2 days 1 1/2 rides

Due to the wonderful weather we have been experiencing here in a normally gelid January I have taken every opportunity to throw a leg over one of the girls and ride. Monday night myself and two of the Seagal boys (Greg Sandbox and Casey Ryback) harnessed the power of "THE ONE GEAR" and headed out to Lost Vally for a few nights laps. However, in my excitement I forgot to transfer my cycling shoes from my car to Casey's. I shrugged it off and headed out to see if Adidas climacool running shoes were as good as carbon fiber soled shimano mountain bike shoes. They are not. I did manage to make one full lap before I decided I wasn't in the best situation I headed back to the car with an extra backpack (Casey couldn't handle it for a second lap) and called it a night.

Tuesday morning came and I was up at 600 am so that i could ride Castlewood before work. I My timing was better then a Swiss made watch as I arrived at the park just as the ranger unlocked the front gate. The Phoenix (my single speed) was my steed of choice for the ride (mostly because the gears are hanging at the shop awaiting some crank bolts). I rode up Justin's to Love. Climbed up ranger so that i could dispose of Roller Coaster. Headed to the back of the park outlaw style down Stinging Nettle and up Blue Ribbon. back to the front for the final climb up the switch back side of Lone Wolf. A little over two hours of ride time pretty good way to start any day. Now I'm sitting at Starbucks watching it snow. Looks like Golds is going to be seeing more of me for the next week.

South Trace

Saturday I was scheduled to work 9-5. However, I had a slightly different idea of how Saturday the 26th of January was going to be recorded in the history of the world. Bob, Chris, Wes, and Little Buddy were heading south to ride South Trace and connect it with Council Bluff for an all day epic ride. Through the graces of a chill boss I was able to move my hours around and secure an entire day of freedom. The ride would have been worth picking up an extra 8 hour shift. The single track is unbelievable despite having numerous trees down. An nuisance that was easy to over look considering some of the down hill had me forgetting all about Colorado. The trail at Council Bluff was much more groomed and we made short work of it. We ended back at the car 32 miles, four and a half hours, 80oz of fluid, and 3 gu's later. The trail: perfect. The weather: perfect. The ride: Best of the year.

Rollin'

I have been doing my best to log some base hours in this still young 2008. I however am facing to main problems: Daylight/time and temperature. I cant make the days longer and know that if i drop the money on some winter shoes it will warm up for good about the time they arrive. So I clipped the chin strap on my thinking cap and went to lows for supplies to make my own.
-one roll pipe insulation
-one roll foil duct tape
-one roll heavy duty duct tape (black)
I spent two hours wrapping cutting and taping to arrive at what I believe to be the pinnacle of home made shoe covers.


Laugh at them if you like all I have to say on the matter is; foot sweat in 20 degree riding weather. That is an occurrence rarer then a virgin cheerleader.

snooze

So I'm sitting here eating a bag of peanut m&m's cursing myself with every crunchy chocolaty bite. I just don't have the motivation that i had this time last year. I can figure it out. I rode all of castlewood on Sunday with Casey Ryback of Team Seagal. I ate it at the bottom of blue ribbon and have done nothing with the bike since. God help me I need to get in shape and quick!!!

Whats in the TC fridge????//

Well now that January has is hold on us like that molesting uncle on you mothers side of the family, and the Christmas rush followed by the return rush have both come to a tragic end things here at good old TC Manchester are just a little slow. So we start doing project IE: cleaning the repair bay, vacuuming the entire store, sorting though piles of old bike components, and of course cleaning out the refrigerator. Here are some pictures of the horrors that I found:

I started drink soy milk for the protein then was told i might damage the swim team so it sat and then expired in November.
Rudy was gnawing on this huge hunk of meat the day after Christmas. I think its still raw.
This cheese can totally stand alone
This pool of something (we believe it to be AIDS) sits, as you can see, just inches from our food.
So here is the morel if we offer you something think twice.

Middle Fork loop

I found out (by found out I mean that I actually looked at my schedule a few days in advance) on Thursday that Saturday was completely open. This meant one thing God might still like me and an epic ride was in order. I was setting my sights on the first century of the year until Chris Ploch suggested we do the newly founded Middle Fork loop. I agreed seeing it as a good opportunity to start training for the Ouachita challenge. The warm weather that we figured we would enjoy didn't seem to follow us south. However, the temperature was higher then it had been and we were both a little over dressed when we started out. We road the entire Middle Fork trail which is about 24 miles of some sweet single track and even sweeter downhills. The trail was pretty soft but mostly rideable with the exception of one cyclocross type mud pit. At the lovely little town of Oacts (sp) we hopped on the gravel roads for 10 miles back to 2 more miles of single track. The distance we had covered was already weighing down my legs when we started ascending a slight incline. Chris looked over his should and said "Did I tell you that the hardest hill we go up in on the gravel road?" a simple no was all I could replay while thinking we must be on it but i should have known by his shit eating grin what he was about to say "And this isn't it." We did conquer the massive climb on the gravel road and got back onto the single track, which we had already ridden the other direction. I was toasted and at one point Chris lovingly pointed out I was standing up in my granny gear. But I made it back to the car my bike trashed my legs rubberized but knowing i had just laid the first brick in the foundation that I will build a mansion of racing upon.

New Years Day Ride 2008

Well a very happy new year to everyone out there surfing the interwebs!!1 The start to my 2008 year took place at the lovely abode of Wes and Janelle surrounded most of the other DrJ's. We not only had one ball drop at midnight but two as Little Buddy streaked though the subdivision to Big Bend and back.
Only one thing better than a ridiculous party is a huge group ride on some of the best single track in Missouri. 25 degrees and heavy winds couldn't detour the 25+ riders that showed up. As we headed onto the trail after our warm up and the pack thinned out I started to feel really well about my riding. I was at this point that I realized I wasn't hung over and everyone else was. I did however finish that lap and had managed to sweat though my head band and base layer. 15+ miles in about 1 hour 45 min followed up by a giant feast equals a good time in my book. Here's to a Rocking Awesome year!!!