Paintball is for tough people

 cousin max got together 20 of his closest friends for paintball.  somehow, i was one of those people.  we all gathered at the place on monday morning, and i had much joy finding out that it was about 500 feet from the famous supercross bmx track on missouri bottom road in bridgeton.  in this photo, we see the girls, hanna and bailey, getting suited up.  rather, we see their backsides.  in costume, they look identical.

 keith and tyson do not look identical.  tyson is a swarthy little guy, and keith is not.  but what keith lacks in smallness he makes up in enthusiasm.  he seems VERY excited to shoot people.

 aunt denise is showing the girls how to operate the paintball guns.  the girls were not thrilled about playing, but in almost every game, they were the last ones standing!

 here we can see some strategy in action.  the fields and small wooded areas were pretty darn cool for this type of thing.

 here, keith is firing for all he's worth.  in a few moments, he will be blasted in the buttocks by a paintball, a fact that i said over and over because it sounded so funny when using the voice of forrest gump.

 here we are after the first game.  from left to right, hanna, bailey, me, and tyson.  i am NOT happy.  i was hit in the ribs about 20 seconds after the game started.  my bruise has lasted 40,000 times longer than that game did.  hanna was the last one to get out this game.

 max and friend walking away from a job well done.

 tyson looked so small in all of his gear.  he played pretty well, though.

here, tyson is walking away from me.  i am fuming because 20 seconds into the second game i got hit on my bare shin.  that bruise has lasted 40,000 times longer than the game as well.  soon after this, i was hit in the face mask multiple times and i can still taste that goo. finally, i gave the gear to deanna and she had a great time.  in retrospect, she should have played the whole time.  i would have less bruising, both of the body and of the ego.

some gateway cup photos

a kiss for good luck for the little guy on friday night at lafayette square. he was fired up for this one.
there would be no kiss for the older one. he's too cool for that.
eli had a tremendous start. then susan kubinak yelled "go eli!" from the sidelines and distracted him. you can plainly see that he is looking over to see what the heck she's yelling about.
then he regained focus and put on the turbos. believe it or not, this 5 year old just learned to ride a two-wheeler a few months ago and turned in 3 first place wins in the 5-6 year old category this weekend. way to go, eli!
tyson had a drag race with the guy on the left. two very conflicted styles. tyson's must have been a hair better, because that's how much he won by...just a hair. great job.
both boys with their build-a-bears. cool old chevy two-door wagon in the background, too.
tyson was trying to keep cool early in the day on saturday. it was HOOOOOOOOOOOT.
hanna, ever the sporty one, was also quite hot. until...
....just as the kids bike races were getting under way at st. francis, a deluge came and drenched the whole place. wind blew, thunder clapped....and eli came away with another epic win. the older kids were befuddled by the carnage, but came back on sunday to do a great job on the hill.

my baby is home

rosco has had a rough go of it over the last few days. the beautiful mrs k brought him home from the fox creek veterinary clinic saturday where doctor stu robson worked some magic. a few bladder stones, a few pulled teeth...ouch. it's awful being 12, isn't it big guy?

i'm sleeping with him on the couch, as he has to have close proximity to the back yard facilities. last night i slept maybe 2 hours.

in the long run, we're planning on having this yorkie for many more years. in the short term, i'm tired and he's sore.

finally finished the deck

remember when i was talking about staining the deck? we did the first half a few weeks back. then deanna did another big chunk. and i finally finished it today. whew. that sucked. next time, i'm tearing it down and getting a nice vinyl one!

hanna's funny faces

actually, this first one isn't very funny. she looks dead serious.
this one is funny. i have no idea what she's doing.
this one? no clue.

cape girardeau mtb race

i just love this race. it may start in a field next to highway 55, but that's the only downside of the whole thing. we had a nice size field. you can see here that i have my nice, new off-the-front team kit.
marty, aka kaiser soze, was looking so-pro in his big shark kit. and he looks darn serious here, too. looks like he's giving tom albert the stink eye.
we had a fabulous race. very quickly it turned into a 4 man, 40+ cat 1 show. how do the young'uns sleep at night knowing that us old men are putting the hurt on them?? here, sam moore is showing us how it's done.
i'm making a feeble attempt at a pass here. i made it, but by races end i was solidly third. my bike handling was some of the best i've done in years, but my fitness is awful. i'm very proud of my 3rd place, and very respectful of sam and bob arnold, who smoked me in the end. of course a tip of the hat to john matthews, always an amazing competitor, who made us all hurt for 4 good laps.
crossing the finish line alone. just look at the view into the trail. how could anyone not love cape girardeau??
the dust was epic. my arms and legs are coated. and that pepsi throwback was absolutely amazing after the hard fought race! thanks to the beautiful mrs k and hanna for being the most wonderful bottle handlers for me!

tyson's mountain bike adventure

this was tyson's second trip to cape girardeau for the cyclewerx mtb race. cool new off the front racing wear, too! last year, he won in a very small field. this year there were two separate groups. sorry for the balding image of me included in this photo.
tyson had a slowish start, but then began to pick off everyone. it was very early in the race when he emerged at the front. the beautiful, picturesque course in cape is a delight.
tyson was carving corners like an old pro.
his standing climbs were great.
check out this corner carve! wow.
4 laps of a fun little course saw tyson take second place.
tyson with the local fast kid, who, believe it or not, was only 9. his size said that he was 13!
but tyson was still quite pleased with his performance.

