riding the 'wood

since my program did not call for anything specific tonight, and it definitely didn't include the beatdown ride, i took it upon myself to do some off-roading at castlewood.

i pulled into the parking lot just before 6pm and there was marty, just finishing his ride. he looked a little beat, which is to be expected, because he, like me, has had very little actual mountain bike time. he said the trails were in great shape, and that they were packed with people. right on both counts.

weaving in and out of riders and hikers is commonplace at the 'wood. in any and every direction. i tried to follow the route that is supposed to be the race course on the 10th, but i'm not sure if they have solidified the course plans yet. no worries, i think i can remember my way around castlewood. in the dark. with a blindfold on.

it seemed pretty much like i couldn't do much wrong tonight. my skills were not as bad as i feared, and even though i had the rev limiter on, i felt like i was moving pretty well.

i plan to go somewhere again tomorrow, maybe there again, maybe lost valley, before i have to head into work. we'll see.

sounds like a plan

eli has gotten into the habit of crawling out of his bed and coming into our room to avoid going to sleep. it gets us pretty upset, because we usually have already spent a half an hour or better trying to get him to go to sleep. one thing that keeps him from getting in big trouble is how cute he creeps in.

he grabs his pillow and blanket and drags them both along with him, seemingly so he can go to sleep in our bed with his "piwow" and "banky" and he calls them. tonight he just marched in, tossed his pillow and blanket down, sat down, threw on his micky mouse hat and began singing "micky mouse house." while deanna and i were laughing at him, i grabbed the camera, and he even stopped to say "cheeeeese!"

how long can you stay mad at that?

it's off-road time

the weather appears to be letting up just enough to allow a little off-roading to occur...just in time for me to escape my other hobby, road racing.

i like road racing. it's a rush. it can even be fun, especially if the fitness is there and you have teammates to race with. but enough is enough. i need long bouts of mountain biking between the endless miles of road riding to keep my sanity, to remind me where i started riding bikes and why.

my best years of racing either bike may be behind me, but nothing gets me jazzed more than good weather and some good trail riding.

buy my stuff!!!

as usual, screaming deals on cool stuff!

HERE

bid early, bid often! it's fun!

tyson's 7th birthday party

ok, so maybe the cake on the face thing has gone a little far. it seems to be getting quite the mileage during the kids birthdays. on the plus side, it's probably not bad for the complexion.

he seems to know something here. either that, or he is trying to decide which piece of birthday cookie he wants. he got way too many presents from all of the fine children that showed up for the party. we just spoil kids these days. on the plus side, uncle keith beat the odds and became the only person to give to tyson's 529! woo, hoo! (two more kids, and 10-15 more years to go people! let's step it up!)

hanna and i didn't even get a chance to freshen up after the rainy crit. kevin drove us and our soaked bodies from the crit to tyson's extravaganza, stopping by starbucks for a little refreshment.

tour of st. louis, forest park

photo courtesy of john at stlbiking.com

a race i'd rather forget about, forest park has never been my favorite. it's rained on my race there twice in the last 3 years. not that the rain factored into my race, though. oh, no. the only thing i can say about my race is that it was rotten.

we, and i say that with all do respect to my tough thf teammates, got in the break and got another good result today. again, no thanks to me. the wonderful photo above shows me just behind none other than brad huff, flanked by more of my friends, nate, kevin eubanks, and kurt fletcher. don't get excited. my proximity to brad and company has no indication whatsoever on how bad i was.

are you getting the feeling that i sucked today? good. i hope you do. cause i did.

strange, because i set 30 minute and 60 minute power records today during the race. that must mean that i was doing my usual stupid cornering, stupid half-wheeling, stupid letting-the-wheel-go riding style that gets me no where but off the back.

the only good thing that happens after a good road race beating is that my off-roading usually goes stellar...and today i got a good freaking beating.

i'll be seven tomorrow!

...and dad says donations to my 529 are much more important than regular birthday gifts. i'm not sure what that means, but i'd better get some cool stuff.

tour of st. louis, carondolet

proof that i at least started the race, my ugly smiling mug. i was busy talking to ryan hermsmeyer about turbo's and such when i was summoned to pose for a picture. the beautiful mrs k took the whole slew of kids AND a tent to the park today, just so ghisallo and the thf team could have a cheering section. what a woman.

and while i was holding on like grim death during the race, hanna was enjoying the finer things in life (along with my jersey and tifosi glasses) in the parks natural surroundings.

.

we went second in the race, after what i thought was one of my better outings in recent years. i made some mistakes in the closing laps that could've helped terry seal the deal, and i'll have to work on that stuff. but, i had a great time racing with schvonzie. he's got a much better sense of the race than i do. he helped me out 20 times during the race to get my head where it needed to be, and i actually had the legs to put it to good use. my other team mates are strong as horses, so it's tough for me to even help them, which means i have to commit to hittin' it from the gun. hey, you only live once.

yep...

oh, yeah. this one toe is definitely bigger than the others....

such controversy

the wagon a man oughta have...

well, i have to say the FWMR post from monday has gotten more comments than any post i have ever done. i've posted the ones that are nice and constructive. i deleted the ones that called me names for picking american cars, the ones that called me various names questioning my sexuality, and the ones that just called me assclown. what? why the hate? don't like, don't read! jeez!

