Musings

The shop was packed with Wednesday night riders last night. The PRC Papa Johns Ride was kicking off for the year and though there was no official announcement, the taco ride kicked off as well for us dirt lovers. A few of us met up for some dirt lovin good times.




The trails were in conditions that were nearly unbelievable. They were dry yet tacky and perfect for riding. The only thing that possibly could have made it better was if they'd been ridden a little more to clear the line of some debris, but I don't think we could've asked for any more.

I let my arm get twisted to hang with the guys and hit tacos when I really should have hit another lap through Denman's on the return route. I even considered joining Courtney for an additional lap with lights, but by the time I rolled out of Gif's all fat and happy, it was too late and I needed to head for home.

As for the musings, something struck me last night and carried over through this morning. It had been a week since I'd been on the bike. A busy week at that with lots of stuff going on both at work and home. That's life. That's how it happens. In the past few days, I've really been pretty blah and beat down feeling. Even before I got on my bike last night, I was all ready calmer and in a better mood than I'd been in almost a week. Getting on the bike only cemented the feeling into place. Chasing Squirrel around and blowing the cobwebs out just drilled it into my head. I NEED to bike, I want to bike. And getting out on my bike makes me want to get out on my bike even more. It's a self perpetuating cycle (haha) so to speak.

I think it's starting to become more clear to me. If I want peace of mind, sanity, focus, and clarity, I need that time on the saddle. Now I just need to figure out better ways to work my biking into life and vice versa.

Viva la taco ride

Long live the Taco Ride! Even if we can't hit the dirt, Gif's still serves up tacos every Wednesday night. Fuller and I met up for a couple hours of black label last night. I took off a bit early and scouted Denman's in hopes that the temps and people had collaborated to make a rideable trail. It was "rideable", but not what I'd call pleasurable by any means. It was in similar shape to the Big Creek snowmobile trails. You could move and get up on it, but resistance was huge and you'd better put your pressures way down to add some float. Considering we'd still be riding some pavement, airing down that low wasn't going to be much of an option so I bailed a few hundred yards in.

Rolled up the trail to meet Fuller at the junction of Clive and Windsor Heights greenbelt trails. We opted to roll down Clive way thinking/hoping the glare ice sheets would be mostly gone. It didn't matter much to me rolling on studs, but Steve on fat tires would probably be happier if we had a bit less ice. Ran into Kent coming back the other way and chatted with him a bit. He said that RRVT was snowed in so we probably wouldn't be heading that way even if we wanted. Little did he know that I (mostly) and Fuller are pretty pig headed when trying to get from point A to B. The connector portion from the greenbelt to RRVT was indeed snowed in and hadn't been plowed all season from the looks of it. We busted some trail and tried to dodge frozen footsteps by riding the deep powder on the sides of the trail. Eventually we ground our way up to the main trail only to find 1 short section had been plowed for a couple blocks and then it was back to nothing. At that point we threw in the towel and hit the road.

We opted to head through Country Club and follow the back end of my old west side road loop to hook back up with WDM trails over by the other bike shop on the west side. Fuller must've been going for some heroics as he opted to head back towards Rassy's where I parked in lieu of heading towards home at this point. Somewhere rolling along EP True I felt the need for some refreshment. Apparently we were sharing a similar thought and we headed to Gif's for tacos and beer. We capped off the evening with a couple other taco riders that showed up (albeit NOT on bike) in the form of Al and Hal. After drying our sweaty selves out for near an hour, we headed back to the shop and Fuller continued on home. A better way to kill 2 hours, I can't think of.

Today's post brought to you by the letter tree

OK, so tree isn't exactly a letter, but today's post is still sponsored by trees. I don't think trees get enough due, they provide shade, leaves to play in during the fall, lifesaving oxygen, and obstacles. Yes, obstacles. Of course the first rule of an obstacle is that you're supposed to avoid it. Hence, the name- Obstacle. Say it with me now...

Last night was another rendition of the taco ride. Yet, it wasn't exactly the taco ride as a group of us met and headed out early to make sure we had enough time to fully enjoy the awesome weather and our great trail system. Lou, Andy, Matt, and I headed out from the shop at 5. I was rolling on a new bike to test ride. Timing couldn't have been better as it gave me a chance to drop my battered front wheel off to have a new spoke put in, trued, and have the bearings cleaned and packed. The bearings were feeling a bit "crunchy" last time I checked.

