Car Watching - Lamborghini Aventador

 Behold the holy grail of automobiles:  The Lamborghini Aventador.  700 horsepower.  10's in the quarter mile.  220 miles per hour top speed.  Nearly half a million dollars.  And it was parked in the no parking zone in front of the shop Saturday.

 The finest view of any modern car....the rear end of the Aventador.

 The engine cover (in the back of course) has windows so you can view the terror within.  You can also see the coil-over shocks, race care style.

An interior that befits the beast.  Sexy cream color.  I was afraid to get any closer.  I don't even have the money to have it washed.

Happy Birthday Mom Zimmer

 The beautiful Mrs K and her brothers and sister put together a wonderful birthday celebration for their mother.  Complete with decorations, cake, food, friends and family, it was held at our church.

 There was an awesome slide show that included some great photos from yesteryear and yesterday.  Mrs K even had the Oldies station playing on the iHome.

I didn't count how many people showed (more than 50!), but the room was filled and the food was gone.  When it was time for cake, Eli and Deanna helped Mom Z blow out the candles.   Not really, she blew them out on her own and she said she hoped this many people came to her 100 year old birthday party.  I bet more will come!

Thanks Mrs K for your hard work, it was fun for everyone and a fitting tribute to someone who is loved so much.

Car Watching - 1969 Camaro SS

 Chevrolet freaks forgive me, but this appears to be a 1969.  If I am wrong, realize that I'm much more of a Ford man with details.  No self-professed car lover can deny that the Camaro pictured here is a beauty, myself included.

 It sits at a particular house in my 'hood that frequently has really cool muscle cars.  One of his regulars is a Buick Skylark GS that I believe is a 455.  I want photos of that one badly, too.

Don't you just love the red stripes on the tires that match the paint?  Damn, I want to hear this baby run!

My little Homecoming Court girl

What do you call a two-person selfie?

It has come to my attention that this little one has been voted into the Homecoming court at her school.  She's so special!

Hermann Dogfish Cyclocross 2014 - Ouch Edition

 I was the first guy to sign up for Hermann, so they gave me number 1.  That's always a good start!

 My two partners in crime, Hanna and Tyson, came with me to Hermann.  Hanna is the official photographer, so she took a photo of me in my warm-up costume.  I'm flashing her the horns, which she really thinks is funny.

Random shot of me, at least she didn't focus in on my nose hairs.  

It was a killer five-way race at the front tonight.  At one point, I crashed into another rider who had crashed in the sand pit.  Ouch.  Somehow, I fought back to the leaders, made a move, and finished 2nd.  My heart rate hit 185 bpm for the last two minutes of the race, and averaged 175 for the entire 42 minutes.

Cyclocross is HARD!

Throwback Thursday - Tilles Park Cyclocross Race 2005

 Proof that at times, I have raced an actual cyclocross bike in cyclocross races.  Tilles Park, October of 2005.  The beautiful Mrs K took this photo of me crashing across a ditch close to McKnight road. If you squint hard, you can see Ethan Froese chasing Chris Harre in the background, about 30 seconds up on me.  I'm riding a Ridley Supercross.

Dejected by the finish, I'm 5th place and I don't think I raced again that year.

Throwback Thursday - Cape Girardeau Mountain Bike Race 2005

 Later in 2005, I had even less fashion sense, but I had a better bike.  Cape Girardeau mountain bike race, August 2005.  It was at the god-awful course on the backside of town.  This is the start, with Bob Arnold and Paul Krewit visible behind me.

 There was a ton of single track there, which I liked.  But also a lot of weeds and stifling heat, which I didn't like.

Showing the guns with the sleeveless jersey subtracts a full 100 style points.  The Santa Cruz Superlight added some points back. 

Throwback Thursday - Castlewood Mountain Bike Race 2005

 Waaaay back in 2005...LOL...I raced at Castlewood in the spring.  That's the old Stage 1 kit and a Salsa 26" full suspension bike.  V-brakes, grip shift, 3 chainrings, flimsy Sid fork....what was this guy thinking??

 Clearly, it was a nice spring day.  So, why the knee warmers?

Never mind the odd equipment...I was winning in those days and the bike and kit didn't matter.  I think I had more hair, too!

Car Watching - 1970 Challenger R/T Convertible

 It as s good Sunday for catching cool cars.  A mile down the road from the old Ford rod that we photographed, Eli and I saw this beauty sitting in the parking lot of a Dairy Queen.  It's a 1970 Challenger R/T.

This one is a convertible, and it's in darn fine shape.  Can you believe that I didn't check which engine it had?  It says so on the hood, but my crappy old iPhone didn't catch it in enough detail to tell.  In any case, it was a good catch.

Car Watching - 1930 Ford?

 I could be completely wrong about the year, because cars older than 1960 are not that familiar to me.  But Eli and I caught this one in a Schnucks parking lot today.  It really was a beauty, with all kinds of killer suspension work and a really cool color.

Icing on the cake for me was the actual Ford engine.  Usually, these rods are equipped with Chevy engines.  This was a Winsdor of the 302 or 351 variety.  Darn cool!

Don't Leave your Phone Alone!

 Let's take a look at my phone and check out the photos....OH LOOK!  A funny looking girl has taken photos without me knowing it!

And she is even making funny faces, with some miscreant behind her showing some gang sign!

Never leave your phone alone!

Johnson's Shut-Ins

 To a lot of Missourians, Johnson's Shut-Ins is a pretty common stop on the "Things to Do in Missouri".  It shouldn't surprise you, then, that I've never been.

 The beautiful Mrs. K and I took Hanna, Tyson, and Eli on Sunday.  I was amazed.  I was floored by the rock formations.  I'm not one to love water, but this was different.  Right click on the photos and they will be much bigger.

 It was like hiking and lake swimming and creek walking all rolled into one.

 Every where you turn, there is another rock face or drop off.  It was a little intimidating at first.  There was no way of knowing how deep the water would be at any one point...except putting your foot in and seeing where you'd touch.

 I finally made my way all the way to the end of this photo.  That's where the crazy kids (including Tyson!) would jump off the bluff walls and into the water.

 This is the only photo that I caught all three kids together in the rocks.  They were much faster than I through the maze of rocks and water.

Rex wasn't allowed in the actual rocky sections, but he did get to explore the river upstream.  And then he slept for a full day.

Labor Day Weekend means Gateway Cup Bicycle Racing!

Eli in his TOO-COOL pose.

Every year since 2005, we've had kids in the Gateway cup races.  Hanna and Tyson started then in the 4 and 5 year old groups.  Eli started just a couple of years later in the little guys group.  The older kids have become too old for the kids races, leaving Eli as the only one.  Fine by him.

He and I did sprints one night a couple of weeks ago, and he's taken that bit of instruction to it's obvious conclusion:  he's one fast kid in a straight line.  He mopped up on Friday night at Lafayette Square, and did the same thing on Saturday at St. Francis.  Then a funny thing happened....he didn't race The Hill.  That's the one place we have never missed.  But, we did a family outing to Johnson's Shut-Ins so that's compensation.  Still, it was a little weird to miss The Hill.