photo from saturday's ride

photo courtesy of mitch "the masher" johnson.
...........................................................
here is the photo of the motley crew we had assembled on saturday for john's farewell, i mean john's bachelor send off.
...........................................................
from left:
mitch johnson (fresh off of killer endurance racing season)
tom albert (former nicest guy on earth, in team funk jersey!)
ryan pirtle (hiding behind albert)
your untalented author
dan libby (t-rex, with 1992 trek jersey, i kept mine too!)
paul krewet (THE ORIGINAL OLD MAN!)
john matthews (kneeling, i think he was praying...)
eric pirtle (rock star, shield your eyes from the glare of the teeth)
brent hanlin (bmx star, mtn bike star, national class track star, cat 1 road star)
micheal rowitshenstershinewitz (every body's vote for nicest guy ever after tom albert abdicated)

congratulations john and jean

john matthews is getting married tomorrow. to celebrate this momentous occasion, a big crew of old timers was assembled today for a bifecta (lost valley to matson).

i don't have the big group photo yet, but when i do you'll see the ten old sorry guys who delivered quite a killer ride. mitch johnson, michael rowitzchitzensher, paul krewit, tom albert, dan libby, brent hanlin, ryan pirtle, eric pirtle, john matthews (of course), and me.

there were flats (i think ryan had two, dan had a flat sitting in the parking lot) and falls (paul bit it at mile .9), but the rest of the time is was smooth sailing. these ten guys have more experience, more racing, and more hair on their backs than the rest of st. louis mountain biking combined.

thanks, guys, for the fine, fine reunion and a great time.

....seriously....

halloween heyday

eli was decked out in full pooh bear wear. it was pretty warm this year, so the extra fur was just not necessary. those are not skittles in my hands.

tyson and max were goth guys. darth vader and the grim reaper, what a pair.

once tyson lost his mask, he looked more like a goth monk than darth vader. ah, well. it was probably time for a new costume anyway. darth is so yesterday.

i'm not sure if eli is trying to do his best tyson doing a pirate impersonation or if he's got a stink bug in his eye. either way, he was quite a hit with the crowds.

tyson and max took a break at the buck home. a great time to see how much candy you have scored.

eli photography

every night i stretch on the floor in my bedroom. the last stretch is putting one leg up along the door frame and the other flat on the ground. eli got his grubby hands on the camera and this is what i found later. it's probably good that he doesn't know how to aim better.

bike riding and running

enjoy this random eli photo with random rams hoodie. you can see the beautiful mrs k in the background, and on her side is the furry little guy, who has recovered nicely from the atomic stomach flu.

i have been riding my bikes lately. i made it out to lost valley and castlewood last week, and i rode the c'dale home from work twice last week.

today, the temps improved and i got out after work for my loop o' wildwood. doberman never ceases to amaze me. it's just not that hard. yet, it is.

on a strang-er note, i have been continuing with my pathetic plodding along that can be mistaken for running. i plod quickly, maybe 7:30's or so. it just feels better than plodding at, say, 9:30's. not very far yet. slightly over 2 miles. this long, slow progression has insured that my knees don't revolt.

believe it or not, i did participate in biathlons (now called duathlons?) back in the early 90's, and my running was not so terrible. it usually left me with a 1/3 of the field to pass on the bike. many times i would work my way up to a top 10 or so once on the bike, even a top 3 a few times. back in those days, there were also mtn bike biathlons, which i enjoyed more, but they were rare.

i also throw in some stair running here and there. it's a nice change of pace.

cross bike happenings

i guess it comes as no surprise that i've pretty much abandoned my cross aspirations for this season. usually, there is a reverse correlation between how nice my cross bike is vs. how many races i do....i.e., hot bike, no races, crappy bike, more races. i guess i don't have to explain what's happening now.

so, i have this spiffy cx9 cannondale all set up for cross. carbon tubulars. single chainring. yada, yada, yada. well, since i'm using it as a road bike, that single 42t chainring is a bit soft on the tailwind sections. that changed today. i just put a normal 39/53 combination on it, if for no other reason than to have a bigger gear for the trainer.

i'm having trouble with the thought of getting rid of it. sure, there's davey b and of course neumann, who would gladly ride it off into the sunset if i so much as turn my back on them at a drinking fountain. but i really like it, even more so as a road bike. and it looks pimpin'. eventually, i guess, i'll need a road bike. it's just hard to grasp the idea of liking a bike more than this one.

if i could

if i could find the camera, i could post some photos of the kids from the weekend.

if i could gather motivation, i could shower.

if i could brave the cold, i could ride my bike instead of going insane.

if i could get out of this chair, i could do some laundry.

if i could get out of this chair, i could go to bed.

if i could stretch my mind like i stretch my legs every night, i might be in a different situation.

kids sleep over

hanna's good buddy came up to the house with her to spend the weekend with us. upon arrival, pandemonium ensued. eli and tyson were going crazy. soon, the beautiful mrs k had them all sitting down watching wallace and grommit while eating popcorn.

an attempt at one big slumber party in eli's room had to be aborted when eli just wouldn't let the kids sleep. this was the before photo. the after photo, which i won't bother to post, is nothing out of the ordinary for us: eli is in our room.

EBAY marches on!

bid, buy, enjoy! fabulous merchandise! bid HERE and the opposite sex will find you more attractive!

(statements not evaluated by the FDA. the opposite sex may or may not find you attractive at all. in fact, you may be just as repulsive after bidding as before. however, bidding will NOT cause cancer, make your hair fall out, give you the bends, the trots, or ear mites.)

shameless ghisallo plug

i don't mix work and play blogs very often, but every now and then i think it's a good idea. so, i'm going to shamelessly plug our ghoulishly good sale. there's a lot of really cool stuff going at fire sale prices in conjunction with the pumpkin run in chesterfield valley.

besides, if i have to be at work on saturday, the least some of you can do is show up!

come HERE and save some dough, don't be slow, don't you know, don't pass go, you'll stub your toe, the wind will blow....sheesh, that was bad.

on second thought

you know, i really like the big boy bed and all, but i still like mom and dad's bed more. i think i'll just sleep in here with you guys.

rosco is back!

i picked my little buddy up last night from the vet hospital and he was super happy to come home. he was also ravenously hungry. good ol' rosco. he followed me around like my shadow once again, and happily wedged in between deanna and i and slept all night. thanks to grandma for taking care of him for me, and thank you to all of the well-wishers. it really means a lot to me.

my little buddy is not here tonight

i'm very sad tonight. rosco is spending the night in the doggie hospital. he started the day off pretty badly at 5:45 by having an accident in our room, and spent most of the early afternoon vomiting. luckily, i took him to grandma's today and she took him to the emergency vet. he's got some sort of intestinal bug that he wasn't going to get rid of on his own. he was severely dehydrated so he's been getting an IV and tlc from the vet. i had to go check on him on my way home from work. they were very nice and let me hold him for a while. he seemed so sad and fragile. he didn't move much, but he really liked me scratching his back. i hope i get to bring him home tomorrow, it's a different place without my shadow.

ah, she's beautiful

i got a shot of hanna a couple of weeks ago on my cell phone. i don't know how to download it or whatever to get it onto my computer. so i just sent it to dan, who emailed it to me. a small amount of work for such a beautiful photo.