No Brass, No Ammo

Cam Kirkpatrick

I had a pretty good week of training leading up to last Sundays race at Sylvan Island. I took Monday off from the bike and went to the gym to throw some upper body weights around, do some stretching and some BS’n with some of my gym-rat friends. I rode with the Tuesday night world championships group ride and did some LT intervals. Wednesday I met some of my dirty bro’s at the SC and did 3.5 hours on the dirt. I didn’t sleep worth a crap that night, probably because my body was still pretty amped up from the ride. I woke up Thursday morning feeling like I just got ran over by a freight train. So I decided to take it easy and do a recovery ride. Friday I did 4.5 hours on the road. I drove to the race course on Saturday and did a course recon for about two hours. Counting the race, I got in about 18 hours last week, a nice solid base week.
I felt that pre-riding the course as much as possible was going to be pretty important for this race. It was held on an island in the Mississippi River and it used to be home to a ammunition plant. The course was very tight and twisty, lot’s of technical stuff. You could tell that there used to be a steel plant there. There were chunks of brick, concrete, steel and glass everywhere, parts of the old foundation were sticking out of the ground all over the place. The course led us through all of this stuff, over, around, through and off of old loading docks, over a bunch of railroad ties, up a short but steep hill that was saturated with some sort of petroleum product. It was probably the same stuff that Bassonova uses for chamois butter. Which reminds me, never shake Bassonova’s hand before a bike ride or race. If you’ve ever seen how he applies his nut butter, you wouldn’t have to ask me why.



Cruisin' by a big ole' chunk of concrete.



So Sunday arrived and my Mom finally decided to cave in and do the beginner race. This was her first mountain bike race ever and she is 59 years young. This woman’s athletic prowess never ceases to inspire me. Myself, WWJ and my stepdad got to the course just before the start of the beginner race. I couldn’t believe all of the peeps that were there! They had something like 50 or so beginners lined up to throw it down. The starters whistle blew and they were off like a pack of wild banshees.
We picked a spot on the course where we could see the racers 3 or 4 times throughout each lap. My Mom was in dead last, which is exactly where she wanted to be. Her main goal was to finish and not get in anybody’s way. It was really cool to just sit there and watch the race. There were all kinds of cats riding all kinds of bikes. I saw one dude riding an old Fisher with a luggage rack looking thing attached to the back of his rig. We pretty much saw a lot of everything, including my Mom who had a huge smile on her face goin’ from ear to ear. Welcome to the fold Mom. You now understand the addiction. She only managed to accomplish one of her goals, and that was stay out of everybody’s way. She unfortunately flatted at about 2 laps into her 3 lap race. I forgot to teach her how to fix a flat so she had to bail. Bad son, I know, I know. All in all, the atmosphere was pretty damn cool, just a bunch of people lookin’ to have a great time on their bikes.



Me Mum and I before the start of her race.





Me Mum gettin' down with the sickness



My race was still a few hours away so I went back to my car to begin the process of getting myself into race mode. I figured there would be a few big guns here because of the location and the weather. As I was doing my pre-ride, I saw Cully Todd, Brian Eppen and a few cats from Wisconsin and Illinois. While cruising the course I focused on some of the more technical parts of the course to make sure that I had them dialed in as much as possible. I also started thinking about strategy for the early part of the race. My plan was to follow Eppen into the singetrack, grab his wheel, hang on and hope that I don’t get into any altercations with trees, concrete, steel or rocks. Eppen is the baddest of the bad when it comes to racers in the Midwest. His plan is to apply for his pro license this season, and based on his race resume, I’d say he’s a shoe-in for a pro license.
The race started and I ended up third wheel going into the singletrack. I got stuck behind Nathan Kline and Eppen was able to quickly create a gap on the rest of us. What made the situation worse was that Nathan was all over the place, overcooking turns, etc. which caused everybody else to slow down because there were no good places to pass. About halfway through the first of nine laps we hit the first open section of the course and I was able to get around Nathan. Eppen was long gone by then so I put my head down and dropped the hammer. I was able to establish a gap between myself and Nathan. I think Cully got around Nathan also because I saw a picture of myelf with Cully right behind me.



Cully Todd chasing me down a right handed sweeper.



