Thanksgiving Break

This Thanksgiving was supposed to be spent with my mom, but she decided she was not able to come up to Kansas City. Some things never change. The question is, should I expect them to? Enough about that. Nothing I can do but move on....

Well I have 5 days off. What to do? First up, head to Swope Park and try out some new trails. I have heard some good things about Swope and was eager to try them out for myself. I ended up meeting Rich Anderson, JP and his daughter Karen. JP and crew were sporting new 29er hard tails. They looked sweet. Good ole Rich is back riding after his surgery and by the looks of things he has not lost any of his "Skills". Watch out for him once he gets his fitness back. As for the trails, they were nice. I was still getting used to being back on my MTB after a season of cross so I was not flowing too well. I plan to ride them again Sunday with Christopher and should be able to judge them better.

Thanksgiving Day was Gerard's 20th Annual Thanksgiving Day MTB Ride. He started this tradition back in Pennsylvania and has kept it going. A good group of guys showed up for a rather chilly start including several Cow Towners, Lawrence MTB members, Telford and Rasta Rider. We quickly broke into several ability groups based on ability level. Christopher and I ended up riding alone for most of the ride, but we mixed in with several other groups in route to the Clinton Skills Loop. Christopher and the others looked like they were having fun riding the teeter totters and boards. I will tell you up front that I can not ride anything slow. I need speed to clear any technical stuff. The trails out at Clinton Lake were in very good shape especially with some new trail work done by Mike Goodwin and friends. If you have not been out to Clinton recently you should make the trip. Well worth it.

The annual Black Friday MTB ride was up next. While Carolynn and Christopher were out the door early to hit the sales, I hit the Landahl MTB trails with Rich Anderson, Mark Krause and Brian Prosser. The trails were in great shape. It had been awhile since I had ridden them and it was a blast. I got out there a little early to warm-up and adjust my bike. Still playing with the set-up but it is getting better. The group rode for about 2 hours and we basically hit every trail at Landahl. On the technical trails Rich or Brian took the lead. Those guys are good and I like learning from others. It was fun riding with everyone. Be sure to put the Black Friday MTB ride on your calendar for next year. I ended up getting in an extra hour of riding after everyone else headed home. On my post cool down ride I ran into Aaron Browning. We chatted about the new section that he had just flagged. Looks like more technical stuff to come out at Landahl.

Saturday was a great day spent alone with Carolynn including our first tandem ride since the Ride the Rockies ride back in June. I can not believe we were able to ride in shorts and short sleeve jerseys just 4 days from December. I think I actually got a sunburn....

Sunday the weather is heading South and I will be following her down as we hit both the Swope and BuRB trails. Christopher needs to break in his new ride. I was able to get his new Anthem built up that he got from The Wheel Cyclery. He now fits a 16" frame very nicely. Included in the build is a very sweet Crank Brothers bottom bracket as his old one was totally shot, a set of Maxxis Advantage UST tires and and new chain. Hopefully he will get at least a year out of it, but at the rate he is growing this year I doubt it.