06/01/08:
RACE STORY --> MOHICAN 100 ULTRA ENDURANCE RACE MAY 31, 2008
I haven't written a race report for a while, but I think spending 10 hours in the saddle deserves some keyboard time as well. For some background info on this race, check out www.mohican.net. No course maps there, unfortunately.
Let's get into it. Jeff, Jason, Marty and I rolled up to the start line at about 6:55am which didn't leave much time to get nervous. We all took a pretty mellow approach to this race. Whatever happens happens. We would just ride together and stop at the aid stations for all our nutrition needs. We did not run camelbaks or any other bags really. Bottles on the bike, and tools 'n' what not in the jersey pockets. We heard a couple words about Floyd Landis racing today and then we were off thru the downtown of Loudonville OH. Soon we climbed out of town on pavement, then a left onto gravel, then into a nice bottleneck caused by slimy singletrack. Yep, it rained the night before the race. We saw slimy singletrack all day. Luckily none of really stuck, it mostly just splattered. The first 20 miles are hard to remember. It was a lot of singletrack and a lot of getting stuck behind slow geared bike riders. But the singletrack was beautiful. Slick, but still fantastic. Lots of transitions from hardwood forest to pine forest and back again.

We were clicking as a group which was good... we stopped for a group nature break and apparently a nearby photographer thought that was pretty funny but declined to document the moment on film. Bummer, would have been a funny photo. The three of us (Marty was takin it easy on the geared bike) rolled into aid station #1 right around two hours into the race. It was moist there and it sucked to stand there and sweat. We hustled up and moved on out. We got into more singletrack and more awesome pine forest. I was loving it, and thinking that I read somewhere that there was only about 40 miles of singletrack in the whole race...and it looked like we were knocking most of it out early. All three of us were taking it easy on purpose by walking any hill that looked remotely steep, including some gravel road climbs that got pretty nasty.

Aid station 2 popped up at mile 37. It was at someone's ranch, in their garage. More PB&J, more armpit-flavored energy drink, more HEED, more apple cinnamon hammer gel, and more hammer bars. This is what we ate. Oh, and a few orange slices. Same stuff at every rest stop. It got old toward the end but it got us to the finish. Leaving aid station 2 we realized it would be a loooooooong day b/c we got there in 4 hours and it was not even half way. None of us knew where the next aid station would be, either. So the next 9 miles was a little unnerving but as it turned out we hit aid station 3 at mile 46 so no worries there. Now we knew where we were at, but we also knew that it would be 26 miles before the next stop. It seemed like we were really getting out into BFE at this point. Leaving aid station 3 sent us into a ski-resort-looking area where they hold annual XC races on a short course which we were now riding. That course was hard. So we walked a lot of it. Not sure what happened next but we did find ourselves lost on some dirt roads at a place called Camp Mohaven. Tire prints going everywhere but we couldn't figure out which ones to follow. A chase group caught up to us and the decision was made to 'hang a right'. Soon we saw more tire prints and we all literally breathed a collective sigh of mountain biker relief when we found a legit course marker at the next intersection.

The rolling hills soon gave way to a dead flat rail-trail that was kind of like the Katy Trail only narrower, with more mud puddles. We must have ridden it for at least 10 miles, maybe more. We had a group of eight at this point, including a couple more single speed guys and one pretty tough single speed girl. The lone gearie in the bunch turned out to be the 2nd place guy in the Masters 50+ category. This section turned out to be mind-and-ass-numbing. Flat, flat, flat, hop a muddle, more flat, pedal, coast, pedal, coast, swerve puddle, look for something, anything, around the next corner. Finally we popped out into a small town and we knew that aid station 4 was close. Good thing too, since Jeff and I had both drained our water bottles miles ago. We took our sweet time at this rest stop, and the single speed girl joined our merry band since we apparently are cool as hell, or something like that. Anyway, that aid station was at mile 72 so we were kinda feeling the home stretch now. We had heard that the whole race might only be 98 miles long, which for some reason feels a lot easier than 100.

The next 18 miles included quite a bit of gravel roads, a little pavement, some more soggy trails across private property, and definitely more hills that we walked up. It is hard to remember all the different sections of trail and where they happened. Every time we were on the roads I felt like I was putting out too much effort and not keeping up with Jeff and Jason...but then we would hit trails and I would just devastate. At one point I mowed down a 3/4" sapling like I was on a dirt bike or something. I also must say that I didn't think the hills in Ohio would even touch the stuff we ride around here...but let me tell you those hills put some of ours to shame. Somehow they can build fall-line trails (and roads) and they don't wash out like ours do. Even with hydraulic disc brakes I was picking up speed on some of the downhills.

Somewhere in the giant hills between stations 4 and 5 we lost our new single speed friend Becca. I think Jeff and Jason enjoyed the company because they suggested waiting. But I started to see struggling riders ahead so I said we should push on and try to pass people. It didn't take much to convince them. So we kept our heads down and motored....and yes we still walked more climbs. Sometimes we passed people while walking!! Soon we found ourselves at aid station 5 which was right at 90 miles. This was the real home stretch. We finally got into some dry singletrack, in what appeared to be a fairly well-used state park area. We followed a nice little river bottom trail for 5-6 miles until we found its source, a huge dam. And what did we see walking up flanks of this huge dam? Racers. With bikes on their shoulders. Talk about a kick in the jimmy. We had to walk up this freaking earthen dam that must have been 100 feet tall. At the top some guy says "drink up if you got it! otherwise you're carrying dead weight!" The end was near. Oh wait a second, you still have to climb a mile on pavement. Ugggghh. Now we have some more soggy singletrack for you. ARRRRGGH! I can't believe I didn't cramp up before the end. Everyone else was feeling it too. How can you NOT feel it after 98 miles?