As soon as we hit the trail, the race was on. Andy and Lou were attempting to drive each other into the dirt as Matt and I headed up the rear. We cruised at a pretty good clip through the woods and made it through unscathed. We stopped for a quick beer break provided by Matt in the form of MGD cans he was hauling on the pave trail above the exit to Denman's. The opening of the beer can must have been some type of signal as we were soon surrounded by a large group of additional riders. A few more minutes of shooting the breeze and it was time for a loop of Hillside and Rollercoaster. My climbing legs weren't quite with me, but I still made the best of it and enjoyed the workout.

Dusk was starting to settle in as we headed back for a reverse loop in Denman's. Lou, Matt, and Tom were in the lead as I worked on hanging on with them. We met a few more taco riders coming through Denmans forward so they turned back to follow us as well. Tom was gassed at this point so he let me by in attempt to close the gap that the other two opened up. I was railing the turns and hauling down the trail pretty good on the test steed. Definitely impressed thus far. Then came the moment.

Damn, now I was two for two. It wasn't a narrow gap or even a tricky part of the trail. I just hung my shoulder out too far and the tree leaned in just a bit. Trees don't move. They move you. I nailed my left shoulder on a small tree and blew off the bike to the right jamming my other arm and shoulder into the ground. I rolled around to assess my damages. Luckily no damage to the bike (whew) though the sudden stop did kill my little commuter headlight, my left shoulder definitely felt the impact along with the left hand, and the right shoulder was pretty jammed up feeling. Nothing to keep me from jumping back on so I waited for Tom (and his lights) to show back up and tooled the rest of the way back following him (and his light).

Back to the shop I rode before heading to Giff's to drown my pain with beer and tacos. I enjoyed some beers with the guys before heading off to Squirrel's to grab some parts for my costume. I hope to see the rest of you sometime this weekend either at Spooky Woods or the Dirty Du.

All banged up and no place to go

At least that's what my knees are telling me this morning. I took off a bit early to make sure I got plenty of quality time on the bike last night. I hit one loop of Denman's before the taco ride. On the very first logover I ate dirt. I stuck my chain ring right into the log, rotated forward on it, and slammed my ass into the ground. Apparently I took the brunt of the impact on both knees though one shoulder is showing some signs of battle damage as well.

I got back on and tried to ride out the pain as I typically do. Nothing doing today so I settled for the fact that I'd be hurting for the ride and just enjoyed the scenery instead. The good news is there were no further incidents of eating it, at least for me... I finished up my loop and headed over to the shop to meet up with the rest of the group.

We only had 5 or 6 of us leave from the shop, but apparently there was a big group waiting somewhere in Denman's. Pete and Lou announced at the beginning they were resting and anyone wanting to go fast was welcome to head out in front. Ya right, their resting is flat out haulin ass for the mere mortals we are. As expected, they were moving along well with Fuller behind them and me sitting 4th wheel. I just about clipped Steve on the big log pile as he slowed more than I expected, but luckily we avoided a tangle. After that we swapped back and forth a bit before I slowly fell off the pace.

about 3/4 of the way through, we hit the other group enjoying beers and waiting for us. We shot the breeze a few minutes and then turned around to ride Denman's in revers and then head for tacos. I was happy I'd taken the time earlier to get a full loop in as we were now shorted some of the trail. The fast guys took off again while I just held steady. One of the guys I don't know too well apparently bit it on an optional log over and then had his bike run over by Pete causing a bigger pile up. Nobody hurt, but one set of handlebars was slightly bent up. No other incidents, but I did ride the log in reverse that threw me down earlier.

Off to Giff's for tacos and Olde Style we headed. It was pretty cool having a big pack of muddy, happy mountain bikers weaving through the streets just like we owned the place. Since I didn't have to ride back home, I opted for doubling up on both tacos and beer. I was happy as a pig in shit! It's hard to beat good friends, good riding, and good times. Thanks to all you guys that I get a chance to hang out with. Riding is good, but enjoying the company just adds to the pot.

