2 in 1

Kansas City

So i somehow got off on work Friday and traveled the 600 miles to Kansas City solo. Leaving at 5:30am let me arrive at the course in KC at 2:15pm. I arrived just in time to see the lovely Holly playing in the mud. (o.k. she was racing, but it was playing too) After meeting up with Ben, we watched Holly finish and clean up and heading to check in at our hotel, the Great Wolf Lodge. Ben and i enjoyed the nice water park while waiting for Julie to arrive from DC. After dinner, where Julie met up with us and like 90 other people we knew, we ate and relaxed for the evening, after some more water park, "yeah water park". we slept, that night i woke up every 2 hours and then would fall back to sleep.

Saturday was mainly chillen and watching cyclocross races in the snow, as it snowed Friday night. After a trip to Cabela's for some extra warm stuff and a snack, it was off to the Comfort Inn to check in before a preride. The course was nice and frozen. the ruts from the mud on Friday froze and made one hell of a hard course. Not only was it 1.9 miles only, but it had over 30 turns. After preriding until dark, we headed back to the hotel to clean up and head out with Klugs and Amy for dinner. Dinner was followed a restless night of sleep.

The next morning the alarm went off at 6:15 am. Since my race was at 8, i had to get up early. I tried to tell Ben to stay in bed, but he refused, mainly because i figured he wanted to watch me freeze my ass off. After arriving at the course around 7:15 i did my best to warm my legs up. While warming up my extra warm gloves were making my hands sweat, and i didn't want that during the race, so i opted for my thinner gloves. BAD IDEA!! i started towards the back, but made up tons of spots on the opening straightaway, while i slowly felt the blood leave my fingers. after a few crashed a head of me, i ran my bike and felt the remaining blood in my fingers leave. With no blood in my fingers/hands i had no control of my bike. Two nasty crashes later i pulled myself from the race, IE the DNS. After pulling myself from the race, i got to feel the worse pain on earth. That pain would be the blood surging back into the frozen parts of your body. i have broken 4 bones (sternum, clavicle, and 2 in the hand), requiring 3 surgeries (2 clavicle, 1 hand), 8 pieces of metal (1 plate, 5 screws, and 2 pins), 1 cadaver bone, and the pain of blood coming back is still the worst pain in the world that i have felt so far.

After warming up and chillaxing (chillen and relaxing), i helped Ben get ready for his race the best i could. Its hard to fill Julie's shoes, but i did my best. I must say Ben Kicked Ass. while he didn't win, he sure did beat a lot of people that have been said to kick his ass. Yeah, he showed them. Shortly after the final of the men's elite race, i headed home. another 600 miles later i laid my head on my pillow around 2am and slept.


Milwaukee

So Tuesday i did my first snow ride. My old school GT Aggressor with 195 tires is no match for the deep snow of the River trail in Milwaukee. O and disc brakes are a must of winter riding. 2 hours and A LOT of running later, we finished. My Lake Boots are now waiting for me at Ben's Cycle in Milwaukee.


Final notes.

1)I have a lot less hair now, i will post a picture when i can. (hair cut)
2) i think i have decided which bikes i want to get for the mountain bike season.
a) the Trek 69er 3x9
b) the Bianchi Rita 29er SS
2)dressing up for work gets you lots of attention
a)but no dates