i thought i was coming down with something...

i have been quite ill over the past few days. wouldn't you know it, after such a good trip and great training, i get pneumonia. i feel like a truck has run over me. it's awful!

all i want to do is sleep. i slept most of yesterday. i slept last night, although fitfully. i've been sleeping this morning. and i'm still tired.

ah, this is my life.

off-roading

on the last day of my tuscon vacation, the pat came by to take brian and i mtn biking. the weather was sketchy, with rain and clouds and wind. but it was very warm, and tuscon is nothing but sand anyway, so what the heck?

we went to the same trails that i rode back in 2004 when sram invited me out to ride the then-new reba and pike suspension forks. it's a cool, twisty trail with a few crazy rock outcroppings. the pat loaned me a scott spra-kaa, otherwise known as the spark. the rear suspension didn't work, but the front did, and the brakes worked, so that was all i needed. brian was rolling the 2001 homegrown, pretty much frozen in time from 2001. the pat was on a long travel scott, and he led the way.

i was beginning to come down with something. i felt it in my chest and my throat. great. 220 miles over the last 4 days and i was getting sick. it didn't matter, though, because it was the first time i had been off-roading since november and i was loving it.

the trail hazards were clear: cactus. neither the pat nor i needed to worry, as we seemed immune to the deadly cacti that lines every single inch of the trail. brian, on the other hand, had three incidents with the prickly beasts. by the time we were done, i told brian he should use an asbestos suit next time.

we bid the pat farewell, and we jammed back to the apartment to clean up so i could make my plane back to the stl.

the shootout

saturday mornings in tuscon are for the shootout.

the shootout is a big group ride that leaves from the university and goes south.  regularly, it is a huge ride.  this time, there was about 120 people on the ride.  it starts early, too.  7:30.  you know, when it's still 39 degrees and you have to wear all kinds of winter wear, when you came to a warm place to ride in warm weather.

we rolled out of town on bad pavement and worse riding.  as many bad ass riders as there were in the pack, there were just as many squirrels.  trying to avoid deep holes, cracks, creases and rocks on the road was just as hard as avoiding the swerving of the riders who were strong enough but not skilled enough.  somebody freaked out in front of me, i body slammed him, staying up but i was body slammed by another rider who went down.

i stayed in the group a little longer, then just popped.  i waited a minute, then caught on with a good group that pacelined some killer rolling roads all the way back to the main field.  brian joined us and kept the guys (and one girl) in line.

i was in no mood to ride, being tired and worn out from the last few days, but we completed the ride with no more incidents.

after the ride, we drove the convertible, top down, up to mount lemon.  what a beautiful place to be in.  great views.

we vegged a bit more, watched super troopers again, and went to dinner at yet another phenomenal mexican restaurant.

tomorrow, a short mtb ride with the pat and a plane ride home to see my beautiful mrs k.

Win some ROL wheels!!!

the hotness!  c'mon, get you some hotness!

ROL WHEELS RAFFLE

my vacation continues

friday's ride was very interesting.  it went out of town in a different direction, and brian called it the big square ride.  i really didn't see much square about it, but it contained my favorite hill i have ever done.

just a bit after leaving the heavy traffic of tuscon behind, we started into gates pass park.  there was about a 5 mile lead in of climbing that was just steeper than false flat.  that was cool with great scenery.  once inside the actual park, the road narrowed and began to kick up to real climbing levels, and i started my lance armstrong imitation.  the hill was perfect for 100rpm climbing for about 2 miles, which i rarely get to do for such extended periods.  it would kick and mellow, kick and melow, but still at a fun grade, beyond my much hated false flat level.  finally, it turned upward to obscene levels and it was on.  it topped out soon afterward and went downhill.

we had a great ride for about 3 hours, despite really, really rough pavement.  after that, i was in the pain cave and very uncomfortable.  brian was fine, and did most of the pulling.  we stopped at pat collier's bench and soaked in a power bar and the sun.  on the ride went, well into the 4+ hour zone.  we ended the ride with 5 sprints.  i'd like to tell you that i mopped up the floor with brian in the sprints, but he got better and better each sprint until i barely beat him on the last one before we reached home.

pizza and a movie, ah, the life.  we watched boondock saints, which was good.  then out for japanese food with the pat and his wife.   we were beat when we got home and hit the hay for the shootout on saturday.  all told, i had 170 miles ridden in 3 days.  yikes.  

puttin' in the miles

after a great breakfast at einsein's, brian and i set out to put in some miles.  we rode with the massive wind, which always raises a flag in my mind.  you have to pay the piper sometime.

after a few miles, it was a very slight incline for nearly 20 miles.  that sort of blows my mind.  at the end of that rainbow, it was downhill rather fast, for about 5 straight miles.  the goal was to turn around there, head uphill for 20 minutes, rinse, spin, repeat.  great.  i have been wanting to climb like that for a long time.  brian and i had different goals.  i was going for some threshold climbing, he was going for strength efforts.  the climbing part was fun, because i could sweat.  by the end of my effort, i was dripping and happy, as i had busted out with something like 300 watts for the entire effort.  my second one was much more mellow, but turned out ok.  i will be very happy to see the graph of the efforts when i get home.

