Just riding around

Not too much going on these days. While a number of my teammates are off in Texas racing I've been hangiing out close to home and riding. Last weekend ended up being a much better training weekend than I though it would be. Saturday I thought I was heading out for a couple of hours with a group ended up solo with Travis for 4 hours on road bike. Sunday headed out on the mountain bike for a few laps of Minor park. In the end I ended up with a little over 3 hrs. A good weekend for sure but with rain looming on Tuesday I figured I should get out on the dirt Monday if I could. So Shadd and I hooked up for a Minor park/Swope Park ride that took just over 4 hrs. Hopefully the l;st two rest days will bring my legs back to life since tomorrow the weather is prime for riding.

The shop just got a pair of these Bontrager D3 carbon Clinchers in for demo use. Pretty sweet wheels so I'll have to get them out on the road and try them out.

JoBro and I went out to Swope for a few laps Sunday after I got back from my ride at Minor. Perfect conditions and he loves the trails.

You know the weather is good when the trailhead looks like this. The parking area was packed. It didn't translate to crowded trails, awsome.

The storms did arrive yesterday and last night the gale force winds blew out the front window of the store. Huge mess but not too much damage overall. I sure don't miss being on the alarm call list. One of the managers had to go to the shop and be ther all night. Bummer!

Photo dump

Spring is coming with the days getting longer and the temps warming up. But before it stays warm we got hit with a quick one day snow last week. At least we got enough snow to get out and play, made a snowman and did a little sledding, good times. So now it's getting warmer and it's time to ride.

Curly and I made our snowman for the year.

It was a train weekend for sure. Curly likes trains so I figured I would take a few shots of bridges and such.

You don't see the old one lane tunnels much any more.

I like this old stone dude!

The crack is still in Blue River Road..

and no matter what the city puts in the road to block it people still try to get around it. Some are a little less successful than others. Not quite the teeter totter that the last truck was but it's not going anywhere either

You would think this would stop people.....

But they just make a path around. So many amusing things to see when you ride a bike.

Busy weekend

We were pretty busy this weekend. I guess you could say that it got busy ending the week and just spilled over into the weekend. Time seemed to stand still Thursday when it came time to head up to the middle school for parent teacher conferences. I'm not sure why I was dreading this night, I guess it's because JoBro's grades have been all over the board since he started 7th grade. I shouldn't have worried so much. It turns out that his teachers love him and all of them know he's smart enough to do the work. Turns out that he is just so disorganized he forgets to turn in his work or turns it in late. We knew it was a problem but it was good for us to sit him down with his teachers and talk about it. Pretty hard to get on the honor roll that way but he's trying. Any way, it's all good, mom and dad are far more stressed out than he is. So this morning I was looking at Facebook and someone posted the paragraph you see below. I had to show it to JoBro just to let him know how we feel. I'm sure every parent knows the feeling.

Friday night a buddy of JoBro's came over for a sleepover and then it was time to get ready for.......

The Great Wolf Lodge

Curly's buddy had his birthday at the lodge and we brought JoBro out to hang out with the birthday boy's brother. It's all ways  amusing to go to a indoor water park when it's in the single digits outside. Pretty long afternoon/evening chasing the boys around the waterpark.

I think I put mentioned that I had a new Superfly Hardtail frame in another post. My grand plan of buying a full suspension bike and using the parts to build up the warranty hardtail frame actually worked out. What you see above is a 2012 Superfly except for the XXX carbon seatpost. Pretty sweet and it's never been ridden. That's right and it's for sale. What I ended up with is what you see below, A Superfly 100 Pro.

I got out today and I love it. Even with the suspension needing some adjustments it felt fast. I'm just amazed at how nimble it feels over the rocks and tree roots. Now I just need some time on the bike to get the suspension where I want it and to adjust my riding style. With the suspension movement and a low bottom bracket I tend to clip the pedals on rocks if I'm not paying attention. Not a problem, just a difference between the hardtail and the full suspension bikes.

Shadd and I rode at Shawnee Mission Park today. I usually won't ride there since it's so rocky I have a hard time getting in many laps. But Shadd had been there a few weeks ago and he said they had done some work out there. I agreed to go and was I surprised. The trail crew has been out there and the trails are much better. Quite a bit of rock has been removed and the new trail is awesome. Pretty enjoyable time out at the park on a nice day.

So, snow tonight. It will nice to have some snow on the ground and just as nice to have it gone the following day. I'm ready for Spring!

I've got the winter blah's...........

February, what a month for bike racers, so close to spring yet so far. It's been a interesting week in the racing world with all the doping news. All I have to say is that I'm tired of all the news on old cases. Armstrong and Ulrich, old news. It's just a waste of money going after retired racers from a old era. I would rather see the money put into looking at the current crop of riders and cleaning up the process of catching the remaining dopers. Just as important would be the procedures for prosecuting those caught. I'm all for due process but it just takes too long to resolve cases when riders get caught. Look at where we ended up with Contador. Enough of that mess, let's see what's new.........

Shadd and I test rode some bikes. Traded off 29'ers, one hardtail and one full suspension. I'm sold, after being a hardtail guy for years I'll be going to a full suspension bike this year.

Rode both the carbon and aluminum version of the TREK Superfly 100 and it was really nice. Definitely easier to go fast the longer you are on the trail.

Around the house Curly and I spent a bit of time arranging the stuffed animal collection. Good thing he has a bunk bed so everybody has somewhere to sleep.

Then there was JoBro's 7th grade science fair experiment. Probably could of made a better choice for his topic. The experiment took a ton of time and energy to make it work.

Then there was the last minute scramble to complete the 3 fold board with all of his data. It was  a late night to get it done and then he managed to get sick and not go to school the next day.

I had a little issue with my Superfly frame and the nice folks at TREK sent me this new one.  I just got a Superfly 100 that looks just like it so after a quick parts swap I'll be selling a brand new Superfly. More on that after tomorrow's parts swap.

We went to Atlanta for Christmas and visited with family. While hanging out at my brothers house  we spotted a really cool biscuit box for their dog. My sister-in-law is a pretty incredible artist and a few weeks after we got home Carly received her own treat box. Pretty darn cool!

It's February and that means it's Pinewood Derby time! Curly had a pretty good car this year, he won his Den and did pretty good overall. Only one  year left for Curly in Cub Scouts and then my car making days are over. Tears..........of joy. 

One of the dad's made this car for the unlimited class. Solid billet of Aluminum with ceramic bearings in the wheels. He even had machined aluminum wheels but they were a little slower.

As usual there were cars of all shapes and sizes. Some were fast and some didn't make it to the finish line. Pretty fun time for the kids.

So here we are, a few days into February. Bike season is getting into the swing. People are training and some are even hitting the road to do some racing. It looks like the Tue Crit is back at the Honeywell plant in Olathe. We are still working on something down by Kemper arena. Maybe a monthly crit series on Saturdays or Friday nights. Should be a good year for bike racers in KC!