After a soft, energy-sapping climb, they gave us a really fun, swoopy, downhill run to the end of the race. Then they gave us a beer glass upon crossing the finish line. Jason and I crossed with 10 seconds of each other and Jeff rolled in a few minutes later since one of his leg muscles decided to tie itself in a knot. Marty met us with his sob story of cramping at mile 20 but toughing it out to mile 90 (wow!). So that's the story of our first 100-mile mountain bike race. No trophies or payouts for us. We were racing on a new level with a whole new set of rules. But at least we can all say we beat Floyd Landis (since he dnf'ed after getting dropped from the lead group)!! Sweet.

02/08/08:
The trails and road riding pages have been updated with some super hyped fresh links for your perusal. In other news, we are proud to be on board with the new Rolla Multisport Club and will support the club with a discount on all the goodies down here at the LBS.

01/15/08:
We have the latest 29er products in stock now! ...Fox F-29 RL 80mm $599.99...Shimano XTR Bontrager Duster 29er wheels $450...Bontrager Dry X ARC 29x2.1 tires $44.99

10/24/07:
Here's a quick rundown on what kinds of new stuff you can find in the shop this week: Nike Women's Long-sleeve Wool jerseys.... Kenda 26" Cyclocross tires.... Ritchey 700x32 Cyclocross tires.... Clif Bar Maple Nut and Iced Gingerbread flavors....Shimano XT M770 clipless MTB pedals.... Thule Insta-Gater truck bed bike racks.... Bontrager Duster TLR 29er disc rims....A whole mess of Trek LED safety lights, Cycleops Trainers and Rollers....Park Tool BBB-1 repair manual.... And all kinds of other goodies to keep you riding through autumn and on into winter.

10/17/07:
It's that time of year again. Time to take down the short sleeve stuff and put up the tights and jackets. What's this got to do with you? Well, you can score some good deals on summer stuff and/or new winter items. Speaking of new winter items, we got some in today. Come down and check out our new shipment of Nike long-sleeve jerseys and jackets. We even scored a deal on some Nike wool jerseys....mmmmmmmmmm.....wool. Several items just went to the clearance rack as well, so don't forget to have a look over there. 10-4, over and out.

06/12/07:
New Shipment of Tifosi Eyewear is Here! Along with other Father's Day Gift Items!
Wrenchforce Multi Tools starting at $8.99, ProGold Chain Gauges at $14.99, Pedros Mini Pit Kit has everything to help Dad keep his bike clean and lubed-$29.99, Trek Baggy Trail Shorts in New Colors and Styles. Or get him the always reliable gift certificate.

06/06/07:
New Sigma Heart Rate Monitors are here! We have 3 styles to choose from starting at $39.99.
Other New Arrivals: Very comfortable Nike 10-2 bib short for $69.99! Suggested retail $99.99
Trek Ladies Helmets in 3 colors, sleeveless tank jerseys, baggy shorts & spin shoes.
Minoura saddle mounted 2 bottle cage carrier $14.99.
New Saris Bike Racks: Bones RS $259.99 & Thelma 2 $249.99.

For the home we now carry Botticelli 4 bike stands, only $119.99.

04/26/07:
Just got the flyer for the 2007 Route 66 Duathlon ... depress your mouse button HERE

04/25/07:
Custom Shop Jerseys are now available in all sizes for the handsome prices of $75.

01/28/07:
Videos and pictures from Today's trail work are posted below:
Pic of the big drop we built
Video of Tom and his crazy tiller making sweet love to bench cut
Video of Dan-o riding the drop for the first time (on Adam's bike)
Video of Adam riding the drop on his own bike after realizing it's not that hard
Video of Adam riding the other drop that we built
Video of Jeff almost crashing and Dan-o laughing at him
Video of Jeff sticking the landing this time
Video of Adam rolling the big drop one more time

01/10/07:
New arrivals in the store this week:
2007 Trek Interval Helmets...new design, bigger vents, same great fit. Several colors in stock now......Bontrager Speed Bottle w/cage...new from the speed department at Bontrager....also from the speed department, the new-for-2007 Race X Lite Rear Cage Holder...Last but not least, the bike I've been waiting my whole life for...the new Gary Fisher Mullet Single Speed! It's a single speed...It's a Mullet...what's not to like?

12/06/06:
So, I've been working on some stuff and things around the shop lately....other than the website. But wait! I have been working on it....you might notice a few new sections such as Custom Builds and Employee Bikes. Basically, just a couple pages full of more bike porn, which everyone likes.

OK, back to what I've been working on.... Jerseys! I just got a shipment of standard issue Route 66 Jerseys in, and this is what they look like:

I have sizes S-XL for the handsome price of $55.
Keep your eyes peeled because I'm working on a custom design as well...due in around Christmas time or New Years.

10/19/06:
I got the low-down on the Springfield 'cross races right HERE and OVER HERE too. Click and be happy.

10/18/06:
Check it out, I made up a cyclo-cross course at Ber Juan Park. Sssshhh don't tell Ken Kwantes...he might come out and chase us and make us wear helmets!! har har. Anyway, here's an aerial photo with the course roughly drawn in. After we've ridden it a few more times, it ought to be pretty easy to follow the path thru the grass.
Tonight's MTB ride at Tom's Trails aka Magruder-ville is a GO. Bring lights, and I'll see ya there.

10/13/06:
A little cold weather hits and everyone quits riding. What's the deal? Hey, by the way, I got some sweet cold weather gear in already. How about some $150 Nike Pro Wind Jackets for only 90 bucks? I got your knee warmers, arm warmers, foot warmers, toe warmers, head warmers.....i don't think i have any armpit or butt warmers though. You're on your own there buddy. I also got a good stash of lights...got the blinky's and the super bright headlights too. You gotta get your hands on one of these new Cateye EL-410 headlights. It's gotta be the best $40 headlight I've ever seen.
That's about all I got for now. 'Cross season starts Sunday and I'm not even close to ready. Time to go ride.

