Ok, Its nice out, Trail should be good. No Excuse! Who's in? 5:30ish at bait shop.
Ok, Its nice out, Trail should be good. No Excuse! Who's in? 5:30ish at bait shop.
Posted by Corey on May 10, 2011 at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
What's everyone's plan? Give me a call if you want to share a ride. Plus we gotta get a place to stay Fri night. Call me quick. I gotta get something together asap. I'm doing the 125, and coming home sat night. 690-4042.
Posted by Barry Vollmer on May 09, 2011 at 07:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)
Ride 60 or 100 miles on May 22 starting at 8:00am from the pavilion parking lot at the North Jeff City Katy trail spur. The ride will be basically the same as last year, except for a 3 1/2 mile section on S River road instead of the mind and taint-numbing Katy Trail.
There will be spots to get water, food, or use restrooms at miles 14, 29, 36, and 47. At 58 miles, we will be returning to the vehicles to refuel. 2nd part of ride there is a gas station at 63 miles in Holts Summit, NIcks grandma's house at 81 miles and Jim's Bar at 86.
This is the last big training ride before Kanza. Camping trip to Council Bluff is memorial day weekend.
Posted by Stoney on May 08, 2011 at 02:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Berry says he wants to do this 138-mile race and can't post a new topic because the blogging software is not working correctly(works fine for me).
Anyway, here is the low-down...
The Vino Fondo is a fully supported, timed ride. Although not a race, all participants will receive two measures of their achievement: overall ride time AND their climbing time over the penultimate beast, the Schleusberg. We are offering three distance options, each tuned to maximize scenery and include as many of the regions "topographic features" as we can find. We're crafty like that. Please note that the above topography is actually from the route, and not an electrocardiogram.
The Rides. We will have three different routes. All of these will start and finish at the same point and include the majestic Schluesberg.
Registration:
Pre-registration for the Vino Fondo is $85 for individuals and $150 for tandems. Race day registration will be $100 for individuals and $175 for tandems. There are no refunds, however ride bibs are transferable. While there is no maximum age limit, participants must be over 13 years of age.
Date is Saturday, May 7. More details can be found at http://bigshark.com/about/2011-vino-fondo-pg748.htm
Posted by Stoney on May 01, 2011 at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
The trail was mushy from all the rain, but it's not like you have to worry about tearing up the Katy Trail. We were just excited to be outside doing something, and it seemed like we had only just begun when we rolled into Tebbetts.
I've ridden past this shelter several times, but never checked it out. Adam and I did a little investigating and found out that it's open to anyone for only $5 per night. There are bunkbeds inside, along with a bathroom and refrigerator. Very cool stuff, and it's good to know places like this still exist and aren't completely vandalized.
Back on the bikes and and moving westward, Mokane was our next stop. I love stopping at this place and get a sandwich. It's just one of those cool little stores that's been around for a long time, and has never been re-furnished.. When you walk inside, you get a sense of history.
Everyone in the store seemed quite surprised we hadn't been injured in "the hail-storm that came through town 5 minutes ago." We would've hung out longer to talk about the weather, but I had just bombed the restroom and we needed to get out of there fast.
I believe we've mentioned the "Really Big Rock' on the blog before, but Adam had never seen it. There was a goose nesting on top of it, which was amusing. Not sure what the history is behind this thing, but it was likely built by the pilgrims. Pilgrims were really smart.
By now, we were both pretty hungry. Rhineland was only a few miles away, so I wasn't too worried about it...til Adam got a flat. It was one of those "ghost-flats" that you patch 3-4 more times until it finally holds air. Very frustrating. I mean, what kind of asshole gets a flat tire during a training ride anyway?
After we got the flat tire squared away, we made a quick telephone call to the microbrewery in Augusta to check on their hours. They were open til 9, so if we had any chance of getting there before they closed, we were going to have to quit dicking around. We decided to ramp up the pace, pushing past Rhineland to fuel up in Hermann instead.
Then I bonked and pretty much ruined everything. I guess I just wasn't paying attention to my calorie intake and I ran out of gas. In my defense, I was pulling a bob-trailer on the wet Katy Trail..so let's try to keep the ribbing to a minimum.
The Hermann gas station made money that day. I did my best to breathe while eating 3 blueberry donuts, 2 cinnamon-sugar pop tarts, a Jack link's jerky stick, Monster drink and a bag of cheddar pretzel Combos. Oh, the glory.
I bet I've been on the Katy trail a hundred times and had no idea that it was home to so many beautiful waterfalls:
The rain started to die down a bit, so we loaded up and hit the trail once more. As we crossed through a small town called Treloar, we could see a small building with a neon sign in the window. Beer and hot-wings were only a short distance away, but we decided to push through to the next town. It would only be a few more miles and we figured we could outrun the storm.
Wrong.
I'd say we were about a 1,000 yards past Treloar when a bolt of lightning struck in the field right in front of us. That was all the convincing we needed to turn our asses around and go back to Treloar. There was a bar called Murph's Place, or something like that. The menu revealed $1.50 draught beers, hot wings, cheeseburgers and more. It was time to get down to business.
After inhaling several beers, we took turns changing into dry clothes and ordered some food. The final pic of the evening was just as the sun was starting to set and ANOTHER storm was moving in:
I think we met every person in Treloar that night, and they were all very cool people. The cheeseburgers in that place were phenomenal, and the hotwings were pretty badass as well. The fine folks of Treloar spent the evening buying us shots, draught beer and teaching us how to find morel mushrooms. One guy, (whom i had NEVER met before), went into great detail concerning the effects of cocaine on the male libido. I just sat there and nodded, hoping we could somehow change the subject.
