Streps Run and other races

The past few weeks have been interesting...I've been riding a little, both on and off road, and having a good time doing it.  Nothing huge, just rolling.  Occasionally hitting up the Tuesday night ride to get some intensity, and did the Wildwood TT in St. Louis.  Had a less then stellar result there, not really sure why.  Not that I expected big things, but I felt like I was going pretty decent.  I made a few mistakes, I miss-judged how far out I was from the finish and hit the gas too early and blew up a little and had to recover so I could hit the gas again.  Miss judged where the turn around was.  Dumb little mistakes like that.  Even though, in the grand scheme of things, for the most part I felt good and was pushing what I needed to, and I felt like I handled the course and the gear selection I was using pretty well.  So, on paper results wise, I sucked.  But, I felt mostly good, so I can be happy with that.  Few weeks before that was the Tour of St Louis.  I did the Delmar crit, which I felt pretty good there, too.  It was a nice, wide open, safe course, which is something I need just so I can get a feel for riding in a race situation again.  Pretty much tried to just sit in and not panic, and stay comfortable there.  Which I did.  Did the TT later that day, too, and man did that suck.  It was windier then anything, and I had a really poopy ride.  But, ah well, I really didn't mind...This past week I rolled out with Trevor on Tuesday night to preview the Rhetts Run course for this weekend.  We got caught in a torrential downpour that made riding very tricky.  Not a lot of fun, for sure.  I felt pretty decent, though, so I had a few hopes for the race this weekend.  However, that was all put down when I woke up early Wednesday morning with the worst sore throat I have ever had.  I suffered thru work on Wednesday and Thursday.  I pretty much ate nothing, whenever I would swallow, it was like eating glass and my throat was so swollen closed that I could hardly swallow Advil.  I went to the doctor after work Thursday, and I have strep throat.  Yay.  So, antibiotics, twice a day, forever.  Felt pretty crummy during class on Friday.  Saturday, I started to feel a little better, and started trying to eat solid food again, even though I had to chew it about 30 times to make sure it didn't scrape my throat on the way down.  We had a 1 year birthday party for Brodie on Saturday, which went well.  We had a house full of people and kids, and it was chaotic.  I woke up early on Sunday, thinking I might change my tires on the King since the trails were dry.  I decided not to, and it is a good thing I did.  There were torrential downpours right before the start of the 3 hour marathon race (which I was participating in), and it turned the trails to crap.  My first lap was good, I am usually a slower starter and like to pick up the pace later in the race.  So, the leaders had about 30 seconds on me after the first lap, which was good.  Then things started getting ugly.  The trails seemed like they were slicker, most likely from the rain getting spread out to everything.  And the mud was getting gummy, and my bike was getting packed with slop.  And, I was a little woozy from the lack of food in the previous days.  So, I started running into trees and what not, and taking some really bad lines.  The race kept going down hill for me from there on out, but I still managed to keep it together and did 7 laps, and finished 5th.  And, made some money.  I wanted to quit a bunch of times, but somehow managed to keep going.  






Notice the 2 mtb photos.  The first one is early on in the race, I was still feeling pretty good there.  The second one I was pretty much coming unglued...

Oden's Beard, the Sequel.

