What is this?

-- Posted from my iPhone

What a difference

Monday


Today



-- Posted from my iPhone

How can 1 tree make so many leaves?

Trick or Treat

Oh yeah!

Thr Fastest 29er on Earth...

is almost in my grasp, thanks to some friends pulling strings to speed things up.

Tall Oak 6 Hour 2009

I was planning on riding this solo this year but an opportunity to sell my Hifi while its worth more came along. Plus my team mate, Tom Albert, from last year had this idea of defending our title and 6 hours with one gear didn't sound real fun. We woke up to rain in StL but were optimistic and still packed up for the 2 hour drive southwest that it was not raining there. It payed off! Just enough sprinkles to get the course greasy for the first hour or so then drying out for some seriously fast trails.

Last year Tom and I passed the baton every lap which worked well even though it was only a 35 minute lap. We did the same this year with me starting again.

Our closest competition Cameron Chambers and Travis Donn, team mates in several endurance relay events this year, had a different idea. Every other race they have done was longer with longer laps so they doubled up laps. This put me and Cam head to head for the first lap. We paced each other coming through the start finish at the same time. Tom took off with Cam in tow only to have what any young guy would do to an old guy. Put the hammer down and get some time.

I would gain back the time chasing Travis on his first lap to have Tom and Travis head to head for the 4th lap of the race. While waiting for my turn again I was thinking this is going to be a long day if we stay even. Tom came in just in front of Travis now its me and Cam again. Buy now the course was hooked up which lead to my fastest lap of the day. Thanks to Cam breathing down me neck the whole lap.

Every time I come in I tell Tom to just keep it smooth and ride his race. I am now expecting Cam to gain a lead on Tom but to my surprise Tom was in the lead. I asked what happened "Cams cramping!" I took off not knowing how much time Tom made but knew I had a chance to get us some breathing room.

We have a couple of laps riding away and uneventful until Tom came in from his last lap. He had blood dripping from his nose, elbow, and knee, but still had the lead. This freaked me out. He said he was ok so I hoped on for my 6th lap. Tom would tell me later he was buisy chatting away and washed his front wheel early in the lap.

So there you have it we won the overall again defending our title with 11 laps in 6:18:50. We found out during the solo awards that Jeff Winkler was nipping at our heels riding 11 laps in 6:32:24. Amazing for a solo effort. I also won the fastest lap in 31 minutes and Tom won the best crash.

Buy my bike

MR340 Day 3

After a good nights sleep we hit the water at 5:30 aiming for Washington. Another 100 mile day. A pretty boring day until we were passed by a couple of barges. The wake these things make is huge. Its not hard to get past the first part but once it hits the shore and comes back makes things interesting. We could no longer square up to them. One almost came over the bow. The waves seem to keep going for 30 minutes after it passes.

Jefferson City, our half way point for the day. Now its getting hot and the only boats around us seem to be canoes. I'm a little competitive and rush to get going. Down river we run into more barge traffic. This time we decide to hide behind a dike and take a swim while it passes.

Coming into Hermann our fan club doubled. Andy's parents were there and Laura showed up. All waiting to see how bad we are suffering. We spent a little too long there but the new faces were nice to see.

They shove us off and onto Washington 20 miles in the dark. This would be our third night in the dark and we are starting to get a little confidence.

About 5 miles out we caught the Capps family, who we were racing from the start and always just a little faster than. They were shinning their spot light all over. When all of a sudden I spot a stump sticking out of the water about 2 feet in front of us. We hit it and in the water we go. Before we knew it I hit my shoulder on the ground sitting in only a foot of water. I jump up and chase the few things that were floating away. We didn't realize we were in another bottoms land and about to run into a sand bar. The one they were looking for to camp on.

So here were are in the dark soaked with a boat full of water and 15 more miles to go. The Capps help us empty our boat, snapping these action shots, and try to talk us into camping there with them. Dan was making it sound like a very good idea, but I was thinking more of the finish line. We get back in and have the most nerve wracking ride for what seemed like forever. I called our crew and asked if they would meet us earlier than Washington. They moved to New Haven and we slowly made our way there. With only minimal argument. It was time to get out of the boat!!

