Cruise the Blues 08

Ok kids, its has been a long weekend and its a good thing that its a three day holiday cuz we are in shambles. This friday saw a surly flock of Jayhawks descend into Manhappenin. Andrew Slater, John Waller, and Josh Patterson, big Al and Myself wandered around the ville for a little while, musing over how aggieville is different than Mass St in Lawrence. I will be real honest. I do not think much of the Aggieville business district, just because the businesses do not keep things clean. I mean they could at least spray off the sidewalk in the mornings and clean up the image a little bit. Especially if they are gonna try to charge me a $6 dollar cover just too get into a place that is nonsmoking. Anyhow we wandered about for a bit and then went to the house so we could be up and on the road to Glen Elder early.
Upon arriving at the Palen Proving Grounds (Cruise the Blues Race course) we quickly asserted our dominance by finding a shady spot and rallying all the other past and present Manhattanites (which included Brady Irwin, Casey Stoddard, "T-Daddy" Whetstone, Aaron Apel, and James Stamper (No relation)). James, being the only real responsible adult brought a canopy so we could be shaded. Many thanks!
The race started prompty at 11 am, and quickly proved to be a race of attrition. Several mens solo favorites had mechanical problems early, and flat tires were a major concern. I passed Brady on the second lap as he was changing the first of his three flat tires on his cross bike on lap 2. It has been previously true that the CtB course is a prime area to race a cross bike, but that was not the case this year. Last Saturday NC KS got 4 inches of rainfall(see previous post to see storm building), which left the couse extremely rough and eroded. This contributed to a large number of pinch flats and fatigue throughout the race. After three laps on the 13+ mile course I realized that I had failed to hydrate enough early, as I was trying to do without a camelback at just rely on bottles. This proved to be a costly mistake, as I would lose two places during the last two laps rolling around on the ground screaming with debilitating leg cramps.
At this point I think I really had some folks worried cuz the EMS guy kept following me on the fourwheeler (kind of like how a buzzard circles a dying animal). Like I said, it was a race of attrition. I finished my 4th lap with 25 minutes before the cutoff, and thought to myself,
"Self, your gonna have to do another lap........"
Self responding back (in Star Trek Scotty accent) "Ah cant dooo it Captn ah need mohr powah"
Me to self "pull your self together! You have got another lap in you"
Self "Ok but your gonna regret this"
So I went back out for a last lap that probably took over an hour and a half. I am pretty sure that I was the last person out on the course. I did not regret it.

I still managed to finish 5th out of about 30, and even won a little money!
Big Al though, fought through cramps on her way to 2nd place with 4 laps in, and only finished 4 minutes behind Team 360 powerhouse Kathy Reidy. I think Al really blew some minds when she was passing folks on her singlespeed in the later laps. I was stoked and especially proud when I heard this. She was really in the money with a 2nd place finish!


Below you can see the devious duo of Patterson and Waller finishing 2nd in the Mens Team division. Cameron Chambers and dad Doug, were the champions. Big thanks to Doug and Golden Belt Cycles in Great Bend for being such a huge supporter of this event.

I also have to say a what a great event this is. Doug and Tracy Palen, Bud and all the volunteers that put this race together are the most passionate friendly people you will ever meet. This event rivals anything that is done in KC or MO. Once again, Many Thanks!

After a night of camping and blues music we headed south to Lucas, KS for some sustenance, and a little dose of weirdness. We went and toured the Garden of Eden and its pretty strange. I am talking like the Frank Zappa kinda strange.

After leaving lucas we continued our southerly trek to Wilson Lake to ride the trails there. We had a blast, but were were all still hurting from the grind the day before. If you think that things are flat in all of KS, you should go here. It definitely changed my perspective. After riding we headed over to meet up with our other compatriots (Melanie, Aaron, Tyler and Hillary) who were camping by the lake. We spent the rest of the afternoon basking in the sun, swimming, eating potato salad out of cardboard boxes, and just generally livin the dream. We had a spectacular time, and it was a great way to finish our trip.

Stay tuned for the next race report when we will hear Me say "Hey big man, lemme hold a dollar"