EBAY extravaganza!!!!!!!

it's time to clean house. i have more bikes than i can ride. so here is some delicious stuff for you to bid on...remember, bidding is fun, winning is even funner!!!!

bid HERE

and bid often!

mtb short track races

"gss" over on the stlbiking message board has a ton of good photos from the short track race that i did in july. here is a photo taken fairly early in the race, where the venerable john matthews and i are doing epic battle.

...and then there was schvonzie. the crickets had already started chirping before he came ambling through the creek with his road shoes and pedals.

mountain bike racing is hard

since my training has been going so well...ok, since i have felt so good during hard efforts on my bike...i thought i would have a shot at doing some real damage at the norba race in cape girardeau today. i have been riding my mountain bike a fair amount, too, so that can't hurt.

the best laid plans of mice and men. i like that saying. i had all of my ducks in a row for the race, and i suffered like a pig and got 5th. now, i don't want to take anything away from the guys who pummelled me today. dave, john rines, chris, yogurt...they are great riders and were doing it up right today. but i never got a chance to even compete for one of the top places.

there were 21 experts on the line, a great turnout for our local races. i really wanted to bust out with the leaders, so i took the "st. louis start" a little too serious and pretty much blew myself sky high in the first 60 seconds. i never really recovered from the effort. i dropped back to 7th place pretty much immediately, and watched the front 6 guys pull away. i clawed my way back up to the 5th and 6th place riders, then dropped back again. my technical riding was going very well, though, so there was some consolation. but my legs couldn't answer any accelerations, and climbing was just torture. one of the guys in front of me was over his head, obviously going out too hard and dropped. that gave me a little hope and i spied wes from drj yoyoing in front of me. i caught him and stuck on him until the last half of the last lap and then went around. i kept him behind me until the last section and took off. i beat him to the line, but he almost caught me because i sat up too early for the finish. so, even though i felt like death the whole time, it wasn't a bad result. my later lap times were on par with the faster riders, but my goal was to RACE with the top guys, and i never did.

i got a big bug in my eye on my pre lap. a thorn stuck into my right index finger and i had to pull it out with my teeth on my first lap. my camelbak straw caught my bars while leaning forward on my 5th lap and nearly pulled the pack off my back. a bee flew into my ear and stayed there for almost a minute, despite my girlish screaming and attempts to extract it with my finger.

yep...mountain bike racing is hard.

the dark knight

i rode the scalpel at the 'wood on saturday morning as a warmup for the cape mtn bike race. then, after a busy day of house cleaning, the beautiful mrs k wanted to go for a run. she pushed eli in the jogger and i rode along side her on my bike to lend moral support. we didn't have the other kids, so it was prime time to get a sitter and head off to the movies.

we went to see the dark knight batman movie. let me tell you, we loved it. it was so intense! not everyone loves such movies, but this batman movie and it's predecessor, batman begins, are head and shoulders above. i'm really hoping this dark, brooding, angry batman continues with more sequels. he rocks, and all of the other stars in the current flick are stellar as well. morgan freeman, heath ledger, michael kane, maggie gyllenhaal...wow.

it was well worth the price of admission, and the night out was chicken soup for the soul.

spongebob and eli

nothing says "night night" like a little spongebob squarepants.

bicycling monstrosity

what the...

someone had some serious time on their hands. i do kinda dig the wheels in a tonka truck sort of way, but after all the work involved in making this thing, why did the builder cheap out on us and put 1976 schwinn varsity cranks on it?

typical of multi-position bicycling devices, you know if you went riding with three good friends one of them is going to be sandbagging. how would you know? hell, all three of them might be out for a joy ride while you're doing all the work. maybe you can install ejection seats instead of the lawn chairs.

rosco has big ears, dorothy!

it's not as obvious when his hair is really long, but rosco has some enormous ears. i gave him a chop shop trim job with the scissors because it had been so hot, and the ears just come out. it's pretty hilarious to see him laying behind some covers or a pillow and see nothing but his ears sticking up. sometimes when he lays down on the couch beside me i'll smooth his ears back with my hands and he'll get really comfy and close his eyes. he'll keep his ears back until he hears something, and then they'll pop forward like radar dishes....better to hear you with, my dear!

