KS CX USM

Having a bad day is a relative term. Team mate Tom Price hit a root, crashed, & injured his shoulder. That's a bad day. Mark Studnicki was going for a potential win in the 35+ & dropped his chain. That's a bad day. Me...I dropped my chain on the start of the 2nd lap, crashed a half lap later, & then flatted a front tubular & had to run about 1/4 mile to the pit. Bad day? Nope, I actually had a good day. Why? Once I got on my pit bike with all my troubles behind me, I felt great. Fitness was there, stamina, power. 8 laps of chasing, never quite got there, but it was a good day.

Lincoln CX this weekend, hope you all can make it up here. Weather's looking real good.

TK

Smile, smile, smile.

The Sirrius/XM merger hadn't really had any impact on me or my XM listening habits, until this morning. When I checked my email this morning there was some XM spam about the new channel line up. Well, well, well...the grateful dead channel, channel 57. 24/7 Grateful Dead. I headed for the receiver & sure enough there it was, 24/7 Dead. My usual listening habits are XM 84 (the chill) which is trippy electronica or XM 81 (BPM) dance music or XM 43 (XMU) which is indie/college/unsigned.

So why am I fired up about the Dead 24/7? In another life I actually was a follower. Saw my first show at the Aladdin Theater in Vegas in '82 & over the next 10 years saw them probably another 50 times, mostly in the mid 80's. The last couple times I saw them was Giants stadium in Jersey & Madison Square Gardens. The Giants Stadium show Sting opened, wierd. That was like '91 or '92, can't remember. The Garden shows were the same time frame, they were doing like 12 nights or something epic, again can't remember exactly.

The farthest I traveled for a show was probably from Boulder to Portland, Maine at the Cumberland County Civic Center. The best part was we went all the way there & didn't even have tickets. Managed to get tickets & had a great time, I thing I paid $120 for 2 tix. It was worth it because it was pouring rain outside. The next night was in Hartford, I had tickets for that show. Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Red Rocks (many times), Sacramento, Oakland, The Greek Theater in Berkeley (sweet venue, again had no tickets but got in), Milwaukee all come to mind.

Another life.

When I came home for lunch today I tuned in & listened to Hartford '74 for a bit. When I got home from work, Holly had left it on & the dog's had been chilling out to the Dead when she went to work. They did seem a little mellower than usual.

Nine mile skid on a ten mile ride, hot as a pistol but cool inside.
Cat on a tin roof, dogs in a pile,
Nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile!!!!

Peace,

TK

Damn you Andrew Coe!

Maybe I'm getting faster. Boulevard Cup, Andrew Coe blows by me on like the 2nd lap or something, I never saw him again. Yesterday I either made him work for it or he was just biding his time, because he didn't get by me until 2 to go. When he did go by it was with an audible whooosh! Dude was flying.

I remember a time (last year) when Chris Wallace was always behind me. Now...he's taken his skills to the next level & beyond. Pushed Jensen to the line yesterday, very nice. Ok, maybe I'm not getting any faster just everyone around me is.

Slotted in 8th out of 20 in the 1/2/3's yesterday. Fast course, all grass, smooth, great circuit. I'm pretty happy with my ride. Weather was awesome, mid 40's, sunny, no wind to speak of.

I heard this was the last race at this venue. This was the site of one of my first CX road trips, might even have been the first. The first place I ever saw Dean Parker on his orange Salsa. I was doing the B's, was in about 4th & ran my front wheel into the cement stairs run-up. Chain came off, some people went by & I ended up 7th. Those stairs have brought the ire of many racers over the years. We used to dismount on pavement/slash white rock right before that run up. Ask Tom Price about that jewel of an approach to the stairs. Its fitting that Roger determined that yesterday's approach & use of the stairs was unsafe & removed it from our race prior to the start.

Heading to Leavenworth again Sunday. New venue, a college down there.

Roger, thanks for the picture above & a great race.

Carolynn, thanks for grabbing my jacket I left at the start line.

Later,

TK

ok...it's cold now

Bundled up & headed over to the top secret training grounds. Air temp 35ish, windchill upper teens.
Three "warm-up" laps, four "hot" laps, & one "cool" down lap. 50 minutes total & my feet were frozen.
Ok...its cold now.

Boulder Cup...the longer version

The folks who put on these races do an unbelievable job, DBC Events. Harlow Platts is like a mini-Nationals and the reservoir course is hard to describe, its sort of a barren landscape peppered with goat heads. The weekend starts at the reservoir, if you survive racing on the surface of the moon, you are rewarded with Harlow Platts on Sunday. The course was described as 10% sand, 10% pavement, & 80% grass. Grass is a relative term, I'd call it more like 10% grass & 70% a sandy, bumpy, dusty lunar landscape. To those who race with any regularity at the reservoir you probably develop a love/hate relationship with the venue, for outsiders visiting yearly you are left wondering what you just went through. I'm starting to love the venue, or hate it, I'm not sure.
Harlow Platts is as good as it gets. Fast grass, flowing corners, sand, brilliant barrier sections (the addition of the stairs this year was superb), just the right amount of everything. Both venues need to be experienced to be appreciated.

You know you've got a good thing going as a promoter when you can
raise the entry fee by 25% over last year, eliminate all the payouts except for the elite's & still have huge turnouts. I'll be back, it was worth every penny.

How can you go wrong when you've got your Dad in the pits on Saturday cheering you on & your bro working the pits on Sunday yelling his head off. My brother kept yelling something like "get some!" or something like that, it was kind of funny but strangely appropriate. Also in my corner, my Mom, my wife, & our 2 dogs.

You know you're in someone else's house when each race starts by calling up the local series leader's. The first 2 rows both days were are all locals, I did mange to jump in the 3rd row each
day, can't complain.

I'm sure there's more but...looking forward to next year.

Leavenworth this Sunday.

Later,

TK

the way it should be...

Quick recap, still at my parents in Fort Collins.

Saturday @ Boulder Resevoir 19th outta 40 some in the 35+ 1/2/3's. Felt pretty good, tough course, gravel, sand, sand, sand, hot.

Sunday @ Harlow Platts 16th outta 50 some in the 35+ 1/2/3's. Today was awesome. 45 minutes of bike to bike action. The whole event was a battle for position with a 4 up, 200 yard, uphill sprint to finish, I held on for 2nd in the group. There wasn't any point in the race when I wasn't either fighting somebody off or looking for a chance to pick off somebody up ahead. This is the way it should be. Glad I came.

Later,

TK

O2 debt

In an effort to take CX suffering to a new level, I'm making my 2nd annual trip to CO for 2 days of racing in Boulder. Last year went way better than I had expected in the 35+ open category. I got a 20th on Saturday & something like 24th on Sunday, 60+ starters both days. This category is stacked w/ fast guys. Here's my plan...ride as hard as I can for 45 minutes, seems simple. My mantra: reasonable expectations.

Little known facts about me...I actually grew up in Colorado Springs, went to CU, my parents live in Fort Collins, & my brother & his wife just moved to CO Springs from Denver. So going out there is not that big of a stretch.

Last year a crew from KS also made the trip, not this year. Looks like I'm representing the midwest by myself. I wish I could be at the Nationals preview race at Tiffany Springs but...whatever, I'll see it in December.

See you on the other side.

Later,

TK