I could almost immediately tell that all of the riding last winter at the SC had paid off. I was flying through all of the technical singletrack. Cully is among the best in tight and twisty stuff, but I was still able to create a gap between the two of us. Probably had something to do with our levels of fitness. I’ve been going since January and he usually gets a later start to his season.
About three laps into the race I could see Eppen ahead of me. I couldn’t believe that I was actually closing the gap on him. He usually hands my arse to me on a dirty silver platter to the tune of about five or ten minutes. This was a huge motivator for me so I turned the screws a little tighter and about a half of a lap later I caught up to him. This was where the real fun began. When got to the first open section of trail, I went by him and told him to grab on. About halfway through the lap, we hit the second open section. He passed me and I took his wheel. We did this for about three laps and because we were working well together, we were able to increase the size of our gap on everybody behind us. I had an absolute ball riding his wheel through all of the technical stuff, we were flying through this stuff like we were at terminal velocity. I think if I’d gone any faster my tires would have washed out and I would have wrapped myself around tree. I found myself taking a lot more risks than usual, but that’s what you have to do if you want a chance at guys like Eppen.



Me reeling Eppen back in. Check out the g's I'm pullin' in the corner.



At around the middle of lap six or seven, Eppen got through a technical section of the course a little more quickly than I did and opened a small gap. As the lap progressed the gap became larger and I didn’t seem to have the legs to close it up. About midway through lap eight, I could see that I was once again closing the gap. He must have looked back and saw me, because the gap began to increase in size once again. That was pretty much all she wrote. The official results had Eppen in first, with me coming in second by about 35 seconds, but it was more like about 10 or 15 seconds. Cully came in third about 2 1/2 minutes back followed by WWJ in fourth. Results can be found at: http://www.qcforc.org/.
Believe it or not, it was one of my best races ever. I’ve never finished that close to Eppen and it happened on the type of course that typically doesn’t suit my riding style very well. I put in a lot of hours over the winter over at the Science Center trails, focusing on bike handling at speed. It also really helped to ride with guys like Squirrel and Bassonova, who know how to handle a bike. I also think the ‘tifosi’ had a lot to do with it. The spectators were incredible, I heard people yelling my name all over the place. I even had a woman come up to me after the race and thank me for the entertaining race! How sweet is that?
So after the race, the obvious question for me was why I wasn’t able to close up the gap near the end of the race? I thought about this during my 2 ½ hour drive home. It ultimately came down to two things. I had just done an 18 hour week and as a result, had a large accumulation of fatigue in my legs. My legs were definitely my limiter for the race. Whenever I hit the open sections towards the end of the race, I would try to punch it and the legs wouldn’t respond like they normally would when they’re fresh. My average heart rate for the race was 170, which is about 5 to 10 beats lower than normal. This further indicates that I was well below my aerobic limit, and further evidence that my legs were noodle-esque from the overload of an 18 hour week.
Secondly, Eppen was on a full suspension rig and my rig was a hard tail. This was OK for the first half of the race, but as the end drew near my body began to suffer a little from the beatin’ that the rigid rear end of my bike was giving me. The course was pretty rough and my arse end was getting bounced around a lot. It made it very difficult to maintain smooth lines through a lot of the rough sections. If you can’t maintain a smooth line, especially through the corners, the lack of efficiency is going to catch up with you and slow you down. It was the beginning of one of the rough sections that allowed Eppen to create the gap on me towards the end of the race. I pretty much blew my wad trying to overcompensate.
As I had mentioned earlier, I was very happy with the result. My fitness is good, bike handling is good and I’m having a great time! Life is good… All indications thus far tell me that I’m going to have one hell of a season.
I also want give a couple of my bro’s a big ole’ pat on the back. Bassonova, Phantom Bill and….. Andy….. I guess I don’t have a name for you yet. I’ll figure something out in time. Anyway, they finished 6,7 and 8th respectively, in their first expert race. Saweet!! Rumor has it that Kerkove did a road race instead of joining us…. Beware of the darkside my friend, for dark side of the Force is innately tied to the distinctly negative ethical paradigm of the roadies. The dark side of the Force comes from the hate, anger, fear, aggression, vengeance, and malice in all living things. You do not want to wander down this path…

