obstackles...

quick jingle recap...

Friday night - mod & jesse tore off rear der's...weekend over. I got so gummed up on lap one with mud & grass that I dnf'd (first ever for me). Matt T. survived for an 11th, right on.

Saturday - lap one...I tore off a rear der a mile from the pit, another dnf. Wood-man was rockin' a top 10 then tore off a rear der before the finish, son-of-a...Matt T. survived again for a 9th, sweet!

Sunday - redemption day. With a borrowed pit bike, which I didn't have to use, I pulled out a 4th. Matt T., Mr. consistent, 8th, great work this weekend!

Cornbread had 2 solid SS races, nice work my friend. SS w/ discs was probably the best set-up for this weekend.

Craigio gutted out a 35+ on Saturday, perseverance!

TP won the 45's all 3 days!

Oh yeah...I forgot to mention is was muddy as hell! Until Sunday's race I hadn't even completed a lap, not even in warm-ups.

Great crew to travel with...thanks guys.

Scrambling today. Our bikes are leaving for Nationals tomorrow. TP, Marshall, & FOG are driving the shop Sprinter & trailer to Oregon for the USGP this weekend. All our stuff is along for the ride.

Pictures to come, maybe.

Later,

TK

Happy Thanksgiving...

TK

life after CX...

For some of us our falls are consumed by the CX season. I love this time of year. I train hard one day a week & race nearly every weekend. Headed to Iowa City Friday morning for 3 days of racing at Jingle CX. Two weeks from this Thursday I'll be racing in Bend, OR at Nationals. Damn! That snuck up on us.

So is there life after CX? What's next on my agenda?

How about this...Trans Iowa V.6! I'm one of the fortuitous (fools) lucky enough to grab one of the 75 slots available for this Iowa gravel grinder.

Its no secret I found a new passion this Winter, Spring, & Summer...gravel. Particularly endurance gravel. Every ride is a new adventure, exploring the midwest countryside by gravel & dirty B roads.

In less than a year I've gone from thinking a gravel century was a novel idea to racing the Dirty Kanza (205 miles of gravel) to signing up for TIV6, 340 miles of gravelly goodness. Bring it freakin' on! I'm pumped!

If I don't post gain this week, happy Thanksgiving everyone! See some of you this weekend in IA.

Kind of busy at work this week....wonder if I'll have time to snap off a hundee before we leave Friday:)

Later,

TK

whew....

Lincoln CX Weekend is behind us. Almost...just have to tie up some loose ends. The weekend was a success. Why? Perfect weather, great fans, great turnout, & great support from volunteers.

Thank you everyone who helped pull this off. If I forget someone...thank you!

Craigio - he's had course design & layout in his mind for weeks, if not months. Course was superb. Sure I'm biased but this course is one of the best we race on. Jesse - thanks for the assist with Craigio on Thursday afternoon's preset-up session & the help with the handbills.

Friday set-up crew - Chet, Anna, Scooter, Cornbread, Matt T., Coach, TP, Butch, & Keller.

Weekend crew - Cornbread, TP, Jill T., Matt T., Coach, Craigio, Nancy, & Aaron. Thank you anyone else who did anything this weekend, no matter how small, that helped this thing happen!

Sponsors - Thank you to our title sponsor Lincoln Industries. Their continued support for cycling in Lincoln & the region is awesome.

Highgear Bike in Omaha & Trek Stores Midwest. The gift cards, tents, bike stands, & on going support for the team make it all happen. Thank you Jay & Kent!

Monkey Wrench Cycles of Lincoln. Thank you Mr. Woodman! Your support makes this weekend a success. I've spent a lot of time with this character this CX season & loved every minute of it.

Planet Earth Water. This is where I work, store race stuff, use the vans for races, & get all the water for our events. Thank you.

Thank you everyone that came out to race! Thank you to all our CX friends from KS & MO who made the trip. We also had folks from SD, IA, & WY...thank you! Thank you to all the Lincoln locals who raced & those from Omaha too!

