Middlefork Ozark Trail

Last Saturday was a day to remember.  The trail was in pristine condition.  The snow fall rested on the leaves.  The temps were cold but not unberable.  Working any harder than I did would have made me sweat.  A December day in the Mark Twain Forest could not have been any nicer.

Brian Busken and I rode to one spot with a nice waterfall.  You can almost see it in the background.

Been Awhile

Has it been that long? I guess I have forgotten my blog and left no time for reflection and other non-sensical things....

Burning at The Bluff turned out to be a great weekend of cycling and beer drinking. I performed much better at the beer drinking than I did the cycling. With the help of the most interesting man in the world and a few co-harts from Momentum we were able to successfully hammer back many a double X.

With the Most Interesting Man keeping an eye on things, Busken took the Bluff as a 12 hour soloist. Some are just here for the pain and the beer is extra. Busken is one of those types. Weinkein, Sarantakis, and myself rode as Team Natural Mystics for the second year running. Seeing Team Natural Mystics was not here for all the pain and mostly here for the beer things could not have gone better.

Taco took the first turn out of the gate. The start/finish area was a zoo.  Riders where all packed in and ready to go.  A chill was in the air.  Reports of course conditions confilcted from perfect to unridable.  Tensions raised, the riders where chomping at the bit to get out.  Upon asking Stitz what place he was shooting for, he flashed me the number one....always playing to win.

I went out for my first lap, #2 of the team, and did not fail to duplicated last years feat.  Mechanicals basically put us out of the running.  Last year it was 2 flats and this year it was the totally massacre of my rear der.  Just two weeks after gearing the rig for the big race all was lost on mile 8.  I found myself having to walk the final 5 miles.  I could only take pride in the fact that I finished the lap in under 2 hours.  After that, I turned the RIG back into a single speed and ended up with my fastest lap ever at Coucil Bluff.  Three laps this year, one in the dark.  Our team moved from last into seventh, I believe.  Another well put on race and great course.

Here is the 12 hour solo winner, Mitch "The Masher" Johnson

A few more pics

video here

RIG goes geared for Burning and BT Epic

I have decided to run the Rig as a 1x9 for the remainder of the race season. The lure of the 29er has taken it's hold. Running the RIG as a SS over the last few months has left me with an insatiable appettite for the big wheel. My poor and lonley GF Big Sur has sat in the basement gather dust as of late. Christian Stitz of MTB United fame has helped me put together a geared 29er piece by piece over the last week or so and I owe him many thanks. One last rotor and we are ready for a test drive. Bring on the BURNIN' and The BT EPIC!

Rapture In Misery

We left STL heading for the far reaches of Missouri on Friday afternoon. Brian Busken followed with young rider Caleb Hulsey. With only beautiful skies ahead of us we pulled onto the highway and merged right into traffic and found ourselves immedianlty drafting Team Seagal. We began to take pulls at the front, alternating between Momentum cars and Seagal cars, time trialing if you will, all the way to the Highway 65 interchange. That is when the chain broke.

The fireworks/gas station was almost as bad as described by Team Seagal. Keith bought, what he called later the worse sandwich ever, (he seemed to enjoy it immensly at the time). I pondered for a long time over the immense firework selection. I really do love a good smoke bomb. As I checked, out the charming ladies at the register had a hard time ringing me out with all the complaing about what time they wanted to shut the place down. Fuel in belly, we pushed on.

Trenton was a nice enough town. The people I encountered seem nice and genuine. Lakeview Motor Lodge was going to be home for a couple of days. I think their slogan was "you get a free breakfast.....and I ain't meaning one them continental ones neither." Leaving behind the Motor Lodge we headed for greenier pastures. Crowder State Park was only a few miles away. There we met up with Mitch Johnson and Greg Ott and pre-rode the course. Great course full of rock gardens with names like "the boneyard", downhills with names like "humpty dumpty", open fields, super fast descents, and leg punishing uphills. Just over nine miles of pure R.I.M waiting.

Next morning we had breakfast with Mitch, Greg, The Holtmans, Busken, and Caleb. Twus no contitintal breakfast at all. Over all, really just about as good as Denny's is when you not drunk. We finished up and headed out to Crowder to begin the days festivities.

Just finished bombing down the 'humpty dumpty' section. If you look close you may see smoke coming off my rotors trying to make that hard left at the bottom of the hill.

The six hour 30-39 podium

Wed. Night Ride

We left Bromm park off DD after one lap and headed over to Busch Wildlife to get a feel for the cut-off. As the sun went down the temps dropped and the night became cool. I need to do more night rides, I forgot what a blast they are. When we got back to Bromm Keith and I headed out for another lap, totalling just under 25 miles for the night. I think I could have done at least another lap, my legs were just starting to feel good.I just love to ride at dusk and into the dark!

Stitz nice enough to show us the way from Bromm to Lost Valley via the Busch Wildlife short-cut.

The dusty roads of Busch Wildlife.

Finishing in the dark, passing lake 38.

Castlewood Challenge

Big crowds and lots of racers made for an exciting Sunday of racing. The course was fast and in great shape from the bit of rain on Saturday. My pre-ride went great and that was about the best thing that happened to me. I was leading by over a minute on the second place rider after the first lap. Climbing Grotpeter I saw Brian Buskin changing a flat. It was then that I realized that I had forgot my pump at the car. I told him I thought I had a big lead and powered up the hill. I hit the first false flat and realized that I had flatted. A good guy in a Gorc jersey loaned me his pump and some 20 or so guys passed me on their way up the hill. Things only got uglier. I did not know how to use that guys pump so it took a few extra minutes to pump it. I rode out the rest of the race looking at the flowers and the trees. Flatted one more time before the creek and walked the rest of the way across the finish line. It was a great day to bike and hike the woods of St. Louis County.

Show-Me Games

Here are a few picks from the race. The day was perfect for racing. Afterwords we had Shakespeare's Pizza, a first for me. Great place.
Rounded the first lap 44 seconds ahead of the closest competitor, the guy in red in the pic of Jay below. We rode together the first 5 miles and then I pulled away from him at the top of the big, middle climb. The pic of the creek (below) was where the climb began. About a third of a mile into the second lap I flatted and that was the end of my race. Within a couple of minutes four guys passed and all I could settle for was my fastest tire change ever. Fifth place is not so bad. Had a great weekend and can't wait to get back to Columbia for some more single track and pizza. Jay walking away with the hardware!

the world's most interesting man...doubt it.....but stay thirsty anyway friends!

Keith fueling up for lap 2

Greg O put in a strong ride

some of the beautiful sites at the park

Long Saturday

Took a long, 54.5 mile Saturday morning ride. I met Jay Wright and Christian Stitz at the Mound parking lot at 8 am. We headed down the Hamburg to connect with Lost Valley. One lap there and we hit the KATY Trail to Klondike. Klondike to Matson, one lap, and then back to Lost Valley. Met up with Keith in the parking lot....a little late I might add, but there nonetheless. Two Schlafly's in the belly, I decided to head back out for another lap of Lost Valley. A great way to start the weekend. The only thing left to do was go home and start up the grill.

Sac River

Binder Lake SS Race

After relaxing and enjoying the Lake, we decided to meet up with a couple of the Momentum guys Keith and Brian at the Binder Lake Single Speed Race. I have to say that this was a great course and I can not wait for the 3/6 hour race later this year. I rode one lap with beer in tow and took a few pics.