St. Kitts

My financial advisor and I traveled to the island of St. Kitts last week to soak in the rays of some Eastern Caribbean sun, and take in the splendor of the countryside. We stayed with a friend stationed there in the Peace Corp for two years. (Tuff gig I know).

Most Caribbean island nations are a stark example of the have and have not’s. St. Kitts is no exception. For sure, there are pockets of 5 star luxury, but by and large, beyond those resorts, its all slums. Too bad, as the flora and fauna of the volcanic isle is amazing.

During our stay we climbed the 3600 foot Mt. Liamuiga, zip lined down the hills of Old Town, snorkeled in Cockleshell bay, and chow’d down on ribs at the Shiggedy Shack. Driving on the left all week, while dodging taxi’s, busses, goats, sheep, cows, chickens, and pedestrians had me taxed, but the time in the sand was a worthy reprise.

A fellow cyclist came thorough, and allowed me to drag along his Travelers Check and I managed to “check out” each day for a spin around the island before heading to the beach. It was'nt great riding, but fun still.

Shout out to American Airlines who managed to lose our bags both going and coming. Great job guys, you deserve a Carib!

Frame Number Two

Back from powder-coating today. Jolli-pop candy orange. Looks pretty cool in the day light.

BTEpic 2010

This race is as good as it gets. Great venue, seamless check-in, epic course, huge field, crazy payout, tuff competition, free beer/food, live band, and lots of swag.

Tenth again two years running. I made a mental mistake and forgot to down one bottle between checkpoint 3 and 4, then went out on the final stretch with only one bottle in hand. Some major cramp-o-rama had me off the bike on the last climb from the Berryman watching 8th and 9th place ride on by. I've been riding long enough to know better...maybe someday I'll learn.

I'll be back next year to defend my streak of the only rider to make the top 10 of every BTEpic!

No Longer the Bridesmaid

WAY back in Ought-Six, unforeseen circumstances forced Dr Mark and I to enter the Wicked Fast race at the Burning without a third teammate. A somewhat relaxed field allowed us to take the win in grand style doing 5 laps each.

For the next three years, DRJ (Chris, Wes, and Bob) have gotten together, and managed to snatch victory away from my various team combinations. There’s no better adversary than the trio above , but finishing first looser for three years straight (in ‘09 by less than a minute), had me reeling for a win.

Enter 2010 and yet another chance at victory. The dry spell was ended, and the monkey is off my back. We won, but took a two new course records, two flats, a broken pedal, and nearly destroyed wheel . Instead of a long diatribe of race re-capping, how about some observations from the weekend:

· Great care should be taken when choosing a team name. Choose wrong, and you could end up spending more time in your tent than just the weekend.

· The smoke bomb cloud to start the race was thicker than ever. I wasn’t sure I had my bike until chamois hit saddle.

· Beware of the opposing teams secret weapon (Mathews!)

· Also beware of nice old dudes (Albert), they will smoke you and get you a beer after

· No-one, and I mean NO-ONE ate better than we did Sat. night. Baked lasagna, Italian sausage, and ciabatta bread, wow!

· You don’t need fancy carbon, suspension, tubeless this or that, even rubber underwear to ride your bike all day and have fun. Go Pete!

· Pressed for time, I can stuff 6 Fig-Newtons down my gullet at once

· Post race PBR is nectar of the Gods

· Burning at the Bluff = still best race of the year!

Herman Washout

By 8:30 PM most evenings I’ve assumed my position on the couch preparing for the nights slumber, but this Sat was different. I opted to sign up for my 3rd cross race (ever) and figured Hermann under the lights would be a worthy challenge. I did this race two years ago, in the CAT III’s and got second, so I was stoked to get a shot at the CX experts.

I’ve been training for longer events (Burning and BTEpic) so the all out style and 60 minutes of pain that Cross dishes out was going to put me in the hurt locker for sure. Because of this, my plan was to start conservative and build towards the finish. That plan royally backfired when two laps into a torrential downpour of a race, the event was called due to lightning. I only got the word that the race was ending just a few turns from the finish when a spectator yelled that’d we’d be finishing on that lap. Doh!!!

Shout out to DoubleShot who made the best of the situation and crossed the two lap event in first. The two of us wadded our way home in one of the hardest rain showers I’ve ever witnessed. 20 mph felt too fast!

This aint no Holiday Inn

Got second in the SAC River 6 Hour solo race on Saturday the 11th. I got beat by Doubleshot, which didnt hurt my pride one bit. This guy is flying right now, and if you remember got 3rd in the NATION in Breckenridge this year for the NORBA MTB Endurance Class.

So after the race a super cool local, and friend of Dr. Beans invited us to spend the night instead of pitching our tents in the field. The lure of a hot shower and dry floor made the decision easy. We were slated for a short night, as we arived close to midnight, and planed on leaving by 6:00 AM to have breakfast before Sundays ride with the owner of Cycles Unlimited.

The hospitatlity was great, but lets just say that the decor was a far cry from Potery Barn. Interesting to the max!

R.I.M. 2010

Professor Green Beans and I traveled North for the Rapture in Missouri 6 Hour duo race. This race had been on my shortlist for years, but had never materialized. GB was proclaiming the brilliance of the Crowder Park trail system, so I decided to make this happen.

We arrived Saturday morning, post rain to find slick but not muddy trails, and a gorgeous setup for an endurance race. Shade everywhere, cooler temps and the buzz of racers going through the dance of pre-race routines got me in high gear for some race action.

Beans sent me off on the Le-Mans start with only one set of instructions: “Do not come in first on lap one!” Of course you know that means, its balls out and game on now.

The first lap wouldn’t have been slicker if we had decided to lay down a course long slip-in-slide and cover it with vegetable oil and KY jelly. Two wheel drifts, and pinballing through rock gardens were the only options. I managed to keep Elwell and another 6 Hour solo rider at bay and set the fastest lap of the day, sending Beans out for his lap in first place.

From then on we didn’t look back. Both of us turned in some sub 50 minute laps, putting enough time into our competition put it on cruise control for the final two laps. The heat and climbs were taking their toll on the riders, as at times it looked like a concentration camp being marched through the woods with guys and gals off pushing in pain and cramps.

Still fun was had by all. We walked away with a cool shirt, free beer, a RIM pint glass and free entry into next year’s event. Doug Long put on a great event, and I’ll be back for more!