Next up is IMBCS #2 in my ‘backyard’ up at Seven Oaks this Sunday, April 23. It’s going to be a sweet event, with a bunch of new trail cut, a radio station (103.3) doin’ a live broadcast and all of my dirtbag mountain biking bro’s. Good times…

Thanks for reading,

Cosmo

Off To A Great Start

Man it's good to be back into racing again! After two months of trainer rides and frozen mountain bike rides at the SC with my Bro’s Grand Master Lou, Bassonova, tPod, Squirrel, Jedi Master Gammel and the rest of the dirty DSM posse, I’m ready to tear it up. The trainer rides actually went pretty well this year, not nearly as painful as last season, thanks to Netflix and tPod for allowing the posse on the MSM roadie team to sweat and stink all over his basement.
Training actually went really well this season. I’ve put together a pretty aggressive program for myself this season that will net about 700+ hours of training time. Like last season, my Bro’s in the expert class were kind enough to paste a big ole’ target on my bike with a bulls eye that says ‘kick me in the arse’. And again, like last season, a lot of guys are steppin’ up their game. A lot of cats are working with coaches and I am totally stoked about it. Everybody’s getting faster, myself included, and I’m looking forward to some killer competition this season.
While I’m on the subject of coaching, I’m giving very strong consideration to getting into the coaching biz myself for next season. I don’t have much in the way of details right now, it will be mountain biking specific and will include coaching in all aspects of mountain biking. There are already plenty of coaches for roadies and tri-geeks and pretty much none that can do a thorough job for mountain bike racers. My involvement in coaching will depend on a few factors. For this season I’ve taken on one ‘client’ on a trial basis. My future involvement in coaching will depend heavily on how this works out. If we are both satisfied with his results, that will go a long way in my decision. So who is this masked man you might ask? That’s for me to know and you to find out. You’ll probably figure it out at his first race ‘cause he’ll be the man that kicks y’all in the arse! He’s flyin’ right now and he’s only 10 weeks into his program.
I officially started my training in earnest back in mid January and my first race of the season was last Saturday. Only 9 weeks of training… That’s a little too soon for me, I only had one LT session under my belt so I felt that my racing fitness was still a few weeks away. I did a couple of fitness tests, one at about mid January and the other a couple of weeks ago. My last test indicated that my form was coming along nicely and that I would probably be OK for the first throwdown of the season.
The race was the first of the Psycowpath series and was at a venue that was new to me, Tranquility Park in Omaha, NE. It seemed that everybody else had ridden the course several times because they had a race there last season. So I did a good hour long pre-ride and hit a couple of the technical sections of the course several times at speed to get them dialed in. The course basically consisted of a nice mix of tight, twisty, technical singletrack, some open sections where you could open the legs up and drop the hammer, and a few climbs. All in all a pretty sweet course.
The race started and my plan was to get into the singeltrack second or third wheel, to let somebody who was a little more familiar with the course lead the way. It’s early in the season and I had no idea where my fitness was compared to everybody else. The last thing that I wanted to do was blow my wad early in the race. I got into the singletrack in second behind Shimonek. There were about 8 of us that broke away from the rest of the field early on. I think Steve Jarret was behind me followed by WWJ.
I had no trouble at all following Shim throughout the first half of the lap, so when we got to the top of the second hill I passed him and turned the screws a little tighter. I looked back on the way down the hill and saw that I was immediately able to establish a small gap. So I put my head down and applied a little more pressure. We got to the bottom of the hill and hit a gravel road that transitioned us to the next section of singletrack. I looked back once I hit the gravel road and noticed that I had pretty much splintered the rest of the group. Shim was close enough to me that I could see his tongue hangin’ out of his mouth. He was trying to close the gap on me so I dropped it down a cog and punched it. I looked back and saw that I had almost doubled the gap on him.
I crossed the start/finish in first after the first of five laps with about a 30 second gap. I looked back as I looped around the expo area and noticed that about five guys had regrouped. I figured they were probably going to work together and try to reel me back in, so I turned the screws a little tighter. By the end of the second lap I couldn’t see anybody behind me through the expo area, so I knew that I had increased my gap. I was feelin’ good so I kept the pressure on.
By the end of lap four, I was lapping some of the slower experts and I couldn’t tell who was where behind me. So I figured that my gap was pretty good and I cruised into the finish in first. WWJ ended up in 2nd about 2:30 behind, followed by Matt Landen a little over 3 mintues back. Shim came in 4th about 5 minutes back. The official race report and results can be found at: http://www.nebraskacyclingnews.com
A couple of things surprised me, my fitness and how good I felt with the effort after just two months of solid base training. My average HR was around 173 which is good considering I’ve spent little to no time in the 170’s during training this season. The second surprise… WWJ. The man rode a strong race and had his best finish ever in a Psycowpath race. Congrats dude, you’re going to have a good season if you can keep yourself from destroying various key components on your bike during a race.
I put the Mongoose into semi-retirement and rode a 2004, Specialized S-Works M5 hardtail this time around. It’s lookin’ like this will be my stead of choice for the season. It’s super light, about 1 ½ lbs lighter than the ‘goose. She weighs in at a scant 20.5 lbs and has the same feel as the ‘goose. So the transition has not been a problem. A huge thanks goes out to my old man for giving me the bike. I love hand me downs!
My goals for the season were to repeat as the IMBCS champion and bag 2 or 3 wins in the 3 marathon races over in Nebraska. I had also planned to do the first couple of Psycowpath series races. If I do well in the first couple of races and feel that I’ve got a good shot at their series overall, then I’d try to do all the Psycowpath races as well. The first race went well, so we’ll see how the next one goes. My schedule is pretty full this season, racin’ almost every weekend somewhere.
The IMBCS will be my first priority for the season. I, along with the IORCA posse, have put a lot of work into getting the series ready for 2006 and I intend to continue the effort, both on and off the bike.

