here at Casa De Dunsmuir are expecting another bambino. Should be sometime early January.

We told all our families this weekend & to say they are excited would be an understatement. Of course they all want a boy this time. Me I just want another healthy kid & Amber to make it through without an emergency C-Section this time. Plus a few less trips to Labor & Delivery @ 3 in the morning.

Mia turns 2 on Friday so we are having a big bash for her on Sunday. Her days as an only child are numbered so she had better enjoy them.

Famous????

I have at least 15 readers so I must be famous?

Tire Talk

Words on tires by those who know.

Tires

AHHH CRAP!

Just when I thought I had whittled the wish list down to a manageable level I go & see this:

Lucky Bastards

The Goods.

How cool is this?? Man I'd like one. I used to really want one of the originals.

Cross isn't that far away

Thanks to Mud & Cowbells I got a looksie @ the new TRP Euro X Brakes. MMMMM! The devil is in the details. Adjustable hangers without modifications. I'll mod my current set & get a set of the Carbons for the race steed for sure! Though I think I'll go with Black.

Monday Picture Share

This is the coolest race pic I've seen in awhile. I made it my desktop @ work. Who says Cadel isn't hard?

Another hard man. Out in the rain sporting my new $15 ear buds. Best earphones I've tried. Like having a concert in your head. Rolling the XM mobile on the Inno.

Spy shot.

A part I was making for a machine @ work.

The C30 I got as a loaner when I went & had the Volvo serviced. It's a rocket.

Clif Notes

Here's the quick & dirty Clif Notes version of the last 4 weeks.

1) I got a new job...yes that's 2 this year. This job doesn't have a physcopath for a plant manager. I used my degree to diagnosis this idiot(first time I've ever used it). I'm now working for a division of SRC out in Strafford. I really like this job. Even though I have to work 5 10 hour days. I also got a shiny new stainless steel toolbox to celebrate the new J.O.B.

2) Amber & I went to the SRC 25th anniversary party. 3 Dog Night & the Doobie Brothers plus lots o beer. Good time. Jack Stack knows how too take care of his employees. Rumor has it he wanted Jimmy Buffet but he wanted a cool million to perform.

3) I got a new two me road bike. Will remain a secret what & how equipped because frankly its none of your business how I set up my rides.

4) My grass is growing to much & I've started working on my cobbles again.

5) Mia has grown two like make-up especially nail polish. My next major project will be to replace the carpet in my bedroom with hardwood. Thanks to Mia painting it red with "beautiful" nail polish.

6) Jimmy needed something made so he called me again. It pays to have friends with skills. By the way Jimmy I have it about done.

7) We went to Rock n Ribs. Not as fun this year. I already puked once for the year so held back on my beer intake. No repeat of the shopping cart incident. Which I had forgotten about, but JP remembered. I did pull a Mr. Wizard moment & fix the tent heater because it got chilly.

8) Speaking of JP I went & cut down his dead ice storm limbs for him. Pays to have in laws with skills. That's a 2 way street since he cooks the best tri tip in the SPR! But I do have to mention who invites someone over for hard labor & doesn't have mass quantities of good beer?

9) My back has decided to act up once again. I'm normally 6' tall, but lately I've been about 5'4"from walking around bent over in agony.

10) Damn its rained a lot & I've only been boating once. Need to remedy that. but new job has factored into that some.

Let's see that about brings everyone up to speed. I need to post some pics but the digi cam is about due to be replaced.

I'm still alive

Don't worry I'm still breathing. Just been very busy. Have a lot to update on. Will post more as soon as I get a few minutes.

5-4 Cards Win!

Saturday we drove up to the STL to take Mia to her first Big Birds game. This was also my first time in the new Busch Stadium. Very nice. I don't recommend sitting in the upper decks (300 sections) on the first base line in April though. While the rest of the park was working on their tans we we're bundled up trying not to freeze to death. There had to be a 20 degree difference between the sun & the shade. While we were there we scoped out our seats for when we go see Dave Mathews in June.

Mia faired pretty well on the way up. We'll not mention the return trip.

