SSKC was the SHIT!

   So the race and results was pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things when it came to Single Speed Kansas City. But, for those who are interested I will spend just a moment of time explaining, and then blast you with all my pics. Then maybe just link you to everybody else's photo spots on the interwebs.

I drive to KC Friday night. I meant to get there early enough to do a preride. Nope. I've ridden Swope Trails YEARS ago for a 6hr, but little was retained as far as course knowledge.

I meet Edward from New Belgium Brewing and we drink some coldies and talk about Mike Bussman and SSMTBWC  in Alaska. Then I go to bed at 12:30.

Brian the floppy hat wearing race director wakes us campers up just before 7am. There are donuts and other sleepy eyed one speeded knuckle heads filling into the park.

I've seen floppier.

 Minutes before the start I change into costume. A American flag thong  with flag on helmet. My goal was to win The Joel Dyke Big Grin Speedo Award. I then hustle up to the racer meeting and blow minds.

We roll down to the start which is at the bottom of the driveway for a ferocious up hill sprint into the woods.

Look at Griffs "I'm gonna crush this shit" face!

 After 20mins, we start. I'm right up there behind Griffin Hamilton when we get to the rabbit hole. I gladly let a few folks pass me figuring I'm going into uncharted territory. This place is hella tech, I mean HELLA, and even though I can wield a rigid fork that doesn't mean I can improvise that quick on a course that these guys live at. I'll be honest, I was nervous and was not the most confident I've ever been.

The 1st tech spot. It was way more terrifying at race pace. Look at my face!

The first lap had a bunch of dabs, but I made it through holding onto 5th overall. I pass the dude who is behind me in the photo above because of a flat. 4th now!

One of my dabs. Sorry guy.

Second lap I was familiarizing with the terrain and riding 50% smoother, but got a puncture in my back tire halfway through the lap and rode it at about 10 psi till I was able to borrow Travis' pump at the end of the lap. 

Third lap I was on fire! Unfortunately the rear tire leak came back when I hit a small rock garden at ludicrous speed. I rode that for a bit until I had to pump some C02 in. A couple miles later I  pedal spiked a huge boulder and nose wheelied off the trail and into a tree. A real "oh shit!" moment. My right brake lever got rotated under my bars. I rode like that for awhile until I was able to ham fist-it almost back into place.

As I was gorrila-ing up Heckle Hill somebody yells I'm in 3rd.

Heckle Hill

So I continue to light up the trail. At the end of the last tech section is a right switchback. As I'm working my way through the rocks I see Britton Kosiak pushing his full squish Santa Cruz almost at a defeated crawl.

To my pleasure, I can tell that he is straight up cooked, and I'm just getting warmed up. This last section is where my rigid bike and gear choice was supremo. I get up on Britton's wheel and ask for a pass. Then again. And then since there was no real response I just took the inside line on the next switchback. Sorry dude. Since this last section was all super fast and dirt critty, I railed every turn and mashed my 38/20 thus dropping Britton and his full squish SS.

I absolutely drilled it all the way to the finish in hopes of the "what if I catch Griffin". Well I didn't, but one of the scoring doods said he had only been in for maybe 30 seconds. Griff kinda looked like he had just rolled in, too. Since this is a dirt bag SS race, times were not recorded very well which I wouldn't of had it any other way. Griff's time was 144min and 31sec. My time was non existent, but what ev's. Oh, and Griffin, NICE F-ING work dude! You killed it!

Wheelies at the finish. Its in my BOCOMO contract.

For me the race was a bad ass mental victory/confidence boost. Even though its been mentioned, Swope Trails are probably the most technical/brutal trails in the state of Missouri. During the race I was kinda wondering how many doods have brought their novice as hell girlfriends there on a first ride, and got broken up with that night. That being said, I show up on a fairly big gear to a tech trail with no real course knowledge of and kinda slay it wearing only a very small speedo. 4 of the top 5 dudes were local, and 3 of those were on full squish SS's. If that doesn't say anything....  At the end I also realized that I had only drank 1.5 bottles. I txted Dwayne later and told him that he was becoming a bad influence on me because he is known for not drinking any thing during crazy hot rides and races.

After the race was hang out sesh till 4pm. Then awards. Then Skillaz course. Then slip n slide. Then group ride to Bier Station. And then home.

Here are a bunch more pics kinda in order of events. Enjoy!

T-Ravis on his jenk squishy SS.

 

Look at that SMILE! So good!

Moar Smiles!

Winning Big Grin Joel Dyke Speedo award.

Whats up, pup?

Our shorts were off, hehe.

Dumb self absorbed I'm on a bike riding selfie.

And the spoils.

I am fighting with my self to use this cog or to frame it.

