ice cream is so fun

even though it's a bad camera phone picture, you can still see the ice cream on his nose, around his mouth, and in his hair. he did that on purpose so we would laugh at him. we did.

ultraman

remember the coolest shows from the early 70's? johnny sokko and ultraman? well, maybe they weren't great. actually, they probably weren't even any good at all. how would i know, i haven't seen either of them since 1972 or so. in reality, both shows originally aired in the late 60's, so i'm sure i was watching them in syndication.

while shopping at the $100 store (target), i spied this video. i was so tempted to get it. i thought better of it, perhaps seeking to leave the memories i have of ultraman intact, with all of their childish glory.

riding greensfelder

i have really beaten castlewood to death. it's a great place to ride, but i couldn't even begin to count how many times i've been there. i did my first race there in january or february of 1989, i think.

even though i won't be able to do the race at greensfelder on may 8th, after hearing about all of the changes there i decided to give it a try. it's a little different than recent years, where we have been utilizing the deluxe dogwood trail. the dogwood was the scene of my very first mountain bike race in 1988, but it was never a very good trail. it was nothing more than a glorified drainage ditch. after being abandoned for years in favor of other trails on the six flags side of the road, it was resurrected and now it's one of my favorites.

as stated, the declue and greenrock are now the new thing. they have been improved and changed over the years, too. however, they have never been easy, and they still are not. some of the changes to the trail are much-welcomed and superb. with the exception of the severely bumpy sections where horses have had their way, it's a lot of fun. but, the actual race course seems quite contrived, using a bit of pure horse trail to connect the good stuff. and the last 1/3 of the course is pea gravel double track. my suggestion is to ride the new sections and enjoy that, and then hit the dogwood and the declue on the other side of the road.

my first lap was a just a primer to get acquainted with the trail. i was not ready for some of the re-routes and had to back up a couple of times to follow the yellow ribbons. all in all, it took me 50 minutes to do a lap. i wanted to better that, and i knew that i could, on a second lap. and i did. the second lap went well and i didn't really have any mishaps except for having to wait for some horses. i was satisfied, and put enough effort in for 44 minutes flat.

but i was done. i was not compelled to do another lap. after the beating that the course dished out, i had enough. bring on the dogwood.

at last a long ride

i was finally able to put together a long ride today. it's been pretty hard to align all of the necessary events to make it happen. i even skipped the race last night so i could go as hard as i wanted to.

turns out, as hard as i wanted to wasn't too hard. life has got me a bit down right now and i'm tired...dog tired. i didn't have much choice with the route i picked: pedal hard or fall down the hills backward. so i pedaled hard.

i started out at greensfelder. i felt momentarily guilty for not off-roading today. that passed. i most likely won't do the SATURDAY race there next month.

hencken > tamara trail > allenton > melrose > woods > manchester > pond > rieger > wildhorse > 100 > old manchester > melrose > T > bassett > old manchester > OO > osage/66 >allenton...7 good climbs in all. OO is pretty steep, somehow i forget that until i climb it.

things were complicated a bit when i climbed past bassett on hwy T to find little tavern. i made it to the top of the climb and thought i had somehow missed little tavern. so i went back down, only to realize that i hadn't gone quite far enough. so i just used bassett and rolled up old manchester to OO. damn. i really, really like little tavern.

even though i had a rough ride, it's hard to argue about riding my bike on a day like today. high 80's, low humidity, great sunshine. i'd be a fool to complain.

how to train your dragon

looking back at the weekend, we did so much stuff. i forgot about the trip to the movies on saturday night.

we took to the boys to see "how to train your dragon". eli fell asleep right about the time the previews were over, so he didn't get to watch the movie. the rest of us were awake and had a pretty good time. it's a good thing that kids movies are fun for adults. we didn't even see it in 3d, which i hear is even better.

i have been saying that toothless is my new hero.

marmaduke in a tiburon

we ate lunch at einstein's bagels in webster. we noticed this funny sight.
it's not actually a great dane, but he was very big. he was wondering where his bagel dog was.

