Weekend Bike Rides

Today is Monday November 17 2025 and i rode my bike on Saturday and Sunday.

It was pretty great.

i did not do either of the cross races. After my poor performance at the cross weekend last weekend i decided that i'm done racing for the year... but i am not done riding my bike.

Far from it.

The weather this weekend was amazing and between Saturday and Sunday i racked up 60 miles. 25 on the Mountain bike on Saturday and 35 on Sunday on the loaner Road bike.

Saturday was so warm i was in shorts and short sleeves mid ride. 

Sunday was a bit cooler but still shorts weather. 

The Saturday mountain biking was a little challenging due to the specific weather conditions. The dew point was high enough so that everything was sweating. Including rocks and roots. It got in my head and i rode the single-track pretty conservatively.

Sunday was another Chiefs game special, meaning i rode during the game so the roads were dead. i did the Rocky Route. North thru downtown then east past Knuckleheads then thru Cliff Drive and then home. i absolutely love that route. Although at one point i did get chased by a very intimidating looking dog. 

i think i need to purchase the loaner road bike. Now that i've got a taste i cant go back.

So racing is done for the year, all total i did six races.

• Muleskinner Gravel
• Gravel Worlds
• Pony Express Gravel Dash
• Little Sugar Mountain Bike Race
• Boulevard Cup CX
• Vandoit Cup CX

My best performance was easily the Pony Express Gravel Dash. The rest of the races were somewhere between shi**t and fine. 

Right now i'm very motivated for next year so hopefully i can hold onto that. What i need is consistency, which is not my specialty, which means what i need is consistency simplified. 

But the year isn't over yet. i never did do a second 20 minute power test so maybe i'll try that again. Plus i'll probably give the Old Leawood North Loop another go and see if i can set a PR. 

Bicycles!

Saturday...

Sunday...

Night Ride

Today is Wednesday November 12 2025 and last night i rode my Cyclo Cross bike for about an hour.

It was very enjoyable.

During the ride i did a lot of fiddling with my saddle and also tilted the handlebars down quite a bit and by the end everything felt pretty great. Tilting the handlebars forward seemingly made a huge difference in the feel. Prior to that i felt constricted. Between the saddle and the handlebars it was like i was being shoved into a funnel.

So hopefully this position change translates to a more comfortable race next weekend. 

But honestly my body probably needs a lot more work than my riding position. i could use about 3 solid months of strength work and yoga. i'll mark my calendar for January, February, and March. 

Riding at night in the suburbs kind of sucks. It's so dark. When i lived by the Plaza i would ride at night all the time and it was great because there were so many more street lights. Plus there's activity when you live in the city. Cars, pedestrians, stores... things to stimulate the mind.

The suburbs at night are dark and boring.

But from my house i can ride to the plaza and back in about an hour. So that's a nice carrot and that's what i last night.

Vandoit CX Cup

Today is Monday November 10 2025 and yesterday i did the Vandoit CX Cup race in Lawrence, KS. 

It did not go well.

i did the masters race at 10am. It was absolutely freezing. i sucked. 

The Whistle blew and i immediately started sinking like a stone. A minute later i was thinking to myself "you are not riding efficiently". Shortly after that, on a section of course that doubled back on itself, i marked where the leaders were to see if i could keep the gap relatively close. On the next lap i realized that was insane because just about everybody was going way faster than me. At some point i think i was battling with a 70 year old man. i cant be sure but it seemed like the announcer was talking about the guy close to me. And no offense to 70 year old men but this didn't do much for my confidence. Whoever it was he ended up beating me. It didn't help that i almost ate it on the final pass over the barriers. My front wheel clipped the first barrier (i run them, fyi) and i almost fell. 

I didn't get lapped, and maybe towards the end there was a brief spell where things seemed to be clicking. My lines were good, corners were ridden smooth and fast, momentum was kept. But that lasted for maybe two minutes. Plus my seat post kept sliding down which quickly cancelled out any good sensations i stumbled upon. I never got a headache but i could feel the extreme cold draining my body of every last drop of moisture. 

Fun was not had.

As soon as the race was over i got in my car, blasted the heat, and drank all the water i could find. 

Cyclocross is hard! 

Hopefully i can race it next weekend.

 

Weekend Bike Rides

Today is Monday November 3 2025 and i did a bike ride last Saturday and Sunday.

i still have the loaner road bike so that's what i rode.