Things that sound good in theory

Before I get to the meat of the post, I thought I'd post one of my favorite pictures I've taken lately. It was Sunday morning's mountain bike excursion. If this doesn't look close to perfection to you, I suggest you need a new outlook on things!



Now for the rest of the story. I broke free from work a shade after 4 hell bent on making it down to PRC's last Ritual Ride of the year. I'd also made up my mind to head from the end of that ride down to Giff's in Valley Junction to meet the guys for tacos and beer. After that, I'd saunter my way back home for a shower and passing out in bed. It sounded like a great plan. Actually in most ways it was. However, I learned a good lesson that things don't always go together no matter how good they might be individually.

The Ritual Ride was good and 1 loop was plenty for this out of shape guy. I hooked up with Lou for an extra mile in Water Works on the way out which put us about a 1/2 mile behind the main pack as we hit the road. Of course it was no issue for him to bridge the gap, but it took me about half the lap before I could latch back on. We worked some hills and I got a chance to chat with Kelli about her mountain bike aspirations... I split off as we hit 63rd and made my way towards sweet refreshment in the form of cheap tacos and beer.

My gluttony got the best of me as I ordered 2 tacos and washed them down with a couple tall boys of Old Style. All told, I was still out of there for $10. I hung out with the muddy yet happy taco riders and sat in on the CITA meeting. At this point I was fat and happy, but I still had 8 miles to roll back home in the dark. We left as a group, but split up shortly after hitting Grand leaving me to wind my way home alone. No biggie as I was outfitted with a blinky and headlight.

After hitting the Grand hill and trying to keep the pace a little above a slog, my stomach and legs started to rebell. I eased my way on home which involved a couple more decent climbs, but thankfully some descent as well. Once home, I pretty much lapsed into a lactic coma as I collapsed on the couch for a bit. I headed to the showers where my dinner choices began to make me rethink my decision of going for a 1 to 1 ratio of tacos to beer. I opted to head to bed as quickly as possible to hopefully avoid any more discomfort by sleeping it off.

My lovely wife comes home and finds me in bed and decides to proposition me. As my grumblings hadn't passed quite yet, we opted for door number 2 which was to see if she could arouse me out of a sound sleep when she was ready to come to bed. Somewhere around the stroke of midnight, I was awakened in what can only be described as the best way possible. However, I was still suffering somewhat so I soldiered on the best I could. What's a guy to do?! After fulfilling my "obligation" I was back to bed.

So to recap- Ritual Riding- good, Tacos and Beer- good (in moderation), being woken up to perform sexual acrobatics at midnight- good. Toss everything together and mix them up and you've got a recipe for feeling out of it, seating through the night, and the expected result of eating tacos and drinking cheap beer... Not quite the perfect mix of activities, but I'd still rate the night a success.

Birthday thoughts

Thank you to Tom who interpreted Wednesday's post correctly and identified it was indeed my birthday. I got in all of my plans and had a pretty good overall day. Thinking back on it now, I gotta say I'm pretty lucky.

I had to work. So what, doesn't most everyone? I took off at my appointed time after logging about 9 hours. Can't complain too much there. I met up with some other guys for the taco ride at Rassy's. I took off at 6 and the rest of the group apparently waited another few minutes for others. Oh well, that put me into Denman's on my own and it was perfect. I just enjoyed the solitude and peace. I rode easy and played in the mud a bit. Other than a pesky log crossing that bit me, Denman's was uneventful.

I headed over to Hillside to round out the night and just past the top of the hill I had a flat. I guess you gotta have one every now and then. The downside was I spent 15 minutes fighting the tire to get it off the rim. Road tires are much easier! I did get it fixed and finished out my lap of Hillside on my own with some good fun and fast downhilling. I made my way back through to the Dirty Express and had it in my head that I really wanted to clear that dirt ledge that's formed where the trail washed out. I chickened out last time and then realized my bottom bracket would clear. Well, I got both wheels up on the trail and then promptly fell over and whacked myself pretty good with the bike.

From there it was off to the races. I had to meet my blushing bride at Cafe Su for dinner. Now I was pretty mud covered and dirty at this point. I broke out the baby wipes once I reached the truck and cleaned up any parts that would be exposed plus the layer of sweat I'd worked up. Everything else was covered up by street clothes. We ate way too much dinner and gorged ourselves further with desert before rolling home. A bit of TV, a shower to clean off the grime and I was off to bed feeling pretty content with the day. Sometime later I was even roused out of my slumber and then aroused out of my slumber if you get my drift to close out a pretty damn good day.

