Line Creek Trail

Carolynn and I took advantage of this crazy warm weather we are having here in Kansas City and went for a little ride down to the newly opened Line Creek Trail. This trail is part of the Northland Trails Vision Plan. Eventually we will be able to ride all the way to Parkville on a trail network.


Check out the the tools and pump. Very nice touch. Now I know where to send the neighborhood kids when they ask for tools and a pump to work on their bikes :-)



The trail is very scenic and includes a sweet bridge crossing Line Creek. Only a couple of miles are open so far, but it is a very promising start and should be finished some time in 2012.

Dreams

I found the following while cleaning up during xmas break. I was looking at some old photo albums and came upon an envelope with this poem. I wrote this about 20 years ago when I finally realized that my dream of becoming a professional motocross racer was never going to happen. My little brother John had just gotten injured and while I tried to ride and race again I knew deep down inside that it was over. My DREAM was over and part of me died.

The good news is I got an A+ and won First place in the Poetry contest that I later entered with it :-)

DREAMS

Fill the air with your dreams
Let the world know who you are
You are your dreams
What am I?

Everyday I wait for my dreams
Everyday I work for my dreams
I am a dreamer

Dreams fill my sail
They fill me with inspiration
They give me energy
I must have my dreams

My dream in not true yet
One day it makes me want to live
The next day I want to die
Damn a dream Damn a dream

Upcoming events: God's Country & BB36

During my self imposed break from training, I have been keeping myself busy with my teams 3 events that we will produce in the Spring. Our first event will be the God's Country Fat Tire Festival - a two day affair featuring a cross country race on Saturday and the 10th Annual God's Country Off-road Duathlon on Sunday. I have decided to bring back the long course for the duathlon. Long course will be 2 mile run/18 Mile MTB/2 or 3 mile final run. Short course will be 2 mile run and 9 mile bike. Final course distances will be announced after I get an accurate measurement of one lap at the River Trials. Info: www.fattireduathlon.com

The other event is a little event called the Bone Bender 3/6 Hour MTB Odyssey. My goal when creating this event was to develop a premier endurance off-road race that the community could use to help raise money for local trails. Success is measured in many ways. One could be attendance, one could be community awareness and still another could be proceeds raised. I would really like to reach the $10,000.00 raised mark this year and feel very confident that we will. It will take another well attended event and of course your support. Keeping expenses in check is also important, but my first goal is to produce a top notch event. This year we will again have some sweet custom awards, new classes, t-shirts, a large cash payout and food. Info: www.bonebendermtb.com

Registration will open in January for both events. We plan to offer a nice sized discount if you register early so stay tuned.

Festivus of Nights

Time to Hang up the Wheels?

This past weekend was prime conditions for a cyclocross race and we had two events on the calendar - BS #4 on Saturday and the Missouri State Cyclocross Championships held on Sunday. Both events were held at the Ray Town BMX . They did not use the BMX course, but instead used the fields next to the facility and did one loop around the outside of the course. Lots of rain on Saturday made the course just a little soupy. Sunday's race was a little more muddy with the course drying (I use this word loosely) up some causing clearance problems for some as the mud stuck to frames..

Plenty of great albums out there: Phil Peter's Saturday, Phil Peter's Sunday, John Peck's Saturday, John Peck's Sunday, Patrick Kirkes, Saturday, Jason Watkins Sunday.

Typically I would really enjoy this type of race, but as luck would have it I was not able to attend on Saturday and felt like crap on Sunday. Friday night I was eating my pre-race meal which included some homemade soup that Carolynn made. Everything was great and we went to bed as usual. About 1:30 am I awake because I was having trouble swallowing and breathing. Apparently I was having an allergic reaction to something I had eaten. My tongue, face, mouth and throat were all swollen. I felt like I had a large cow tongue and had to keep my mouth open and stick my tongue out so I could breath. Carolynn got up and helped me and we drove to the ER to get treatment for my Swollen Tongue. On the way we decided to stopped by a Wal-Mart and got an antihistamines to see if that would help. After a short period it appeared it would. We ended up heading back home and taking 2 more and resting. I was finally able to get back to sleep by about 0600. It was not until about 1:00 pm on Saturday that I was finally able to eat something. Needless to say no racing for me today. And in hindsight I should not of ridden on Sunday either.

Sunday came and I decided to go ahead and see what the day would bring me. I usually ride mud really well. But that was not the case as I had nothing in the legs to do anything. It is my off-season and really should not expect to have any, but Sunday was really bad. Still unsure way. Anyways, I rode around in the mud for 50 minutes, got lapped by most of the field, got my pit bike all muddy (I decided to use it because during warm-up I could tell my legs were dead and I did not want to damage my bike - we all know what a muddy race can do to a bike) and ended up getting DFL in the Masters 45 + class. That is pretty bad for me, especially in a muddy race.

On the way home I really contemplated quitting cycling. I am tired of embarrassing myself at races. If I can not even compete at a local level I do believe it is time to hang up my wheels. But I do realize that this year has been riddled with injuries and I really should not have been out racing anyways at this time of year, especially when I am not focusing cross as many other are.

It is time to take an extended break and ease back into things. If I do not have some good sensations this winter during training there will be about a dozen wheelsets for sale.....

Sweet 16

My little boy is not longer such. He has reach 16 and as the card says above does not ride bicycles much anymore. His passion for the last couple of years has been guns.You always hear people say "kids grow up fast" so spend as much time with them as possible. You really don't think much about it when they are youngsters, but damn it is so true. Christopher is now 5' 11" and I will soon have to look up to him I guess.

We got Christopher a new Ruger .22 Mark III pistol and she is a beauty.
We spend the afternoon at the Parma Woods Shooting Range dialing her in. He really enjoys shooting and I do also. Is competitive shooting in our future?