A nice day for a ballgame as long as your not in the shade. My niece & Brother in law got to go down on the field for batting practice. That's them in line.Mia got a St. Louis Cardinals Clydesdale Build-A-Bear. That kid is spoiled!

Huddled for warmth.

Mia & I sporting our jerseys. Mine is a Willie McGee.
Which I paid way too much for but its really cool.

Shady Rapids

Late this afternoon I got out for some park & play at my favorite local white water spot Shady Rapids (sometimes called Big Rock) on Bull Creek. Yesterday I picked up a demo boat & was all set for some fun. I'm not used to being comfortable in a play boat but after all the inflatable stuff was blown up I was snug & comfy. Good thing I have a bomb proof roll because it would take an act of god to wet exit aka swim out of this thing.

I met 4 other people including one of Hogan's cousins Mikey Owens. Hogan tell him to get a shorter boat already that damn thing he's paddling is so 2002. Good time with just enough water to throw some ends & spin till I got sick. Really I did get sick & felt like throwing up. Getting old sucks. I guess I'll have to start taking motion sickness pills before boating in the future. I also rang my bell like it was the freaking Liberty Bell. I still have a headache several hours later. Water level dropped a little on me & a place in the hole where I had been flipping got super shallow on me. Thank god for Kevlar helmets.

More heavy rain in the future Yeah!

For Cale

Uni Pics

This pic is for TM. Plus its the view most people will get of the Slimen Unis, from behind.

The Gun Show for Hogan. You wish you had pythons like mine.

My podium girl.

I Like Water!

Hogan don't put those sand bags away yet. Next 10 days we're supposed to get 6" of rain! Oh Yeah!

Slimen Unis

New team kit showed up this AM. Looks cool all black with old English Lettering.I'm sure TM will rate it high on his list of cool kits in the peloton. Boulevard Brewing Sixth Glass has signed on as a sponsor so even cooler unis will be out this summer.
I have a love/hate relationship with this beer. I found out the hard way you should only drink one bottle at a time (10.5% alc by vol). I'm still saying the tuna played a key roll in it taking me down though.

EPIC!

If I would have known this little tid bit of information Saturday I could have saved myself & Espencotter some time in the saddle. Since I didn't the 100k ride I had planned became a 188k(6:30 hours!). Yikes. Throw in over 10k' of climbing, running out of food, & water & the last 10k were a true nightmare. Needless to say Greg probably won't let me pick the routes anytime soon, or at least till the floods stop. I actually felt pretty good till that last 10k when the gas tank went to below zero. That's the longest ride I've done since breaking my collarbone. Its also the longest I've done in many moons since riding to the lake from my house is 8k shorter.

Hailstone Pics

Hailstone pics courtesy of Terry Prater. There in reverse order. I'm the paddler with yellow blades & the blue & gray baseball helmet turned backwards.

The Hailstones

Yesterday I go to paddle the crown jewel of Ozark White water, the Hailstones. Depending on who you ask its the first 12-16 miles of the Buffalo River. Not a hard river by any stretch. Just non-stop rapids the whole way. Luckily it was nice & warm. I've got the sunburn to prove it. The canyon that the creek flows through is nothing short of spectacular. What is really cool is the total isolation from civilization. The only sign of man you see before the take out is Tim Ernst's house poised on top of a cliff about 3/4 of the way down. We had a big group of 12 of us. A little unmanageable but still a good time. The group size did pay off when one of the open boaters stuck his boat in a cave. Took us about 30 minutes to get it unstuck. Level was just under 5', next time I do it I want it to be closer to 6'. I didn't have my camera but several of the others did. Once I track down some pics I'll post them.

The Flood of '08

Tried to boat yesterday but was denied by the creek going out of its banks. Like every other creek in the area. According to the Today Show this AM the James River has gotten so big its flowing through downtown Ozark? Shane must be freaking out now he has to fight not only the Finley but the James too. I think the Today Show might need to check their facts. The James is at near record 30' though. Hopefully that puts Hogans compound out of the flood plain? He should have some spectacular photos to share.

Tomorrow with a little luck I'm going to paddle one of the crown jewels of Ozark Whitewater the Hailstones. I've been trying since I started boating to get on it & haven't done it yet.