So Steve and I headed down to the Ouachita Challenge in Arkansas on Saturday. We got a bit of a late start, but hings come up in life that need to be done prior to leaving. Not a big deal. Our ETA at the Aqua Motel in MT. Ida was set for around 9:30. We stopped before Fayetteville to get some food at this little "traditional" Mexican restaurant. We figured the food would be good, it was mediocre at best. Back in the car, we finally made it to our destination well after dark. We stayed at the Aqua last year, it is pretty bare bones, but do-able. And, it is in the middle of the forrest, which is quaint. Steve and I watched a little bit of Jackass 2.5 on the computer, then hit the sack. The morning wake up call came at a little after 5. We got up, loaded up, and headed to the race. Side note here: it was 71 degrees when we got up! So, I didn't take my hoodie with me, I would sorely regret this later. We got to the race, and parked illegally after I questioned whether we should be doing so. Steve told me it was OK since we parked there last year. I also wondered out loud if we would need our id's to pick up our numbers. Steve thought not. We went in, and of course we did need our id's. Doh! We got our stuff, and that was when I received "the text". It was from Jasen, he and his wife had been in Arkansas all week prior to the Ouachita on holliday, and he was texting me to let me know that he was going to bail on the race since he was sick. Bummer. Steve and I went and got our breakfast, and sat down to eat with some other team mates. When we got done, we went outside and discovered that the 71 degree temps had dropped to about 55 in 30 minutes, and it was raining. Great! If you know about me and racing, you know Idont like mud. At all. It is the roadie slime in me that is still prevalent coming out. I don't like to clean my stuff, and to me it is just not fun. Well, the rain stopped, it was just enough to make it cold really. We got ready, and headed to the riders meeting. There are 2 races, the 60 mile and the 80 mile. The 60 mile filled up to capacity, I think the cap was set at 200 riders, and I think they let 100 riders race the 80 mile. Anyway, there were a ton of people. And it was a mass start. I lined up towards the middle, I made the mistake of going out too hard last year, and kind of imploding as soon as we hit the trail. There is a long section before you actually get into the single track, and that would serve to split things up a lot. Well, the gun went off, and it was about 10 seconds before I actually got going since there were so many people in front of me. It is pretty funny to experience: that many mountain bikers on pavement, it sounds like a monster truck rally. And, a lot of these people have no clue what to do in a pack riding situation riding close to others. Kind of sketchy. So, I started punching holes through the field, and mad my way into the top 40 or so. We hit some hills, and I worke my way up a little more, just trying to stay comfortable and not go too hard. We finally hit the single track, and it was a sloppy mess. There was a pretty substantial amount of standing water in places, enough to get you muddy right away. I tried to avoid the mud in the beginning, but it becoes pretty impossible fast. Anyway, I maintained position, and passed som people too. We came to the first water crossing, there were people trying to ride it. I could tell that it was deep, and I was the only one in my group to notice the bridge about 15 feet away over the water. As I was going across the bridge, I watched one guy dump his bike and himself into the water, total submersion. It would be a cold, wet day for him. I had one fall in this strecth, and of course it was on my knee on a rock, so I had some blood and pain. I made it to the first checkpoint at mile 22, and I still had plenty of fluid, so I picked up some food and kept going. Some road and gravel later, we came to the major water crossing of the day. The water was about mid thigh deep, and it was a pretty wide little stream. And, it was rushing. The guy there said that it was not safe to ride, and I could see why. They had a rope tied from one bank to the other side to hold onto. About halfway across, I had my bike shouldered, the current was so strong it almost knocked me over. It really sucked. Su, now I had freezing cold legs, and cold, wet feet. We entered more singletrack and started climbing. Not too bad, but you could tell that the trail was getting more technical. I made it to the next aid station without incident, and actually made up quite a few spots on the climb. I figured that by this time I was in the top 20'ish. Stopped, and filled up my fluids and got more food. One of the helpers at the station took my hydro [ack for my and filled it up. Not a good idea. When I got going again, I noticed that I had cold water all over my back. I just figured tht he had over filled it. I stopped and fumbled some enduro tabs into my mouth and got going again. Well, my back kept getting colder and wetter, so I stopped again. Opened the pack, and discovered that the lid was not screwed on correctly on the bladder in the pack. Nice! Got that fixed, and got going again. About 5 people passed me during this time. Well, I went to take a drink, and I couldn't get anything thru the tube. Stopped again, and took everything back apart. More people passed. Started up blowout mountain, the hardest part of this race. The climb is tough, but I rode the whole thing and passed a ton of walkers. The worst part for me is you think it is over, but you descend a little, and then climb forever again. Its pretty demoralizing. And, the amount of rock is disturbing: there is shit up there that you can't ride, to dangerous, so you have to walk. A fall on some of the rock up there would break bones for sure, maybe worse. I did ride more of the technical sections then I did last year, but I still did my fair share of carring the bike over stuff. I went over the bars into a rock pile, and somehow managed to land on my feet. Freaking lucky. Finally got done with blowout mtn and went thru the next aid station without stopping. At this time, I was no longer having fun and just wanted to get done. It was getting colder, and it was so windy on the mountains and in the valleys that I was wishing for someone to draft off of. Hit the next and final mountain, and rode it. More rock, and mud. By this time, I was cramping up pretty bad, but I knew I could push thru and get in in a decent time still. Last years race was short by a little over 10 miles due to flooding. I wanted to better my time from last year, even with the added miles, and I wanted to get in the top 30. Keep in mind last year that it took me 6 hours and 41 minutes for 50 ish miles. Not horrible, but not great. So, I was on [pace to come in this year in under 6 hours. I hit the final stretch of road, and stayed on the gas in the 11, and came in 5 hours and 55 minutes and some change. I was pretty happy. Burned a little under 8000 calories. And, I got 30th overall, which I was happy with. I think I could have knocked another 15 minutes off of my time if I didn't have to stop so much to get the stupid hydro pack fixed. Ah well. Steve had a good ride, but was pretty blown when he rolled in, and it was freaking cold. I was wishing for my hoodie, and I hid in the car the whole time I was waiting for him. We headed back to the motel, cleaned up, packed, and got on the road around 6. Long drive home, thru the mountains with 50 mh winds. I got home a little before 2 in the morning. And I called in to work today. So there you go. A blog post. I prolly won't ever do this race again, it was fun, but just too much...I have some video from our trip, I'll upload it soon...

