the guys in emporia set us up with a sweet video. scott bolley at im design group did a awesome video for us. jim & i are pleased as punch.
have a look .

we are super glad to have all the support form all the good people in emporia. scott, tim moen, lelan dains, the whole high gear clan, matt & family. all of you rock!
look out for a bigger & better dk200 next year.

big grin…joel

listen….

i need to go bleach for my mind ,& vacum my ID now…i really apologize , alot.

big grin…joel

michelle & i have had alot of good date rides. one of the first ones was a sunday ride we just went where the wind took us. i showed her a little meadow & cool rock formations i used to camp out at .then we had a picknic in loose park near the rose gardens. it was one of our first rate rides.good times.
this last weekend we went to smithville lake to ride mt bikes. it had a long time since michelle had ridden off road so we packed up & headed out for the day. the drive to smithville is a long ont . but worth the drive. the trails are second only to the swope park trails.

michelle ripping up the trails, well having fun at least. the swoopy windy single track was a perfect restart to get michelle feeling fine off road again. we took our time , took pictures of fungus.

a good lookin fungus, we’ve had a wet & cool summer so the fungus is lovin it.
lots of people were out enjoying the day.

this was a hedgerow that they set the trail along. it was a perfect canopy to ride under. really cool to see. after the ride we had a small picknic that i packed. good food ,& good company with my honey.
since we were halfway to st. joeseph i decided to go & use the menards gift card that dan & alice gave us for our wedding. we are going to do a complete demo of our livingroom, dinning room ,& master bedroom. so we need insulation! thanks dan & alice.

the before shot. how was all this going to fit into that small truck?

presto majico…all 7 rolls of insulation fit. i might put one of the three bike racks on my car one of these days.this was a good date day..time & riding with my honey.

bbig grin…joel

well a few weekends ago i had a date with some gravel . good clean nebraska gravel.the lincoln crew & cory put on a first rate gravel road race , ride , whatever .all i know is it is great.i missed it last year so no more excuses. i’m doing all those rides i love to do & this is one.
friday night joe fox & i headed out of town to lincoln. we got to spend the night at matt gersibs crib . matt is a cool cat he’s fun as all get out. we bedded down after much good bike talk , to sweet dreams of gravel. up early to ride the 4 miles to the start. all kinds of good people were there guitar ted, david pals , too many more to name all good folks.
we rolled down a gravel rail to trail for the first mile. then we turned onto the first gravel road & BLAMO!!!! we were off like a crit start i tried to hang on the first pack but i knew i would cramp up like a baby if i did this pace for more that 45 minutes. steve fuller was hanging on like me & i realized we wanted to finish not do this stupid pace. i think i told him i going to finish but not at that speed. we backed off to a more real pace. for the first 40 miles i could not get into a good rhythm. the hills were hard & my legs felt bad really bad.
so at the first stop i dug into my magic long ride food the gas station bean burrito.
oh yea , my legs came around a little later i found john from olathe. one strong man he was riding a dual suspension mtb & putting up a good hard pace. we linked up with joe & another cycle city rider. we rode together until about the 90 mile mark i gapped off them to chase for 15 miles .
the last 30ish were into a hard headwind & i couldn’t find anyone to ride with. so it was head down & head for the barn. i was super glad to finish under 10 hours just barely .next year i’m staying for the party after. we missed it the lincoln guys put on a first rate event. a really hard course, good small towns to refill , great route!
being a complete idiot i cleared off the few pictures i took. i’m no match for cory’s picture taking but i tried. so no sweet photo’s of nebraska gravel & our good lookin faces.

dream beautiful dreams

big grin…joel

sunday we had a big race come to kansas city. boy i hope the politicians don’t kill this thing next year. all the big names , with big time pro’s. real road racing in the usa.this is good fun to watch. so i rolled down strawberry hill ( home) to see the big show. first i stopped by the store to buy pbr. i knew i would meet up with friends so you can’t show to a party with nothing. a 12 pack & up the hill to downtown.
the first corner of the day for me. 3rd & grand down near rivermarket cycles.a cool shop! i figured this would be a good fast corner.man at first i couldn’t get my camera figured out. lots of really bad shots at first , all deleted.