The radar for the last two days has been freekish. It looks always the same. Just rain & more rain.

I forgot to mention that when I was coming home from Arkansas yesterday I passed by Busiek & the new walk over bridge was UNDER water!

Cross Training?

6-8" predicted for central Arkansas over the next 2 days. Perhaps its time to dust off the creeker(vid from Tenn I'm 4th over the falls) & elbow pads for some steep & shallow runs in Arkansas!

Where to go? @ about a min in a guy pins on a rock. 4 years ago I helped save a guy from a certain drowning on that same rock.

If I go I'll be sure to post some vid or pics.

Take this test

Go here:

How many passes did you see?

The Great White Hype

Can anyone remember the last time the "next great American cyclist" wasn't hurt or sick?

Danielson with herniated disk

Slipstream-Chipotle's Tom Danielson will have to sit out in March, to take care of his herniated disk
Photo ©: Mark Johnson

A crash in the first stage of the 2007 Vuelta a España is continuing to cause problems for Slipstream's Tom Danielson. He started suffering from some severe back pains in the Tour of California, and has since been diagnosed with "a herniated disk in the L5 S1 vertebrae".

"So now I am recovering and doing therapy to heal and build strong muscle to support the problem," he wrote on his website, tomdanielson.com. "The doctors are positive that if I avoid racing in March and continue building, I will be okay for the Tour of Georgia. So this only affects me by missing Paris-Nice, but should set me up well for the rest of the season!"

Spitzer or swallows

Politicians are all crooked even those who claim to be "cleaning up". I want to know what a $4300/night hooker does that is so special?

The music makes it

The music makes this probably one of the best cx vids I've seen in awhile. CX season is only 6 months away!

Poor Gates

Poor Gates he's no longer the richest man alive. He's a lowly 3rd. One place away from Hogan. I'm going two send him a check because I'm worried about him, Gates not Hogan. I'm hoping Cale will start a pennies for Gates program @ Pershing.

Memory Found

Whew! after an exhaustive search I relocated my memory. Of course it was in the last place I looked. Though I had looked there once before, hmm?? Anyway I've been having some serious trouble locating lost items lately. How young can early onset Alzheimer's strike a person?

I got an email with the New Geography being taught in schools.

Memory Loss

I used to carry around a 1 gig USB stick with me almost every where I went Had a ton of crap on it. That be past tense. Lost that little sucker somewhere in the last to days. Its driving me nuts trying to remember where it is. I take it out of my pocket & throw it on my desk @ work then go to the locker room too change then put everything back in my pockets. Some where along the way it vanished. What sucks is I didn't miss it till today when I went two put something on it & damn it was gone. Where of where has my USB stick gone?

Booger County

Melody's comment about "Booger County" got me to thinking about the origin of the name. Google is great. One quick search & I got this:

The "Booger Man " is the reason it was attached to Douglas County.

Back to Douglas County, it seems that after the Civil War on the outskirts of Ava, Missouri which was and is still is the county seat for Douglas county there was a sign posted that read as follows. "If your black don't let the sun set on your head or the Booger Man will get you. ". I learned this from a lifelong resident of Douglas county and I believe it to be the true origin in That county at least. He goes on to tell how the federal government some time later came and took the signs down. Of course He was adamant about the fact that it was over 140 years ago and attitudes where different back then. I also learned that others felt it had a more general application to any outsider after the Civil War. It was said that any suspicious activity by an outsider in the time after the civil War could result in the stranger simply disappearing. People would say "the booger man got him" .

Kid Cage

I'm going too(spelled just for Skip & Shane) start marketing this:
Actually this is a rooster cage, like a shark cage but to protect from roosters.

cross training

Good Weekend

It was a pretty good weekend because this started living in my garage on Saturday.

Saturday night I celebrated with a bottle of Sixth glass. Which made the weekend get better.It took less than 24 hours to take it off road to test the 4 wheel drive.

Because of this the weekend got better.

For the first time in over two years I got to go boating! Shoulder was fine. Temp was cold but I was dry and warm. Thanks to my dry suit & the seat warmers in the Volvo.