New T's

1+1=1....Ray Porter, and OUTVI stickers

Stock photo of the OUTVI Race Roll. Mine's already on the bike and being put through the ringer.

Hey so thanks ere'body for making SSKC weekend a absolute blast! Brian and White Mike you killed it and everybody behind the scenes, likewise. There's too many to give shout outs and since it was such a rager of a weekend I have forgotten a bunch of names anyways. Nothing personal :).  We really did have a all-star crew out, for real!

And to ere'body who missed this. I will never let you live it down you bleeping squares. We didn't want you anyways. Probably would'a just harshed our buzz. HA!

Also check this stuff out if you get the chance
-Oddity
-OUTVI
-8 Lumens
-SSKC
-ATM 
-Endless Cogs
-Randy photos
-Pete photos
-Sean photos
-John photos
-Chris photos
-Chris Reichel

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Single Speed KC, teaser

SSKC was a absolute blast! This little red bike was the death of others. What a party!

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Gimme a Hell Yeah for Desiree White and Christine Edwards!

Dudes in this day and age always get shout outs and write ups and kudos. Well, the ladies need that too I feel so this is my shout out to two gals that kick ass and give me just that little bit more of drive to do what I do. One is my good friend Christine and my acquaintance from Oklahoma Desiree.

Christine has always had the bad ass gene in her. When she was younger she just started running and got to the point where marathons were kinda no big deal. That was shoved to the wayside and as of the last 2 years, maybe?, has got into crossfit.  That may not seem like much of a story, so hold on. A couple years ago she broke her elbow while partying. Really a friend of ours picked her up and she got dropped, but she didn't leave and cry,but continued to hang out and shred. Fast forward to right about the time I broke my hip in Jan 2014, Christine was in Turkey and in a freak accident fell broke her foot majorly and rebroke her elbow. So we kinda got to be in recovery mode together. During this time she had already been doing the cross fit thing and beginning to climb the latter until her accident happened. A couple months later she was finally able to start doing push ups again and started running. She would also sometimes shoot me awesome txts about her beginning to hang with some of the stronger chicas at the gym and out box jump and  burpee them.

Well back in April she sent me this email that I was totally stoked on it read...

I did my first legit crossfit competition yesterday and got 2nd! It was a fun competition for beginners who haven't really done competitions before. There was a novice division and an intermediate division and I got 2nd in the intermediate division. The woman that I lost to has been doing crossfit for a lot longer than me and done a lot of competitions and is way stronger than me....but I killed her on the longer endurance workouts. It was 6 workouts in total.

Anyway, I figured I'd let you know since you are always so supportive ! The guy who put on the competition said it was a lot of work and he was debating even doing it again next year and then he saw me drink beer out of my trophy and said the hassles were all worthwhile, haha! 🏆



 Along with this was podium pics and her beer chugging out of her trophy! Oh, and Christine, you have been the supportive one :).

F-yeah lady, and keep killing it! Its funny what the body can do and recover from in a year. Its not always in the body, but whats in the mind that pushes us.

 So next is Desiree. I first met her at Gravel Worlds last year. She was racing the Ladies Masters Category, but you would have never known she was old enough. She is totally rad in a bunch of ways. As far as her history I don't have much to go on other than I think she may have been a tri-athlete. Desiree don't worry I will forgive you for peeing on your saddle and getting caught up in that malarkey. Anyways, she transitioned to gravel at some point, and at GWs last year she mentioned a SS O.R.B. that she rides. I didn't pry too much but just took it as she may dable in the one speed off road biking. Desiree also has the the most bubbly giggly laugh and the cutest pig tails, along with the best smile!

Months later I run into my friend Brandon from Oklahoma the Friday night before Ouchita Challenge in Oden, AR. And who of all people pedals up, but Desiree White who is buddies with Brandon and rode up there with him! Ends up she doesn't just dable in one geared bikies, but races and crushes souls on them! Again with the exclamation mark!!!!! She ended up killing Ouchita Challenge on her one speed, by the way. She also called me out on my cold chicken skin legs at the start, haha.

When I got back to STL I told Kate my lady friend at the time "If Desiree wasn't spoken for and if we weren't dating, I would so fire on her!" I seem to recall Kate agreeing with me in this sentiment. She didn't slap me anyhow or make me sleep on the couch.
  
Just as of recently after signing up for GWs I saw Desiree's name on the roster. So I did some internet stalking to see what she was up to. I found nothing really, but some photos. Nothing incriminating, but just to prove she rocks!

One is of her and her man. I feel its what I may look like when I am older. It also gives me ultimate hope that I'm gonna end up with the most righteous babe. Two is of her tearin' it up on a SS CX bike with a great smile. Three, her in SSAT(single speed areo tuck) on her ORB.

