How much do you LOVE your weekends?

I love my weekends.  We always have so much to do.  It seems like there is never enough time to get it all done, either.  I'm not telling anyone anything they don't already know.  I started mine off late last week by climbing up to the warehouse roof.  It's all good, because the beautiful Mrs K and I ended our Friday night by attending an awesome 'art' party and kicking it. I forgot all about the terror of this ladder.

The rain kept me from riding outside Saturday.  I've been trying to jump start my running again after enduring a heel injury, so I did that close to home at Whitecliff park.  It has a short, hilly gravel loop that was plenty solid after all of the rain and I ran a couple miles there.

The creek that runs through Whitecliff is normally a trickle but was pretty high.  It's a really pretty place, summer or winter.

My heel did bother me a bit afterward.  I couldn't find a sufficient place to stretch my Achilles, so I jumped up on the bridge.  It was warm, warmer than I thought, so I was drenched from the drizzle and from sweat while enjoying the view and assessing the damage to my wretched body.

Exactly what you think is happening here is happening.  If your tie is wrinkled and you have to go, you don't have time to remove it.  Just put it on the board and give it a go.  After this, we had the house to ourselves on a Saturday night so the beautiful Mrs K and I enjoyed the solitude!

The wind was vicious last night and today. The sun was inviting but it was pretty brutal outside. Deanna and I had a huge list of things to accomplish, mostly indoors. On the list was changing the oil in the Focus.  It should be easiest oil change ever.  It is not.  There is a cover under the engine and transmission that has to be removed.  Super easy but time consuming.

Also on the list was riding.  But the fore mentioned wind soured me on riding outside, so watching the 2007 Tour and riding the trainer was the best that I could do.

Climbing Trees Adult Style

Remember when you were a kid and finding trees to climb around your neighborhood was a goal?  Sometimes they were tall and sometimes they were just above shoulder level.  Either way, it was fun and hanging out in a tree was a great way to view the world.  Along my journey to adulthood, I grew terrified of heights.  Yet I find myself climbing ladders and getting onto roofs.  Kind of like the adult version of climbing trees, only with terror rather than excitement.  This ladder looks safe, right?

 Hmm.  I've been up this one before.  I can do it.  I'm only 51, not 100.

 Yeah.  Not so bad.  Even if I fell, my body bashing against the rails on the way down would break my fall.  Very comforting.

Once on top, all was good.  Except the 30 mph winds and freezing temps, it was great!  There was ice to contend with, but I'm only 51, not 100.  What's a little ice?  In reality, it was fine until I walked to the edge and looked down.

Endless Winter, Testing Limits of Sanity

 Another cold week started off with a late night trip to Wal-Mart.  Man, I hate that place.  But Mrs K and I got a ton of amusement from this over-zealous cart manager.

And I got some amusement over the beautiful Mrs K's need for reading glasses.  She has been making fun of me for years for squinting.  Now...the chickens have come home to roost!

How I would love to roost in the new Kia Stinger.  Twin turbo goodness from a decidedly affordable car company.  Short list if I win the bottom feeder lottery.

Deanna and I were able to ride outside twice this past week.  The sun is setting later and there was actually sun!  We didn't have to turn on our lights until we were about half-way through.

Finally had to get new pens.  8 months on the last two.  It's the small things in office life that stand out.

And while these are small, they are big.  My lunch notes from my beautiful wife.  Multi-colored and incredibly timely for my moods.  Thanks baby.

I stopped by Billy Goat Bikes on Saturday for some tires and Dirk had a couple of treasures in the back.  One was this Redline MX-II.  I had a blue one and a red one in my first year of racing!

 There was also this Diamond Back Turbo.  Wow, this stuff takes me back!  This one wasn't too bad, despite the broken right crank arm....and those rotten tires look original!

The beautiful Mrs K and I had to bust out and take in a little night life, too.  I caught her amazing beauty in this shot, accidentally!  She is the love of my life.

