the Idaho Experience

We went to a mom and pop resort just north of Utah and I tried snowboarding for the first time. It was kind of hard. I was set up goofy, but am not goofy footed. Was kind of annoying


Us at Cathedral Pines north of Ketchum

Al on top of the bowls at Sun Valley with Hailey in the background

Wingnut Enduro

Brad introduced me to Wingnut several years ago as he had one of their smaller packs and I really liked how they sat real low on your back like a lumbar bag but less dumb looking.In the above pic you can see how the pack sits low in the silhouette.

The harness kind of drapes the pack low on your back and takes a lot of pressure off your hands and upper body.

The bag comes with a Hammer gel flaskthat is supposed to go in this pocket, but it is better serves as a pouch for my monstrous cellular device

What I threw into the bag to see how it carried itself. Typical of what I would carry on a remote all day MTB ride out west.
I really do like the thing pockets that are integrated into the hip belt. They are easier to access than jersey pockets and you can fit bulky objects into them. The insides of the pockets are also a bright orange color so you know that they are not fully closed if you see the bright colors

Note the handy access. Disclaimer: I only carry when I ride by myself in a area that I am not familiar with, where I am concerned with Yogi going for a little more than my pic-a-nic basket. I never carry when group riding.
The one thing that I am kinda wary about is the underarm routing of the hose for the ol hydration pouch. I guess since I am so used to the over arm routing inherent to camelbacks it will take some getting used to. The wingnut easily accepted my 3 liter camelback bladder.
All in all I am really pleased with this peice of equipment, and am looking forward to seeing how it handles some of this years enduro events.

Oh and the gravel glory ride is posted on the event blog
The Gravel Conspiracy
Hope to See You There.

Its been a slow week what with getting over the crud and readjusting to a period of no school. I have been on a bread making kick and have been trying my hand at more exotic breads. Came out OK.

I went on a mountainous bicycle ride Saturday to try out the strokers. Had a really good time and was riding my bike back to the shop so the brake job could be finished. the problem was that I could swear that there is a slanted transition from the street to the sidewalk right in front of Big Al's place of employment. Well there is no transition. I plowed into the curb at full speed and was thrown over my handlebars in front of a group of little old ladies. Rest assured there is no suave way to bounce back up after such a debacle. Feeling dumb and doing dumb things has become a favorite pastime for me. I bruised my hands pretty badly so looks like it will mean a few days off of the bike.

This afternoon Brutus, Al, and I went out to Dr. Mengels to cut firewood and so that brutus could chase and roll around amongst things.

I have also been in discussion with a couple players regarding hosting a endurance gravel ride that starts and ends in Manhattan for folks training for spring gravel grinders. It will be FREE.
However, we will accept donations to benefit the K-State Cycling program and off set the cost of the pizza, PBJ, pretzels, a can of coke, and other things that you start to crave in the middle of a long ride. Yes, it will be supported, we plan to have two aid stations since the route may not access any other sources of sustenance. No, it will not be sagged. I am looking at dates and thinking that april 11, 2009 would fit well for those that are plottin and planning for TIV to make sure that their gear is together and worthy for that great Iowegian endeavor. I was also thinking about pushing the date back (May 16?) for those training for the DK 200 which is a a more local event. Cornbread and I both agreed that the 1st weekend in April was out of the question since most of the midwest will be in Arkansas
SOOOO.... if there is a weekend that you really want to get out and grind some gravel....Lemme know. I will create a blog for this event once more details are ironed out.

Oh , this just in Al is rocking the trainer as we speak , and she commented on the sheer weirdness of my playlist in the ipod from the dirty kanza. Apparently Monster Magnet and Southern Culture on the Skids is not her style.

Got back from my trip to IN all in one piece. Al's family get together every few years in a central part of the country and southern IN meets that criteria. Initially planned to take the mountainous bicycle, but the call for rain and above freezing temps changed that plan. Drug the cross bike along for some gravel road action in and around the Hoosier National Forest outside of French Lick, IN (no I am not kidding thats what its called). My brother in law, Brad Reed, is always game for some rambling rides.