 Desiree, I hope you don't find this shout out creepy. I just have mad respect for ya lady and hope you continue to kill it for many a years. Keep the smile, and keep the faith.

Party hardy ladies and have a good one!

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Lets just go for a pedal and get some sleep

So first off, last Thursday was Week 3 of the Dirt Crits. I was feeling better than the previous week, but not 100%. The power was there, but come this time of the summer my nerves become shot and need some chill time. So from a outsiders perspective my handling and riding may seem awesome, but I can sense doubt in my skillaz. Example, every lap of the the DCs last Thurs. I was slowing way down on all the turns, and didn't have that flow. I just had a paranoia that I was gonna wash out so I took the turns way slower than usual plus the overshooting of turns that even my friend Sam was heckling me for first lap. Its nothing I'm gonna be hard on myself for. I still won the race on my rigid SS BOCOMO so I'm totally psyched. Its just something I need to understand and be aware of. In the quest for greater speeds its important to understand that handling is just as important as power as to strength(yes, power and strength are two different entities) as to nutrition as to strategy. If your feeling anxious, then its probably time you chill. Nuff said.

Just a BOCOMO pic

Mark "Monk" Sticka  representin'

Sam up front and Ian from Team Noah in pursuit

Bob and I DESTROYING the rest of the field!

 

 

Then there was Friday. Work, Team Noah meeting, and then hang out firepit sesh at Coach's place. Which was B.A. cuz I got some Mona time in. Mona is Coach's puppy and she is cuuuute! I gave her some treats and things were good.

Saturday, I met up with some folks and did a small group ride. I knew it would be a bit slower paced so I rode my new/old bike "Deth March". Its the early 90's 26er Raleigh Technium that a customer donated to the shop cuz it was gonna cost too much to repair. I quickly adopted it and converted it to SS with a knee blowingly big gear, and put fat donated hybrid tires on it. I will get a pic up soon of it, since its my new toy that I'm excited about. You see, unlike some folks, I get stoked on how little money something cost me and not how much money something cost me. "Deth March" was absolutely free! And have a incling that this turd may just be my new secret weapon for training. I guess thats not a secret now, well you guys can suck it!

Back to the ride, it started at Spoked down on Cherokee St and rode out to the county and past Babler State Park. Then back through Kirkwood and back to the south side. I got separated from the group because of stopping to chat with the Flannigans at there new shop Trail Head Bikes. I then spent almost the remainder of the ride playing catch up which most would agree sucks, but I found it pretty sick. Turning lemons to lemonade is my way. I'm gonna throw a shout out to Cassie for the play by play txts giving me intersections that I had to go hunt down. At the end i had done roughly 80miles on a soul crusher of a bike.

I was gonna go meet up with friends but rested up for the rest of the night instead. I'll be straight. I was burnt up, but in a good way. Plus, i wanted some recovery for the race Sunday morn.

So Sunday was supposed to be the Rockbridge ORB race in COMO. I was super pumped given everybody that was gonna be there is awesome! But.... it got postponed due to rain that morn. I went back to sleep and slept till 1:30. I didn't sweat it. I figure if your sleeping and dreaming with wreckless abandon, your body probably really needs the rest.

I get up do some stupid house chores, and then hop on the purple Nature Boy. The goal was to do most of the Noah memorial route before dark. Well I got 20 miles out and flatted. Guess what, my spare tube also had a hole in it. I managed to get gorilla tape to hold "kinda" for about 5 miles back to University city where I then rode the remainding mile on the rim. I got to Big Fish just after close, but with all the luck Coach sees me and lets in to get and replace my tube. Thanks dude!

Back on my bike I ride out into Kirkwood area and then back to the southside again. Ending mileage just under 60. Less than planned, but more than expected.

This whole week now is dedicated to chill out mode. Single Speed Kansas City is Saturday and I kinda want to crush it! Or Destroy it! Or maybe even Kill It! Either which way I want to make my competition hurt and I expect them to do the same to me.

Now I'm gonna get outta here and go to a punk show my friends are putting on in a shady part of town down by the river. And with that I will leave you with some punk music to get us all wound up!

Bad Religion "Give You Nothing"

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Lets just pour more gas on the fire

The last two weekends and week in between have been hella crazy. It was one of those weeks that I question my own sanity and human physiology. As in  "how can the human body do what it does?" and "how can the human body be so strong sometimes, yet so weak other times?"  I personally don't really know! I know what I have been doing since the beginning of the year such as base mile training and nutrition, and then as of fairly recently tossing in the mix of hi intensity stuff. But still I don't get it?! I constantly ache and feel drained of all mojo, and often times so mentally wrecked out that even simple tasks of doing laundry or eating cereal or just talking coherently proves strangely difficult.  And yet I show up to a race and my body just finds some magic button to push that allows nothing but go go go go go go. That being said, here is a quick recap on the last week and a half

Two weeks ago I was in the Black hills of South Dakota racing Tatanka 100. The course was brutal, at 5,000 ft elevation, and a long drive. All things that in combination will wreck a doood out. Zoll and I drive home after the race, but both of us are so burnt up that it takes 19 hrs to get home opposed to 13/14 hrs.