Out of his mind!!

The gingerbread man on my desk lets me pour lotion out of the top of his head onto my hands.

I figured that would be a great opener to a long overdue post.  Not a lot has been going on, at least nothing most people would be interested in.  Raising a couple of boys, riding the occasional bicycle, drinking more coffee per day than is recommended.  Work.  Brodie is crawling if you haven't heard, and that means trouble.  Dillon knows to leave most of the electronics that are hooked to the TV alone, Brodie doesn't.  He has also had a few face offs with Oscar, I would have to call the matches a draw.  The weather has been sucking, obviously.  Man, this is an exciting post.

Holy diver

Ok, not so holy, but the diver part is true. So, I am finishing a cold PBR as I type this...Yesterday morning I decided to hit up the 10'oclock "group" ride. Well, I guess it was a bit too cold and windy for everyone, myself and one other guy met up at Cyclex for a couple of hours of fun slogging it into the cold headwind. I was definitely glad to be home from the ride. Should have ridden the mtb. Speaking of the mtb...there was a grand re-opening of sorts out at the Pine Ridge campground this morning for the Cedar Creek trail. Steve, Jasen, and a bunch of other people went out there in the 33 degree weather. It was actually pretty cool, I don't think that I have seen that many mtbs in one place, except for a race, in a long time. Anyway, cedar creek is interesting. It is definitely "roughing it" when it comes to mountain biking. I took the suspension bike, the rigid Alma stayed in my cozy garage. We rolled out a little after nine this morning and hit up the new sections of trail, which were very sweet. We decided to roll out the old trail, which is mostly horse trail with a ton of rocks. It was rough, and a bit muddy to say the least. I ended up with Jaysin, Green Beans, Mike B, Fish, and a few others out in the middle of nowhere. We were pretty much riding where there really wasn;t a trail. Well, we crossed a creek and started up this rocky, leafy climb when we all came to a unanimous decision to turn back around. Now, up till then I had stayed pretty dry, except for a bit of sweat. As you know, I don't like to ride thru creeks and get wet, I am usually careful to take the driest route. Not only do I not want to get my clothes dirty and wet, I hate working on my bike. So, I am rolling down this embankment, slow, looking for the cleanest line into this creek to stay the driest, when all of a sudden my front tire decided to sink into some sand and pitch me over the bars. Head first. Into the creek. It was deep, both arms totally submerged, and my chest down to my belly button. Landed on my knees, soaked my knee warmers. So, Pretty much everything from the waist up, and my knee warmers, and my gloves were soaked. And, we were at the furthest point from the camp ground. Luckilly, Mike had some extra gloves, and Nate had an extra jacket, which he offered me coultless times, and Ethan was practically foaming at the mouth thinking I might just get cold enough to stop and spoon with him for a bit (thanks guys!!). Finally made it back to the campground, cold and wet. Also, for some reason today, I had ZERO bike handling skills. Not sure what was up with that. Anyway, ate some cookies, waited for Steve, and packed it in and headed home. So yah, that was interesting. Had a lot of laundry to do, and now I have a bike that is totally assed up that I need to work over this week.