anyway, it gives me all that much more pleasure to talk about the subject, then.

we all have to remember the FWMR's purpose: family, cargo, mileage, fun. pretty much in that order. neumann knows what's best for a man...the dodge magnum. why, there hasn't been such a manly car since, well, since ever! and it's got to have the hemi. maybe even the 6.1 hemi. but i gotsta remind neumann (and some of the others that called me names) that 3rd on the criteria list is mileage ($3.49 a gallon, and worldwide that's cheap!) and that trumps fun and manliness couldn't even be put on the list.

why no mazdaspeed3? why no caliber srt? why no gti? number two on the list, cargo. the hhr is a small suv type thing with a large cargo area, especially with seats folded. bigger, by quite a margin, than the other super fun cars i just listed. and, again, the turbo is something that can be fun yet more economical if you keep your foot out of it.

i think the trend is going towards my needs. the suv/crossover (hate those names) offerings are going for smaller yet more space efficient shapes and sizes. and v6's (which i've always considered to be a compromise) are giving way to turbo 4's. i guess my hhr posting wasn't very clear: i'm not buying one today, i'm just beginning to search out the possibilities.

gas is expensive

in 1984, i remember a hellish drive in the back of a friends conversion van to colorado. there was a two day bmx national race in denver, and we wanted to do it. my friends dad was always game to drive, despite the jump in gas prices at the time.

i think we were paying something like $1-$1.25 around the st. louis area for gas when we set out on the journey. we pulled into a gas station the next morning after entering colorado and i distinctly remember my double take at the gas pump. it said $2.01. i felt my heart sink a little, because i only brought so much money, and we weren't winning money at the races at that time (still amateurs)...that meant i wouldn't be able to help as much for gas.

which brings me to my gas fill up today. $3.49, and a total of $58.59 at the pump. i don't think i have ever paid that much money in my life for gas. good thing we're not traveling to bmx races now, especially not in an early 80's conversion van!

newsflash: gas is expensive.

pack those days full, people!

today has been packed full of duties. if the beautiful mrs k hadn't let me sleep an extra 45 minutes, i may not have made it here to post this drivel.

first, work. being short a couple of hands now that there has been employee attrition at work, that means more work for everyone there. ok, we can do that. it just takes more attention to detail, and perhaps some creative job sharing. schvonzie and i glued 4 tubulars today...ok, he did all the hard work and has the blisters to show for it. work, check.

second, ride. today was special. schvonzie and i were graciously replaced at work tonight by mrs k and devlin so we could race. but not just race. ride from the shop to the crit at carondolet. that takes planning, but deanna made the arrangements for us and it worked. so, ride to crit. check.

third, race. it was nice to see lots of my friends and people i had not seen in a while. and it was better than tilles for this because of the low pressure of the tuesday night worlds. schvonzie and i chased down things for the first 15 minutes or so. then i got tired. then terry went with a group that stayed away. after that, i stayed close to the front, went with a few moves, went for (and lost miserably) a prime, went for (and lost miserably) the field sprint, but felt very good about it. race, check.

forth, ride home. as we were riding back to my crib, which is only 15-20 minutes max, schvonzie cramped. and cramped more. we finally hobbled into my home and fueled up. i drove his busted ass to his sisters house in st. louis hills. race over, home, check.

fifth, grocery store. i was hungry. i still am. stomach grumbling...check.

last, boys asleep. god bless the beautiful mrs k. check, and check.

hot people carriers with good mileage?

i've been quietly pondering my life situation. i have kids, drive a lot, carry bikes and gear, and like reasonably fun, fast cars.....

that creates somewhat of a quandary. what to drive? so i've been paying attention lately to things that can satisfy all of my criteria, and there aren't many options that can do it all, especially not well. so i'll highlight some of the choices here once in a while when i think of them as "family worthy mini rods", or FWMR's....because, you know, pantera's don't haul much.

the 2008 hhr ss starts as a homely little people mover and gets transformed by a 260 hp turbo 4 and a lot of suspension works. add some good brakes, and you have the first FWMR. being a chevrolet, there are a host of aftermarket goodies straight out of the blocks to pump up the turbo and the suspension. it's a cavernous little wagon, especially with the seats down, tall and deep, and it'll lay strips of rubber like there's no tomorrow. gas mileage climbs as the boost gauge doesn't. it sells in the low $20k range.

two cuties

weather cooperates, riding commences!

even though the beautiful mrs k and i didn't go to hermann, we did get in some riding. although we didn't do it together. she rode with cristal from the cycling club, and i rode by myself (sniff, sniff).

i rode home from ghisallo yesterday, although the extended southern route designed to add miles to the normal ride home. during this ride, i traveled up BA, the road outside of babler park. BA is perhaps the worst stretch of pavement in the wildwood area. it's horrid. actually, second to BA is just about any road or street in kirkwood and webster. it's pretty amazing that such affluent areas have such cracked up pavement. at any rate, from the 109/100 area i traveled a bit farther south, through the castlewood area, then through kirkwood and home. nice day, nice ride, a little tan going.

today i rode home from work again, this time from actual work, and with schvonzie. it's about 25 miles for me, but he rode with me for 3/4 of it and then turned back toward the store to get in his 3 hours. i got home in great time, perhaps fueled by having a riding partner, perhaps just happy to be riding in shorts and jersey two days in a row.