08/07/06:
Holy Crap, a Monday morning update? Will wonders never cease. I gotta get some info up here since the Adventures For the Cure team plugged my site on their blog. If you wanna check it out, just go to their homepage and click on the 'news' link. We had a pretty good time over here on Friday night...cranked some tunes, met some cool people, drank some high life....life's a garden, dig it. took a few pictures and you can view those right about here. Heck, make a donation to those guys if you are feeling it. They were three of the coolest dudes I'd wanna meet...and they were riding 48x16 gears with 165mm cranks across the country!! Anyway, they spent the night over at Morgan's place and took off Saturday morning for a 95-mile ride down HWY 8 to Farmington. And that was an easy day for them. Ahem...anyone else feel like a big wuss right about now?

08/02/06:
Big news down here at the HQ. We just got set up on the Trek Card program (see upper right corner of this page). This means that you can pretty much walk out of here with any bike provided you can make the payments and your credit score is not in the crapper. Here's how it works...you can apply in the store and we'll know in just a few minutes if you are approved...kind of like when you shop at JC Penney and they give you 10% for applying for their stupid credit card, except you don't get 10% off...you get a shiny new rig and all the accessories to go with it. In fact, the Trek Card can be used to buy anything in any Trek store...including Gary Fisher bikes, Lemond bikes, Nike cycling gear, Bontrager components, you name it. Been wanting a new wheelset? Finance it!! It's the American way!!

07/12/06:
I just received a top secret transmission from D. Kammerich regarding this year's Festival Bike Tour in Boonville. You may view the contents here.

07/01/06:
All right, I'm outta here for 3 days. The shop will be closed July 2, 3, and 4. When I get back on Wednesday, I'll have a whole truckload of fresh Trek and Fisher bikes to start the month off right.

06/14/06:
If this isn't right up my alley, I don't know what is. Read it and weep. or laugh. or both.

06/10/06:
Results from this morning's Rolla Duathlon are posted here.
If you want to compare to last year's results, click here.

05/22/06:
Dirty Kanza 200 AKA How to get Monkey Butt:

I signed up for the Dirty Kanza 200 more or less at the last minute, after the swim meet/mud bog in Iowa left me wondering if I really had the huevos to finish a race over 100 miles long. Well I guess I can quit wondering because I did it. And I may have even had a little left in the tank... Maybe not enough to go another 140 miles (the length of Trans-Iowa) but that's another story.

Time to put my paws on the keyboard and tell the tale of my 17-hour day in the saddle...
I hooked up with Rob Pennell of Badger Cycles in Lawrence and we got to the Emporia Travelodge (race HQ and start/finish) about 11pm friday night. A little prep work, a couple gulps of water, and we hit the sack with a 5am wake up call coming our way. I hate to admit it but I didn't sleep all that well, and I actually 'dreamed' that when we got up the next morning it was raining. Well thank goodness that was just a dream, or really more of a flashback from Iowa. Either way, it sure didn't help me sleep. No big deal, we had to get up at 2:30am in Iowa so 5am was like sleeping in.

5am rolled around and I woke up feeling good and little antsy. I gots to get my eat on before racing, so I rode across the overpass to the only gas station operating at that time of the morning and wolfed down a little debbie cake donut, a hostess chocolate pie, and a pint of chocolate milk. That's what I call a gourmet breakfast right there. Too bad I would be burping it up for the next two hours.

6am and we hit the road for a few blocks east then straight north and west for about a 50 mile haul to the first food stop in Council Grove. I guess it has been dry in Kansas because the 30 bikes in front of me were kicking up a mean cloud of dust. I can't stand riding like that so I dropped back a safe distance along with a few other guys including Guitar Ted from Iowa. It's not like I would have kept up with the 'peloton' anyway, because I was cranking a super low 34/19 gear with 700x42 knobbies. It didn't take long for us to find ourselves pretty much alone. Not too far into the race we picked up our man Paul Jacobson from Iowa and had ourselves a nice little three-man posse. Guitar Ted started putting some time into us by pedaling hard up the hills and coasting down them faster. I think he got sick of riding alone so he stopped to change around some gear and then started riding with Paul and I again. Paul was a bit of a noob so he was just happy to ride with some slow people that wouldn't push him past his pre-conceived limits.

I suppose we rolled into Council Grove around 10am and we made a pretty quick stop out of it. As usual, the locals were pretty interested in where we came from, where we were going, yadda yadda how's the fishing and what not. Off we go. So far the race had been super flat with no memorable hills. That was all about to change. Not. It stayed flat all the way to the first (and only) official checkpoint in Cottonwood Falls. Somewhere around mile 60 I think Guitar Ted sat down too hard on his seat and made it fall down so he stopped for some repairs while Paul and I kept on truckin. Paul told me some funny stories about messed up kids since he is a high school guidance counselor in Iowa. It sounded like he liked his job as much as mine. I didn't tell him any funny customer stories since all my customers are the coolest (shameless brown nosing).

We rolled into into the checkpoint at 1:00pm with about 88 miles on the computer. The Casey's had plenty of hot pizza slices ready to go so I was more than happy to partake. Nothing I like better than Casey's pizza during a long ride. Across the street, my man Doug Long was on duty making sure everyone was accounted for and who do I see lounging in the lawn chair next to him? Dejay Birtch! ...former Fisher team rider, current Niner team rider, and all-around single speed badass. He said his knees hurt so he was pulling the plug. I said I could definitely empathize, since my knees were totally wrecked after the Trans-Iowa tractor pull/bike race. All in all, we spent about 30 minutes in Cottonwood falls which was spent re-applying chamois butter, eating Casey's pizza, lubing chains, setting up lights, making fun of Doug Long, popping E-caps pills, and studying the newly-acquired maps for the second half of the race.