cannondale cross cx9

my cross bike showed up today, and it's more beautiful than i thought it would be. this is the 2009 cx9 bike, with the bb30 bottom bracket and all that goodness. i won't get it assembled until after this weekend with the mountain bike race coming up, but i'll put some more photos of it up when it's done. i'm so happy that i will be looking good whilst getting lapped in the A race!

gateway cup

yeah, it's kinda corny, but it's also cool. i've already been made fun of on a CERTAIN message board for this, but whatever. it was fun doing the photo shoot and i think it's a cool way to usher in the gateway cup excitement. labor day signifies a lot of things for the midwest, but the coolest thing has got to be our great race series that just seems to get better and better.

vacation 2008

our vacation plans for 2008 didn't work out exactly as planned. but, when do they ever? anyway, we started off with wide eyes and bushy tails on our adventure. the future was so bright...well, you know.

the first major event was horseback riding. the beautiful mrs k and the big kids were actually going to ride horses, while the little guy had his eye on a pony. isn't that helmet adorable?

hanna and tyson looked like regular equestrians with their helmets and jeans on a hot day. they totally dug the riding, a two mile loop along some killer single track. her horse was sunrise, his was silver, and mrs k's horse was blue duck.

eli's adorable pony was tornado, or as eli would say, nornado. i had the pleasure of leading his pony around a 100 yard section of single track that would've made for some awesome mountain biking. we could have gone around several times, but the little guy was getting bucked around a lot and decided he would call it good.

this feisty little goat was running the place. eli kept asking "where the little goat go?" he jumped up on the picnic table and generally had his way with the place.

while we were waiting for the big kids and deanna to finish their ride, eli got a coke and i got chiggers.

back at the condo, eli went to work on cleaning mom's diva. he didn't bother with a rag because his nose sufficed.

captain ahab, better known as mrs k, headed up the next adventure. we took a boat out on the lake to let the kids do some tubing. this is when we had an anchor.

eli was pretty frightened by the wind and the waves and the noise at first. it didn't take him long to warm up.

deanna took eli on the tube and it was a success. he loved it and loved going fast and getting splashed.

i took over and i must say that i drive a boat almost as well as i drive a car. no comments, please.

hanna and tyson absolutely love the water. they couldn't get enough of it. the weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. this is probably the time when we all got a good laugh about mrs k tossing the anchor into the water when it wasn't tied to the boat.

this is a group photo of the water babies. what a goofball crew. this is about the time when we discovered that the anchor WAS tied to the boat, and that we weren't going to have to buy a new one.

big kid fun. they loved hitting the big wakes from other boats and bouncing all around. i tried to keep it sane, but sometimes they would really fly.

a view of the accommodations.

ain't he cool?

on the last day, we went to a state park and enjoyed some great hiking and rugged trails. hanna and tyson are very happy being outdoors and seem to really like history and geography. it was tiring, but again the weather was on our side so it wasn't as hard as it could have been.

it was so nice to see the kids enjoy themselves. they all get along together so well and have such a good time together. i don't think they'll soon forget the trip.

our little performer

chris fellet

(i stole this photo from chris' site, i hope he doesn't mind. i just wanted to show off his work!)

chris fellet is a local guy who has been working on building his own frames for a while. he has done some super cool stuff so far. i have seen some of the stuff first hand and it is first rate. his stuff beats the hell out of the cookie cutter bikes everywhere on the market. you can check out his progress HERE on his blog and see all of his current projects. heck, you may even want to have him make you one!

mountain biking and other happenings

nothing like a little after-bath video game fun to stave off bedtime.....

i rode the scalpel at the 'wood on saturday. again, i drove to chubb first, took my bike out on the trail, and loaded the bike back up. it was slimy and wet, and all i can figure was that the humidity has been so high that i never dried out after wednesdays heavy rains. pity. but i had fun anyway, even though i had to dodge a dozen or so riders and two dozen or so hikers on the trail. castlewood is always busy on the weekends. for whatever reason, i didn't fall asleep saturday night until after 3am. ug.