To be continued one more time...

MR340 09

out with the old

Selling the Superfly SS

19" frame and fork

less than a year old

need to make room for this

MR340 Day 2

Up at 5 and in the boat by 6 for another 100 mile day. This would be a 50 mile stretch without support. Not hard to do just a very long time without a break. I did not sleep well hearing boats come and go all night long. Today was hot with long strait wide open stretches of river. We were both fighting the heavy eyes and falling asleep while we were paddling. Somewhere before Glasgow Matt Keeven and his girl friend came flying by us. They were headed for Jeff City. We made it to Glasgow and I was in the worst shape of the whole trip. I took a nap or layed down with my eyes closed for a while. Andy did too. John and Kevin stopped and got some eye wash and visine for my swollen eyeball. That helped a ton.

We kept going and I was slowly snapping out of my low spot. The Lisbon Bottoms were coming up. This is one of the sections of river we were warned about. Not too bad t navigate in day light but I wouldn't want to do it in the dark. Some of the dikes stick all the way out into the middle of the river. You have no choice but to run through the swell it creates. Just after the bottoms one of the funniest things happens. We were just floating along and I was peeing when we hear "Andy and Chris, good luck and have a save trip down river." We looked up on this bluff and there was a house with about 30 people on the deck having a party watching the racers go by. Now I know they had binoculars to read our boat number, which means they also saw what I was doing. We were laughing waiting for some kind of comment like, if you shake more than 3 times your playing with yourself or something like that.

Now boats are pretty well spread out. We were desperate to catch some just to talk to someone else for a while. We kept meeting Brian from Texas doing it solo and paddled with him for most of the day and through the night. We were talking so much in the dark we weren't watching the channel markings and saw the river getting very wide. Why did those boats go all the way over there when you can cut across? Oh, I think I see a dike. Nope that's a sand bar and we are in about a foot of water. That was close. These thing sneak up on you quickly and don't make any noise like a buoy or dike.

We skirt around that and into Coopers Landing around midnight. Once again our tents are set up we eat and pass out. Sounded like we missed the party with live bands and a huge crowd. Good thing as this night I get some sleep!

To be continued...

MR340 09

MR340 Day 1

I was suckered into this race when Andy's original partner backed out. He gave me about a month to prepare for this little canoe ride. The whole adventure in it sounded interesting, there was a lot that could happen that I will be unexacting.

Monday morning I finally meet every one and we load up for the drive to KC. A lot of the Alpine Shop crew was out to wish us luck. Its almost like we are celebrities.

Now in KC we drop off the boat at Kaw Point, where the Kansas River meets the Missouri River.

We then find our way to registration check in and wait around for the safety meeting. This room filled with 1000 chairs ended up standing room only with all the participants and support teams. The biggest event they have had yet.

Tuesday morning 4am we are looking out our hotel room window seeing rain and lightning. This didn't bother me too much I was ready for whatever. We drove to Kaw Point and the storm was getting worse. Standing around in the rain, trying to get our boat outfitted and loaded for the first time, we hear a 1 hour delay for start. Which would soon turn into a 1:30 delay making the official start time 9:30am.

It's go time, 280 boats in the water and clearing skies. All eyes on St. Charles.

Hey, why didn't anyone tell us our boat was way out of trim.

We owned the river. Boats 10 and 12 wide across soon stretched as far as I could see. We found a good pace passing more than getting passed. About half way to the first check point I saw a land mark, smoke stack painted like a candy cane, and said we will take a break after that. Then a wicked side wind hit us us. It turned the boat sideways. Now we are fighting to not tip and correct our direction. We paddled back and forth across the river 3 times before it turned us all the way around and we were going backwards. Some how we started again and were going the way we needed. As we were catching back up to everyone the CoffeDogs asked if we lost something. "No, that wind sucked." "Well your boat is way out of trim." We moved what we could and made it to the first check point, 50 miles. Ditch what we didn't need in the boat, refuel, and on our way.