I may or may not have taken my youngest for some driving practice Sunday.  He was so much better than I thought he would be. And so much better than I was when I first got behind a wheel.

And then reality hit and I found myself doing 20/40's on the trainer.  Again.  Ahhhhhh!  Save me from winder, please!!

Cold, Basketball, Bikes, Birthdays and Food

The weekend started off with BRUTAL cold Friday night, but we still had to face it and take Eli to one of two basketball games for the weekend.  More on that later.  Saturday morning, I woke up to 16 degrees.  Cold enough to freeze the recently flooded mountain bike trails AND my fingers.

I took it like a champ and rode (skated) around on ice, both thick and thin.  I lasted an hour.  Which is about all of the time I had since Eli had another basketball game just after lunch.  I was glad I rode, though, since it's been really hard to get outside with the weather.

Did I mention that I have finally turned the black no-name mountain bike that I use as a cyclocross bike into my gravel bike?  It's true.  I raced 'cross and the 54 mile Cuban Gravel Crisis gravel race with flat bars.  Well, no more.  It has proper handlebars now.

Zooming to Eli's basketball game, this scoreboard represents a complete 180 degree turn over Friday nights game.  They played great this time and came a way winners.  Last nights game?  Nope.

More zooming ensued.  We zoomed to Columbia to meet Hanna at the Mizzou basketball game.   I've never been to a basketball game above high school level so it was pretty cool to see.  Pretty good game, although we lost.

Obligatory selfie.  Hanna was sitting with her peeps in the student section, obviously missing out on all the fun we were having.

Finally coming to her senses, Hanna met up with us and we all went to eat.  At the same time, we presented her with presents for her 19th birthday, which was a week ago.  It took all four of us to help her put her new necklace on.  Seriously.  We at a place called Cheddars, which is sort of like O'charly's or Applebee's.  We all ate too much and still had food to bring home in doggie bags. 

And tonight, I'm eating those leftovers.  Cajun Pasta. Still had enough to share with the Beautiful Mrs K.

It's the Weekend, Better Make the Most of it

It was Affton versus Affton Friday night.  With multiple Affton 6-8 grade basketball teams, they are bound to play each other at some point.  I caught a fabulous glimpse of Eli and his TK-made duct tape jersey.  Still going strong, that stuff stays on even after a washing.

Things weren't going well for Eli's Affton team.  Then, this happened.  One point game, less than thirty seconds to go.  Tense basketball action!!

Almost 20 seconds and multiple fouls later, it was still a 1 point game.  I can't tell you how many shots were missed in this small snippet of time.  In the end, it was exactly like this, and thus ended the most intense kids basketball game I've ever witnessed.

Less tense but no less interesting was the Saturday afternoon trip to Dierberg's.  The beautiful Mrs K and I had snacks to buy for a trivia night.  Busy, no doubt, but it wasn't as bad as Walmart, which we mercifully passed up.  The Walmart parking lot looked like a boiling cauldron of fear and anxiety.

While Mrs K took a nap (she's had a monster of a cold, given to her by me, and she needed some rest) I broke out old faithful.  The Redline hadn't seen action in a couple of weeks due to the cold and BAM, it was a fantastic ride.  I felt super good!  12 miles of hills and sprints!

After a crushing loss at the trivia night at Deanna's old high school, we had to take a selfie.  You can tell we were pretty torn up about the loss.......

Totally onward and upward, we loaded up the gravel bikes and headed south.  We both really wanted to ride.  Muddy trails and gritty roads prompted me to scan my brain for a bike path that wasn't lame.  I remembered how good the old paved path at St. Joe State Park was.  Hilly, scenic, relatively unused.

 Perfect!  11 miles long, lots of climbing, super fun downhills, not much flat, and good scenery.

The sun went behind the clouds as we were preparing to ride.  But it came out after a lap and stayed out and pushed the temps up.  A ton of fun and a killer workout.  Mrs K got in 2 laps and I pushed on for a hard 3rd lap.

We brought our reward with us.  A nice picnic lunch in the 70 degree sun. We need more days like this!