i gave these guys a hard time yelling venga , venga at them being off the back. later i figured the guy in the climbers jersey was probably done having racked up enough points. this was the second corner having missed the main pack. so i headed towards crown center.

this is my first floyd sighting. the photo is a little blurry but i’m sure it’s him a little off the back. he needs a better doctor. this was at 12th and baltimore. i had a policeman’s hand on my chest at first holding me 6 feet back from the white line of a crosswalk . i fugure he had f all to do so he let me know he was in charge. little did he know i was thinking i know a really good take down move that would put him on the ground. but my better judgment took over & i moved away from the guy.

i think the third guy was the yellow jersey dude.

my second mavic car sighting.

my third spot for photo’s near the corner of grand & main . these guys were hauling ass up this fairly hard climb.i still have no idea who this yellow jersey guy is.

my third mavic car sighting, it is always cool. i’m just a mavic geek.

super clint having a beer from joel’s backpack.he was riding the course on his 8 inch dual bouncy machine.having a blast .

this was a breakaway at the kom line at the top of kessler near crown center. it looked like a strong break. but one team closed it down & hard.

another mavic sighting. man i would love to drive this bike!

the corner at main near crown center. i got to molest dean & hand out all but one of my beers here.the acme crew sort of got together here.

this is the finish sprint they are at 200 meters. i was standing at 100 meter line & they were coming fast!

this was the side of the head of the pack in the final sprint. wow i have no idea who won but it was super cool. this is big fun racing at it’s best. i really hope to see it again next year.

while riding up the hill home i saw a piece of public art made buy a friend of mine.

this is a piece of metal plate pushed onto the dirt on a vacant lot. my friend just put it here 4 years ago. it gets mowed around & people have gotten used to it being there. public art should be this way free fun & spontaneous. it hurts no one. it is as artistic as many million dollar public art pieces.& free! so go out & put up your own public art pieces . just remember free fun & no harm to property. look for weird piles of rocks that’s me.

dream beautiful dreams

big grin…joel

wow, what are the things that make a good life for you? trips to disney world , hiking in the mountians, just paying the bills? well i’ve got few needs & one is fun , second is fun on a bike with my love ( michelle), third i will not talk about ( it’s private). fourth is fun with my friends & family.but that could get mixed up with #1 so who’s keeping count, not me. it’s all fun.
a week or more ago michelle , me & the acme crowd went on a good meandering ride in usual acme style. near the end we got hungry, really hungry. so what to do ? a bicycle picnic that’s the idea.good mexican food on a rooftop near the union station.this was the best picnic iv’e been on in months.

good food & good friends.
last friday i went up to crowder to help set up for rapture in misery. the 12 hour race. jim c. & i owed doug for all the help he gave us at dirty kanza.we set up our reflective posts around the course near the start finish & humped all doug needed. then got to ride the sweet trails doug builds & takes care of.the trails at crowder are some of the best in the midwest.i got to ride 3 laps & all were super fun.

leaving crowder for home.late at night.
last sunday we went to omaha to see michelle’s sister & family. it was a dual birthday party. max her son & audrey’s bdays are within a week. so a good excuse to see family. gary & ellen , michelle’s parents are the best people we could hang out all day any day.love them! we don’t get to see the family as much as we want but it is always good times. michelle’s idea of duplo’s for max was a big hit .the kids forgot about the rest of the presents after opening them.

playing chess .

goofing off.

getting ready to rolll down the hill in a barrel.

another thing i’ve been able to do to make the quality of life get better is . to drive 1 or 2 days at the most per week. when i’m riding most of the week my life gets so much better.

think what makes you tick & do it. lots of it!