The route went further south and east from the checkpoint, and the next stop was Eureka, about 50 miles away. This was definitely the hardest stretch. Any time the road turned east, we had a pretty tough headwind. Plus we were in a very exposed area for a while. My altimeter said we were up around 1600 feet, in the middle of the Flint Hills. This was definitely the highest point in the race. We could see for probably 15-20 miles in any direction. Sometimes you could see a biker as a dot on the horizon when he was probably 5 miles ahead. Thank goodness the temperatures were mild, or I would have definitely used up my water supply in a hurry. Paul was hanging tough, and falling off my wheel once in a while. At one point I was a few minutes ahead of him, maintaining my own pace, when I felt a little breeze on my leg and noticed my back tire was suddenly quite soft. I knew that was coming. I found a cut on my sidewall, but luckily it was not quite all the way through the casing. Time to put in a tube (I was running a homemade tubeless system). I wrapped the tube in a plastic bag just in case the cut decided to open up and Paul tossed some carbs in his gut while he waited. He didn't have to wait but he said he really needed a break and my flat was a pretty good excuse. What a guy. Sooner or later we started getting close to Eureka, but it sucked because we were heading almost straight into the wind for the last few miles. We hit a pretty burly paved climb and halfway up I see the words ALLEZ DAN F. GO! spray painted on the road!! Wish I had a picture of that. So thanks to the guy that painted it...it made me feel like a pimp daddy rock star! I believe Eureka was at mile 140 and boy were we glad to see it. I got the feeling that Paul was hurting a little bit when we were way up in the windy Flint HIlls. I think I spent something like 11 bucks on food at the Casey's in Eureka. This included two Red Bulls, a quart of V-8, some chocolate milk, another hostess chocolate pie (check the nutrition info, they are burly), a couple payday bars, and some honey roasted peanuts to chomp on. I almost had to get another person to carry all my crap outside to eat it!

Paul and I headed back out onto the gravel at about 6:30pm with a 30-mile stretch before reaching the town of Madison, where the Flint Hills Death Ride used to start and finish. It was important to reach Madison at a decent hour, since the Casey's closed at 10pm and it was the last food stop before the finish line back in Emporia. No problem for us...we made it there in plenty of time. Along the way, we picked up Nate King and Matt Wills (pink single speed guy from Iowa). At this point it was getting dark so now it was time to flip on the lights and have some real fun. We soon discovered that it's hard to see arrows on the pavement in the dark so we started really paying attention to navigation since it would suck to get off course in the dark. At the important gravel intersections, there were bicycle reflectors nailed to sticks in the ground. These were pretty easy to spot, except for one that we almost missed. Nate and Matt started to turn it up with about 20 miles to go and Paul had a hard time keeping the pace. He dropped back, but there were a couple course marshals riding with him so he was in good company. I had to feel bad about that, since he waited for me while I fixed that flat way back in the Flint Hills. But I had some camaradie going with Matt (pink single speed guy) so I decided to just keep their pace and see if I could finish with them. Good thing, or I would have missed Nate King's super sweet possum bunny-hop. How strange is it to bunny hop a possum while riding a karate monkey? Ponder that question for a while.

The lights of Emporia kept getting closer and soon the gravel turned to pavement. I guess we just quietly agreed to finish together and so that's how it ended for us. At 11:00 pm we clicked over 200 miles on our odometers and pulled back into the Travelodge parking lot where we were greeted by cold PBR and Miller High Life. It was like two of my four favorite foods! All the earlier finishers stayed up to wait for the rest of use which was super cool in my book. Click HERE for the full results. The first guy finished in 13 hours, and didn't even have to use lights! That's the way to do it, right there!

So how did it all end up for me? They scored me in 11th place out of 15 finishers, out of 34 that started the event. My knees felt fine afterwards. I took generic Kroger-brand Ibuprofen during the race to prevent any sort of flare-up. Between that and the E-caps I was popping all kinds of pills! I rode the same bike that I rode in Iowa, with a 34/19 gear and 700x42 IRC Mythos CX tires. I think I could have used a bigger gear, but my knees may beg to differ. Maybe I'll never know that one for sure. I know that NONE of the hills caused me any sort of distress. The hardest part for me was riding directly east on the rough gravel between Cottonwood Falls and Eureka. It was hard to find a smooth line since the roads were pretty low-traffic and lots of cows walked on them. If we had a race like the Dirty Kanza around here, people would probably DIE because there would be at least twice as much climbing, on the order of 1000 ft. for every 10 miles ridden. Check out the photos from the Joe Dirt Ride. I invite all my Iowa and Kanza buddies to come here for the sickest gravel rides ever. If you think Kanza was crazy, you will positively soil yourself when you see what we have here.

One last thing...I gotta give credit where it is due..The race organizers did a fine job and I liked the fact that they actually marked every corner on the course in addition to giving out maps. Marking a 200-mile course is no small task. So you fellers ought to be proud. Same goes for you, Doug "should have retired a year ago" long. Thanks for driving all our crap to the checkpoint. Sorry I kicked you when you passed out in the hallway.

05/19/06:
Since the Iowa thing didn't work out too well, I'm going to take all that training and apply it to this weekend's DIRTY KANZA 200. I'm going to close a few hours early today and then Jerrod will man the controls here at Route 66 HQ on Saturday. When the store opens at 10:00, I hope to have 60 miles under my belt already. It's like in the army when they say 'we do more before sunrise than most people do all day'. or something along those lines. and what not. I'm out, look for a race report if I make it back. Here's a cool quote from the race website...

Area Info:
The Flint Hills of east-central Kansas and the Serengeti Plains of western Tanzania are the only two geographic regions in the entire world with natural tall-grass prairie. Much of the course is in open-range cattle grazing areas. Please be respectful and do not chase or spook the cattle.