Thank you to CVO & Hooligan Hill, that is what makes people remember this event & want to experience it again. Thanks DK for the drum jam!

Whew! Ok...I'm going to stop there for now.

Later,

TK

Lincoln CX chestnuts...

This is as far back as my archives go, 2006. I was on Slimenundgrossen that year & riding my Serotta Fierte. Check out the surface of Hooligan Hill in this first picture, where did all that loose dirt go? It's just hard pack now, we must have pounded it down over the years.

Not sure if this day 1 or day 2. It must have been a bit cooler than the above picture because I've got on a long sleeve skinsuit & knee warmers. Mark S...you probably recognize that skinsuit:) Can't tell, but I've got a dollar bill in my hand & the gathered crowd is cheering on my money grab, good times.
Well its here. We're assembling at 8:00 this morning to layout the course. Craigio & Jesse did some preliminary marking yesterday & we should have it busted out by midday.

See everyone tomorrow! 2009 Lincoln CX!

TK

Lincoln CX, come on out...

everyone's getting in on it, don't miss out...

Lincoln CX report...

Lincoln CX just a few days out...

Weather-wise, we've had it good here in Lincoln! Monday, just an hour to the South of us, they got 5 inches of snow. We got nothing. I can't even remember when the last time we had rain, like a couple weeks ago at least.

Saw the pictures from Leavenworth on Sunday...wet, sloppy, & cool. It is November & this is cyclocross.

We've done our recon & the Pioneers course is going to be as sweet as always. With the lack of precip & me mowing it tight with the big mower from work it'll be fast & fun! Some new twists on Hooligan Hill are going to be great.

Weekend weather outlook, perfect.

TK

gathering momentum...

THE HYPE is in full swing!

LINCOLN CX! One week away...

The countdown to Lincoln CX has begun!

2008 - myself & sugar near Hooligan Hill, shortly after this he left Studnicki & I in his wake by riding the hill while we ran it, well done my friend...

Have a good weekend!

TK

more past Lincoln CX...

more of 2007...

random past Lincoln CX...

2007...

another road trip down...

Saturday Night - Topeka Heartland Park. This is a rare night race for us, under the lights at the famous dragstrip venue. Actually we race right next to the strip utilizing the dirt track oval. Topeka local/racer/gas man Jeff Unruh did a great job putting this on, again. To make this work he brings in big portable lights to illuminate any areas that the standard track lighting doesn't cover. A ton of fun for the racers. As we drove into the venue he's announcing "Nebraska in the house!" over the track PA & then proceeded to allow us rock star parking to set up tents & our base camp right next to the action. Thanks man! We'll always be back & spread the word.

The racing - fast! Multiple long straight away runs on hard pack. Fast! Wood-man jumped to the lead group on lap one & maintained a gap to us chasers for a solid 5th, the last $ spot. Sweet. I hung around finishing in 9th, ok I guess.

Back to TP's around 10:30pm & in bed by Midnight. I'm old, that's late. Thanks guys for a being such generous hosts. Home away from home is an understatement.

Up at 6:30am, next stop Leavenworth for Veterans CX at St. Mary's College. Great venue they just started using at the end of last year. Chris Locke & Roger laid out yet another great course. Plenty of uphill to make it a tough day.

I ended up in a group of three for the whole race. Me, the spider monkey, & the young Mr. Edwards. Adam I would have put a link to your blog but I got a warning it contained malware from Brad Huff's blog. My two cohorts plan, both being from the KCCX squad, was work over the old guy until he cracks. The good news is I answered every attack. Bad news is I answered every attack except for the final one. I ended up 7th. Last $ spot. Sweet. Amazing how a $15 dollar payout can brighten your afternoon. Battling lap after lap like that is what makes this sport so much fun. Thanks Roger & Lyle for the photos!