sunday was busier than ever. i picked up hanna, deanna cleaned the house, we went to church, tyson had soccer camp, hanna had a birthday party/swim party to attend, eli was eli, and in the middle of it all, hanna helped me swap the sid onto the single speed so i could ride without rattling my kidneys loose. while everyone was busy, i snuck off to the 'wood again, which surprisingly got NO rain. what a joy the single speed was to ride with the fork on! i'm kinda getting the hang of riding with one gear, grunting up the short stuff, spinning downhill, conserving speed...i actually had fun. yes, someday i will ride somewhere besides castlewood....

since eli was being, well, eli, i took the older kids to dairy queen. we watched in horror as a teeny bopper backed her new cobalt into a big guys trans am. surprisingly, he didn't get mad.

it was not difficult to get everyone to bed sunday night. including the beautiful mrs k and i.

chris' big CTR adventure

if you read one blog this year about somebody's cycling adventure, please read this one. at least to me, it's one of the most inspiring accounts i have read in a long, long time.

just when you think bike racing is the same old, same old, along comes something like the CTR and people like chris and the riders he encountered.

rosco hates water

therefore, he hates baths. sometimes he has to have one. can't have no stinkin' dogs around here, there are enough stinkin' diapers to go around. tonight after i gave him a bath, he was extra mad. he jumped up on hanna's bed and after rolling around like a mad dog to dry himself off, he took over. here he is, practically daring hanna and i to kick him off at her bedtime. and so we did.

todays bike collection: orbea orca and two schwinn homegrowns

i have a house full of bikes. i figured i would feature them here once in a while so that when i talk about riding one, there would be a point of reference. actually, it has been a moving point of reference, so one can be forgiven for not knowing what the heck i am talking about. here is a group of three for today: this is the red orbea orca. it's the official thf race team bike. well, not official. but we race orca's and that's close enough. this is an '08, with sram red components and rol race sl wheels with a power tap. it's the most beautiful road bike i have ever owned.

this is my second attempt at a single speed mountain bike. it's an old schwinn homegrown from 2001 with a rigid salsa fork. i pieced it together almost entirely out of parts in my basement. stronglight 2x9 cranks are from 2002. wheels are from 2003. post came from the original owner of the hg, king furby. i actually like to ride it, but my hands still hurt. i think it has made my right thumb arthritic. i will get a fork for it, i think.

this is my favorite bike. over my entire life i have not had much of an emotional attachment to any bike, but i have one here. it's a 2000 schwinn homegrown, the bottom of the line american made model. i've had it since 2003, and it has served as a commuter and a race bike and back to commuter numerous times. in a heartbeat, i would use it as my sole race bike. right now, it's set up so perfectly, as everything on it is thoroughly used but completely serviceable. the wheels are from the kaiser...he bought the crossmax wheels new in 2000. i raced them last year and then replaced the rear rim and spokes before the lost valley race in march. the fork is a kaiser built sid, too, and it's smooth as butta for a used sid. even the rear derailleur is a kaiser special, an x9. old avid ti vbrakes a levers, old race face turbine cranks, old style xtr front der. the only new parts on this is a 30/42 salsa set of 2x9 chainrings. fits like a glove, and i love it not in spite of it's oldness but because of it, and it's incredible usefulness.

CTR is TOUGH!

WOW! chris is still in the CTR, one of only 10 people left. 23 started, so the level of epicness must be amazing. most of the riders are seasoned endurance racers, and this is chris' first.

HERE is the thread on mtbr that has the riders calling in and reports from the trail. interesting stuff.