Course Statistics:
Total Miles: 200
Miles of Gravel: 170 (85%)
Miles of Pavement: 30 (15%)
Feet of Climbing: 10,000
Number of Turns: 67
Low Water Bridges: 11 (or more)
Number of Counties: 5
Number of Towns: 7

05/14/06:
Today I put in about 48 miles by riding two abbreviated loops of the Joe Dirt ride. I had to shorten the loop because Klein ford was going to be waay too deep to cross on a bike due to the recent rains. Here's the cool part about today...I actually took my digital camera along for the ride to capture this gem of a ride that all you wheel-suckin roadies are missing out on. go HERE to view the pics.

05/10/06:
Just got the flyer for the Rolla Duathlon and 5k on June 10. Clicky Click!!

05/02/06:
TRANS-IOWA: THE REAL DEAL
I am going to start off my trans iowa story by giving credit to those folks to whom i owe a debt of gratitude for making the race possible for me:
To Dad and Morgan, for keeping the store open while I was gone.
To the Hartig family for taking care of me in Dubuque.
To Lance, Kevin, Joe, and Martha for completely taking care of all the logistics.
To the fine employees of the Hawarden Harvest Inn for getting breakfast ready at 2:00am.

Now, on with the story. I started the race near the back of the field with the guys that had the reflectors on their wheels. I knew that the front of the race would be controlled by Jesse Lalonde and I knew that he is bad fast. And on a cross bike with no tackle on it whatsoever, other than a rear fender. I didn't want to be tempted to get into a drag race with that guy. Are you kidding? He won SSWC05!! It was cool to sit at the back and watch all the blinky lights in one big pack. I think I entered the gravel at mile 3 with maybe 5-8 people behind me and everyone else in front. Trans Iowa isn't the kind of race where you gotta worry about getting a good starting position. So I just chilled and rode.

The laid-back strategy had several benefits. While the lead group hit the first mud bog in almost complete darkness, I hit it at dawn which probably eased the suffering of walking thru a muddy corn field carrying a mud caked bike. In addition, I was able to navigate quite easily by just following the rain-filled ruts left by those in the lead group. Cue sheets were already getting wet anyway, and harder to read as a result.

Somewhere along the line, I found myself riding with the canadians, Dallas and Lindsay. We couldn't seem to match pace at first. For a while I would be up the road, then they would go by and I would lag behind. We also picked up 'pink single speed guy' (Matt from NE) and this would more or less be the people I rode with for the next six hours. At this point, most of the race is a kind of a blur for me. I guess I should have sat down and wrote this sooner. All I know is that somewhere short of the town of Sutherland, I caught sight of the lead group of eight and really started motoring (at a blistering 5 mph in the ditch) to catch up to them. I suppose I caught them just a few miles before Sutherland and then we all kind of arrived at the convenience store at about the same time. Sutherland was the place where it all went down. For whatever reason, the heavy hitters decided to call it quits while sitting in the small dining area of the gas station. That is probably what motivated myself and about 8 others to continue. With Lalonde (and some other wicked fast people) out of the race, it seemed wide open, and it was more or less understood that whoever rode the furthest past Sutherland would at least have the bragging rights of the unofficial first place finisher. I could tell that Lance, Joe, and Kevin sensed this and so they were the first to take off from the store and get back out into the mud bog. They asked me to go, but instead I took my time and at a sandwich and drank some V-8 while the race organizers asked all the abandoners to sound off. Something like 4 or 5 people raised their hand but I just couldn't do it yet because even though it was going to suck to get back on the bike and warm up again, I still felt like my legs had not even been tested yet.

As I was leaving the store, Matt (pink single speed guy) came walking in and decided to join me back out on the road. As we rode out of Sutherland, I spotted a place to stop and change cue sheets. It was here that Matt said he was going to pull the plug. Normally I would just say suit yourself and keep on truckin. But company was about the only thing keeping me going on this ride so I convinced him to keep going by using a mixture of inspirational and profane language. Maybe a mile later we were joined by Road bike guy and Dallas and Lindsay. So now it was the five of us plus Kevin, Lance, and Joe. We were pretty much the only ones that I know of that went on past Sutherland, which was about 63 miles into the ride.

The route soon dropped into a pretty cool river valley and the roads improved, but just slightly. At least we weren't riding in the ditches anymore. But now we had hills. Not real hills, mind you, but with the soft roads they sure did seem a lot bigger. So as a single speed rider, I either climb fast or not at all. So it wasn't long before I found myself riding alone again, in between two groups. Everyone was saying that the Dubuque guys were really truckin with all of them down in their aero bars taking turns. So I didn't really expect to catch them. But right after the pass-thru town of Peterson, I crested a hill and there they were. So, with the world's slowest bridge move, I made it up to Kevin, Lance, and Joe. Joe said he was in a spot of bother and they were all pretty much crawling up the hills in first or second gear. So I kept my pace steady and once again found myself alone, this time off the front with everyone behind me. Now this is unfamiliar territory for me. I actually had to start paying attention to my cue sheets since there were no tire tracks to follow. The river valley continued with several more climbs and while I was getting up them, they were starting to wear on me, especially with the head wind that was blowing.

Around mile 93 the river valley ended and I was up on the flats again with a seemingly more fierce head wind. For the last 13 miles I had been pretty much alone. Adrenaline kept me going but that was starting to run low, as was my fluid supply. I knew I was super far ahead of everyone and was secretly hoping that Jeff Kerkove and Guitar Ted would come driving up behind me in their mini van and tell me that everyone else pulled the plug and that I could stop riding now. Well, that wasn't going to happen. So I set a mental goal of 100 miles or 12 hours, whichever came first. My cue sheets said I was already just about to 100, but I wanted my computer to click over 100, so that's what I did. At 100.0 miles, I shut it down, called in my DNF, and called Martha in the meat wagon to come get me. So now several things could happen. The other riders could just give up. Or, they could ride to where I was standing, go one foot further, and say they beat me. Everyone probably knows by now how this one turned out. Kevin, Lance, Joe, and Rusty all pulled the plug a few miles before reaching my position. Pink single speed guy (Matt) pulled it in Peterson, and nice little town about 20 miles past Sutherland. But those F-in Canadians, Dallas and Lindsay, came cruising by about 30 minutes later and said they were going to Algona come hell or high water eh? Yes, Canadians do say eh? a lot. As it turns out, their adrenaline ran out 20 miles later and they pulled the plug too.