Maybe back to this same venue next Sunday for a day trip? Unsure. We've got our race the following weekend & I've got to get the house ready for my parents lengthy stay (their staying here with the dogs while were at nationals).

Less than 2 weeks until Lincoln CX. Looking forward to it!

later, TK

dirt trackin' under the lights...

Heading for Topeka...

See ya down there,

TK

poop suit...

With Boulder out the window, what did I get up to? Craigio was already going to Spooky in the Des Moines area so I hopped in with him for the 3rd annual Spooky CX. Snow in CO, rain in KC, & rain in IA...it really didn't matter what direction I headed I was figuring I would probably find some sort of sloppy conditions.

I was surprised to find Saturday's venue basically dry, albeit soft, with the exception of a section with standing water. I was the first to pre-ride this section & at the time it was just clear water that had collected in a low spot. Well...get a herd of bikes churning through this portion, lap after lap, and you've got a bona fide mud hole. It got deeper & deeper, expanded, lengthened, got soupier, sloppier, & so on & so on.

This was the 3rd annual Spooky. I've been to all three now. I can't even begin to describe how fun, challenging, & brutal these courses are that Tony & JJ dream up. I was hooked after the first year & they just keep changing it up every year, even each day, to make it better & more painful than the last.

Spooky '07 - must have deleted my blog post from this historic year, here's last year's post: Spooky '08.

These are not CX courses for the faint of heart. These are not your traditional CX courses. There's plenty of traditional stuff but its everything else that makes it fun & different. Gnarly climbs, long run ups, & fast descents to name a few. All this takes place on the grounds of the Living History Farm. I call this weekend an adventure, I'm always surprised by what Tony cooks up. Show up here expecting anything, but expect it to be a challenge for sure & above all FUN!

This is the only race weekend that I ever double up. Two reasons...payout is good & I'm a fool.

Saturday 45+ - 1st

Saturday 1/2/3's - 4th

Sunday Masters Open (35+ I guess you'd call it) - 1st

Sunday 1/2/3's - 4th

Saturday's 1/2/3 - I had 3rd going for me but was hunted down by a young local, Nate Kullbom (think that's how you spell it). He bobbled on the first lap & worked his butt off to get back in it the whole race. Nice work dude. Sunday's 1/2/3 - this was my fourth race of the weekend. Yet another new course full of torturous bits. All the racing was catching up with me. I still had some juice left in the tank but the power switched off with 2 to go. I had a persistent Cam (the IA version) stalking me. I found just enough to to stay ahead of him. I'm going to go out on a limb here...those final 3 laps of Saturday's 1/2/3 were the deepest I have ever dug in a CX race. When I crossed the line I rolled to a stop, utterly exhausted, slightly shaking. Man that was fun!?

Oh yeah, the poop suit. Warming up for the Masters on Sunday I noticed I had dog poop on my right glove. How did I know it was dog crap? I've got 2 dogs & it looked & smelled like dog crap. More importantly, I'm a poop magnet, if there's errant poop in a park or at a race venue I'll find it. I'm not exaggerating. So I figured I must have rolled through it & it kicked up onto my glove. End of story...nope. First lap of the Masters race I get to the run-up, shoulder my bike & start running, I get to the top, set my bike down, jump on & notice that I've got a big smear of crap on my right sleeve just above the wrist. So not only did I find the poop, but I had a good amount on the underside of my downtube. By the end of the race it was off my downtube & dried on my sleeve. Oh well:) Another day in the life of a poop magnet.

Tony & JJ - well done, thank you! I'll be back & I'll always spread the word.

BTW - JJ was recently crowned age group World Triathlon Champion over in Australia. Damn, that's huge!

IA CX scene: big & getting bigger. Vibe was awesome. Paul great to see you as always, Gilly see you at Jingle CX.

Craigio - thanks for the lift!

Topeka Saturday night & KC Sunday(or is it Leavenworth?) next weeeknd.

Pictures later if I see any.

I'm cooked.

later,

TK