Fall of 2024 has been a Challenge

It really has been quite a fall so far. Besides the usual hectic end-of-season event schedule (races, rides, events, sales, etc.) the big news around here was Eli returning home. His school was heavily damaged in the recent hurricanes, pretty much ending his collegiate mountain bike season. At the same time, our talented daughter moved back from Dallas...having a successful work-from-home job pays off in so many ways! The beautiful Mrs. K and I took them out to Cafe Nova for a bite.

The Girls Night Out (GNO for the cool kids) ride wrapped up last week with the annual Halloween ride. There are some crazy folks out there, let me tell you. Their energy and love for the ride makes it worth doing week after week all year. Here's to more growth and more fun for 2025!

I've been hitting the cyclocross races most weekends. I had some success in the lower classes, and by my own edict was forced to move into the top class. Man, I hate losing. I really, really hate it but honestly I FEEL fast. I do plan on doing all of them, but I seriously won't race in the mud. Some cyclocross racer I am, right??

Since Hanna has endured a couple of really hard training rides with me, it seemed only fair that I join her at the gym. Now I'm no stranger to gyms, as I grew up quite the meat head. But in my golden years I've only worked out in the basement. So sticking my nose into a real life pump-you-up facility was a bit of a culture shock. But I did enjoy it, and I'm amazed at how strong she is. I am planning on joining the gym with Mrs. K so we can get totally buffed.

Right about the time we get used to having Eli back, he's heading back to Banner Elk to finish out the school year. I'm skeptical about him going back for two weeks, having Thanksgiving break, then going back for the final two weeks. Seems like a lot of back and forth for something he could probably finish online. But, let's get it done, I suppose.

I was also skeptical concerning the condition of my Hound Dog's innards after finding two large Fortell's Pizza boxes strewn about the kitchen the other night. Just how much pizza was left in those, I asked out loud.

Two old guys, still kicking it. One of my oldest friends, Doug keeps racing the big boy races just like me. But more than just back markers, we do get to pass on our wisdom to the younger crowd. If they'll listen, that is. I remember being 20 years old, showing up at my first non-bmx bike race. I would have NEVER listened to two old dudes like this. I was too hard-headed to recognize the value of 90 years of experience between these guys on two wheels. 

And on top of all the things that The Beautiful Mrs. K takes care of, I can't forget to mention the BIG THING on the agenda for 2025. The South Side XC U23 and Junior Development teams. It's a project that is very dear to us and she has gathered an amazing group of people to make it happen. Sponsors, coaches, and riders...all top notch. The idea is to take riders who are committed to be the best mountain bikers they can be and help them GET THERE. Stay tuned, it's going to be awesome.






 

Cyclocross Madness at Queeny

The only thing I got going on these days is cyclocross racing. I work, I ride some, work some more, and hopefully race cross on Sundays. And it's been going good for the old man. The Alton races went well (shout out to the Cyclery crew for an amazing series!) and today marked the first of the Bubba Series. Mike from Big Shark has been pumping these races out for what, 20 years? As you can probably tell from the photo, I won the race at Queeny today. It's a B category win, so I'm not shouting from the rooftops. I'd get waxed in the A races, although that's what I'm shooting for this season...trying to get better so the spanking in the A races won't be as bad it could be!

The Beautiful Mrs. K captured the pain and suffering. She said I didn't look bad, but she wasn't watching the heart rate monitor that I was watching. And another thing...I just look so blah on a bike. You know those people who look fast just cruising by? Yeah. No. Not me. Like here, I look like I'm peering down at my handlebars like they're crooked or something. I want to say to my racing photos "Dude, are you racing or getting ready to fall over?"

 

Family Weekend at Lees McRae

The Beautiful Mrs. K and I drove the Grandparents and Eli's main squeeze to North Carolina this past weekend. It was Lees McRae's Family Weekend and a Collegiate Race Weekend on their home turf. The home course on the school property is no joke. Here we are posing with the man of the hour, in his fresh and minty new LM kit. And he got a hair cut!