There are so many smaller stories mixed in that there's no way I can put them all down on here. One of these nights we'll chill out after the wednesday night ride, have a few beers, crack some peanuts, and you'll get the whole story...

05/01/06:
I am back.
I am not dead.
My knees hurt real bad.
I will get the Iowa story up here as quick as I can.

04/27/06:
I'm off to face the wild frontier of Iowa with 69 other like-minded psycho's. Pray for good weather, because at this point I think that's all we can do. Here's the bike I'll be riding. And here's another one that I built just for fun. See ya when I get back, if I don't get eaten by some crazy Iowa whistlepig or something.

The store WILL be open regular hours while I'm gone.

04/19/06:
In honor of the wednesday night mountain bike ride at Magruder-ville trails, Brian would like to share a 'haiku' with everyone....

Wednesday off-road ride
Devastation will ensue
Your legs will fall off

...see you tonight!

04/11/06:
TRANS-IOWA TRAINING DIARY PART I:
So, I got this 340 mile gravel road race coming up in three weeks, so I thought it might be a good idea to start riding a lot. This last weekend was looking pretty nice so I rode 180 miles on the katy trail over a two day time period. Friday night I left work at 6:00 and drove to the Jefferson City trailhead on the Katy Trail. With my Cateye Double Shot headlight fully charged, I left at 7:20pm for an 80-mile journey to the destination of Klondike Park in St. Charles county. The Midwest Mountain Bike Festival was going on all weekend at Klondike and I wanted to 'keep it real' by riding my mountain bike there instead of just driving like everyone else. Hopefully 'keeping it real' would not go wrong like on Dave Chappelle's show. Temperatures were mild and I started with a totally sweet tailwind. Near the metropolis of Mokane, a couple wandering dogs decided to bark and growl at me. This is nothing new to me as it happens all the time around here. I like to wait for them to get nice and close then WHAM nike sandwich upside the head. I got one them pretty good and that gave me a nice satisfied feeling as I continued on my way. Around 8:30 it got dark enough to switch on the Double Shot and at this point the race against time began. The light provides about 5 hours of light on a full charge, so I pretty much had to get where I was going by 1:30am...switching off the light whenever possible i.e. when stopping for breaks or whatever. About 30 miles in, I caught up to the storm front that was moving across the state friday night. Either that, or it caught up to me. I had been seeing quite a bit of lightning in the eastern sky and I just hoped it kept moving. But I guess it didn't, so I rode right into a mild rain shower. I got kinda wet, but not soaked. About the time things were looking really bad, I rolled up on the town of Bluffton and spied a barn with a roof I could hide under for a while. It was at this point that I seriously considered throwing in the towel. But I couldn't let a 30-mile ride on the Katy put a hurtin' on me. No way. Had to keep going. I stood around for 10-15 minutes eating a Payday and taking stock of the situation. The rain started to slow and I could see stars in the western sky so things were looking up. I headed back out on the trail and It had already started to drain. Before I stopped, I was starting to see puddles form, which is not a good thing on the Katy. It means you are going to get coated in grit if you ride over 8 mph. With the trail drying out, I could start motoring along again at 15 mph without throwing a stripe of crushed limestone up my back side. The rain continued for what seemed like 5 miles or so, alternating between a sprinkle and a more steady shower. My gear was getting a little wet but as long as I kept going I stayed pretty warm. Thanks Nike thermal long sleeve jersey. Crossing the weather front meant that now I had a cold north wind to deal with. Fortunately, much of the Katy runs on the south side of the northern bluffs of the MO river valley...which means I was mostly sheltered from the wind. About 40 miles into the ride, the mile marker signs went from three digits to two (100 to 99 to 98 etc), and this really motivated me for some reason. Maybe it's because I was halfway there. I started thinking "only forty miles left, no problem!!" My lights were working well... my food supplies were holding out...plenty of water even though the chill in the air made drinking almost unnecessary as I wasn't really sweating at all.. At mile 60 I rolled into Treloar where I could see some locals still putting away brews at the local bar. I was needing water so I headed inside where of course everyone looked at me like I was crazy. I suppose riding along in the dark at midnight could be considered a little nutty, but that's what we're going to have to do at the Trans-Iowa race, so crazy it is my friends. I got a bottle filled up, and promised to stop by on my return trip sunday to catch a little of the Texas 500. All right, got a full bottle of GU20 and 20 miles to go. Time to put the head down a ride. 10 miles later I had a first. First time I ever ran over a raccoon on my bike. A live raccoon. Both wheels. Thump Thump. He made it I think. No wonder you always see those guys dead along the highways. They're stupid! He ran right under my front wheel after running away from me for a good 30 yards! I should not have dinged my bell at him. That's probably what confused him. Oh well, it gave me a good story to tell. I was glad I didn't hit the deck. Must be my superior mountain bike skills that save me... The mile markers kept counting down... 75, 74, 73.... every gap in the bluffs gave me a blast of that cold north wind. Whenever the wind got in my face, I just stood up and cranked that 34/14 gear to give me ass a rest and use some different muscles for a while. If there's one thing that sucks about the Katy trail, it's that there are no hills to give you a chance to stretch out or stand up. You just have to wait til you can't stand to sit down anymore and then stand up and crank a few pedal strokes, shift some weight around, then back in the saddle for another few miles. I'm hoping Iowa has a few rollers to break things up. Back to the journey. One thing I didn't know was how to get from the Katy up into Klondike Park. All I could do was ride until I saw a trail on the left going into the park. I wasn't sure what to look for, and I was afraid I was going to miss it. Lucky for me, they made it pretty obvious, but they also made it steep! I made it right on time, though. 1:30am almost on the dot. My light was still going strong but I was definitely ready for a beer and a sleeping bag. Now came the fun part. Finding Magruder's truck with my camping gear in it. Not going into too much detail, it took me an hour and many drunken conversations with GORC members to figure out that Tom was parked way up on an overlook in a small picnic area that I didn't even know was there. So I finally got to bed at 2:30 am....but I was damn glad that I toughed it out and made the whole ride.