It's am amazing piece of machinery and one that's conducive to burying yourself effort wise so that's kind of what i did. 

i think November can be the best month for bike riding in KC and Saturday and Sunday were perfect examples. Honestly it was kind of a magical weekend. Halloween was on Friday (we had a blast - such a fun holiday) so the city was pretty sleepy on Saturday which made for great road bike riding. Then throw in all the Halloween decorations that were still up and you get a great ride vibe. On Sunday the Chiefs played at 3:25 so again the streets were empty and riding was primo. On top of all that the fall foliage is really popping right now.

So i went out and kind of buried myself each day. 

i plan to do that thru the end of the year.

This weekend there is a Cyclo-Cross race i hope to go. That would be my 6th race of the year!

Did i mention that i lost my Garmin in Arkansas? Well somebody found it, tracked me down with some internet investigating, and mailed it back!

Good Samaritan!

Bicycles!

Saturday ride:

Sunday ride:

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Halloween Bike Ride

Today is Tuesday October 28 2025 and last night we did a family Halloween bike ride.

That means we rode around neighborhoods looking at decorations while playing Halloween music on a Bluetooth speaker.

We did this last year, and probably the year before, so i guess its tradition. The Chiefs also played last night so the roads were dead which worked out great for us. Plus the weather was perfect for setting a Halloween vibe, dreary with the slightest bit of mist in the air. 

At one point i said "i feel like we're about to get murdered by Jack the Ripper" and that's exactly how you want to feel on a Halloween bike ride.

I see now that i took no pictures of decorations but we saw some great ones. People around here really embrace it. Except in the Cloisters neighborhood. Those people are lame because we saw no decorations there. 

Little man is almost 11 and he can ride a bike but he's not very confident at it so i was pulling him on the tag along behind my mountain bike. He does pedal which helps a little but that's an extra 90'ish pounds (him plus the tag along) to pull around. It's doable until we start going up. Then it gets real slow.

But i'm happy to do it so that we can get out and have the experience. Little man was into it and even talked me into to staying out a bit longer than planned. 

He was pretty tired this morning but i think it was worth it.

Bicycles!

 

Boulevard Cup CX

Today is Monday October 27 2025 and yesterday i raced the Boulevard Cup CX race.

It was pretty great.

i cant remember the last time i did a cross race but when i registered for my USA Cycling license it indicated i hadn't had one since 2021 so its been at least 4 years.

i did the masters 40-49 race, i think there were 7 of us, we started on a steep paved road. i loved the course but on the first lap i was very much all over the place. It was rainy and just a bit slippery and my tires were not good but i knew that would be the case and i was game to make the best of it.

At the moment i continue to operate inside of the Zen attitude i discovered right before the Little Sugar Mountain bike race. Simply put, i'm thrilled to have opportunities to ride and race my bike and i'm hoping to ride this wave as long as possible.

Yesterday that attitude was key and without it i probably wouldn't have showed up because the morning of the race i was totally unprepared. But i want to race which meant i needed to get out there regardless.

After the steep paved start i was by myself pretty quickly however the 50-59 race which started maybe 15 seconds after us quickly passed me. i doubt they all passed me, and im not even sure where i finished in my own race, but those are two things to look forward to. Can i keep up with my race and can i stay ahead of the race right behind me. Probably not but i'll try!

The course had a steep hill you had to run, a long off camber strait i tried both riding and running (neither with much success), and one set of barriers. i was worried about doing barriers but it turns out i still got it! 

All in all if felt like a proper cross race in proper conditions so it was the perfect course for jumping right in.

Physically i felt okay. My back did start to hurt towards the end but besides that i felt like i could do everything i wanted, just not as fast as i wanted. i'll try to keep riding a lot and do a lot of high intensity stuff to jump start my engine but i don't expect to see much improvement in the 6 or so weeks that comprise the remaining cx season. 

But its all good. 

i just wanna ride.

Bicycles!

Borrowing a Sweet Road Bike

Today is Sunday October 26 2025 and yesterday i rode a sweet road bike that isn't mine.

It was eye opening.

BK from One Star Bicycles hooked me up because he's the man. 

It's not an electric bike but i swear it felt like one because its so much faster than my current road bike. Plus this one has big tires, and powerful breaks, it feels like a really fast army tank. i didn't know bikes could do what this bike does.

It's so sweet.

Bicycles!