eli starts school

so, here i am with my brother tyson on our first day of school for the 2011-2012 school year. actually, it's my first day period. i know kindergarten may seem pretty tame to all of you, but to me it's like the superbowl. but, somehow, i felt like someone was watching me.....
oh, yeah. i was right.
of course, mom had to make me pose in front of the affton icon, the ice cream cone. i have no idea why this is such a big deal. as far as i know, they ain't givin' out ice cream inside there.

ok, mom. i'm goin' in!!

yes indeed. i found my seat and i'm already running the place.
see, dude? this kindergarten stuff will be child's play. as soon as i can read all the fine print, i'm finding a way to bust out of here and cruise the first grader's recess. it's just a matter of time.

school starts tomorrow!

tomorrow, the little guy starts his first day of kindergarten. he is jazzed. he's already met his teachers and he has all of his school supplies ready to go. seems like just yesterday we were sending tyson off to his first day.

speaking of tyson, his first day of 5th grade is tomorrow. he seems to be ok with it all, as he will know almost all of the kids in his class.

hanna is the big 6th grader tomorrow. she is very excited about her teacher this year, so maybe she won't always be complaining to me about how boring school is. in truth, i wonder how she'd get along if she didn't have all the social interaction of school??

kids. they grow up so fast!

what a beautiful night for a race

i didn't think we'd get the tuesday night race in tonight. rain was all over the place. turns out, it wasn't very much rain, and eventually it all cleared out before 6pm and a beautiful evening was presented.

man, it was faaaaast tonight! crazy attack after crazy attack. i was feeling quite asthmatic, too. but, i was encouraged by my heart rate monitor, which had assured me on last friday's ride that i could indeed hit 187 beats per minute. sure enough, whilst suffering through countless forays into the high 170's, i was able to follow attacks and hold the wheels and even take a pull or two.

much to my surprise, i pulled out a 4th place. and the heart rate monitor flashed furiously 187.

220 minus your age? BAH!

cooler temps mean cyclocross practice!

we had all family members accounted for tonight during cyclocross practice. the beautiful mrs k, hanna, tyson, eli and myself were all excited to get on the bikes and take advantage of the cooler weather.

this was hanna's first time out with us, and having all five of us riding along, jumping on and off of our bikes must have been quite a sight. deanna was really getting her dismounts and mounts down. it turned out to be quite fun.

and of course we got snow cones afterward.

another kakouris on his way to a cycling future

oh yeah! i did some modifications to tyson's old raleigh bmx bike (a 20" wheel bike!) so that eli could more easily ride it. he was jazzed!
he threw a leg over and seconds later ripped out of the driveway.
and that was it. he was riding a 20" wheel bike mere months after learning how to ride without training wheels on his 16" wheel bike. he's a natural.
and away we went. we went to our cyclocross training grounds to practice. no actual cyclocross training, you understand, as the beautiful mrs k wasn't joining us. but, we did put in a good 30 minutes on the bikes.

it's very fulfilling to see my kids enjoy biking. nerve wracking, but fulfilling.

road ride, flat tire

today was hot. i went riding around noon. and i got a flat tire.

the expletives that left my mouth came out in completely natural streams that i could not repeat even if i tried...they were that good.

sweat streamed from my wretched, overheated carcass like a punctured radiator hose. as i was finally getting my co2 inflator situated onto the valve, i noticed a puddle under me. actually, 3 puddles...a puddle for each streaming elbow and a puddle from my streaming chin.

let's just say i'm a sweater.

on i rode. no more spares. halfway through a 4o mile ride and no spares. that's ok, i thought. no need to fix another flat. i would perish from dehydration anyway. as fate would have it, i punctured no more and finished my ride.

bring on the fall.

tyson's all star debut

tyson and two other team mates from his giants team were selected for the all star team. they played late yesterday, and although the all star team didn't have it's best outing, tyson had a great game. he had a spectacular hit, some great base stealing, and he pitched an inning. he threw a strikeout and two pop fly's to retire batters three in a row.

bike riding, mountain and road

since it is nearly impossible for me to get in a bike race these days (tuesday night training races notwithstanding) i have taken great pains to get out and ride. i know, it might sound strange, but it truly is an either/or proposition. every day life has forced me to choose between the two.

thursday, at the urging of the great mr. weaver, i ventured out to cliff cave to find all sorts of cool new trails. i was hot, sticky, drenched in sweat, and miserable, but it was worth it and i vowed to go again. and i did, sunday afternoon. again, i was hot, sticky, and drenched in sweat, but not quite miserable and i had a great ride. man, those twists and turns are fun. hats off to the gorc crew for building the new trails.

and tonight, instead of heading back toward home for the tuesday night crits, i did a road ride in the beautiful hills of wildwood. and it was hot, sticky...well, you get the idea. i did have a good ride, though. my climbing feels good, but my recovery is for the birds.

i'll keep riding as much as i can for now, and maybe i can return to racing at the cape girardeau mtb race that i love so much close to labor day.