BMX racing is cool

i raced bmx bikes pretty seriously from the end of 1979 until 1988. i dabbled a bit more for a couple of years until i raced my last race at the bmx track in st. peters in 1991.

after quite a few attempts, my friend donald got some of us old-schoolers together for a little mini-reunion at that same st. peters track today. it happened to be the missouri state championships there today, so there were plenty of racers to watch for the occasion. it's pretty amazing how far the skill levels have risen since our day.

donald "duck", travis mcghee, bill brewer, maurice (mo-fu), darian hickman, derrik fink, and ron lucas. we all raced each other at the different tracks around the area, and even spent some time traveling together to the out of town races.

donald was our very own craig reynolds. he was smooth as butta, and didn't make it to many big races which was a shame. travis was probably the fastest guy in the country when he felt like racing and was in a good mood. bill was every where, and was always the big joker. mo-fu was a kind soul who really turned into quite a great rider over time. darian, who was racing TODAY by the way, was a small guy with a huge drive and he is probably as good now as he was then. derrik and his family gave many, many of us rides to far away places that we would have never seen, and all of them were some of the best riders in their classes, too. ron, another guy who was racing today looking smooth as ever, hasn't missed a beat and his kids race now, too.

missed today was my old friend dru potts. maybe he showed up after i left, but i was disappointed in missing him. we did a lot of traveling and racing together back in the day, and it would have been nice to hear him tell his wacko (but true) tall tales. also missing was doug scronce, who has remained active in ALL kinds of two wheeled racing over the years. that would have been a hoot, since he can't resist a good ribbing of anybody. i guess there were a lot of people that would have fit right in for our little reunion. some names escape me but if i think back i can remember tons of faces.

ah, bmx. i guess it's not just for kids anymore.

cape girardeau crankfest

i spent the better part of an evening last week getting the bikes ready for different races. the kids were supposed to be in the whitecliff kids triathlon, but it filled up before i signed them up. i dialed in the superfly for the cape girardeau mtb race.
all was not lost, though, as the cape race had a kids event. one lap of a very fun, fast course for them. tyson was all jazzed about it (off-roading is not hanna's thing) and posed here for a pre-race photo. he dominated the 10-under race, beating the second place dude by 3 minutes and came in only a minute and a half behind the 11-13 year old winner. great job!
waiting for the awards, eli begins to groom me like a primate. hanna is counting all of her goal-for-it points in her head, and tyson is reveling in the glory of his medal.
ah, second place overall. it was a great race for me, fighting it out with the amazing john rines for 7 laps. i was quite proud of myself for overcoming a bad week, but i didn't overcome enough to beat john. sometimes he's just too fast. we were both within a minute of our course times last year, on an identical course, thus proving we had another good battle. were both one win, one loss for cape, maybe we'll have a tie breaker in 2011!

first day of school

ah, the first day of school for tyson was last week. he's the big 4th grader now.
oh, and what's this? eli thinks it's a good idea for tyson to bring a 1:12 scale trash truck to school on the first day...just in case.
disappointment sets in when eli finds out that small trash trucks don't really have much use in a 4th grade classroom.
such disappointment, in fact, that eli later decides that he should stuff himself into this box and stay there. isn't 4th grade a bummer??

hanging out in the B race

dedicated to the one true Sand

despite the very real threat of being labeled a sandbagger by the st. louis cycling community, i have been racing the B race at the tuesday night world championships. it seems any time a rider around here has some moderate success in an event (road, cross, mtb, etc.) he is expected to immediately move up to the next category.

actually, i agree with such things.

however, do to the beautiful mrs k's schedule, tuesday is a tough day to make it out of the house before 6pm. the A race starts at 6pm. and, since the B race is for juniors, masters, and cat 4 riders, i do qualify. hell, i'm 43 freaking years old.

so. the B race it is.

last week, i was wobbly and pulled out a second. two days ago, i pulled off the prime AND the race win...and believe it or not, i was even more wobbly. i was motivated to do something, though. i hit out after that prime and NEVER recovered. i was still near redline on the last lap, so i pushed the vomit deep into my esophagus and let 'er rip.

so, sue me. when you are all 43, i will not begrudge you a win in the B race.

vintage car show in crestwood

there was some kind of vintage car show going on in crestwood today. we came upon it right at dark. it was in the crestwood mall parking lot, which we all know isn't being used by shoppers at the mall. the first car we came upon was this 68 corvette convertible. nice.
though ugly, this 1971 oldsmobile 442 was an excellent example.
super cool C2 corvette. pristine.
nice resto-mod on this 1966 fairlane.
1970 road runner was stunning...
..and it's road runner 383 was in fantastic shape.
1971 trans am 455 HO. ugly car, nice example of the screaming chicken.
my horrible camera cannot even begin to show the beauty of this 1968 plymouth GTX. it's a very dark blue and was in amazing condition.
it's 440 Super Commando V8 was gorgeous.
interior was awesome.
the one nod to the modern corvette was the 96 Grand Sport. my favorite modern corvette.
eli in front of a custom rod. he was having a great time.
now we're talking. 1970 ford torino gt, complete with 429 4v. it was an automatic car. good shape, a bit of orange peel on the cool orange paint.
the 429 looked very nice, i think the owner took better care of the engine compartment than he did the paint.
1969 fastback with a bad choice of wheels.
killer 1963 dodge station wagon with a 440 under the hood. now THAT'S a wagon!
the best shot i could get of the 68 shelby GT500KR. this King of the Road was a daily driver in original condition.
the interior of the 1957 ford ranchero. i LOVE the gauges in this one! it was a pretty burgundy color, but again my camera misses most of the good stuff.
the guy with this "smokey and the bandit" trans am was so happy that eli took an interest in his car that he told him to stand in it and put his head out of the t-tops.
and then he wanted us to all get in the picture and he took our photo. i wish the car was in better shape, because the guy sure loved it.
i am very sad that the only good photo of the black 1970 torino that i was able to get was the engine compartment. this car has 52,000 original miles. the black paint was a mile deep. just a basic 302 2v that has been incredibly well cared for. it sported a 4-speed manual transmission, a swap from the original 3-on-the-tree. i think that's a nice upgrade, even if it isn't original. the interior was deluxe, as well.

many faces of the shark week hat

i don't know where it came from. but, it made a nice prop.

just some photos to have fun with

i thought i'd start with a nice one from 1987. i'm sitting on the hood of my mom's 1981 chevy malibu. i had a lot of hair.
everyone is intently listening to something sissy is saying in tyson's room. eli is appropriately hiding his goods.
recently, i grew some new chops. i grew them for 3 days and called it quits. hair is itchy.
i bet you're thinking...does this kid EVER wear a shirt??
starting the long process for bedtime. yes, the placard on the bed says "bed".
hanna is in a wedding in october and we picked her dress up last weekend. she is positively radiant!
oooooh, that's a long way up there. maybe i'll just go sleep some more.
this is a family sight, so there will be no elmo underwear sightings.
sporty spice.
pippy longstocking.

hanna in new york

big kids in central park

piloting the remote controlled boats in central park.
standing on a big rock in central park.
posing in front of the strawberry fields sign.

....new york...lucky!