I drag through work Mon, Tues, Wed, but keep screwing things up due to mental and physical fatigue. Think 1 step forward 4 steps back. Come Thurs I make the executive decision to take the day off and legit sleep in and just chill out until I had to leave for the Dirt Crits at 4:30pm. I show up late, get no pre-ride in and no test ride of the new course chicane that was set up to thin the start of the field down. With the way I was feeling(even though everybody thought I was lying) I really didn't expect the race I had. However, it is worth noting, that even though I did end up laying the smack down I my body felt awful the whole time doing it. Was really a mental fight to override what the legs and lungs were telling me, and then the mental system began to falter and it was then just a fight to stay on the trail and not lose 1st or wreck out.

Was not without repercussion, but secured 1st.

,

 Then Friday rolls around, and I make to work and actually don't feel to slothful and surprisingly get stuff done. Fri night my friend Jesse was having her new flower shop opening. There were a bunch of rowdy dirtbags there like me and much beer and whiskey was consumed. 11:30 approaches and I hi-tail it out to get some sleep. I have a big training ride in the morn.

Sat morning alarm blasts pop music at 5:30am. The day is a planned long cx bike sit in the saddle kinda day. Training day for the upcoming Gravel World Aug 22. I rode out from the city to Lost Valley where I met up with Lindsey, Maria, Baby J., and SS Sam to do a bi-fect. Which for anybody that doesn't know a bi-fecta is riding Lost Valley and then connecting over to Matson Hill via the Katy Trail. Its roughly about 30-35miles with 20-25 of those miles being single track mtb trails. I rode all of it on my cx bike. So now that thats been done, I now know I can always throw a bi-fecta in for extra, well, you know....     After the pit stop at Lindsey's apt complex pool in Kirkwood. I ended the day with 120 miles of cx bike fun. I was so smashed, but knew Leadbelt XC was the next day. So I rallied and got my bike and gear together best I could for Sunday, and hit the hay. It was 11pm by the time I got to sleep.

Waking up at 6:30 am Sunday morn was crazy hard. It was the first time in a while that I contemplated bailing on a race. The problem is that it was Mark Grumpke's race and I love that guy. So I had a social obligation to show up and support Mark. Ian my team mate picked me up and we motor down to St Joe State Park. Get ready and race.

 Off the start my legs actually have pop to 'em. I'm 4th going into the woods with a gap on the rest of the field. I manage to hold on to E. Pirtle, Clayton, and Turbo for about 1.5miles. My heart no longer had the elasticity and my legs were quickly overflowing with lactic acid. I knew it was in my best interest to lay off the gas and go into chill mode. The remainder of the 7.5 mile lap was a struggle for recovery. Ian caught up to me and we rode the rest of the race together using each other as motivation. 2nd and 3rd laps my body got warmed up and Ian and I were really lighting up the trail. I ended up 6th and Ian 7th. We were both just out of sight of Matt Twedt and Karl Stover. That made me hella stoked when I saw the finish times and saw where they finished. So even when I'm totally cooked from heavy training/racing I guess I'm still a threat!

6th in Cat 1 on a ss, I'm cool with that.

style is everything, haha.

The way home we got Mex food. The body just inhaled it. I usually never treat myself to dining out, but the body was ravenous and La Pachanga was calling with their chips n salsa and lime water.

Now is Wednesday, it must have been the mexy food, but I feel pretty good. My stair test at the Trek Store proves I'm recovering well. However, my knees feel a little wobbly and loose. So once again we shall see how the Dirt Crits tomorrow night and the Show Me State Game on Sunday go. Its always just a matter of time before total collapse, right. Also, I don't like counting my chicks before they're hatched, so I'm not gonna assume a victory for either race. If I simply make a few others have to scramble and dive in deep into their own personal pain cave then my job will be done.

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Party Song of the Day, and Happy Friday. Lets get ready to RAGE!!!!

So I was going through a heavy AC/DC Highway to Hell spurt where I think I listened to that album 50 + times in the last month. Now, I just dug out my DEVO cd and have been burnin it out in the same fashion.

So here's DEVO with a live version of "Uncontrolable Urge" from 1980 i think.

Have a blast this weekend everybody and don't ever fight your urge to get wild.

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