The hits just keep coming

This weekend has been great, it will be even greater if KU can win tomorrow.

Sonic Spectrum is on the radio.

The Swope trails are dry, Blue River too.

I hope y'all are enjoying the passing of time as much as i am.

Rock Chalk / KC Sprints

The Jayhawks won!

KC Sprints at Buzzard!

I wanna Dance!

Feel like im Fixing to Foster the People

Warm weather! Is it me or does it seem like suddenly the world is filled with possibility. The air is overflowing with positive waves.

I think all this sun and warm weather is going to my head.

This song come up on the shuffle today, love it. I havent heard it in forever and for some reason it just seems to fit with the recent spat of nice weather.

Then driving home tonight i heard this for the first time, love it!

So there's something old and something new.

Maybe i'll turn this into a music / cycling blog. Like George Costanza says "food and sex, those are my two passions, it's only natural to combine them".

Tomorrow will be a special on salted-cured meats.

Perry Dam Race

Rock Chalk!!!

Raced the cat 4 at Perry Dam today. 7 laps. 35 miles. During the race I quickly went from feeling good to feeling bad. Led the group up the climp on lap 3, got dropped on lap 4.

Sh*t

I was near the back of the group at the bottom of our 4th time up the hill, mistake. The race exploded at that moment and i could never catch back on. Ended up finishing near the very end.

No worries though, only my second race of the year so nowhere to go but up.

It was windy today, really windy. At one point i was all alone, into a headwind, in the drops, out of the saddle, and i could barely hit 13 mph. To make it worse it was hot. It may of hit 80. Today was a hard shock to the system. I haven't done many races on my road bike that lasted this long. Almost 2 hrs. My neck and shoulders started to hurt.

The team did have some good performances, including a win in the cat 5 race. I think (okay i know) these newcomers are faster than me.

Sh*t

No worries... KU beat Illinois tonight, all is right with the world.

Rainy Saturday

Jacob Pullen is the man. 38 pts against Wisconsin! Too bad K-State lost, i want more Pullen.

College Basketball is the bomb.

It's been a rainy Saturday. I skipped the spring fling race in Lawrence because of it. Went for a ride here in KC instead, the rain cut it short. I was out south on my bike, saw a lightning bolt, and immediately turned around and raced the storm home. I was in a light sprinkle for most of the hour ride back, kind of fun really.

Popped into Broadway Cafe to read about the previous night's Jayhawk victory, then over to Volker bicycles to shoot the breeze and get some new brake pads. Both Broadway and Volker have new (to me) cycling posters up. i also watched the end of today's Milan San Remo on YouTube via someones iphone. There was a time when i wouldn't have missed the Versus coverage of any of the 5 one day monuments, now my life seems too busy, no time.

Maybe i'll make an exception for Paris Roubaix... buy some strong Belgian beer and cheer on my favorite doper. Dopers are people too, you know.

It's nice outside

I'm stuck at work.

But i'm daydreaming about a chair in the sun, flip flops, beer w/ lime, and sunglasses. All with Arrested Development playing softly in the background.

Here's to day dreaming.

Somethingclassicin... Arkansas

'The Natural State'

That's Arkansas. I was in Arkansas over the weekend. Eureka Springs, AR to be exact. The Street Urchin and i did 3 day's of Mountain Biking at Lake Leatherwood. This place is the bomb and everyone should to go.

One neat thing about the trails down there is that they don't seem to get muddy. I guess the ground is more rock than dirt, so while farming sucks, trail riding is awesome. That's nice considering the trails in kc have been muddy and basically s*it for the past 3 months. These trails are dry... and hilly. With lot's of switchbacks. They're not technical but they're not completely smooth either. And i'll again emphasize that they're hilly. Arkansas is full of hills, you can't escaping them. Urchin's Garmin said something like 32% on one hill. I rode it in the big ring, backwards, while doing the New York Times crossword.

I bet a fast guy could do the whole network in 1.5 to 2 hours.

I specifically recommend the descent of the 'Lost Ridge' trail.

The town of Eureka Springs is also worth a visit. I've never been anyplace quite like it. Picture a Picturesque and sleepy hippy town perched on a few steep hills. It's a fairy tale world with stone and victorian houses sprinkled along fun windy streets. Riding your bike around town is almost as much fun as riding the trails.

The Natural State.

I really do love it down there.

A lot going on

Road bike racing. McCoy's ride's. Weddings (not mine.) Work.

Life seems to be getting busy again. The lazy day's are over. Coffee shop time is becoming more and more scarce and the weekends are becoming more and more packed.

