Late to the Party

This is a baseball glove.  It's my baseball glove.  It's the only baseball glove I've ever owned, and I bought it last week to play catch with Eli.

Oh yes, it's a cheapie.  It's from the bowels of Walmart's sporting goods department.  $28, I think.  But it will do the trick.

I never played ball sports as a kid.  Maybe I grabbed a glove that belonged to my brother, or used one at school for gym class.  But if you looked into my past, you'd never find a bat, a glove, a football, cleats, mouth guard, etc.  If I used any of that stuff, it was belonged to someone else.

But now that I have a glove of my own, watch out.  I will be dropping and chasing balls with the best of them, but I will have my own glove to throw down when I get mad.

Creve Coeur Heartbreaker Mountain Bike Race

Chaos always reigns when you're mountain bike racing.  From the weird, semi-controlled starts to the vague and sometimes arbitrary passing rules, it can be daunting.  But this wasn't my first rodeo.  Indeed, I've raced mountain bikes for 31 years.  Today marks the second race this season, thus the second race of "retirement racing".  Today, we mashed it up at Creve Coeur park, a very twisty, turny, blind-spot infested, river-trail-esque place that most people write off for being too easy.  Let me tell you, it's only easy when you're riding...it's hard as hell when you're racing!

Today there were 18 people in the Cat 1 race.  That's a fair sized field.  As luck would have it, the sun stayed away and the trail surface was freaking awesome!  I hung on to the two leaders like grim death for nearly an hour and a half, finally managing to grab second place.  I was being given a clinic on turns, that's for sure.  And power.  In fact, I was outclassed at everything, and I got second more because of experience than anything else.

All props to my podium mates.  These guys were a classy act.  And I must say, it was a very strong field.

My thanks go out to Mike Barro and his crew for putting this race on.  I had never thought much of racing at Creve Coeur, but I'm so glad I did.  And also thanks to the tireless work of GORC, the crew that makes all of our trails so nice!

Tim Kakouris = 1, Dryer = 0

The parts arrived today from the evil empire and booya...I have a functioning dryer.  I win this round, Mr. Samsung.

The Older we Get, the Faster we Were!

Most guys that I know that raced BMX in their younger days just never let go.  They either talk and talk and talk about the good old days, or they actually still have a bike and ride it.  We are lucky enough in the STL to have a bunch of guys that still actually ride.  We got a few together today and did some riding around Forest Park and Washington University.  Now when I say ride, we don't glide down the sidewalks.  There is actually riding going on here, some sprinting, some jumping, and oh hell yeah, some crashing.

In the little gathering today, you'll notice some youngsters.  Those guys belong to Maurice, a mainstay of BMX racing in St. Louis.  One hopes that they recognize the significance of 44+ year old men thrashing about on kids bikes.  There is at least one guy who wasn't able to attend today who has grandchildren.  I ask myself... what the hell would I have thought of my grandpa on a BMX bike?  Any bike??  There you have it.

Thanks to Donald Williams for the photos, and for taking the time to gather the boys, old and young, to ride.

Modern Dryers - Making Grown Men Cry for Years Now

Ooooh, so you have your eye on that slick new dryer, do ya?  The one that costs about a grand and dries clothes like nothing you've ever seen before?  Yeah, that's the one.  We were sucked in by the front load washer and matching Samsung dryer in 2008.  We've done 3-4 loads of laundry a day for 10 years.  What you see above is what has to be removed from that oh-so-sexy dryer when it tumbles and rumbles but won't put out any heat.  Each one of these things has 4-8 screws holding them together, too.  Kind of like an erector set for grumpy old men.

Nope, not a keg of beer.  It's the drum.  But you could fool someone by saying  it's a keg of beer.  It's really light, so it would be an empty keg.

The shell of a once sexy dryer.  You have to take it down to it's very last pieces to get to here.  The heater element...a wear item...was buried in there.  Kind of like putting the oil filter on a car in a place that would require you to lift the engine to change it.  Yeah, exactly like that.

And here is the offending little SOB.  It's super flimsy.  It costs $16.95 on Amazon.  The belt, which turns the big keg of beer drum, is $8 and I'm going to get one of those just because I don't ever want to tear down this dryer again.  My bleeding arm thanks me.  Now I will wait at the mail box until the parts arrive from the evil empire.

Schwinn Fastback LTD - 17 Years of semi-Greatness

In a desperate attempt to keep my reputation for building bikes like the Toy Story baby head with spider legs character, I made it a point to refresh my second-oldest bike.  The 2001 Schwinn Fastback LTD, built in 'merica.  It started out with a clear anodized bare aluminum finish.

Somewhere along the line, maybe 6-7 years ago, that clear ano finish was getting really crazed.  So I coated it with, what else, black Rustoleum.  That began to look pretty sad, too.

To the rescue, baby head with spider legs!  Metalic "Dark Steel" from Rustoleum!

Yep, only the best for this baby head.

New Things Look, you know, NEW

It was time for my first oil change on the Focus.  I got it at 17,000 miles and it's now at 22,000.  I know that some cars and some manufacturers have longer oil change intervals, but 5,000 is a nice round number and I will always remember 7's and 2's for this car.  So be it.  I like changing my own oil, too.  It costs me $23 for the oil and filter, I get to buy the Motorcraft filter (which the dealer obviously didn't use!) and Motorcraft Semi-Synthetic oil.  And I'm absolutely sure that the drain plug is tight!

I was struck by how pristine this thing is down yonder.  I mean....like new clean.  Everything is aluminum: block, control arms, transmission case.  And that stuff is obviously anodized or coated in some way.  But, WOW.  Look at this thing!

And curious eyes will notice the wee oil filter.  Man, I'm telling you, that thing looks like a kids sippy cup.  Curiously, the rubber seal stuck to the housing when I removed the old filter.  I have heard of that happening, but never witnessed it myself.  Luckily I noticed it and peeled it off before screwing the new filter up into it!

Surprising how great the gas mileage is on this puppy.  I've yet to get less than 33mpg for a full tank.  My regular is 35mpg.  But I admit to driving like a grandpa.  The Focus will get up and move when I demand it, but I don't demand much.  I've promised the car to Eli, who will have his permit in less than 3 years and his full license in 4.  Certainly this thing will not have topped 100k by that time.