My day

My pledge today is to be off work by 4, to be on my bike in some way/shape/form for at least an hour tonight (hopefully on a dirty taco ride), and to have dinner with my beautiful bride after the ride. As the song goes, I'm "another year older and deeper in debt." I hope to see some of you guys out there tonight.

Sweat Fest

It was a good day to sweat. I hit the taco ride again last night in hopes that I might shock my legs into at least being a little more understanding of the suffering I plan to put them through on Sunday in Boone. Everyone keeps talking of the horrors of all the climbing at Boone. Having never ridden there (yet), I'm pretty stoked to see all the suffering. Supposedly the beginner course is in some of the flatter sections so it won't be so bad.

I did pick up a nice compliment last night as 4 of us hearty souls enjoyed our tacos and Old Style. Something was mentioned about Boone not being for beginners or some such along those lines and I mentioned that I just started mountain biking last fall. The reply was the equivalent of you've got some natural talent then. Considering we'd just spent most of an hour touring hillside up and down several times, I felt pretty good about the comment. Of course my heart rate said a little differently considering I don't think I saw under 180 BPM while running around the loops. Chasing Andy was a lot of fun as well even though he just showed us his ass while cruising along on his single speed.

Flooding was striking again with all the rain we received earlier this week. The creek had backed up flooding out the connector trail so we had to ride the tracks. Before we even got there we ran through some pretty deep water and splashed through the mud. It definitely reminded me that I need to check out a different set of treads on my bike. The Michelin dry series that came on it are decent enough when it's dry, but I have to lower the pressure to about 20 pounds just to feel like I've got any traction. At that pressue they're squirrely in the corners and I keep thinking they're flat when I have to put any power down.

Hopefully I see a few of you in Boone on Sunday. Look for the fat boy in the Rassy's kit riding the beginner loop!

Snooze

Lack of motivation sucks. I rolled home around 9:30 last night due to my motorcycle class I'm taking at DMACC. As I put the scoot away, I thought how nice it would be to ride my bike in this morning. I even told my wife I was planning on riding in. Fucking snooze button. I couldn't drag my sorry ass out of bed to do anything more than punch the button on top of the clock and shoot straight back to the sweet sheets. The snoozaholic wins again.

On the plus side, I have my choice of rides tonight. Tacos or Ritual? I'll probably hit tacos tonight as I need some time on the mountain bike. For some reason I decided to commit to my lunacy and will be riding the IMBCS race up in Boone this weekend. Granted, I'm whipping out my wuss card and only running the beginner race, but it should still be a good time.

Today is new computer day at work! I'm pretty stoked. I all ready installed my new 22" widescreen monitor on Monday. I'm thinking I need one of those rollin on 22's set of numbers you see on all the pimped out rides. Dude, I'm getting a Dell. Considering my current tower is roughly 5 years old, I can't wait to see how quick the new machine is. On top of that, it might actually have a functioning drive and a fan that doesn't sound like it's about to saw my case in half... But I digress, it's new computer day and I'm almost as stoked as new bike day.

Enjoy the day and maybe I'll see a few of you out riding tonight.

Tacos and beer

Some may say titties and beer are the best things on earth and while I may not necessarily disagree, I submit humbly that tacos and beer when enjoyed in the company of buddies is a pretty damn good alternative. Enjoy a little Frank Zappa on your Friday.



I got out for my only ride in a week on Wednesday night. A perfect excuse to bail on work early once this week found me rolling out around 3:30 in the afternoon. After a little tweaking at the chiropractor I headed home to load up the truck and bike for the taco ride at Rassy's. An interesting roll out led to a pretty heated exchange between Hanser and a pissed off idiot motorist. While the rest of us cut through some parking lots to head over to the levee, Hanser played the good guy and road perfectly legally through the streets. Sadly enough, he damn near got ran over by some idiot.

We rolled down the levee trail to the dirty connector.