Diddy...the patriot

Wow, I am so glad I had the opportunity to watch Diddy vote on abcnews.com today. That guy is an asshole. Like anyone gives a tin-shit who he votes for or what he does. Crawl back under your rock, thug.
Oh yeah, he looks good in a wetsuit too! Eat some more food lard ass!!

A Day Out With Thomas

For your viewing pleasure:








We took the boys to East St. Louis, straight thru the hood to get a ride on Thomas the Train! Dillon was on cloud 9 and I think Brodie thought it was pretty cool too! We had a good time, thats for sure. We took the boys trick or treating with the Weters on Friday night, Dillon came up on loot, and I have been helping him eat it.



Not a lot else, I have some more pics I uploaded to my other blog

I might puke

I had a sausage sandwich (no, not two dudes between bread silly) for lunch today and it is riding a bit heavy in my fat "fish belly". Since I am such a fat ass, I thought, "what the hell? I might as well over do it for lunch!"

This past weekend was interesting. I stayed home with the boys on Friday, and let Brodie kick me in the testes all day long. Also, I was still sick. I swear, that kid can go from being super sweet to super grumpy in a matter of seconds. He wants to be held, he doesn't want to be held. Repeat. He was fussy most of the day, and pretty much refused to nap. Dillon, on the other hand, was pretty good. Alicia got home, and we decided to press our luck and go out for dinner to get some Mexican. Ordered our food, got it, and Dillon started acting weird. Said he was tired, wanted to lay down in the booth, and wanted me to hold him. Unusual. Well, by the time we got home, I noticed he was warm. I took his temperature, and it was 102. Awesome. So, juice, and to bed for him. Brodie decided he wanted to wake up and fuss at 1230 and I couldn't fall back asleep after that. Dillon woke up around 2, and wanted to sleep downstairs. Eventually, he ended up in our bed, and I went up to his bed because I was coughing my head off and didn't want to bother him and Alicia. So, no sleep for me. Saturday, we got up, and by 9 in the morning, Dillon was pretty much fine and back to his old stuff. So, I'm not sure what the deal was, but I am glad it didn't last very long. We ran a few errands, and I hopped on the Cannondale Rush to ride down to Klunk to pick up a part. I didn't even bother to kit up, I just wore my jeans and a helmet and my mtb shoes. I was still feeling like shit, and wanted to see how bad my knee was for the race on Sunday. Well, the knee was bad, and the lungs were burning because of the crap in them. And my throat too. Not looking to good for the Berryman Epic. I actually thought of bagging it and staying home. Jasen camped out at our house that night on the air mattress since we were leaving at 430 in the morning for the trip down south. I ended up getting a good nights sleep.