We were only ahead of the cut off time by a couple of hours. Our plan was to go to the 3rd and get ahead of the time. We made it to Waverly before dark. In and out, or less than an hour on land.

So far we had our first experience on the Missouri River, our first time paddling with a loaded boat, and headed to our first time paddling in the dark. The check points are a blur. We paddled until 2am the first day, 105 miles, camped in Miami. John and Kevin were still figuring out how to help us. It was nice to see a tent and bedding and hot food ready when we got there.

MR340 09

All pictures here.

To be continued...

Performance

Giant Waterslide Jump

Finding my land legs

After spending 4 days and nights in the front of a canoe paddling across Missouri I wasn't sure how I would feel riding bikes. I shook my bike down Saturday evening, after sleeping all day, pulled my number off from the Castlewood race and decided to go. It's going to be hot, I'll just give it what I have. I quickly found I had the legs I needed to race after getting a lead in the first lap. I punctured my rear tire in the 4th lap, stopped and got the Stans to seal it. Now I have very low pressure. My tire is hitting rim over every bump and rolling on every turn. I nurse for the rest of that lap and what I thought would be the 5th last lap. Nope, 2 minutes early go do one more. Luckily someone had a pump right there and filled my tire so I could finish the race. About half way through the 6th lap Tim was about on my wheel. I still had some legs and gassed it for the remainder of the race.

I will have a full MR340 report as soon as I get the rest of the pictures.

Funished!

Just left klondike on the home stretch

On the water should be in st chuck around 6

Dumped the boat 5 miles after hermann in a foot of water. Stopped in new haven wating for daylight.

Leaaving hermann headed for washington

3rd day for 100 miles, hope to stop in washington

Chech the mr340 website for real time results

CP 4 headed for coopers landing

105 miles

Check poiint 2 we are headed to miami

Check point 1 50 miles

We just hit a wicked headwind, couldn't correct it

1 hour start delay for lightning

Here we go starting in a thunderstorm

Got that out of the way

Castlewood race today had 170 racers, the biggest local race I've seen all year. Lining up I noticed this race was going to be fast. Dave Breslin, Aaron Elwell (still nursing his hand from a crash 3 weeks ago), and Jon Schottler(with new heavier tires) were all in attendance and ready to throw down. We started fast and those guys had me on the rivet up the first climb. I was determined not to give up and held their wheel. Dave was leading followed by Aaron me and Jon. We crossed Ries then half way down the hill Dave popped a tire, bummer, now its down to three of us. We cross the creek and right before we come out of the woods to cross the road into the start finish Aaron dug his pedal into a root at high speed. I did my best not to run him over but rammed his bike instead. We stopped to make sure he was alright and untangled my front wheel from his cranks. He confirmed as he was getting up. Now its me and Jon. Somewhere up Grotpeter Jon high sided the trail and I got some time. Before I knew it he was out of sight and I was on cruise control for the rest of the 4 lap race.

I found out after the race that Aaron got up and did another lap then dug his pedal on the same root and hit the ground at high speed again. Dave would fix his flat and make it back onto the podium for 3rd. I am kind of bummed that Dave and Aaron fell out of the race so early, I was looking forward to a battle for the whole thing.

Now time to check my list twice for the MR340!!

BE THERE

Does this work from my phone?

MR340 Map

View MR 340 in a larger map

Totaly Unprepaired for the MR340

Nothing like waiting until a week before a big event to get your stuff together. The last 2 weeks have been more paddling than bike riding for me. It seems as though my bike riding has turned into racing only. I've spent a few hours in the same canoe as my partner Andy and only one time in the boat we are using, thanks to the We No Nah rep. Most of my paddling has been solo in my kayak. I still need to pick up a nice canoe paddle to mix up with the kayak paddle. This week will be spent gathering gear and mapping all the boat ramps for our ground crew to find us. And since its a borrowed boat we can't outfit it too custom to our needs. I hope we don't die!