There are some really nice people in that town. I don't know how late it was when we finally left there, but I know we were both shit-hammered. We bade farewell to our new friends and got back on the trail. We rode for a while before finding a suitable place to set-up the hammocks for the evening.
I know I slept well, but judging from the pile of vomit on the ground the next morning, I'd say Adam had a rough night.
What a waste of money.
The only hitch we ran into during the night was that we had unknowingly camped reeeally close to the highway. We were basically forced to wake up early the next morning when people were roaring by on their way to work. At least we didn't get pelted with empty beer-bottles.
And so it was with wet clothes and pounding headaches that we re-mounted our trusty steeds and pedaled about 16 miles back to Hermann. I think we were both ready to be done with riding in the rain on a mushy Katy-trail, and we were definitely ready for some dry clothes. The miles ticked by slowly, and we eventually cruised into Hermann. from there, we made a bee-line for "Wings-a-Blazin" for some more hotwings and microbrewed beer. It was the perfect finale for a really great ride.
Here, we stopped to raise a toast with Arminius. I poured a couple of sips on the ground "for my homies" and we were on our way.
We had an epic weekend and we'll be doing it again, (weather permitting), on the weekend of May 21st. Make plans to be there so we don't have to drink alone with this guy again.
Posted by Bob Jenkins on April 29, 2011 at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Here's the deal. Cory and I have wanted to put together a group ride/get together for some time now, but something was going on most every weekend. So we've decided to for-fit the peddlers jamboree for a camp out at Counsel Bluff Memorial Day weekend (May 27 -30). Jess and I are heading down Friday after the shop closes, riding Middle fork Saturday, (shop's closed) and Counsel Bluff Sunday. It would be cool to get the whole crew together, even if it's just for one day of the weekend. Thoughts? Who's in?
Posted by Nick Smith on April 25, 2011 at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Good luck, you crazy, crazy bastards!!!!
Take pictures and be safe, we need you fuckers healthy for the Kanza.
Posted by Bob Jenkins on April 21, 2011 at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
For those of you who didn't get the e-mail from the race director...
Course Information:
Part of the Dirty Kanza 200 challenge is not knowing the course beforehand, but having to navigate the course by the maps we supply you. So the actual course is a closely guarded secret. That said, we also believe DK200 should be a family affair. We hope riders will bring their families with them, so they can engage in the event and serve as support crews. To that end, we want to provide just enough information on the course so family members and support crews can do their own event preparation. So, we want to offer you this �sneak peek� at the course...
Checkpoint 1 � Cassoday, KS. Mile 58. Cut-off time is Noon.
Checkpoint 2 � Florence, KS. Mile 102. Cut-off time is 4:30 pm.
Checkpoint 3 � Council Grove, KS. Mile 162. Cut-off time is 10:30 pm.
Finish Line � Granada Theater, Emporia, KS. Mile 204. Cut-off time is 2:30 am, Sunday.
We are extremely excited about this year's course. The first 20 miles will lull you to sleep. The next 3 miles will kick your butt, and will have many of you walking as you ascend the infamous Texaco Hill. The next 30 will take your breath away by its beauty. A very special treat will be in store for you between Miles 45 and 55, as you will pass by the area where wild mustangs have been re-introduced to the Flint Hills.
Our mid-way checkpoint this year is in Florence, KS. Those of you with whom I share an off-road motorcycle racing background will recognize Florence as the home of the once-famous Florence Gran Prix. It's been 35 years now, but I bet if you listen closely, you can still hear the roar of Rolf Tibblin's 450 Husqvarna charging down Marion Street. Oh, those were the days!!!
The third leg of the course will treat riders to even more scenic vistas, as it enters areas not yet seen by DK200 participants. Leg Four will give riders a small taste of the Flint Hills Nature Trail, as we leave Council Grove. We hope to utilize more of this beautiful Rail-Trail in coming years.
And finally... a quick word on the Finish Line cut-off time...
Our stated cut-off time for the finish line is 2:30 am, Sunay morning. That's when we pack up and go to bed. Far be it from us, however, to deny anyone who completes 204 miles of Flint Hills gravel from the distinction of �Dirty Kanza 200 Finisher�. If you pull across the finish line under your own power... and can show us proof of your accomplishment... we will include you on our official list of finishers. The Dirty Kanza 200 is not about finishing fast. It is about stepping up to the challenge, and facing that challenge head-on. Sometimes, the strongest, most notable performance comes long after everyone else has gone home and gone to bed.
Posted by Stoney on April 19, 2011 at 10:44 PM in Epicness | Permalink | Comments (6)
Mat and I are heading out Sunday morning for some gravel. Mat wants to get in 80 to 100 miles, I'm doing around 50 to 60. We're rolling out at 9:00 from the OLD MO RIVER bridge (just down the street from Pattie Malone's). It's gonna be a combo of Bonedoggle / Dirty Jenkins. That is all.
Posted by Nick Smith on April 15, 2011 at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
there's a 60 miler road ride scheduled out of Fulton this weekend, saturday at noon. i'm thinking about doing it. it's on velocal if your interested.
Posted by Barry Vollmer on April 14, 2011 at 09:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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