Chucky's Challenge

The 3rd Annual Chucky's Challenge was our Gravel Grinder for the day. Held annual in the Amish town of Jamesport, Missouri. Jamesport is famous for pies, an Amish community, horse drawn buggies and selling guns upstairs at the local tavern. After the ride I checked out the collection and it was nice. I will have to return soon to purchase one for Christopher. He is really getting into guns. But I digress...

This years CC featured a 57 mile course held mainly on snow packed gravel rounds. Most of the course was on rolling terrain with only a few hard climbs. Just as Doug Long advertised, the course was flat and fast. That was if you could handle the snow and icy road conditions. Luckily for me I could :-)

A record setting turnout this year despite the recent snow we received. Around 24 riders ventured to Jamesport for this years edition. That is really cool considering the condition. These Gravel Grinders are really getting popular and can see them growing in the coming years. They are fun, newbie friendly and gets you outside riding during the winter. I for one can not stand riding a trainer or a set of rollers.

I really enjoyed the route today. Some sections were icy and for what ever reason, I have been enjoying riding on the icy stuff as of late. On some flat sections by the river, where the snow had either been blown away or the roads plowed, it got a little muddy. I had fenders on the ole' Jake the Snake which caused some tire clearance problems when the mud started to build up on my tires. I soon found that it was best to ride in what ever snow was still left in this area which really helped. Soon I was rolling alone as before enjoying a nice winter ride with some great like minded riders like myself. Along the route we encountered a few of Amish hard at work. Check out the steel wheels on their rig. Man those guys are hard core. Just like everyone who cam out to this years Chucky's Challenge. Everyone who finished today deserves a nice cold beer like I got to enjoy after the ride.

Here are the rest of the pictures from today. Chucky's Challenge Pictures.

Lone Star Gravel Grinder

Today's Lone Star Gravel Grinder, hosted by Bill Anderson, traveled from the University of Kansas campus along rolling twisting gravel road to the sleepy little town of Lone Star. After a short loop around Lone Star Lake we headed back to town on a slightly altered route due to us trusting a darn GPS devise instead of our map reading skills. Next time we trust the map not some darn mechanical device...

After the ride most of us headed over to 23rd Street Brewer. Sunday they had this Fish Bowl special. Get 60 oz of any house brew for $6.00. That sounded like a deal to me. I can tell you this. 60 oz of beer is a heck of a lot after an afternoon of riding. Well, at least it is for me. Doug, Dan and most everyone else finished theirs. I got about 1/2 done and called it.

Thank you Bill for a great ride. And thanks to everyone else who joined in the fun.

Here are some pictures

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Swope Thursday Night Ride #1

Great turnout tonight at the weekly Thursday Night Swope ride. It was like a Who's Who of mountain biking in the Kansas City are. Riders like Doug Long, Tige Lamb, Dan Oldehoeft and Lyle Riedy just to name a few. Trails were in great shape and the drinks after the ride even better :-)



Besides a fun ride, I finally found out what was squeaking on my Giant Anthem. Darn squeaking was driving me crazy over the past month. I replaced all the bearings and bushing, replaced the shock (I stole Christopher's new shock off his new Anthem so do not tell him...), cleaned and tighted everything and put a new set of Crank Brother pedals on. I get on to start tonight ride and the creak is still there. Only now is was louder than ever. During the first lap my crank felt like it was going to come off. Turns out the insert and outer shell of my left crank arm was causing all this noise. That was the good news. Now I just need to find a crank set for Saturday's Bone Bender Training ride #1.

Gravel World Championships

This is sweet. Our good friends up in Lincoln are going to host the Worlds....

The Inaugural Gravel World Championship
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Lincoln, Nebraska

The categories for the event are:

• Open men
• Open women
• Masters men (50 years of age+)
• Masters women (50 years of age+)
• Single speed men (includes fixed geared bicycles)
• Single speed women (includes fixed geared bicycles)
• Tandem
• Tallbike
• Unicycle

I wonder if I can talk Carolynn in doing this event on the tandem???


Registration is open now and go the postcard route. Complete details at http://piratecyclingleague.blogspot.com/

Triathlon Season Begins

Yes it is only January here in the Midwest, but Triathlon season has official begun with today's Mission Indoor Triathlon. I do believe this is the earliest triathlon I have have done and that counts when I lived down in Florida. This is the 3rd year for this event which grew to 81 racers. Not bad for an indoor triathlon in the dead of winter. The event is organized by Amy Richards and the Sylvester Powell, Jr. Community Center. Everyone did a great job and I highly recommend it. We need more of these events to do during the winter. They are great motivators and help to keep us all sane.

Today's event was based on the distance you completed each discipline which was a first for me. I entered the regular triathlon which was a 10 minute swim, 30 minute bike and 20 minute run. All three event took place in the steamy hot indoors. About 10 min into the bike I was wishing it was outdoors. I will take 45 degrees and raining over indoors any day.



The swim was held in a 23 yard pool which made flip turns very important. However, I can not do flip turns :-(. After today I think I am going to finally learn them. The water was a little warm, but at least it was very clear. I focused on a strong push off and my technique today. One thing I have learned is swimming is all about gliding, body roll and staying streamlined. All I did very well today and got in nearly 600 yards, which looking at last years results would have put me right near the top.


The cycling leg was on spin bikes which I have no experience on (I prefer to ride outdoors no matter the weather). Not a real fan of these but contrary to what Kevin Collins told me the seat was actually comfortable. I think I made a mistake and did not use enough resistance. They guy in charge of the bike leg said your RPM's was all that counted, but I think I should have cranked down the resistance some. All I know is I was spinning like a fool at over 120+ rpm and going no where. I do not know if that would have helped my total mileage or not. Ended up with 15.4 miles in 30 min and about 10 oz. of sweet. Does anyone know if these spin bikes take into effect the watts you are putting out to get distance?

Run leg was on a treadmill. I wish they let us run on the indoor track like the JCC Indoor triathlon does. The track is much better, well that is until you start to get dizzy from running in tiny little 1/16th mile circles. Run leg was o.k. with 2.9 miles covered in 20 minutes. I was hoping for at least 3.1 and a 19 min 5K, but the heat was killing me. Maybe next year.

After today triathlon I am looking forward to a nice cool gravel road ride down in Spring Hill.