HERE is the spot page again so you can track the riders.

colorado trail racers are hard people, for sure.

modern photography

it's always a crap shoot when i pick up the digital camera. it's a favorite target of the little general. usually, there are 10 or 20 photos on it, most of them completely random visions. every now and then, though, he comes up with some really good ones. like this one of his big toe. now this one is a keeper. he's the next ansel e adams, i'm telling you.

what a life

hanna is enjoying a nice vacation before starting school soon. consequently, i haven't talked to her in a few days. that always makes me crabby.

following neumann

come to find out, my tour addiction didn't hurt as bad as i thought, because i have been redirected toward following chris in the Colorado Trail Race. he has sent me a couple of spot links which help me follow, but the official spot links have been down and i can't see him in relation to the other riders.

so far, i'm very happy he's still alive and well. it's a long, long race and it's much more of a race against nature than the other guys, at least as far as i'm concerned. chris would probably tell you different, though. he actually suggested that i do it next year...silly boy.

that would require sleeping outside.

anyway, there are several ways to check progress, but i'm hoping the official spot tracking comes back online soon. you can check here:

http://www.tourdivide.org/ctr/leaderboard

gas prices change things

save gas, ride a bike! (and it doesn't hurt if it's a good looking one, either!)

although today gas is down to a measly 3.68 a gallon (!), it has caused the beautiful mrs k and i to make some changes in our behavior. not that we are unique, i think everyone has probably thought twice about driving more than they have to.

we share the ride into work quite a bit. three or four days a week, we use one car, then on the weekend we almost never drive the fusion. this saves us quite a bit of gas. and lately, i've been quite impressed by the family truckster getting 23mpg. it doesn't hurt that i have lightened up a LOT on the gas pedal. you would be amazed at how much gas you can save.

really, why throw your money away on gas if you don't have to? i realize that there are plenty of people out there that scoff at the notion of saving or conserving ANYTHING. i don't understand that behavior. i grew up at a time when we had stickers pasted over light switches telling us to turn lights off, and i remember the 55mph speed limit being imposed, and the first wave of alternative energy being put into use. it doesn't bother me to NOT waste. my family can use the money, why would i want to give it to quick trip, or laclede gas, or ameren ue?

anyway, gas prices have made quite an impact on my thinking, and i'm thinking i'd rather have the money than give it to the energy producers.

weekend recap

saturday the beautiful mrs k kicked eli and i out of the house so she could clean. i took the little terror to monkey joes to let him get worn out. i got worn out chasing him around the place, and he never even took a nap.

i had a great ride, doing some good hill work even in the stifling heat and humidity. afterward, deanna and i went out to eat. we went to momo's in u city, but we weren't thrilled with the food. a trip to cyrano's in webster fixed any dessert issues we had. mmmm, chocolate raspberry.

today was the first ride deanna and i have been on together in a long while. she had already done the 8 mile run with cristal this morning, so i was quite surprised by her willingness to go. it was even hotter today than yesterday, too. once home, i loaded up the newly finished single speed and headed out to the 'wood. i took it easy mostly and just had fun, realizing why suspension is good thing and no suspension is not a good thing. my hands could barely grip the bars the whole time, partially due to the pounding, but mostly due to the rivers of sweat pouring down my arms and onto my grips.

is it sunday night already??

tour de france withdrawals

here we are, and the 2008 tour has ended. and, like past years, i'm going to start to go in to withdrawals by monday evening. but now, i think my whole family will, too. it has engulfed them just like it has overtaken me. it's like a soap opera that goes on for 3 weeks with a cliff hanger ending, only there isn't any kissing and yucky stuff.

i wanted cadel to win, if only because he was a star world cup mountain biker in his past life. i don't mind that sastre won, however. he's a fine rider on a team that knows no equal. VDV gave me reasons to get off the couch and shout at the tv, as did his teammate danny pate. what a great team garmin turned out to be. i'm very glad oscar won the green jersey, but something in me really wanted zabel to win just one more time. he's not quite as old as me, but close, yet he can still turn in some killer performances.

i'm not yet revved up for the tour of missouri just yet. deanna reminded me how cool it's going to be, with some of the worlds best team showing up, so i guess i could start getting excited soon. last year, i was glued to the race coverage until dan got hurt, then lost interest. maybe i'll actually enjoy it this time.