Woke up a little before 4 in the morning, made coffee, brushed the teeth, and got in the car and on the road at 430 with Steve and Jasen. The drive down was uneventful, we stopped at McDonalds in Jeff City for some mcMuffins. I was excessively gassy, sorry to my car mates. We made it to the campground, got out numbers, and went about getting motivated for the race. I was feeling pretty shitty, and had pretty much resigned myself to just riding till I didn't feel like it anymore, and then pulling the plug. Everyone was looking for Tilford, he was registered and supposed to be there, but he was a no show. However, Eric Pirtle and Chris Ploch were there, along with an off-road appearance by Brad Huff, incognito in his Springfield bike shop kit. Nice. I initially lined up in the middle/front of the field, but then decided I shouldn't since I was feeling so bunk. So, lined it up in the back. The race started, and as we rolled out of the parking area, I thought it might be fun to see if I could move up a bit. I ended up pretty close to the front and wondered what I was doing? So, I decided that it would be a good time to take a leak. Took it out on a downhill and let fly with the stream. Lost a few places, who cares? Got into the first stretch of singletrack feeling ok, better then I thought I would. Started picking people off, still not going too hard. Got to Brazil creek, the first aid station, pretty quick, around 55 minutes. For some reason, I figured I should fill my hydration pack. Bad move, I spilled water all over the place, didn't get it closed good, had to take it back off to fix it, then decided to get some of the nasty goldfish crackers they had. Then decided to get some food out of my pack, and take some tums. Super inefficient, I was there for 10 minutes. Still not really caring though. Finally got back on the bike and almost missed the trail thanks to the lemming mentality. I was following some dude who turned on the wrong trail, awesome. Rode the next stretch of the race pretty quick, made it to the first berryman aid station feeling pretty good. Got more water and pretzels, and took off. Almost missed another turn, actually rode in a circle for a bit till I found it. It was across a highway, and the marking was on a tree over there. Nice. Then a creek crossing and some very deep, slow sand that I walked, which caused me to start cramping. Some pretty steep, longs hills followed, I struggled with the cramps on all of them. I actually crashed climbing a hill, I got in some lose sand on the climb, spun the rear tire, completely stopped, and fell over before I could get unclipped. Pro!! Not only that, I slammed my bad knee into the toptube on the bike which almost made me pee my pants. Finished up the single track and limped to the next checkpoint, at the berryman campground again. Was told how fat I was by a certain someone at the checkpoint. Thanks!! Hopped back on the trail with a new dose of self confidence. I actually felt better, and rode the rest of the singletrack pretty strong even though I was fighting the cramps. Finally made it to the last road section, and kept seeing people up ahead. I figured I might as well hit the gas and I ended up passing 5 more people. So, I actually had a decent ride given the circumstances, I just wish I would not have been sick and had a gimpy knee. Not a lot else to report, there was a guard at the beer cooler by the name of Furby. Chatted it up with Huff a bit, that kid ended up 2nd!! How hot is that? Ploch won the race, and local man Mike Best ended up third. Jasen, Steve, and I finally got loaded up and headed home with a stop at Burger King. The fat man ate 2 whoppers and onion rings, which I am paying for today.

Tell me how fat I am the next time you see me.

I killed a fly

Actually two of them. The last one landed on my wrist, I picked up the fly swatter and killed his ass dead! Right on my wrist. I am a bad man. Sweep the leg Johnny!!

I am nice and sick, I have some modeling clay coming out of my lungs today, and my throat is sore still. Should make for a fun race at the Berryman.

I have obviously angered the bike gods...

We went up to Clarinda, Iowa last weekend. Left on Friday. I decided to take the 29er with me, there is a park up there with "trails" that I figured I would try out, I also took a set of cross tires in case those trails sucked so I could ride gravel. We left Friday morning, had a delicious motherfucking breakfast from McDonalds in transit. We arrived in Clarinda after lunch. It rained on the way up, and it rained in Iowa earlier in the morning, so I figured the trails would be wet. So, I threw the CX tires (OLD Ritchey Speedmax semi-slicks) on the bike and took off. I decided to ride to the park, a little over 5 miles out of town, to check out the trail conditions. Now, keep in mind that I have never, ever rode these trails before, so I didn't know what to expect. Started in through some mowed fields, found a little single track. I knew it was going to be a problem, I was having a hard time finding traction in the wet grass. I found some single track, and hopped on it. Even tho they were covered in horse shit and acorns and walnuts, they have potential, there is just not much true single track. Anyway, needless to say, after a little over an hour, I noticed the front tire getting squishy. Nice. So, I aired it up, and decided to call it a day and come back the next day with MTB tires. Got home, changed the tires. Rode back out there the next day, flatted again about 40 minutes in. Didn't have enough CO2 to get my tire full, so I had to call Alicia to come and get me. I was very close to performing a bike toss. I also didn't mention that on Thursday, I was riding from work in Ashland to meet Alicia in Jeff City on the trail. I flatted there to. And the day before, my bike was just sitting in the fucking break room at work, and the tire went flat. Those 2 were defective tubes, me thinks, since they split on the seam of the tube. But, jeez, how many flats am I going to have? Rode the road bike yesterday in the wind, now my knee is sore, along with my throat. Not much else going on, Berryman this Sunday. Hopefully I can be full on sick for the race.

This was in my work spam

I translated the German in the subject line.