Once on the dirty connector, it was pretty easy to see all the damage that the water had caused. Amazing how the holes can be dug by seemingly gentle water. Sections of the connector are pretty rough right now, but it is at least rideable. We headed over to Hillside for some laps. I rolled one lap and headed back for part of another since everyone else was still up there when I rolled in the parking lot. I need someone to lead me through there sometime to figure out the supposed flow since all the trails criss cross around and I typically take a wrong turn or two.

After hillside it was time for a lap of roller coaster. I was a bit nervous since there were supposedly even more roots and washes exposed now. There were plenty before, but luckily I really didn't notice the new stuff to be any more technical. A group of us rolled through, but had to stop for a man down.



The guy on the far left was riding the trails for the first time and got thrown off line going across one of the bridges on roller coaster. He looked pretty good for going headlong into a 6 foot deep ditch... Only a few scrapes and cuts, but he finished the ride out with us. Good going man! We met the group back down at the parking lot where everyone was pretty much ready to head down for grub. Sammy and I took off for one more lap of roller coaster and I had my fall for the day. There's one log to cross up top and I thought I had it until I stuck my damn chain ring into the side of it. I didn't think it was quite that tall. No big deal, but I tweaked my should when I put both hands down to break my fall.

It was Old Style time now. We headed for the bar. I'm not sure what's up with the look in this pic, but I think I was flirting with Squirrel's camera... Damn, that was only after 1 beer.



Tacos were good as always, but I paid for it after searing the top of my mouth on the first bite. Damn, burned the shit out of the roof of my mouth to the point I had skin peeling off by the time we left the bar. A couple more days and I'll be good to go. Here's to hoping I'll make it out to do something on the bike this weekend. Work still sucks so I'll be there at least part of the weekend. Saturday night the little one is staying with grandma so we're hitting The Dark Night in IMAX. I'm pretty stoked about that! Enjoy the weekend.

Taco Ride, whoops...

The Taco ride was on last night. Numbers were down a bit, but we still had about 10 total riders. We hopped the berm over to Denman's and took off. I stayed to the back as I just wanted to ride pretty easy and enjoy myself. I tagged on to a couple other riders and managed to fall down on a single log crossing as I was going to slow. Nothing hurt but my pride, I got back up and just kept the pace nice and easy. I did make an effort to tag back on to the tail of the group by the end of Denman's and found everyone else stopped at Dirty Express.

The railroad track crossing into Squirrel's nest saw the only major crash of the night with a rider shooting over the handlebars after tangling with the steel tracks. More easy flow and swoop through the back sections and it was time for Hillside. I've been working on keeping my breathing even and rythmic as I raise my heart rate so that was the plan for tonight as well. The group turned left at the top of the first climb while I went for some bonus climb to the right. After a short stint I stopped for a second to get my bearings. I looked back and noted that I hadn't zipped my seat pack up before leaving the shop. Hmmm. A quick inspection noted only one item missing- MY KEYS! Shit. Time to turn around and hope for a miracle in finding them along 6 miles or narrow singletrack with mostly grass covering both sides of a 12" path.

I tracked back down Hillside and took a quick swing up to the parking area to let the other guys know I was headed back and hopefully would catch them at Gif's for tacos and beer. I rode off in hopes of finding my keys. After back tracking through roughly 80% of the trail I stopped for a young kid riding a hybrid bike on the trail as he was walking across the log bridge in Denman's. Sure enough, I looked down and my keys were sitting about as perfectly as could be at the base of a tree right after the log bridge. There were situated so perfectly, I couldn't tell if someone else had found them and set them there or if luck was on my side. Either way, I counted my blessings and called of the search and rescue message I had put into Miranda's voicemail.

I swooped back through Denman's in reverse soaking up each foot of singletrack and enjoying every second I was out there. Off to Valley Junction to meet the guy's for refueling and all was right in the world again. I will put one note of caution in though- be prepared for your backside to be inhospitable to anyone in a 20' radius after consuming several Old Styles and tacos after the ride. Wow, talk about a brown cloud!

Just a quick reminder for tonight- hit the Race Like a Girl series in Union Park as long as the weather holds out. I'm planning to make what I'm sure will be a quite unspectacular showing in the men's B race as my first road racing experience. Also, Saturday is another work day for CITA at Summerset park in Indianola. I'll be headed down for my first work day of the year and hopefully see some other people there. I'm looking forward to checking out some of the singletrack for the first time after we're done.