Although the weather was spectacular for the start of the cross country race, it was damp from the heavy fog. This is at the top of the first climb, right off of the start. OUCH!! There were at least 25 schools in attendance, with an unbelievable number of students racing. 

Good start for Eli in a huge field of riders. The course is treacherous in the dry (I know, I rode it in June) but with the wet roots and rocks it was downright spooky! Eli landed a solid 11th place and no falls. 

After the XC race was over, we had to get ourselves fed. The school cafeteria was a good place to start, with lots of quick options. Of course, I made a snack faux pas and smothered my ice cream with what I thought were toppings.  Turns out, they actually use Cocoa Puffs as cereal in these parts. Who knew?

Later, we took the Grandparents up to see the views on Beech Mountain. I never get tired of this view myself. As you can see, the weather was just incredible. 

Although Eli didn't race the dual slalom, we all went over to watch the races. It's cool how integrated the race courses are. The slalom course fits neatly inside the Short Track course, and actually intersects the school's cyclocross course, too. 

Speaking of Short Track, this was one tough course on Sunday morning. Again, the heavy fog and dew made for some super slick grass and roots. Eli started WAAAYYY far back in the field. 

After one slow-motion slide out in the back field of the course, he made up some spots to finish 16th. The most grueling 25 minutes in mountain biking is a collegiate Short Track race!

Racing done, we turned our focus to family fun stuff. Every time we have visited the LM campus, we have driven past the Alpine Coaster. It's a wicked thing, like a one-cart roller coaster on small rails...that rises a couple hundred feet up the mountain and speeds back down. You have control over your cart's speed, but, no, not really. Here Eli and Kai are getting the down-low from the owner on how to behave while perched on these death machines.

This is the first climb on the cart, just after leaving the start house. I wish the photo could do justice to the steepness and sheer terror that this thing evokes. Well, the terror it evoked in me, anyway. We did three laps. I almost cried.

I had to include this cute photo of Eli with Grandma at the pumpkin patch. We drove up and over a mountain and into the boonies to see the sights and came upon this farm. Eli takes this route on his road bike and wanted to stop. 

And I had to get the love birds, too. I didn't catch them smooching, though. 

Obviously, any weekend trip that I'm going to be a part of involves food. We ate at some great places, but the Pedalin' Pig was a standout. It was next to our fabulous AirBnB, and we passed it several times a day over the course of the weekend. On our last night, we loaded ourselves down with this stuff. I highly recommend! Alas, our visit had to come to an end. We left our young cyclist/college student in Banner Elk again. I have to admit, it's not been easy. He leaves a pretty big hole with his absence. 

 

Still Racing Bikes, in Case you Forgot

The Super Prestige Cyclocross races in Alton are always a nice treat at the end of the road and mountain bike race seasons. There are still a couple events, particularly some of the endurance mountain bike races, but for the most part the start cyclocross signifies the switching off of the others. There are usually 3 amazing courses in the Alton series, and then starts the Bubba Series in the St. Louis area. Today was my favorite in the series, Rock Springs Park. Very technical, with plenty of places to open up. Pretty climb heavy, too. Although Anthony D flat out crushed me, I felt awesome and held off a few fast guys for second place. 

I was by far the oldest man in the race, but I never think about that until afterward. They don't give out awards for the old guy that whines about being old, do they? Nope. Thanks to the Cyclery and Old Man Tom for putting these on year after year. Hopefully, I'll get to do my second favorite course next weekend, Belk Park.

 

Labor Day Weekend Carries Weight Around Here

 

Labor Day weekend has always meant a lot to us. Deanna and I were married on Labor Day weekend 19 years ago. And our kids LOVED the Gateway Cup races, each of them winning quite a few of those Build A Bears. (Aren't Tyson and Hanna just so darn cute??)

It's still a special weekend for us. This time around, we were extra lucky. Not only did our baby boy come back for a quick visit from North Carolina, but he raced the Francis Park crit on Saturday.

Not only that, but Hanna is here on loan from Dallas. She is threatening to come back to St. Louis to stay. (Great smiles from everyone except me. I was eating Cheetos. Even had the bag stuffed in my back pocket for the photo)

If she does, we will work on avoiding the dreaded Cat 5 marks. And we will absolutely have another ride leader for GNO!