News Flash

I had some stuff to write about, but I have forgot most of it by now. Last Friday was an off day at work, so I spent the morning with the boys and Alicia, then headed out to Cosmo in the afternoon for a quick ride on the 29er. Every time I ride this bike, something happens. This week I decided to pinch flat. I remember hitting the rock and thinking to myself that that was going to hurt. Well, it did. 3 minutes later, I was stopped replacing the tube. CO2 is not optimum in this situation. I had about half of a 12 gram cartridge left from a previous flat fix, and another full 12 gram cartridge. So, not enough co2. I ended up with a little over 15 lbs of pressure in my tire, enough to limp home. I need tubeless!!! Saturday morning I rolled out to Rock Bridge and met up with Jasen and Ryan. Took the Rush, which is what I am riding at the Berryman Epic. It had been a while since I had been on that bike, I forgot how fun it is to ride. The only thing that sux is that there is only one functional bottle cage mount. So, I packed around another bottle in my jersey pocket. I have a hydration pack, but I don't like wearing it. We got in a couple of hours, then I headed home and went to Wendy's with the boys and A. Then we went to Toys R' Us for a Thomas the Tank Engine event, which totally sucked. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching Thomas and messing around with the trains and tracks with Dillon, but this was hardly worth our time. They had a train mat set up, not even real track. All they had for the kids to do was color pics of the trains, and it was headed up by some trailer trash employee that was too busy talking to some hoosier about drinking and partying. Thats right, they were talking about this stuff in front of the kids! Nice! So, Alicia tattled on her to one of the managers. That evening, Steve and Shelia came over to sit with the boys while A and I went to the MU game. I'm not a football fan. I basically went for the free food, and to people watch. I almost got to see a fight, which would have been nice. But other then that, it was pretty uneventful. MU sucked big time too.

Sunday, we went to the pumpkin fest in Hartsburg with Dusty, Kelci, and Kamryn. It was super lame, packed with people, and didn't satisfy. And, it was hot too.

So, not a lot going on, I have some good pics I need to upload, especially from the pumpkin fest.

Like a fire hose...

Friday night, Alicia and I went to the Roots n' Blues festival with Dusty and Kelci. We had a sitter for the boys for the first time in forever. It was pretty interesting watching the trash come out of the woodwork for the free entertainment. I don't know how many rat tails I saw, I tried to snap some pics of them in stealth mode but didn't have and luck. We had dinner at Addisons and I had a very tasty pizza and a couple of 1554 black ales.

I got up bright and early Saturday to meet up with Steve and Jasen at Rockbridge. I decided to ride out there, and took the singlespeed, which I had just done some work on the day before (new cables, housing, chain). This is where things started to go sour. On the way out there, I noticed something wrong with my position on the bike. It wasn't just a difference in bikes, I can usually jump on this bike and it feels like home to me. Somehow, my saddle was waaaaayyyy back on the rails, and a little low. Not sure how that happened, it hadn't been adjusted forever. So, when I got there, I started to work on it and got it dialed back in, I thought. It was cold, and I neglected to wear knee warmers. Well, we took off, and my knees started to ache from pushing a big gear, the cold, and my position was still not right. I also took a bad line and had a stick go into my back wheel right off the bat. No worries, right? Well, I was really sucking wind, and pushing harder then I thought I should have to up the hills to stay on top of my gear. Well, we rode for a couple of hours, and I had all intentions of riding home until Jasen offered me a ride home. I took him up on it. When we got to my house, I took my bike off the rack, set it down, and noticed that the rear wheel was pretty much locked up. My brake was rubbing so bad, it would skid across the pavement if you pushed it. Come to find out, I had a broken spoke, and it knocked my wheel way out of true. Nice. Well, I went inside and cleaned up a bit, and went to Sams Club with A and the boys. While we were there, I started to notice that I was feeling not so good. I thought maybe I was a little calorie deprived, so I bought a big Coke. Drank it on the way home. Ate lunch which consisted of 2 sandwiches with turkey, smoked cheese, and avacado. Really started to not feel good. Decided to lay down with Dillon for his nap, only planned on laying there for 30 minutes so Alicia could go run, but ended up napping with him for a couple of hours. We got up, and I really felt like shit. Apologized to Alicia for her not getting to run, then went back in and laid down. That lasted for all of about 30 seconds, I ran to the bathroom and puked my guts out. I have never thrown up like that, my mouth was wide open and the stream of vomit that came jetting out was impressive. It was roughly the diameter of a softball, hi powered, and full of little chunks of food, and 32 ounces of Coke. I forgot what it is like to puke, how you should not fight it and just let it flow, so I mistakenly braced my legs on the wall behind me with my head hanging in the toilet, and tried to hold back. Oops, now it was coming out my nose too. I heard Dillon in the other room asking mommy if he could come in and see what was going on. Thankfully she said no. Well, I finally finished up, and blew out my nose which was full of little chunks of gouda and avacado. Took off my shirt, which had puke on it, cleaned up my mess and the spatter, and laid back down. I had worked up quite a sweat also, and I had to towel down my body too. Shivered for a bit, then got hot. I skipped dinner, stayed in bed for the rest of the day. I felt a little better Sunday morning, and was able to choke down a bagel, and some coffee. I felt better bit by bit throughout the day, but still not enough to accept the beer my neighbor offered me when we stopped at his house during our post dinner walk. Monday, I felt a lot better. And, I was hungry!

