South Side XC Devo Team be Rollin' Up the Wins!

 

That headline might have fooled you into thinking that I took one of those wins, but NOPE. I did get this pretty cool photo, though!

We raced in Cape Girardeau today, at a wonderful little park called Klaus. I've raced there quite a few times over the years and it never disappoints. So twisty, so flowy, and quite a bit of elevation but you might never know it. The ups and downs are meshed together pretty well so it never seems like you climb very long. 

The Devo's were devastating today, taking 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th in Cat 1. Then 1st, 2nd, 4th, 8th and 9th in Cat 2. The Marathoners saw 3rd and 4th go to our team. The Women's Cat 2 race had a Devo win as well as 3rd, 4th, and 5th place finishes.

Wow! It was awesome to see 18 riders in the white, red, and black Devo kits. 

Exceeding your own Expectations

I think a lot of athletes pick out that one moment in their athletic career that feels like it was their "best". The kind of moment that most other moments are measured by. 

I'm super lucky. I've had many experiences on my bike that were beyond my own expectations. Maybe that's a better point, that exceeding your own expectations actually defines "best" more appropriately.

Aside from my own tendency to dwell on every failure I've ever had, I do have a lot of incredible mental snapshots from BMX racing, mountain bike racing, road racing, and even duathlon and running races. 46 years of competition contains a LOT of memories.

Arguably, the photo above is on paper head and shoulders above my other cycling achievements. That is the 1985 World Cup in Nashville, Tennessee. I've probably never been better in any of my athletic pursuits than that very moment. But I have many, many more "lesser" achievements that stand out stronger. 

One example, and usually the one that comes to mind when I go down the ol' memory lane: I was 13 years old in 1980. My dad had been taking me to the races for a few months and I was still a "Novice", not yet upgraded to "Expert". The hot local track was Supercross, which was on Missouri Bottom road (there is a paintball course there now). It was a week night and I was the only 13 Novice to show up, so they slotted me in with the 13 experts. I won. I was as surprised as the Experts. When we got home my dad, who rarely spoke, announced to my mom: "Well honey, Timmy beat the Experts tonight".  He said it like the United States Olympic Committee was going to show up in a few minutes and give me a medal. 

I know in the world today that winning big at the highest level of sports is the only thing that matters to so many people. Don't get me wrong, that level of physical excellence is amazing and the effort necessary to get there is almost unbelievable. But I've been taking stock of a lot of things lately, like what I've achieved, what I didn't quite achieve, etc. I keep coming back to the idea of exceeding my own expectations. 

(I'm not sure who to give photo credit to for the photo I've included. If it is your photo, please let me know so I can give credit or compensation. Thanks.)

 

A little Fight left in the Old Man Yet

Rhett's Run mountain bike course in Columbia, Missouri is quite a piece of work. It's about as technical as you can get. And every time I race there, it seems to be more climb-heavy than the year before. It's actually a pretty ancient race, as I can remember racing there 20+ years ago.

This time it went really well, despite the scorching heat which caused the race director to shorten the race by a lap. Still, an hour and a half of mountain bike racing on such a technical course can take it out of a guy.

I kept a good pace and fought off heat stroke to find myself in 5th overall, and first guy over 50. This, despite a ridiculous 1mph high-side crash in an UPHILL switchback and smashing my elbow into the gravelly ground. 

The SSXC Devo team did great, and we had a win on the female side and podiums in the other classes, too. Onward and upward, race fans!

 

Happy Father's Day to Me!

The day started off like most days, except it was better than most days. My favorite daughter Hanna (star of Fitness in the Fast Lane) had clandestinely deposited a suspicious bag in my bedroom. I assumed it was for Father's Day, but who knew it would contain such wonders? Snacks! And some creepy mouth tape to keep me from snoring. Thanks honey!

Next up was a large, heavy cardboard box. The Beautiful Mrs. K had ordered up a gift for me that every yard freak covets. The cordless weed whacker with the battery the size of George's block of cheese! No way I'm running out of juice before all the weeds have been sufficiently whacked. 

Eli came up with something that was on the one hand a Father's Day gift, and on the other had a big middle finger to Mrs. K and I for taking him on long hikes as a kid. We used to tell him they were only a mile or two and they'd end up being 4 or 5. And I usually forgot to bring water and snacks. So today our 53 mile ride with a gas station stop "right up here" turned out to be a 67 miles ride with a gas station stop just before Mrs. K went Hulk-on-Loki on Eli. It was a brilliant ride, nonetheless, capping off my longest week in years.

And I was able to spend 40 of the 67 miles riding on a Rice Crispy Treat wrapper that was plugging the massive gash in my Corsa Pro. I ran over a piece of glass the size of a golf ball. Thump-thump-thump-thump went the bulge. I kept letting more air out of it as the hole expanded, each time getting a little less thumping. Until it expanded again and the thumping reached a fever pitch. I ended the ride at around 30psi. Rice Crispy Treat wrapper still holding at the time of this writing.