tilles park criterium

once again, it was time for the tilles park criterium. usually, it's cold and windy, or worse raining or snowing. not today. today was p-e-r-f-e-c-t. 80 degrees, sunny, just a little breezy. for the occasion, i dressed up the helix with the beautiful mrs k's aeolus carbon wheels. quite fetching, isn't it?
eli thought so, and was pumped to be going to the races.....
...to show off his new helmet. he was warming up while i was racing. he's just about outgrown the 12 inch bike, and i'm hoping to get him off the training wheels in a couple of weeks.
tyson was there, too. he pays very close attention to the races and can usually tell more about it than most spectators.
after all was said and done, eli showed us his fabian cancellara impression. the crowd was blown away by this.

rocket park adventure

eli and tyson are big fans of the rocket park in maplewood. i used to play there when i was little too, but it's been revamped since then. eli is quite certain that the sand box is killer. he had half a dozen kids wanting to get in on the sand castle building. he bossed them around for a while, then set out on his own.

it's quite common to find him like this when there is sand around. he is a born dirt clod.
the beautiful mrs k and tyson were swinging. i'm not sure what the woman is doing in the back ground, but i'm inclined to say it should have been done in the privacy of her own back yard.
ah HA! i knew i would find more dirt here!
we brought along some bubble stuff. tyson had the older boys on the playground mesmerized by the bubble show. eli was using his bubble wand as a light saber, proclaiming the bubbles to be aliens. he smashed most of them into submission, once again saving earth from invasion.
i wonder what this bubble stuff tastes like?

birthday cake with four candles

one chocolate cake from dierberg's, $8.99.
one noisy play cowboy gun, taken from neighbor boy, $0.00.
a goofy picture of brothers on a birthday.....you know the rest.

happy birthday elijah!

today is actually eli's birthday. we've celebrated it several times already when we could get together with family, but today is the day. somehow, mrs k convinced eli that the new sectional for the living room was HIS birthday present. here, he is beside himself with joy as the delivery men pull the pieces into the living room.
"whoa! these are soooooo coooool! and they don't stink like the old couch does!"
"i love my new couches! can i sleep here?"

happy birthday, little guy!

specialized s-works amira

although it's still in it's gestation period, the beautiful mrs k finally picked up her s-works amira. i roughly put it together and it's a fine looking piece. we're hoping that she actually gets to ride it.

lynskey helix

one of these caught my eye recently and i had to have it. it's a titanium lynskey helix. i have only ridden one other titanium bike that i liked, and this one is even better. to be sure that it would be stiff enough, i'm using an alpha Q fork with a cromoly steerer tube.

indeed it is stiff. probably not stiff enough for dan, because he likes to make titanium bike owners cringe by twisting them like a pretzel, but it's pretty darn stiff.

it's also not very expensive. i'm surprised at how many carbon frames costs a grand or more in excess of the helix.

i've only ridden it twice. both have been torturous tuesday night races.

so far, i really like it. and it's shiny.

tower of power

now that i don't have hundreds of bike parts and tons of clothing clogging up the basement anymore, the kids come down and play when it's too cold or nasty outside. the big kids were quite joyful that eli had completed his lego tower of power. soon after this photo was taken, they knocked it over with their remote controlled cars. ah well.

eli is almost 4 years old plus weekend festivities

eli, you'll be 4 years old on thursday...what do you think about that??

"you want a piece of this?"

hanna came up this weekend and one of the first things eli did to her was force her to play tractor tippin' with him. of course, i joined in because i like the game. i was about to win but frank ate me.
eli was pretty certain he could hit some of the balls at the batting cages. he tipped a couple, but his technique is no better than mine. his helmet was really fitting nicely so i thought i'd take a photo for posterity's sake.
on friday morning before work, i rode with the kids over to grandma's house. it was a nice way to start the day. on sunday we suited up for a family ride and hanna was sporting some of deanna's old cycling clothes. she was looking super fabulous.

tough numbers

i had mentioned that this past tuesday night race was extra hard on me. just not enough rest lately and a little too much burning of the candles at both ends.

however, my powertap numbers are off the charts for tuesday. in effect, i was indeed working quite hard, so perception was spot on. why i was working so hard and getting no where is bothersome. the average speed was again higher than the last two tuesdays, and average power was up over 20w. heart rates were completely consistent with the past two weeks.

average speed: 26.77
average power: 275 (!!!)
10 minute power: 331 (a new personal high!!!)

anyway, it's pretty obvious to me that while i am heading in the right direction with my fitness, i am not tending to my health very well and certainly not tending to my criterium racing skills.