And Oh My Gosh, don't they STILL look cute? Labor Day weekend will always bring out the best in our quirky and chaotic household.

Pictures are Enough

Rare Life Opportunities

 It’s hard for parents and their kids to share things. Different generations find different things interesting. Grievances or misunderstandings keep distance between mother and daughter, father and son. 

I’m so lucky that I’ve had little to keep myself and my kids from enjoying each other. They’ve kept me young and I’ve shown them a thing or two about old people. 

Obvious things: riding bikes. I’ve not pushed bikes or biking on my kids. They’ve all come to it in various ways on their own. They enjoy it in their way, and it makes me happy. 

Eli has taken on biking and bike racing a lot like I have, but he’s still different. In a good way, I’ve had the extremely rare experience of competing head to head with him over the last two years in mountain bike racing. Not many dads can say that. And some of our races have been ferocious. He’s won more of them, and I’m proud of him, 

Tonight we raced our first criterium together, and we raced as a team. He made an attack with two to go, hoping that if we caught him I could counter attack. It all went to plan except i ran out of talent. But damn, it was a bike racing dad’s dream. Such an awesome experience.

I’ve ridden bikes with Hanna and Tyson, too. They may be equally talented as Eli. I would love to race something with them one day! Bucket list complete!! 

Even a Blind Squirrel....

I haven't raced a crit in a bit more than 6 years. Not having the time, and plain old fear have kept me from even bothering. But after watching Eli kill it in his first real attempt a few weeks ago, I knew I had to give it another shot.

Now I think we all know that the Tuesday night crits (TNW's for the cool kids) are not hard core criteriums like the big ones, but people go pretty hard anyway. I felt pretty good the whole time and I put myself in the right places (mostly) and I gutted out a 2nd place. I'm actually VERY happy about that. Like my old friend Dirk has always said: "Even a blind squirrel eventually finds a nut."

The Beautiful Mrs. K gathered up the 1st and 3rd finishers tonight for an ad-lib podium (with no actual podium). Chad Brown killed it, and Kellen got 3rd. I, looking like 10 pounds of shit in a 9 pound bag in my skinsuit, got 2nd. I like my socks better than their socks, though. And I'm 100% sure I'm 40 years older than they are. Bonus!
 

When a Sump Pump Creates more Problems than it's Worth

 

If you own a newer home with a basement, chances are you have a sump pump. We have one. The sump well has a trickle of water in it most of the time. When it rains really heavily, I'll hear the pump kick on for a few seconds and then I won't hear it for another hour. Maybe not until it rains heavily again. Since we've had a LOT of rain lately, the pump kicked on while I was lifting weights in the basement. I saw an awesome stream of water rocketing toward the wall and thought...that's not right. Sure enough, the check valve had sprung a leak. It's 20 years old, after all. After dousing myself in water after disconnecting the valve, I skipped off to Lowes for a replacement.

17 George Washingtons later, I had a new check valve, complete with new connector hoses! Bonus! "Not so fast!" the new check valve muttered. Upon connecting the new valve, I was again doused in fresh water because...drumroll please...the new valve was cracked all of the way around it's bolt-pattern. Leave it to Lowes to have a generic, faulty valve right there on the shelf for me to buy. And leave it to me to be the sucker that buys it.

It's Been a Lifetime

It was 20 years ago this month that I had the worst accident ever in cycling. Worst ever, period. I was hitting it hard at the front of the dirt crits at Castlewood. Ryan Pirtle was trading the lead with me, only a couple laps in. We left the field and went into the woods and BAM! 

I had hit a root sticking up pretty far out of the ground. Both my hands popped off of the bars, and I did a slow-motion Superman towards a fairly small tree. I hit the tree, arms outstretched, between my left arm and my head. I remember it sounding like a bag full of aluminum cans. I immediately sat up, searching for my bike. But no air. None. I had ceased to breathe. I crawled around on the ground, trying to get to any air that I could. There were people standing around. I actually reached out to one, but had nothing. I rolled onto my back. There were more people gathering. Still no air. But more people. 

