Big Shark West

i am pleased to announce that i will be working at the new Big Shark Bicycle WEST location in CHESTERFIELD VALLEY. the doors will open within days on airport road and i'm pleased as punch about that. there will also be a Big Shark URBAN store opening in the downtown area, at 10th and Locust, so keep your eyes peeled for that exciting venture as well.

i would guess that some of you remember when i announced that i would be working for another store that used to be in the valley a number of years ago. that adventure had it's ups and downs, but i wouldn't trade that experience for the world, as i think it really focused my career in the bike biz.

mike (the owner and mastermind behind big shark) and i go way back to the touring cyclist days. then i worked for him at 'big shark one' from 1995 to 1997, 'big shark two' from 1997 to 2003, and 'big shark three', the current delmar location, from 2003 until 2006. i started working part time at the delmar store again in 2010 while i was playing more mr. mom.

i'm proud of my association with big shark, and i'm glad i will be able to work with a bunch of customers that i now call friends in chesterfield again.

attack of the snow balls

this is what i saw at the back door last night. almost like an abominable snow yorkie.
this happens every time his fur is long and the snow is heavy. it balls up on his legs.
i had to take him to the bathroom and rinse them off. it was very dense stuff. he's outside right now so i imagine i'll be doing the same thing in a few minutes.

baller mtb ride

my flash is faster, sheriff rosco.

not really. but, i did get out to castlewood this morning before the rain hit. i did 4 big laps of the 2009 race course. i just love that route. two hours total, and i sort of buried myself. i'm loving the flash, too. it handles like a dream, and even though it's a 29'er it's the lightest mtb i've ever owned.

god, i love mountain biking.

volleyball for the princess

the girls huddle with the coaches for a few words of encouragement.
hanna was a line judge for a couple of the games.

it was a tough tournament. the girls didn't seem to find their game at all. there was one game out of eight that they seemed to come on line, but then it went south again. this is the first year for all of them, so it's going to take some time and commitment. i felt for them.

a dog's life

while rocky was away having his kidney stones removed (for the third time), rosco was really beside himself. he was exhibiting separation anxiety and he was moping around like he had just lost his best friend. i felt so sorry for him. he perked right up when rocky came strolling in the front door the other night. dogs aren't very much different from people, you know.

south loop

i did one of my favorite rides today, the old "sunset south" loop. it has a lot of killer little climbs, especially those on weber hill road, heintz road and christopher. seemed like a perfect day to get out, too. i was beaten down a bit by the combination of the wind and the hills, though.

on the way back home, i passed "orange-t-shirt-no-helmet" guy. he was spinning the cranks furiously on his specialized road bike whilst blazing down telegraph, blowing stop lights. i detoured through sylvan springs and jefferson barracks, and came back out on broadway...sure enough, i saw orange-t-shirt-no-helmet guy again. again i passed him as he was still blowing stop lights. i thought i might say something to him, but i decided to make it a preach-free day and mind my own business. it was too nice of a day and i was in too good of a mood.

my legs are a little wobbly, so it must have been a good ride.

a trip to nevada

the beautiful mrs k took me along with her on a business meeting to las vegas this past week. we actually stayed in henderson, nevada, which is a lot less 'vegas' than las vegas proper. the hotel was spectacular.
cool "beach" that led into the pool.
walkway over the upper section of the pool.
more of the outdoor area. on the left is the fitness center, which we visited. it was deluxe.
i rented a really nice carbon giant road bike and headed out three days in a row. this was one of my trips on the river mountains trail loop, a 35 mile asphalt path that runs alongside lake mead for quite a ways.
the asphalt trail was no joke. four mile climbs, plus these 20% gut busters. there were two sections of switchbacks that were every bit as tight as off-road switchbacks. imagine the forest park trail on steroids, then multiply it by six. the trail was totally manicured, with middle striping that mimicked a regular road.
the trail went under one of the highway crossings via this corrugated metal tunnel. there were five or six tunnels along the way.
again the path, this time looking out over mead. the solid yellow line meant "do not pass", because although the photo doesn't show it, this was quite steep downhill. i really had to be on the brakes in these corners.
a ravine cut by rain water just off the trail.
the river mountains are riddled with mines. i thought this abandoned mine was a cool shot.
i love the desert. the scenery is always so dramatic.

all told, i spent about 8 hours on the bike over three days. not nearly what the good riders do, but i'll take it for march. thanks for the mini-vacation, honey!

three peas in a pod

eli seems to be saying "seriously?"
i think tyson is trying to figure out if the cookie is made of gold.
hanna is practicing her new modeling smiles.

misc bike stuff

i had been plagued by the ugly alloy fsa 2 ring cranks that came with my flash. they shifted fine, they were not heavy. they were just so...ugly. i found these brand new on the 'bay for pennies on the dollar. and i saved 100 grams. good for me.
sunday, the kids were doing a little riding on their bikes. hanna has grown a lot, so she looked positively goofy on her 24" wheel trek. so in about 10 minutes i modified the beautiful mrs. k's homegrown and hanna fit it beautifully. always seems like someone needs another bike around here.
i rode after dark on sunday night (not off road), so i had to get some lights on. here you can see the handlebar hodge-podge arrangement. you can't see in this photo, but there are several knog flashers on the seat post and even a flasher on the rear wheel.

lastly, but no photo, i boxed up the ancient giant that has been cluttering up my basement for several years now. it seems my friend chris is going for a cycling motif in his home art project, and i was more than happy to send it his way.

