one & a half trashboats done!

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

houston, all systems are go.

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

the real dirty kanza story

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

dirty kanza preparations

each year jim & i decide to do some work to make the race better. this year jim came up with the sweet idea to make reusable pvc reflecty poles. so a cutting we go. i got to cut the rebar. don’t tell jim he thinks it’s already cut to size. then we have new jim painted dirty kanza signs for the check points. if i had been thinking i would have photos. so we’ve been busy little gnomes.
then i needed to figure out which bike to ride. the grincycles ti cyclo-x bike or the matt chester ti 29er. oh what hard choices.

the big sexy bike.
the mary bars & cross like geometry made me decide on the matt chesthair. the best new addition to my gravel riding is the schwalbe marathon extreme tires. wow they are the bees knees. joe fox had these for trans iowa & they are genius.

plenty of rubber , light weightish, good rubber compound & they set up tubeless well. even ghetto style like i like it. this year i decided to go with a gear to finish on 38 , 16 is about 63 gear inch .
a good gear to get to the finish line.not fast but it’s better than blowing up & not finishing.
then i decided to take it easy this last weekend & do some birthday partying.

silvia the birthday girl.

jen & harsh the proud parents.
they have one beautiful girl. all the notable cycling crowd showed good people & good times.

time for some gravel riding , don’t you think. see you at dk 200.

big grin…joel

dream beautiful dreams

back from trans iowa v5

the 2 dirty kanza geniuses with, joe fox & warren weibe drove up to trans iowa this last weekend.this time i was going as the support driver i had the easy job. i had tried & failed my 2 attempts at trans iowa the first 2 years. so jim & company decided to try out the iowa gravel . my 2 years were awful years to race it. the first year there was a 20 mph cross headwind from the northeast the whole time.the temps stayed in the 30s until night & i finally cracked around mile 190ish. the next year at the start it started raining & getting colder . we walked for a few of the unimproved roads & slogged through the gravel to pull out about mile 80. after that i decided to never do it again.

the kc crew looked strong & ready to take on the iowa gravel.

guitar ted in blue & david pals not pictured here are the geniuses behind trans iowa. some very sick people but sexy as heck. 300 plus miles of gravel is not for a sane mind.

the race started off fast too fast. we averaged 22 mph for the first hour & a half. i got a flat & had to ride in to the first check point i was amazed to hear i got in 7 minutes after them. the sunrise was perfect.a guy i passed on the way in found out he brought schrader tubes buy mistake. i gave him my two spares .

joe lost his derailleur due to a crash ( not his). 39 by 19 is not a great gear. then riding to the start i remembered i had no spare tubes not a good feeling. when one of your wheels is tubless. but the flat gods were kind to me.
i got to the motel , cleaned up got a milk shake & some beer & headed to the second check point to help score.

on the way to the check point i found this in grinell . a louis sullivan building, just think of a world famous architect doing a small building in a town of 3000. i love the details in this building.

love it.

cornbread lookin good at the mid check point.either people looked fresh or they looked cooked.

the winner of the mortons sweat prize.he had so much salt on his face you could fill a salt shaker with it.

he also was the second of three rear derailleurs to be ripped off .

the pizza was a hit. this was the long stop in the race. most stopped for about 30 minutes.

this was the usual excitement most had to going on.

just imagine the squeeking the styrofoam would make on a gravel road.

warren never stopped smiling even when we picked him up at midnight in beaman. he was sleeping in a space blanket outside the post office. we almost missed him thinking it was a homeless man.we all had a great ride. no finishers from kc this year but mabey next.
guitar ted , david pals , the pals family& all the other people made this a special race. good gravel , good people, good times.

big grin…joel

dream beautiful dreams

some old stuff & some new

this last weekend a friend showed me a cool clip on youtube of a trials rider. so that got me thinking of other cool youtube riders or rides.first is ryan leach he is amazing you should run out & buy manifesto.
here is a little of his sweet riding.
then rubin alcantara he is a bad ass. this man does sweet stuff on a bmx bike. i never thought that this was possible with a bike 25 years ago.
this guy has style with real sfb wild man attitude.
then sergio layos is sweet also.

the style these guys ride with is incredible. i wish i could do 1 tenth of what they do. but i’m not willing to break more bones learning.
the next guy is danny mcaskill with his youtube clip . this is the next step in urban riding trials. cool cool cool.i think everyone has seen it but it is not to be missed.