He also likes to bike in his "shady man" sun glasses. I actually credit (or blame) Brad to getting me into cycling when I married into the family. We had to endure some soul crushingly steep climbs in that area.

Here we are as matching HEED guzzling Ninjas. Its great, every year we get matching gifts from Laura.

Ordered my new pack for TMHTE. I will report back later on how I like this design.
I also scored some new brakes for a song and a dance. Lots of folks say that they do not like Strokers, but I liken Hyd. brakes to high end suspension forks.....I have never used them so I probably would not appreciate (or respect) them (my lack of respect for nice things is a primary reason that I cannot have them). They can't be any worse than BB5's or so we will see. I am currently having the lines chopped down to fit so stay tuned for a review.

Yesterday me and Zach D went out for some into the north wind gravel suffering . 25 miles into the wind (avg speed 12mph) and 25 miles with it at our backs (avg speed 21 mph) .
I am reall looking forward to the end of next week as I will be heading to Idaho to see mi familia and cut some big lines at Sun Valley.
Happy New years

Shenanigans

Got a good bit of snow coupled with some brain freeze inducing cold so big Al took matters into her own hands and got the ok from my folk to give me my Christmas present early.
Pearl Izumi Barrier GTX winter boots.
This will make my winter adventures much more enjoyable.
Note: Gaiters are also really helpful in keeping fluffy snow out of your socks

Got the call from her Al-ness that there was gonna be ski biking in the afternoon so I left work early to meet Al, Brutus along with Tanner, Krispy, and their roommate for some snow bike action.

Since it has been really deep snow I busted out the bike with the fatties.

Never Doubt big Al's ability to make a sick snow angel

We rounded out the evening by playing maul the stuffed duck toy thingy with Brutus.

I manned up and signed up for the Ouachita 80 miler on the SS. There is gonna a huge KS and KC contingent down there this year.

CX nationals and the end of the semester

Been busy...real busy. Been modeling nitrification in soils with anhydrous ammonia as a source. not much fun. But We did make it out to Tiffany Springs park this past weekend to do the SS race, and be loud and proud. I was not dissapointed with my performance, but I was hopping for a top 20 finish. I came up a little short but had a good time nontheless. As I was looking at all the pictures from my race it was pretty hard to find any where I was not standing and grindin up a hill. My choice of gearing was subpar to say the least. I ran what I have always run for cross, a 42:18. I was very competative for the first few laps hanging in the top 20 and passing folks all the while.

I even managed to bridge up to Patterson (and his carbon fiber wheels) for a few minutes and then my irresponcible decision to turn a monsterous gear took its toll.
Below you can see me fending off the advances of that West Virginia woman Betsy Shogren Which I managed to do for about 5 laps.

Phot cred: Carolynne Locke
The problem was the race lasted 6 laps. Yes I got passed by a girl who proceded to ride the run up that I had to run. I was mocked unmercifully by the crowd and Roger Harrison will never let me live it down.

Photo cred: Roger Harrison
The one upside to my monsterous gearing was that I did dominate some guy from Spike Shooter in a sprint at the end to finish 24th. You can see Kyle Shour in the photo above, and he would also pass me towards the end of the race to finish 23rd. It was good to get out there and mix it up with some new faces and ride an awesome course.
Things are coming together for Team Bad Goat Racing. We will make our presence known at Ouachita. I also heard from a throughly unreliable source that Brandon Bundy will return to dominate Boss Cross 3.
More to followw tomorrow after I triumph over the trivial meddling of the Cropping Systems 640 Final.

I thought that this was great

These ol boys are actually speaking english.....or some form of it.



We finally got Brutus and he is adjusting to hobo life accordingly. He terrorizes vermin and takes a mighty steaming dump twice a day just to assert his dominance over the other males. It been good for me especially cuz it makes me have to get out of bed to take him on long runs in the morning. We have had a little trouble equalizing our paces. He kinda has 3 speeds, trot, canter, and chase squirrels (warp Speed). That mean I am gonna have to get faster....
Holiday Symposium Tonite with all the other AGSA members so it will be a gathering of dangerously overeducated farm kids. Should be amusing