dream beautiful dreams

big grin…joel

why do you get up? what makes you excited? is it learning new languages, collecting butterflys, showing the world something that can make it better, making a better paperclip? what are your dreams?
well we get caught up in our lives, our day to day stuff. small things that get us off track. well the last few months have been get the internal compass back on track time.thru a great friend i met a Chinese man who is the most amazing tai chi & kung fu teacher . no mr miagi here. this guy is for real.

chun man sit is the first master i’ve met.no fluffy dancing in the park tai chi. this is a martial art. i thought i was in ok shape but this stuff takes real body awareness, balance , & strength. this is a real learning experience. learning is a big thing that makes me want to get up in the morning.
this last winter i met this guy at nahbs.

jason grove is a bad ass welder we talked for 40 minutes about welding, growing up on the west coast, metal music. he really shows the passion he feels for his craft. so if you are not feeling the passion something is wrong. for me it was the mess of my workshop & not getting to work making bikes. now i’m on it.
the other day i saw this guy on youtube. cool.

he said it his dog isn’t he best athlete but has heart.

passion is the main thing i got from him. he looks like a bubba but sounds like a man in line with his heart. passion is the word.
then fun is the other word.

these guys are passing around champagne & beer in the giro.being a super professional in all parts of your life is no fun & you don’t get to open beer on your stem while riding 25 mph.

so i’m back feeling the passion & grateful for a wonderful life!

dream beautiful dreams

big grin…joel

yes we are floating the missouri river for a 4 mile stretch tomorrow.
on homemade trashboats.

this is number 1. without the 50 gallon barrels hogtied to the wooden frame. michelle’s is

a little better than mine. but they both suck to ride.

see you in the water.

big grin…joel

dream beautiful dreams

the preparations for the first annual trashboat regatta are almost done. this was inspired by looking at a 50 gallon rain barrel & thinking has anyone used these for flotation????? & used them to float down a river???? holy crud yes some people have . if you have never seen the chunk666 site you must they decided it was a good idea to use trash to float on a body of water. then michelle found the rat patrol guys, serious genius here. then we found a dude that made a island out of trash. wow, i’m there. but it just won’t float.
this made me go back to growing up in seattle & oregon. my first home as a kid was a houseboat. not the yuppie sleepless in seattle houseboat. but the houseboats of the 1960’s , the head of the washington state communist party, a whore , a excommunicated priest & some artists lived on my dock. these were little found material shacks on floating logs in the lakes around seattle. then ocean kayaking as a teenager & canoe trips down the willamette river & tubing down streams. so floating down 4 miles of river on trash is no problem, right?
so first find or buy 50 gallon plastic barrels .

michelle the spokes model for trash on our river!
then you need to find out if the river is friendly to boats this time of year. so scouting i go. my rabbi james & neighbor has a kayak.

the scouting craft. off to the river i go.

there has been a lot of rain lately so the river is up. good news for us less things to get in our way. & the speed of the river is fast right now& we will just look like all the rest of the trash going down the river.

the kansas city sky line .

lots of bridges to go under.
more bridges
the new paseo bridge.
all looks good for next saturdays trash boat regatta. now i’m building 2 boats(a very loose term) for michelle & i.see you next saturday at acme for out big ride /float.

big grin…joel

dream beautiful dreams
ost done

well jim wrote a very good story of the race. but that only covered 5 guys at the front of the dirty kanza.most of the front pack died a ugly death of dehydration & headwinditus. so i will tell the tale of the rest of us fools that thought we could finish dk this year.

steve & liz rode as a couple all day. to ride 180ish miles by eskridge then call it a day.not bad!
all the riders were smiling & looking forward to a good day in the saddle.little did they know that the wind & heat was coming. we rolled out of town in 60 degree mild weather. all looked good the frontrunners were eyeing each other . i knew things were going to be hard , it was going to get hot today. the first right turn onto the gravel was telltale of what some people thought they were going to do, race! i slowly fell back thru the field thinking this is too early to go fast.