Whew, this is getting long. I didn't actually do much MTB'ing on saturday at the Midwest MTB Festival. How ironic that is. I just chilled and watched the music, rode around the park, and whatnot and what-have-you. Mostly just re-loading for the ride back on Sunday. I was riding 700x42 IRC Mythos CX Slick tires, which I am pretty sure would have gotten destroyed on the rocky sections of Klondike. Sunday dawned a beautiful day, nothing but sunshine and relatively calm winds. The legs were feeling good since I pretty much ate and sat for most of the day before. So why not ride back? Sure I could have gotten a ride with someone in the Red Wheel crew. Not for this chump. I headed out a little after 11am with a clear sky and a little over 100 miles already on the computer that installed on friday. Side note.. the Trek Incite 8i is a pretty kick ass little wireless computer. I think I got it calibrated well enough that I may have only been off by half a mile over the 80 mile ride, if that. Back to the story. The first 20 miles of the return trip flew by...I think I was cooking along with a 17 mph average. Stopped in Treloar at the same bar I hit late friday night and got a chicken sandwich and a couple beers. Almost caught the start of the Nascar race but decided to scoot instead. Apparently there's about a half hour from "Gentleman start your engines" to when they actually start the race. I didn't have time for that. Another 20 miles flew by and it was time to stop in Mckittrick at the grocery store. It's really the best place to stop between Jeff City and St. Charles if you really need to load up on food. I tried the new MDX exxxtreme energy drink from Mountain Dew and wasn't impressed. Not quite the buzz of Red Bull, that's for sure. The next 40 miles went by nice and quick, and I rolled into Jeff City at 5 o'clock with another 80 miles in the legs and a 15.7 mph average for the return trip. I think the friday night ride only averaged 14 mph but that's because I rode slow when it was raining.

So am I ready for Trans Iowa? doubt it. Riding at night sucks... It's going to take a serious mental effort and some good tunes to get me thru the night in Iowa. Not to mention, if the weather gets shitty, I'm as good as hosed. I think my equipment is pretty much dialed...I'm going to run a 34/15 gear in Iowa just to make the hills a little easier...even though I really liked the 34/14 on the flats. I'm going to pick up a better backup light source. My little planet bike helmet light really only works for reading my computer, that's about it. Other than that, I think my equipment is as ready as it can be. I think I'll score a new front chainring and a fresh chain in the next couple weeks just for peace of mind. I really liked my Jandd frame bag and I'm going to install a couple of Jandd toaster bags along the top tube behind the stem and in front of the seatpost. I'll probably keep candy bars and beef jerky in those. Two bottles on the bike and one in my jersey pocket should do. I'm not going to carry 180 Oz. of liquid because I think the weather is going to be cool enough that hydration will not be a major factor. I'm definitely not going to carry a camelbak. I just don't want that weight on my shoulders for 36 hours. no way. maybe one of the fanny-pack style camelbaks would work, but even that would probably get uncomfortable after a while. I will probably just wear two pocketed jerseys so I got six pockets to put stuff in. I think that's it for long rides for now. For the next two weeks I'll just do regular rides with a long one on sunday, then the week before the race I probably won't ride at all unless I need to prove out some equipment. I want to be fresh and jonesin' for a ride when I arrive in Hawarden on the 29th. I don't want to be sick of riding on the verge of a 340 mile ride.

03/30/06:
this is awesome---------------->

In other news, I just got in a small shipment of Tifosi Optics eyewear with some of the new 2006 styles. Good stuff right there I tell ya. I also just received a shipment of new Shop Stickers. Check out the new design by clicking on these words. These stickers are free for anyone who promises not to put a sticker that says "sucks" beside it.