Show Me State Games Rock Bridge

Some of Columbia's fast guys decide to ride in the dirt during the summer vs fall/winter and bring the heat. Not only with their mouths but also with some skills. Here I am normally getting lapped by Butthead in a cross race now he is on a mountain bike and home turf. I pulled out of my pedals again on the start and missed the hole shot. Schottler punctured early in the first lap leaving me and Butthead. I was strong, he was strong, then it came down to the last climb. I put my head down and he was 5 bike lengths ahead of me. I didn't want to go out like that, somehow got back up to his wheel for us to cross the line. This makes 2 weeks in a row where someone kept me just outside my comfort zone the whole race with a sprint finish. I love that kind of racing!

Eureka Springs Fat Tire Festival

I was nudged enough by Tommy to make a trip to Arkansas for the 24 mile race. After last weekend and no riding the week up to this I was still feeling a little fatigued and not very clear headed. I was interested in riding some new trails though. We ended up leaving STL around 5:30, straight from work, and arrived at the Joy Hotel some time after 10. Drive around town to find the start and some place for breakfast, then in bed by 12. Around 3am the pool party started which kept us up the rest of the night.

So no sleep eating at 8 for a 9 start and showing up to the line 15 minuted before the start I was feeling a little stressed. The start was late but once we got going not even out of town we were at a turn stopped looking at each other not knowing where to go. This would put me into a super defensive ride for the rest of the race. My surprise of the day was watching Zac Hafner ride away from me with the leaders early in the race up the hills. I guess he really does have my number. It wouldn't be until the last 6 miles when Cale McAnich came past me saying lets get Chris Renshaw that I realized I had a chance for a podium spot and turned on the gas. I have to thank Renshaw for knowing the course and showing me where to go until he would drop me climbing on his single speed.

Now is the cluster we cross the finish line and have to hurry over to this table and fill in your info for the scoring? Tom and I look very confused.

We clean up and stick around for the prizes. 4 hours later they say we have 15 minutes to contest the results which were all screwed up. Now 5 hours later I get 2nd in 30-30 class and 3rd overall Cat 1. The top 4 were all within 15 seconds of each other with 1 and 4 part of the 918XC team out of Tulsa. That's a close race! Tom won the 50+ after some corrections too.

Alpine Shop Dirt Crit #3

More racers and more spectators is always good to see. So is the free stuff, Smartwool Socks, RedBull, Fisher Demo Bikes(for the first time all the bikes were used), and food. As Pfood puts it "this is turning into a Happy Hour". And in the rain for half of the race made things a little slick. I hit the deck in my 4th lap and in the process twisted my front derailleur. Bob came past me as I was kicking it straight so it would clear the crank arm and let me pedal. When I jumped back on I quickly found out it won't shift any more so I was stuck in the middle ring. Oh well, just pedal faster I guess. Soms pictures here.

The best bike ever is almost available!

If what they say is true I will have one of these under me in August.

What a Weekend

Reminds me of my early days of racing with Sam Moore finding 2 races in a weekend. With Sam we drove to NC for the Knobscorcher then drove through the night to Springfield, MO for the OMBA Caramba. These were also the days that a certin KS boy was still playing in the dirt, Steve Tilford.

This weekend the drive was not as far but I did have to go to work after Saturdays race. The first race was the MO State Mtn Bike at Castlewood. This race kind of popped in the schedule with little warning and the trails they were using were not in the best of shape to ride fast on. James, Matt, and gang gave the trail some much needed love and after 100 racers beat in a smooth line the Blue Ribbon trail is alive again.

Then Sunday was the drive to Springfield, MO for the OMBA Caramba on the SAC River trails part of the Midwest Fat Tire Series. And once again some KS heavy hitters show up Cam Chambers, Shad Schreiner, Aaron Elwell, and Tim Kakouris. These boys would make it a close race until some bad luck happened to Aaron's pedal fell off and Cam had a flat tire, this left me chasing Shad. Both would fix their issues and still finished respectively. The weather was also in our favor with the sun shining as our race started and word from home was pouring rain.

The final results were me winning my 4th state title against a very strong and hungry Dave Breslin, and a 2nd place increasing my lead in the points siries.

Thursday night Dirt Crit #2

Its Thursday

my bad habit of july

too much tv