this next video is the perfect day for a rider. have you had those days where everything goes perfect. it flows all day.
iv’e put this in another blog a year ago but it is worth another look.

all these riders are incredible. they all make you want to go ride your bike as well as possible. SO GO DO IT!

big grin…joel

dream beautiful dreams.

acme ride or bonebender 6 hr, which should i do?

this morning it rained alot. i mean too much to even think of riding off road. i’ve done wet mtb races in the past & if it was raining when we raced it was ok at least the mud kept getting washed off a little .all you do is slither down the hills like a otter & run up all the uphills. no problem. but the rain ended just before the bonebender 6hr. so we would be making adobe bicycles at 80 lbs & lots of no fun. so i decided about 9:30 to skip the race & michelle & i were going on her regular ride the acme ride.
if you don’t know about acme , it is a beautiful little bike shop in downtown kansas city.one of the better shops i’ve been graced to be in.sara & christi run the shop, building custom bicycles, oddball tallbikes, foldable bmx strange machines & selling a wonderfully odd assortment of bicycle parts & necessities .they do a urban ride every saturday at 3pm with no leader & no plan. dumpster diving, levee riding, alley exploring are all part of a good ride. you will not use this ride as race training. you will have fun.

pig snoot, really, pig snoot? man i don’t want to eat until next week.

levee riding , fun .

yes you are on the wrong side of the tracks on this ride.

i’m thinking of 4 letter words & piles of dog crap as objectionable . but what ever turns you on.

on this ride we break all the rules. bike riding & ball playing. notice they welded tabs on the railing so skaters couldn’t grind, stupid.

we found out we just missed him.

sometimes we see art. he is a cool guy.

you never leave the acme ride without finding something good in a dumpster.
it sounds like the bonebender was no fun. i’m really glad i missed it.

big grin…joel

dream beautiful dreams

as you like it cycling hats ( a shameless plug for my wife’s hats)

as the titles says this is a shameless plug for some cool hats my wife makes. i would even wear them if she didn’t feed & keep me generally clean.

a pink hat for a pink lovin guy. this is the first one she made me. check out no big bushy chops. this hat makes me so happy.
she has a bunch of cool designs & materials. we went to the nahbs this winter & her hat was a big hit

the hat that restarted her cycling hat career. a few years ago she made a boat load of cool hats. they had very funky colors . most people want black or grey muted colors. nothing too flashy. so she stopped for a while.then this spring started up with new design & materials. she has some made out of suit material very cool pinstripes with a over stitch of red or blue. she really does a great job.

this is my new favorite. it is like a hawian shirt for your head.
as you like it kc.
is the site where you need to buy one of her hats. that is if you want to be one of the cool kids. do ya?

big grin…joel

dream beautiful dreams

seeing lobsters or clowns

have you ever seen some one who looks crazy in the eyes. well a cool cat i know explained it in 2 ways as seeing lobsters or even better seeing clowns. their eyes looked like something was not right. well they are seeing clowns. well, when i’m not right with the world that what i’m seeing. so my ride home last night was a great way to get rid of the lobsters.

the sunset on my way home at the top of the last hill before home.
a totally clear blue sky & a wonderful sunset on a 24 mile ride home, how can the world not seem good.

big grin…joel

dream beautiful dreams

2 a day riding . yee-haw

this spring has been spotty in the weather. one day 30 & raining. the next 60 & sunny , you’ve got to take the good while you can. so after a bad weekend or 2 i decided to ride the new swope park trails my favorite in town not very long but soon to be longer. so tuesday morning i lifted weights, then headed out to see if the trails were dry.

the matt chester in action.

my 2nd helmetless ride in 6plus years .i forgot my helmet at home.
i got in about 1 .25 hours riding at swope.
so then i it was off to work fixing bikes & looking good. that night i rode home on the single speed road bike. it was a beautiful night about 24 miles home.

outside the church that in caddy corner to my house it is on the historic register. but closed up . someone really needs to figure a good use for it.

my cute dog is happy to see me home finally.
the next day is nicer so it is time to ride into work. what a great morning. then at night the idea is do a good fast ride. so i go to the local cycling( mark thomas ) wednesday night ride . fast hilly , & fast & hilly. with a side of fast & hills.

the big pink badger after a good days riding. wow my legs are cooked . the weather channel is calling for rainy tomorrow & cold the next few days so i’ve got a rest day before i ride home on friday. that is how you ride in the midwest.

so i think it’s time to go to bed.

big grin…joel

dream beautiful dreams.