03/29/06:
Well it's been a few days since the Ouachita Challenge so I guess I better write down the ol' race report so all my fans can bask in my reflected glory. Or maybe just because everyone else is doing it. Whatever...
Here goes. Our crew was big this year. Headquartered at the Royal Oak Inn in Mt. Ida, we were just a few short of a dozen. Jeff, Brian, Brian's friend Michael, Wes, Anne, Max, Sue, Matt, and Jen all made the trip. Max, Sue, Jen and Anne were there for moral support and the rest of us were racing.
On saturday, five of us did a low-intensity pre-ride on what was reported to be the best part of the Womble trail. The trail did not disappoint. I crashed in a sweeping left hand corner and went low side, effectively beating up the left side of my self in various ways. My knee definitely hurt so I figured I better drink some beers to ease the pain after the ride. And maybe take some advil before the race on Sunday.
Speaking of racing, let's get there already. I had hoped to get a better spot heading into the singletrack this year so I wouldn't get caught behind a bunch of squids. I tried my best to coast along in the draft of the lead group but it just doesn't work on a one speed bike. So I drifted back to where Brian and Squirrel were wisely saving their energy, and we all started ringing our handlebar bells just for the hell of it. This would be a recurring them over the course of the next few hours. It was kind of fun since we were running top three in the single speed class and we could keep track of each other just by listening for the ding ding. So of course we enter the singletrack and run right into the back of some slow shifty bikes. Ringing the bell doesn't do much for you when there's a pile of 10 people in front of you. One person, yes, 10 people, no. In their defense, the guys we were riding with weren't that slow, but them having two shocks and us with none, they should have been dropping us like crazy on the downhills. So it went on like that til the first water stop. Brian, Squirrel, and I were still cruising along in our own little retarded bell-ringing pack at this point. None of us needed water so on we went to the base of Blowout mountain. By the way, the first climb was almost 800 vertical feet judging by my altitude watch! We were up around 1750 ft which is as high as the highest point in MO. Blowout mountain is the second climb, and it's a byatch. No question about that. It just goes up and up and then you get off and walk. End of story. But not only is the mountain high, it is also wicked looonng. As in, you get to the top, then the trail more or less levels out and goes for quite a while before descending to the first check point. The temperatures were low, so I had decided to try to stretch my water supply to the second check point, which was another 12 miles or so. That worked out well, by the way. Chalybeate mountain was next, and I had no intention of trying to ride up that thing. So I hopped off early and started walking the climb, all the while digging thru my shorts pockets for food and E-caps. I figured I might as well eat while walking.
Fast forward to check point 2 at the 'town' of Sims. Anne, Max, and Sue were there waiting to take care of us and boy did they ever do that. I felt like Nascar driver making a super fast pit stop. I got rid of my thermal jersey, filled the camelbak, chugged a red bull, grabbed some granola, and started munching on a club sandwich all in the span of a minute of two. Kick ass!! Support crews rule. That sandwich tasted so good. There's nothing like 'real' food to keep you going in a long race. Man cannot survive on powerbars and gatorade.
Although I felt like I went out waaay too hard in the first half of the race, things were beginning to feel good leading up to the Womble trail. Let me tell you, you don't want to bonk before hitting the Womble. It's too good of a trail to not enjoy. So I was glad to have enough juice to really give that trail a good thrashing. On the climb up Mauldin Mountain, I believe I caught evey one of the shifty bikes that passed me while I was relaxing on the long gravel section leading up to the Sims food stop. And it was a lot of them! Legs were feeling 75% and my lower back was aching but a quick stretch while leaning against a tree fixed me right up. This is a good strategy. While climbing, when you are going like 2mph, stop for a second to stretch out your back and give your legs a rest. That's my chris carmichael training tip for today.
Rolled into check point three feeling kick ass, so I filled up on some vile tasting lemon lime energy drink and ate a crispy marshmallow bar. With a nice clear trail in front of me, I was ready to whomp some people and shred some trail.
The last 10 miles went by pretty fast. I caught and dropped a few more people, ringing the bell the whole time...what an effective way to let people know you are about to ride up their ass. The last guy I caught up to was named Andy from Iowa and he said he was sure that I was the first single speed guy and that no one-speeders were in front of me. I was thinking the same thing but wanted to be sure. Sweet! nothing to do but cruise downhill into town. Wait, don't forget about the gravel road climb on Gaston Mountain road. Boy, that one sure seemed harder this year. I think it's because I knew it was coming. Something about knowing you got a whoopin comin' your way makes it worse I suppose.
I crossed the line in 30th place and 1st of the nut job one speed losers. Brian rolled in a few spots later for 2nd in single speed. Michael was third. Sweet! We owned the podium and plundered all the booty. Matt rolled in about an hour later on the meat wagon, AKA the back of a pickup truck. Seems that he whomped his hand pretty bad on a rock which makes it harder to ride a rigid bike, so he had to bail. Now we started what we thought would be a short wait for Wes to finish. Well four o'clock rolled around and finally Wes did too. We were guessing maybe he was sick because we know he's faster than that.
There you have it...Ouachita Challenge 2006 is in the books. Keep an eye on www.ouachitachallenge.com for results coming soon. Now I got a whole month to get 'ready' for Trans Iowa V.2!!

03/01/06:
It's going to be like 80 degrees today...you guys better be riding, that's all i gotta say. Me, I knocked out an easy road ride this morning so I'm covered. Whatever your excuse is, it's not good enough today. Lions Club Trail is in good shape although there are some serious ruts from boneheads riding when it's muddy. Oh well, at least we don't have to put up with hoof prints.

01/24/06:
Had a little fun in the shop today...which usually means something cool was made. Well it's no different this time...check this out. When I first saw the Artemis bike in the Gary Fisher lineup, I thought it would make the most bitchin single speed. Aluminum frame, straight blade steel fork, clearance for big tires...could it be done? In stock trim, the Artemis is dressed up like a 26" hybrid. I guess they're calling those 'urban bikes' nowadays. With 24 speeds and slick tires, I had some work to do to make it into a single speed mountain bike. But who am I kidding, this one was easy. Enter the Eric's Eccentric Hub from White Industries. I've already converted 5 or 6 other bikes using the eccentric hub, so I knew the Artemis would be a snap. I slapped on some knobby's, stripped some derailleurs and shifters, then put on a spiffy 38t crank and one of my hand built eccentric-hubbed rear wheels. A tweak here and a turn there...and voila, a clean-looking legit single speed.

For you guys and gals who prefer skinny tires and curly bars, look for this bike burning up the streets of Rolla pretty soon...I won't tell you who the lucky owner is...but I will tell you that it's one of the top two or three bikes ever to grace the walls of Route 66 Bicycles.

01/06/06:
Happy new year and all that happy crap. Got some good news for anyone who's been thinking about trying one of these 29er mountain bikes. I already have a nice selection in the store, but as of today I've got a demo bike that will be available for real honest dirty test rides. The only requirement is that you gotta clean it up before you bring it back. Which bike is it? Well it's Gary Fisher's top-of-the-line hardtail, the Paragon. If you want to take this mean machine for a spin, just get ahold of me at the store and we'll set it up...maybe I'll even ride with you!

12/23/05:
All right, I'm outta here for a week. Be back on the 30th or so. The shop phone will be forwarded to my cell if you need to contact me. I'll leave you with a little reading material: clickety click

12/19/05:
Why do you ride your bike? I know why I do. At least for the next five months or so.
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