brian was waiting at the top for me after my second effort, a victim of his rickity knees.  i have complete sympathy for him, being a fellow rickity knee owner.  so we started back, buffeted by the massive headwinds.  we stopped at a quaint little dive gas station that charged us .35 to fill our water bottles and hit the road again, just after brian used the outside wall as a porta pottie.   

so we had 20 miles of rolling downhill.  not enough of a downhill to help us against the wicked crosswinds.  nothing froze toes has ever dished out could prepare me for this kind of vicious cross wind.  add to this the bite of the temperature, and the stings of the occasional minute long rain showers, and it was quite challenging.  with about 8 miles to go, i hit the wall.  i kept going, but brian clearly had left his knee problems on the hills and pulled me along a helluva lot more than i was pulling him.  70 miles, 4 hours, a bit of wind burn on the face.  as an aside, i love my orca.

happy to see the house, we dressed and bolted across the road for mexican.  fat and happy, we vegged in front of the tv for a fantastic viewing of super troopers.  an incredible dinner at a really great burger place, again leaving fat and happy.

still missing the family, still wondering if vacations should ever be taken without the important people you leave behind.

tuscon tim

i got a message on my phone today from dan calling me tuscon tim.  i go on my first vacation in a couple of years and i have a nick name.

i got up at 4:55am.  i took my sorry butt to 7-eleven to use the atm.  i got to the metro link station at 5:20, in time to get a ticket and sit down...and remember i had to validate the ticket.  why?  and why do i always forget.  i didn't forget that it was 14 degrees as i ran back down the stairs and validated the ticket, and got on the train just as the doors closed.

two planes later and i landed in tuscon.  the beautiful mrs k had reserved a 2007 mustang convertible for my driving pleasure.  schvonzie talked me through the directions to his house from the airport, since my mapquest directions were still on my washing machine in st.louis.

tuscon is usually sunny and warm, but specially for me they ordered up wind, rain, and clouds, along with 59 degrees.  undaunted, schvonzie and i busted out for a 30 mile ride.  it only rained a tad bit, and i got to see the landscape.  what a great place.

as a bonus, schvonzie, me, and his wife met up with none other than pat collier for some killer mexican food.  we all caught up and hope to kick it a little more before i head back to st. louis.

we're going to do about 4 hours tomorrow with some serious climbing on tap.

i miss my family so bad!  i'm a homebody.  mrs k.  tyson.  hanna.  eli.  the dogs.  gosh, i hate vacations.

leaving on a jet plane

i'm heading out to tuscon tomorrow. it is with much trepidation that i leave, though.

there is always so much to do. home, work, kids, etc. it's hard to get things done when i'm home. i don't think i can get things done when i'm not home...?

then i'll miss everyone, too. not that i don't like brian and his wife, quite the contrary. but the beautiful mrs k is going to be 2000 miles away. and the kids will be, too. who's going to wake me up 3 times a night? what about the dogs? what will they do without me? what will i do without them???

no wonder i don't like to go on vacations.....

i kid you not

having not shaved my legs since october, it was not a job for a schick. it was a job for electric clippers.

the majority of this pile of hair came from my legs. but, you know, you have the clippers going, there's excess hair, before you know it, there's a pile of hair the size of a large rodent on the floor.

you hairless people out there don't know how good you've got it.

Buy My Stuff

i've become a pack rat. help me stop the madness!

HERE

grrrrrrr

what was that? i heard something. i think. i don't know.

i know i heard something! i may have to get up and tear someone a new one! grrrr. grrrr. don't make me get off this bed! don't make me!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

good thing i don't have an office job

i hate to shave. it's hard on my delicate face. and it takes time. and i don't have the patience for it. i could shave twice a day, as my 5 o'clock shadow is really more like a 1 o'clock shadow, 5 o'clock darkness.

but if i don't shave, it gets itchy. and scratchy. it's more grey than black now. i look really old when i don't shave. the kids recoil in horror from the brillo pad that is my face. and it looks bad. some guys look rugged when they don't shave, i just look unshaven.

electric razors don't work for me. all those great commercials about how electric razors can be as close as a blade are pure fiction. i've tried a lot of them, and using them is like shaving with a butter knife. i got one of those cool foil types this last time and i may as well just wish the hair away for all the good that thing has done.

just as well. shaving must be a way of teaching me patience.

i wanna rock!

looks pretty natural, doesn't it?? the next miley cyrus? who knows. at least she looks the part.

get 'em up horsey!

i love engines

the joe dirt in me really loves engines. all the moving parts, the promise of horsepower and noise, the sense of accomplishment when they're put together right....ah, redneckism!

this is a photo (that i lifted from autoblog) of the new corvette LS9 engine, the supercharged 6.2 liter 620+ horsepower beast that will power the new ZR1 corvette. it's a cutaway. i love cutaways. you get to see all of the cool bits that are hidden when the engine is fully assembled. this thing is compact, lightweight, powerful, and even gets good mileage, great mileage if you compare it to any engine that makes close to it's horsepower.