Faster grocery getter

Need to put on the saddle bags so I can carry more than one bag of groceries.

Keystone Classic

Me decending to the finish.

Cameron doing the same a few minutes ahead in 2nd.

Katie and I decided to head south to Tulsa for this Memorial weekend after hearing from Cameron Chambers about the Keystone MTB race that had a pretty huge purse for a bike race. We loaded up early Saturday and headed to the course for a pre-ride, as soon as we pulled in a loaded down car containg the Chamber's and friends wheeled in and we all headed out for a pre-ride. I quickly found that although I wanted to give the new bike a test race, this was not the course for it. This place was rocky, the kind of rocks that keep you from pedaling all that much. After a pre-ride, Katie and I departed to explore Tulsa. We checked out the sights and went to PF Changs for some dinner. The race started up a long hill, I slotted in one spot behind Ray Hall, who was the promoter and the fasted guy in Oklahoma. I really wasnt pushing all that hard when at the top a bunch of guys tried to get by, I entered the trail on Cam's wheel and we watched as Ray was riding away because of some Mad Duck guy was letting a big gap open. Anyways... after Cam got around him, it took me awhile to get by and it became obvious that I was substantially slower through the rocky sections on my hardtail than the other two were on their fullys so I just settled in and rode around for 2 hours in 3rd place. It was a fun course and a great race put on by http://www.918xc.com/ , next year though, a little more suspension would be in order.

The new XTC Advanced SL worked great all things considered. It should be perfect for the USCUPs where there is a whole lot more climbing and the courses are typically quite a bit smoother. I rode some Michelin DryXC tires which took a beating, so Im happy they seem to be pretty flat proof, which is always something I have a problem with.

New Stuff

Got home today and found a nice suprise on the porch. The new Twin Six METAL kit and all the completely necessary accessories for a season of mtb racing. It should make me much faster. They easily make the coolest bike riding gear around so Im pretty excited to get to go pedal my bike wearing this stuff.

Theives.

Look at the shoes, not the socks.... I usually only wear TWIN SIX socks.

There seems to have been a lot of crime around lately. A guy at work caught two people breaking into his house and held them at gunpoint until the police arrived, then today I was pedaling down a one-way street (going the wrong way) and I came upon a guy using a big rock wrapped in a flannel shirt to try and break a window of a car. He had hit the window once already when I realized what he was doing. I think I suprised him by coming up the street in the wrong way, and I just stared at him and shook my head, then I got out my multi tool and made a fake phone call to the police with it (i didnt have my phone) and he took off sprinting. Some Chi-O in a Jetta owes me.

Today was the first ride on the new bike, it went great. The bike is really fast and light and seems to fit perfectly. Should be a big help for a person from the great plains trying to climb so mountains in Colorado.

Well, doesnt look like any neigbors are gonna mow our lawn so I better get to it. I got some new shoes, maybe I can talk Kate into going out on the town tonight so I have a reason to wear them.

More stuff from Nebraska

This is the opening climb, at this point I should have relaxed and gotten into line, but I felt the need to get by a few more guys.

There are much better race reports to be found out there than mine...

http://29ercrew.com/msavery/05/10/2316/

http://wishyouwereheredontyou.blogspot.com/2009/05/and-they-he-walked-away.html

http://shadowsonthebike.blogspot.com/2009/05/nebraska-battle-royale.html

http://rasmussenbikeshop.blogspot.com/2009/05/platte-river.html

New bike is almost all put together. That means I currently have 3 mountain bikes that are all out of order.

Battle Royale.

I talked my parents into driving up to Omaha for the Battle Royale mtb race on the Platte River. The field was pretty big and I got to see them all from behind as I slipped my pedals at the start and found myself in dead last pretty quickly. Luckily there was a long (for midwest) double track climb close to the start and I was able to get past about 20-25 guys and onto the wheel of Kent McNeil and Cam Kirkpatrick by the top. We rode the first lap at a pretty high pace and got a good gap on the field. On the second lap Kirkpatrick upped the pace through the feed zone and up the climb and I couldnt follow. I found myself not being able to bridge back up and riding by myself for quite awhile. Then I caught Kent when he was having gu related issues. Eventually I could see Shad Schriener closing in on me with someone on his wheel. On the third lap they caught me and Steve Jarret went by. I rode with him the rest of the lap and we got a little gap on Shad, which is how the race finished. A third place. One of those races where I didnt feel like I really went all that hard, just couldnt respond to a few attacks.
And I got my first shipment of cool new gear from the guys at Twin Six. The new Twin Six website should be up soon with my profile and race reports and all their new gear. And Happy Mothers Day.

IMG00050-20090508-1703.jpg

New bike is here...

Rain

Its hard to tell from the picture, but that is water running across the road. I ended up riding through it, because I would have had to go pretty far out of the way otherwise. It was deeper than it looked, up to the axles. Powertap still works though.

It has rained pretty much everyday this week. Some how I have managed to ride everyday without really getting rained on too much. I have gotten soaked from wet roads on every ride, but not to much actual rain. There are supposed to be mountain bike races all over the midwest this weekend, one in omaha, one in st. Louis, and Doug Chambers race in Great Bendish. I am planning on not getting muddy and sticking to the roads.