That Time Again! Year End, 2024

That's right, the end of 2024 is nigh! That means weird behaviors, strange rituals, incredibly insane shopping stories...and decorated sugar cookies. I'm not tryna brag, but my MEH cookie is in a totally different league than Alex's perfect cookie. Who wants a sugar cookie so perfect that you could shellac it and hang it from a hook on your Christmas tree??

I had to include this photo of us making the aforementioned cookies because I thought the expressions were priceless. Tyson looks like he's wondering about the success of introducing bacon grease to a sugar cookie, but he hasn't said anything yet.

All year, I've been getting photos like this in my inbox. I'm pretty proud of her, but I'm also thinking it might be a passive-aggressive way of her telling me to get my flabby buttocks back into the gym. "How many plates you want on that Olympic bar, Hanna?" "I reckon I'll take some of the Big 'uns" she said.

I saw this on the internet the other day, and I thought it was such a perfect word! I applied it to Eli's trip to Gulf Shores with Kai. 

They meandered around the Gulf area, visited Florida (no Florida Man sightings) and generally just coddiwompled around until they ran out of money and time. They are almost home as of this writing.

Name tags are essential in some social settings. 

What is seemingly very boring news, I got a new mountain bike. What was not boring was that it was a surprise. I had no idea that my family had schemed to get a new bike for me for Christmas. It was only after asking a thousand questions about how to prepare this bike for a made-up customer that Eli finally spilled the beans and told me it was for me. Not only that, he mentioned that the new Boyd wheels that have yet to arrive would have decals that matched the yellow graphics on the new bike! I'll take another pic of that when I get them. I may be in the twilight of my cycling career, but my bikes keep getting better! (you don't have to feel mahvelous, you just have to look mahvelous)

Speaking of mahvelous! Not really. But it was better than last year by a chunk. I had a few good races, too. I won a Tuesday Night Crit. I won a cyclocross race. I think I did 17 races total this year. I'll take it. 

And The Beautiful Mrs. K did what she does: Gathering, organizing, planning, promoting, encouraging, riding, coaching...it's exhausting! 

And Remi the Hound Dog continues to do Remi. 

Atta boy, Rem.

And last, but certainly not least, we got a band together. Not like a musical band. But a band of coaches and mechanics and mountain bike nerds to give a stepping stone for kids who want to go farther with their sport. South Side XC Devo. You will see them everywhere in the early spring, riding, racing, and more. Say hi, give them the thumbs up, and watch for bigger and better things. 

Now then. On to...

 

Ride To Fame

When it comes to bicycle collectors, their motivations vary quite a bit. Some collectors want bikes they had as kids. Some want the bikes they couldn't afford as kids. Some just want to collect and flip and make money. But usually, a Freshour bike collector is different. Freshour frames are quite rare, as not many were made to begin with, and even fewer survived the 40-ish years since the last one was welded up in Sikeston, Missouri.

Steve Freshour has the best reason to collect them: He is the distant cousin of Jerry Freshour himself. Gathering these odd racing frames up and keeping them as family heirlooms is probably the best reason I can think of to be a collector. Steve contacted me some time ago and we talked about him designing his travels from California around a trip through St. Louis. It would be a great opportunity for me to see the old TK frame, and he wanted me to sign a few of the items for posterity's sake. Eli and I had gotten a road ride together last Sunday, putting us in a perfect place to meet Steve at Greensfelder as he made his way through St. Louis.

It was so cool to have Eli see some of the old world stuff. We were able to cruise the TK and another cool white model around the lot a bit. I was surprised they actually rode ok, thinking that new world stuff had just gotten too different. But nope, they were nice, and Steve had even built them up true to the 80's. Some parts, of course, just had to be newer, but they were legit enough to give me the warm and funny 1984 feels. The TK had the correct bars and fork, too. This was one of my earlier ones, as it also had the lower mounted seat post clamp (pain in the butt, but very unique).

I signed a few number plates and top tube pads for Steve's collection, and we bade him farewell and safe trip. I'm super happy that there are people out there who want to preserve the old stuff. The tiny Freshour Cycle company carved out a much bigger chunk of BMX history than I ever imagined.