After an excruciating ride to the hospital in an ambulance, I finally got to see Deanna. She was there, on one of our first few dates, watching the race. She was told by the other spectators that I had a crash. That was a lot for someone to handle, seeing your Thursday night date was in critical condition. But there she was. 

8 broken ribs in my back. Punctured lung. Broken coracoid process. 3rd degree Acromiclavicular separation. I slept upright in a chair for 5 weeks. My shoulder is still ugly. I never got it fixed. Never had surgery. Perhaps I should have, perhaps I should have completed the physical therapy, too. But the ambulance ride alone was $1000. We won't go into the physical and psychological costs.

But she was there. Bad date night or not. That's love.

 

Klaus Park UFD Mountain Bike Race

Oh, the joy of riding a mountain bike on fast, tricky trails! I've enjoyed Klaus Park for many years now, and it keeps getting better. Myself and two of the three South Side mountain biker boys ventured south to Cape Girardeau for the race there. It was hot but a nice breeze kept me from melting. I'd say that the camera angle was a little funny, because Eli and Brody look very fit, and I look like I have a beer gut. (Flannery Allison photo)

Regardless of my fondness for this trail, I wasn't that fast. FEELING fast and GOING fast are two completely different things. Man, I felt like I was flying! I felt like I had the trail totally dialed in. Weeeelllll.... (Flannery Allison photo)

Eli not only felt fast, he was fast. He hung on to Brody the Destroyer for about half of the race, and ultimately finished 2nd. Brody did his destroying for 1st place and beat out Eli for fasted lap of the day, too. Eli finished comfortably ahead of me, of course. When I say comfortably, it was a few minutes. I won't divulge the number of minutes. (Flannery Allison photo)

Although not completely OK with my finish, I'm always very happy for Eli. Just like Klaus Park, he keeps getting better and better. And he never makes fun of me. Onward and upward! (Flannery Allison photo)



 

FITFL Fitness in the Fast Lane!

 

If there ever was a person you should get to know, it would be Hanna. Of course I have a massive bias, being my daughter and all. But I don't think I'm off base here. I'm forever surprised by her thirst for knowledge and self-betterment. Very recently she's turned her health and fitness ideas into a business venture. It's pretty fresh and still evolving, so it's the perfect time to check it out.

Website: 

Fitness in the Fast Lane

Blog: (also clickable at the bottom of the landing page)

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Lees-McRae Orientation

The Beautiful Mrs. K and I took Eli to North Carolina for orientation at Lees-McRae College. It's a long drive, but going to college is a big life event and something you don't want to miss.

This small school is tucked into the mountains. Like, RIGHT THERE in the mountains. It's got such old-world charm. And everywhere you look, there is something that makes you smile. We had parent orientation while Eli got acquainted with teachers, TA's, and the grounds. Deanna and I stayed in the AirBnB while Eli got his taste of dorm life for a few days. Such an impressive staff, very dedicated to the students.

And there was riding. Oh yes, very good riding. Besides visiting awesome restaurants and awesome coffee shops, we rode mountain bikes. On the school grounds, there is a gnarly set of trails that would turn a person into a mountain biker if they weren't already. And if your climbing isn't good, it will be after staying here a while. 

We all visited Beech Mountain to ride the trails there. Wow. Some moderate single track, but the bulk of the trails were absolutely gnarly. Drops, roots aplenty, sharp ups and downs, etc. We were hitting 200 ft. per mile climbing. At 5200 feet, the altitude was also a thing, at least for us dead-flat landers. When we we had our fill of the dirt, we climbed the last half mile or so on the pavement to the top of Beech to see the downhillers tackle the mountain. Right about this moment, Eli is putting the hammer down on the old man.

After riding, we ate lunch at the resort at the top. We were able to watch the riders riding the lifts up and blasting down the different courses. What a beautiful place to spend time. Mrs. K and I are quite jealous that Eli gets to spend the next few years here...hopefully getting a good education here on top of riding his bike.