This past Saturday i raced the Spring fling. Cat 3/4 race. I lasted 40 minutes, then got dropped. I tried an attack, it lasted about 35 seconds, after that i was cooked. I managed to hang on to the very back of the peleton for maybe 3 more laps, but then i had to pull the plug. The first road bike race of the season was a soft shock to they system, but that's better than a hard shock. No worries though, this is my 3rd year of racing and in my first two i got dropped from the cat 5 field at Spring Fling. Now i'm getting dropped by the 3/4 field. Hopefully by the end of this year i'll be getting dropped by the 3's at Gateway Cup.

I planned to do the dam race on Sunday but a flat tire on the automobile derailed those plans. No worries though, i got in 67 miles instead. That pretty much equals my longest ride ever. 100 is just around the corner!

I'm on a gravy train with biscut wheels.

(The cat 4 peloton at the first Spring Fling)

(Turner and Hooch in front of my apt.)

(McCoy's ride is back!)

Streetcred Stage 4... An offer you can't refuse.

Better late than never - The final day of Streetcred was last Saturday the 26th - David Jay won (He has Adonis DNA) - Everyone had fun - PBR and Chrome and Velocity and Volker Bicycles are the bomb for hooking up tons of free swag - KC kick's ass - Streetcred lives!

Warning: this post is entirely too long.

The final stage was riddle themed, Jim Carey did not attend, but i'm sure he drinks his milk.

Fittingly, Broadway Cafe was the starting point. Broadway was also the start of last years final stage, plus it's a popular spot with local cyclists.

The cream always rises to the top and 9 creamy individuals showed up for the final stage. I believe most of these 9 raced all 4 stages. That's some real Streetcred.

The Start: I continued my recent habbit of starting dead least. In this particular instance i had to finish my coffee. It was worth it.

Peeps were spread throughout the city like a trail of bread crums, these were at the tennis courts in loose park.

You should never pass up an opportunity to take your bike into an elevator, this was at a parking garage in the plaza.

We had to drink a beer (pbr or course) at fric & frac, that's a huge f*cking beer!

The folf course at Rosedale park was another stop, i think i was dead last for the entire race and this stop was no different. But Streetcred is not about winning, it's about drinking! And folfing! And riding the wrong way on one way streets! And meeting cool people! And candy! And learning about Kansas City! And blowing stop signs! And blowing red lights! And taking highway on-ramps! And more drinking!

On the way to the next stop I came across Phillip going down Main st, he was about 30 minutes ahead of me, s*it!

Drinking! Tequila! Drinking Tequila! Harry's Country Club was another stop. the checkpoint master said water was allowed (i think he took pity on us since we were in last,) but there was no hesitation in my voice as i slammed my hand on the bar and said "barkeep, your cheapest tequila, please!" Bam!

Thankfully i got to ride with Jack for the last 1/2 of the race (this is him on Grand st.) It was much more enjoyable having someone to ride with. Jack is a big bike polo guy but he mentioned that not many folks in kc participate. So this is my call to KC... PLAY POLO! Maybe Jack can leave a comment on this post with the details?

The race finished at Buzzard Beach in Westport where Mario and Luigi were walking thru the parking log. Just after i took this picture Luigi dropped a bananna peel out his ass and totally caught Mario off guard!

The crew swap's stories at Buzzard "Could you believe it when i had to power slide thru that corner to avoid hitting the cop car doing 60 down 18 th trying to catch the runaway Tyson chicken tenders truck... all with a flapping red tailed hawk stuck to my helmet!"

One prize was a Pbr Chrome bag, pretty wicked. So is Casey's arm sleeve.

Nate won some sweet Velocity Rims. I'm sure he has dual arm sleeves under that long shirt.

Double Nickle with his masters champion prize, a Pbr umbrella. I'm pretty sure his entire body is a tattoo.... only taller.

What do you do if you live at 155 and Quivira and are doing a race in Downtown / Midtown KC... print off a map and tape it together, thats what. Not necessarily my idea of Streetcred, but then again Streetcred has no rules.

Wristbands are totally radical, especiall when they are Colt 45 wrist bands.

Chrisgo gives the official Streetcred salute while Phillip recovers from an apparently epic bong pull. 4th from the right is Jessica, the Pbr goddess who was directly responsible for fueling the giant machine that is Streetcred. Thanks Jessica!

And finally, as the 5th edition of streetcred comes to an end we owe special thanks to Levon, aka the Street Urchin. Levon was the man who made Streetcred 2011 a reality. Late last year, when things were looking dire and it seemed as if it wasn't going to happen, Levon stepped up and took control. He came up with the stages, contacted the sponsors, and put ass's in the saddles. So, unless i have my history wrong: Shipwrek will always be The Godfather of Streecred, Chasm the Michael Corleone, Levon is now the Sonny. Except in this version he lives.

Thanks Levon!