On another note, if you don't know already, Dillon is potty trained, for the most part. I am not a big fan of him pooping in his little potty, I try to get him to use the ring on the toilet so the poop will have some water to cover it and the smell. And, the clean up is obviously easier, you just have to flush it down as opposed to cleaning out the little tray that it lands in on his potty. Anyway, he calls his poops "roly pollies". How funny is that???

Raise up off of

Friday, October 03, 2008 2 things I saw the above character on my commute to Jeff City via the Katy Trail. That would be a copperhead, I think, and he was not too stoked to have his pic taken. I was actually pretty close to the guy, about 3 feet. There were some people coming on the trail while I was doing this, and I was pointing it out. Of course they were riding 4 abreast and had waist pack hydration packs on. And bar end mirrors. I didn't want them to run over this guy and kill him. I don't care if they get bit, though. Anyway, they looked at me like I was crazy or I had shit on my face or something. Its a good thing Butthead wasn't there... This is what happens to the awning on a bank drive up when your wife goes under it with your Litespeed cross bike on the roof. I am glad my bike is titanium. It did wreck my saddle pretty bad, but it could have been worse. So now I am riding a bike without a saddle. Thursday, September 25, 2008 nom nom nom Wednesday, September 24, 2008 I will break you... This is an open letter to someone I encountered yesterday... Dear Woman riding 2 abreast all the way across the trail on your hybrid wearing grandma sunglasses chatting it up with your friend and obviously not paying attention, I saw you from half a mile away. I was on my way from work in Ashland to meet up with my wife in Jefferson City via the Katy Trail. I was late, she had a doctors appointment at 3, it was past 2 and I was still in transit, we still had to pick up the boys from school and get to Columbia for her appointment. I had a 20 pound backpack on, was on my MTB, and had been pushing the pace for the entire time trying not to be any later then I already was. I was in a bad mood. There was a long stretch of wide open trail after you go under the bridge on the north side of Jefferson City. You could see for a mile. I saw you, you were behind 2 older men and riding next to another woman. You were heading straight for me. I was on the right side of the trail. I had on very bright clothes. I was actually rolling a "gutterball" when I saw you coming, I was practically in the grass I was so far over to the side. You had to see me. You had plenty of time to get single file with your riding partner. You didn't. We clipped bars when we passed each other, and you screamed in fright. I hope it scared a couple of years off of your life. There is no way you could have NOT seen me. Did you expect me to get off of my bike to let you pass? Anyway, the impact almost broke my pinky, it was draped over the end of my bar and got smashed between our bars when we made contact. Next time I will push you off your bike when you go by. Sincerely, Jason Really? I am still surprised that I almost had an accident on the trail. The FUCKING TRAIL for God's sake. People, pay attention and keep your eyes forward. This lady had at least 3 minutes to see me coming. Steve gave me a bit of grief for not wearing my helmet when I go out for a leisurely cruise on the trail. Now I see why. I guess I'll have to start wearing full fingered gloves too. Monday, September 15, 2008 FAIL Decided to attempt the Capitol City Crit on Friday. Bad move on my part. Grabbed the boys from school and met Alicia at the race. MYAA had a booth set up there, so I dropped the kids off with Alicia and registered and got my fat suit on. Then I pre rode the course. I should have done that before I donated my money to the rest of the 1/2 field. Don't get me wrong, it was a well thought out, semi technical course, but had a tough little hill that would really put the hurt on a lot of guys in the race. I rolled around with Kersha before the race, and the legs didn't feel too bad. Not great, but do-able. Lined up at 3:25, we were supposed to go off at 3:30. Didn't happen. We staged for probably 20 minutes before getting underway. Any warm up I had was gone, and this was not the best race to go into with cold legs. I sat about 3/4 of the way back on the first lap hoping to chill for a little bit and get warmed up. Didn't happen. Attacks