i stole this photo from guitar teds blog, thanks. this is the crux of the problem in the first leg there were two of there huge honking climbs this is mt ventoux ( named by the locals) at the start of this climb i put my brain on autopilot to finish mode .put in my i pod ( i don’t do this much but it helps sometimes.) strangely enough the pixies song wave of mutilation came on first.with the single speed there was no riding anyone else’s pace. i met up with liz & steve at the back side of mt ventoux with a sweet tailwind. as i passed them i figured out the westerly next stretch would be a 6 mile climb with a 20plus mph headwind . i let steve know we were in for a family size can of whup ass.
trudge , trudge, trudge.

the pace for climbing is like this on a singlespeed is trudge , trudge all the way up at&t hill . half way up the drive by truckers came on with the song,
steve mcqueen just before josh stamper wizzed by me. at the top of at&t hill at the radio tower i saw for the umpteenth time the radio transmitter that crashed to the ground like a space capsule& said damn i need to take a picture of that one of these years. pretty cool, they just left it there . on the way down the hill i was looking forward to a cross tail wind for the next 100 miles.
trudging north towards bazaar i was wondering when it would get easier. that tailwind would kick in anytime now. well , H E double hockey sticks there was a cross headwind & i’m about out of water & 10 miles to go to cottonwood falls. my day was looking grim at this point. so i turned off the brain & rode. the smashing pumpkins songs , today & siva kept me up & flowing.
somehow i limped into town. got what i thought was enough for 40 miles to the next stop. got out of town before anyone knew i was there. 5 miles before diamond springs i was out of water. i had drank 3 large bottles & a small camel bak full of water in 15 miles. something was going wrong . somehow i found a farmhouse & used their water pump to fill up. now it was time to go slow & finish somehow. survival time. the ipod came off so i could monitor all body functions . last thing i needed was to get amped up with ac-dc hells bells & cramp up like a baby in the grass along the road.
the only thing that would not make my stomach cramp was a caseys burrito & cliff bloks. any sports drink or gels were not doing me any favors. so get your ass riding joel, was the mantra. up the diamond springs hill there was some nasty gravel it looked like i could shave with it. up top people were having all kinds of trouble . one rider had a fully black kit & it looked grey with salt. as i passed i let him know the obvious drink man drink!all the way into council grove i followed dennis grelk . i couldn’t catch him or loose him. that sucks. i was just 100 yards back.
council grove should have been my finish spot, but the mind was in cruse control . i was in finish mode. i got my 2 bean burritos a cold coke downed a cool bottle of water packed up & left. i was feeling better so the ipod went on again to start playing aerosmith sweet emotion not bad for a start. the way out of town felt like it was up hill for miles & hot. about 10 miles in a couple of super nice guys cought me & tried to tow me to alma.

greg bachman & chad minert these dudes were all for pulling my sorry butt to the finish. they were great. thanks guys. i couldn’t stay with them i had just figured out my body was done.if i would try to finish i would do big damage to myself. so i walked the hills ,cursed ,sang beastie boys songs. tried to eat , tried to drink but the body didn’t like either of these ideas. about 5 miles from alma ,david a student from ku on his second gravel ride took pity on me & rode slow to alma with me. we were done. cooked, stick a fork in me.
when we got to alma, skip from the lincoln crew was there . he was done about the same as us. the heat & wind finished off most of the riders. a very nice lady from texas gave david & i a ride to emporia . her husband finished. good on him.
when we got in there were good bunch waiting around for the finishers. i should have gotten some sleep but i wanted to know the finish count.

jim & guitar ted plotting in the background. probably telling lies about gravel!we all thought the finishers were going to get in late i was thinking after 9. so when the news came in a little after 8 a man was coming & fast. i was floored.

mike marchand ,wow !he owned this race . troy krause 2nd place & he finished well faster than i thought it could be done this year. i stayed up until the last men came in. but the incredible finish was chris van alstyne

this man rode a cannondale road bike from the 90S with 28c specialized armidillo nimbus tires. wow. he decided to race after talking to camron at the shop 4 weeks before. wow a real sweet finish.incredible.

everyone that finished dk this year is amazing this was the year all will be compared to. hot, wind & hard course. thanks all.

big grin…joel

dream beautiful dreams