i can still see you

since when is the big ham too shy for a photo?

volleyball weekend

saturday was another big tournament for hanna's volleyball team. here she is looking stylish as ever in the team's new kits.
man, i can't believe how big this little girl has gotten! i wish my sorry camera would work better indoors.
at one point, the girls were required to work different positions whilst they were not playing their own games. here, hanna is a line judge.

the girls won 2 games, narrowly lost another, and flat out got pummeled in several other games. they are certainly improving, though. i find that i get as nervous for her games as i get for my own bike races. i guess i'm "that guy".

lucky

both of my grandmothers have a bit of irish in them. my grandfathers don't, so i have always considered myself on my grandfathers' side of luck.

lately, i have started to see things from the other side. i'm one lucky guy.

1983 BMX World Championships

in 1982, the world championships moved to las vegas. it seemed kind of fitting that the biggest bmx race in the world would move to one of the biggest show places in the world. it also marked the year that it moved from concrete to dirt. i was still racing for jag, the sponsor of the race, so of course i would go to vegas. this time, it was on their dime. it was a much better result for me, although i was intensely unhappy at the time about 5th place at the world championships. it sounds really nice now, but in my mind i needed a top three.

christmas of 1983, the world's stayed out west, but this time WAY west, in burbank, california. no longer racing for the race sponsor, it was tough to do the traveling on my own money. but, by this time i was racing for freshour and good old jerry always helped when he could. i flew to burbank by myself and carmen roker, wife of mr. jag, put me up in a room close to the race venue. and the race venue was amazing. wide, fast, fantastic gate...just what i needed.

having just come off of a pretty good racing season (ending up national number 2 in the NBL), i was very pumped to make something happen. the first day of racing was the ESPN pro spectacular. a great way to warm up to the track and be super tuned for the world's the next day. after battling it out all day with some of the best older amateurs in the world, i came away with 2nd place. not bad, and i was feeling hot.

the next day was the real deal. being in california, the race was FULL of the best of the best. i raced so many races that day, having raced both age group and an open class. i made it to both main events. i botched the open main, and i don't even remember the placing. 8th? 7th? no matter, i was super pumped because i had hardly lost a race all day.

the age group main went superbly.

i got third. i was a bit disappointed, because i had a win in me. but things can't always go perfectly and i had the bad luck of having the best rider of my generation to race. he went on to win the overall world champions title.

me? i have to say that my disappointment was not very strong. this weekend marked the moment in my racing and in my life that i knew i could compete. no question about it, whether i was ever going to be the best or not, i could compete.

1981 BMX World Championships

every now and then i go hang out at some of the many bmx racing forums around the net. there's bmxmuseum.com, vintagebmx.com, oldschoolbmx.com...you know, the sites for old dudes like me who like to relive the old days now and then.

i came across a posting about the 1981 jag bmx world championships, held in indianapolis indiana. in those days, it was THE single day race, and it was held in a convention center with concrete floors and wooden jumps. later, it moved to las vegas and then to california, both on dirt tracks.

but the old world's were pretty special. there were so many riders at those early races, there was hardly room to breathe, and the tracks were so small and tight that breathing wrong meant you were last place.

i had only been racing for two years, but things were coming along pretty well. the race was held between christmas and new years, and just a few months before i had gotten my first national ranking in the nbl, number 4, and i had won a couple of national races in the process. and as a bonus, i landed my first real sponsor, jag bmx, who happened to be the sponsor of the race.

now make no mistake...mr. kakouris was in no mood to drive to indy in the ice and snow. it was only a phone call from renny roker himself (jag owner) that convinced dad that i needed to be at the worlds since jag sponsored them. so we went.

it was too much for me. only one lap of practice, thousands of riders, concrete track, new bike...i was a mess. but, somehow, i made it through my motos. that was a miracle. and much to my surprise, we had 4 rounds of eliminations (called semi's, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2) to get to the main event. i made it to the last semi, one of the last 16 guys. then, i lost out. looking back, i don't know how i made it that far. the guy who won my semi won the whole thing, so there is a little consolation.

anyway, snooping around on vintagebmx.com tonight, i found a thread about that race. and sure enough, the guy who won our class at the worlds kept the semi final moto sheets and he posted them in the thread...and there was my name.

wow.

mostly, i downplay my involvement in bmx because i never quite lived up to my own expectations. but every now and then, i get transported back to a short, intense period of my life (1979 to 1987) and i get that wicked little rush of emotions that i would get in those days...and i don't feel so bad about never being that good.

tonight i was one of those times, and it didn't even take a winning race memory to bring it back.

birthday party again

i have no idea why, but we had hanna up this weekend with 4 of her closest friends for her birthday. it started off friday night with a dance where the girls all dressed to the nines. this first photo is from today, however, when they all decided to dress like old ladies.
i took this photo from the television, where aunt denise had loaded her photos of friday nights dance. they are such hams.
today's birthday party. she looks like a rock star here, i think.
like usual, we had a combination hanna/max birthday party since they are so close. max just turned the big 13, and he's a really good kid. i'm hoping he will go mountain biking with tyson and i when the weather turns better.
she is very mischievous here.
and very happy here after getting some apple gift cards.
rosco and rocky both insisted on being right in the middle of the action. dogs can be funny.
the two birthday kids, cheesing it up for the camera and cake.