went, and guys in front of me started going backwards on the hill on the first lap. I made it around some of them, and managed to grab onto the back of the pack for a bit, but mostly I fell apart. Started going backwards too. I made it for a bit before getting pulled. Kersha had a great ride, and won the field sprint for 7th! We hung out for a bit, but decided not to stick around and watch the stage finish for the Tour of MO, Alicia had been there all day, I was grumpy and hot, and we figured it would be better to head home. Had Taco Bell for dinner. Saturday, Steve Miller, Junior, me, Jasen, and Andy headed down to the Berryman for some riding. The trails were in great condition, dry. They didn't get any rain while Columbia was getting dumped on. I took my single speed, and managed to make my way around the trails in a pretty comfortable fashion. Yesterday was chill, we tried to get caught up on some stuff that we needed to do, and had some family time. Not really a whole lot going on. I am tired. Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Epic Lulz So, I put this feedjit bar on the side of my blog, all of the cool kids are doing it. I was looking at some of the stats this morning, someone actually found my blog by doing a search for "tug job". How fitting is that? I am fucking ROFL! One funny thing happened a while back. If you read Alicia's blog, you will see a post apologizing for an earlier link that she posted to what she thought was a David Lee Roth picture. Somehow, the link that she posted ended up going to the meatspin gif. If you don't know what that is, google it and watch it, but be warned that it is NSFW. Everyone in her office saw it, and I guess they got a good laugh out of it. Guess who got the blame for it? She thought I did it, playing a prank on her. Now, I like a good prank as much as the next guy, and I am definitely known for some of the outasight shenanigans that happen around here. But, I would never do that to her, her mom reads her blog!! I am going to sell my Litespeed Tanasi. Frame only. And my Rock Shox Sid World Cup with a carbon steerer. You should buy it. Monday, September 08, 2008 I am scarred for life Yesterday Kersha and I did our annual poaching of the MS150 ride. I actually saw a rider wearing a sleeveless skinsuit with arm warmers. This was right before I decided it would be a good idea to pee off the bike. I think I embarrassed the girl who passed me while I was doing this. It's not like I was facing her or anything, I was just tinkling away onto the shoulder while coasting. So, long time no post. I have been doing a few things here and there, mostly being a dad to the 2 boys and working. D and B are both doing well, Dillon is "full of beans" as the old timers say, and those beans are giving him gas. He loves farting, and then asking me if I can smell it. Where do you think he learned that from? Brodie is growing, which is a normal thing for babies. He is a pretty mellow kid, which is a serious departure from the intensity of Dillon. He farts a lot too, and of course it cracks me up. I practice bikes every once in a while. I did something called a "6 hour solo mountain bike race". It was not a lot of fun, and I stunk the place up hardcore. The bike meet was in Jeff City at Binder Lake. It made my back sore. And my loins. I rode my 10 million$ road bike through some serious flood water on the road, it was bad enough that it had actually pushed a pickup truck off the road and it was in the middle of a corn field with water halfway up its windows. I am a hard man when it comes to feats of daring, I didn't even bat an eye at riding through the water. I can swim, and my bike might float. I did the old mans race at the state crit bike meet. I over heated and pulled the plug early, but thats ok because I rode through that water earlier in the month. I sold my Sentra and bought a minivan. I feel like a dork when I drive it. Not that my Sentra was some sore of super tuned rice burner, but I didn't feel like an old person when I drove it. Just white trash. Friday, August 01, 2008 Today Alicia and I have been married for 10 years! Thanks for everything Alicia! Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) Feedjit Leave a message! Stuff to peek at... DNA Distro: Velocite bikes Recovery Socks, cuddly Rudy Project CBC Racing Powercranks: get stronger!! Chris Reynolds, builder extrordinaire the Beej King Furby Tattoos for you Krasha Great art!! 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