Two Wheel Blogs

Let me start by saying I will NEVER again race a race like Syllamo on a fully rigid bike. In fact after the race I vowed never to ride a rigid bike again ever, period. Let me start by saying that for some reason someone told me not long ago that Syllamo wasn't near as hard as Ouachita. That person was a little mistaken. Syllamo's Revenge made Ouachita feel like child's play. Don't get me wrong, Ouachita was a challenge, but this was the hardest race, hardest ride, hardest effort I've ever put out in my entire life... Syllamo's Revenge went down with a bang in 08, and I absolutely can't wait till next year.

Photo: 

I feel if that is the only thing I've had my mind on... More and more of it. Seems like you get a day or two, trails look like they might dry, and them bam! Rain, and more of it. Our race got cancelled today. Last night as of 8:30 it was looking like fast dry trails. Nine hit and the rain began, covering the Perry Lake trails.

I woke at 8:00 to find out it had been cancelled and did what I do every morning I find out a race has been cancelled... I went back to bed. I woke up at 11ish and started looking for somewhere that wasn't getting hit with the giant storm moving through. Blue River looked like the best bet so around 1 I hit the road to Lee's Summit.

Photo: 

It's been a wild idea floating around in this here mind for quite some time. Most call me nuts when I mention it, and I would venture to say not to many people have accomplished it. I want to ride the entire Katy Trail, all in one day. Total miles from Clinton to St. Charles is 225 miles. I think there is 240 total, but for some reason they don't give the miles to the last town. For those of you not familar with the Katy, is it basically a fine gravel trail that runs from one side of the state, to the other.

Photo: 

Well the weekend turned out nice for once. I got in a good hammerfest yesterday on the TT bike when the clouds finally broke around 5pm.

Today I went out and did a early gravel road ride. The weather today was perfect, the wind was only blowing like 10mph which is light for around here. I grabbed lunch and went back out on my KM and hit some trails...

Somewhere around in there I managed to ride down this. Sketchy, that's one way of describing it. I've had bad dreams about this log ride but getting onto the log has always been rough. Someone built it back up with dirt so getting on it now is super easy. Riding it's a bit different. I took it off to the right the first few times to get a feel of how to dismount when you don't go straight.

Photo: 

Ha ha ha, I defy nature once again before she spouts more wet crap upon our tails. It really has seemed like you have to be really lucky to be able to ride trails this year. There have been periods of one or two days here and there in which riding can be had, and I've been having it at much as possible. Here's some pics... I scoped out a new little slickrock section out at Cave Hollow. It's a super steep, 10 foot drop in which you can roll. It's got a sketchy tranny at the bottom, with a root that will swallow you whole and spit you out into the trees. The monkey dominated... The other pics are of a certain downhill, or uphill whichever way your going, out at Blue River. I got to go ride out there last night, a bit muddy in places but overall the trail was great.

Photo: 

Yesterday was the kind of day that only brings out the crazies. Any normal, well minded cyclist would look outside, see trees being bent in half, and come to the conclusion that it may not be the best day to ride. Throw in chilly temps, and cloudy skys, and you've got a recipe for a shit day.

But with gust of winds up to 30+ mph, I knew that it was a day to find a hellava tailwind. I grabbed the TT bike and set out to show the wind who was boss. Didn't take but about 5 minutes before that was tested. I lost. The wind was so brutal that it would slow you down when pedaling downhills. Oh, but that's only half of the story. You see I love days like yesterday, especially if I have a sweet route in which I can catch a tailwind.