See you all at IMBCS #1, Sylvan Island this Sunday, April 9.

Cosmo

2006 Throwdown

Today is the first throwdown of the season over in Omaha, Tranquility Park. Never been there and I've heard a mixed bag of comments about the course. We'll see how it goes. I'm feelin' good and ready to put myself back into the hurt box. I'll most likely use my 2004 S-Works M5 hardtail as my steed of choice, bringin' the Mongoose as a back up.
So now it's time to hit the road. I'll do a post race write up, hopefully this weekend.

Over and out,

Cosmo

USCF Application

Rasmussen bike shop has officially applied for its 2006 USCF license on February 2nd 2006.
Sterling

Interesting Cross Training

Can any of you roller fools do this?? I road the UNI to the CITA meeting last night, and now my sack hurts. That sucks. Going out tonight if anyone wants to join in an Urban ride. It will be nice and easy I'm looking for an interesting route for an Alley Cat Race.

Peace
Squirrel

Another new cyclist is a come'n

Teri is 9 weeks pregnant with a baby squirrel, how cool is that. I wonder what you feed it??

Peace
Squirrel

A New Look

So... the people who visit our blog regularly are the first to see how our new shop website is working! (if this page looks the same as it always has your cookies might being doing something wacky... just hit the refresh button).

With help from Jeff Kerkove and the easy-to-use Blogger we've built a spiderweb of blogs that work like a website. This will allow us update, upkeep, and striaght up outplay. Take a look around, let us know what you think, just have her home by 11!

DQ

Tattoo

This would be a nice piece for my left forearm:)








Peace
Squirrel

Blow Out:)

Doing my squat workout yesterday at work and on my first rep. I blew the ass clean out of my pants:) Good thing I was wear'n me skivvies. Top seam to the back of my knee, all I could do was finish my sets and laugh. Enter Duck tape the fix all, taped em up and finished what was left of my half day. Then I went to the Center for a lap and half, just to beat me legs up a little bit more, I should have hit the climber for 30min. once I got home but didn't. Man I'm bored to death and wanting a new tattoo.


Peace
Squirrel

"FLOW" says it all

The Surly boy's know what its about, do you?


"You hear a lot about flow if you spend much time in the cycling world, particularly offroad cycling. Flow is about looking ahead, preparing for obstacles (physical or mental), using your momentum to best advantage (the more you brake the more effort you must spend getting up to speed again), staying calm and loose, and most of all learning how to ride better with less effort. Flow speaks to a higher awareness of your connection to the machine and the trail, and the more you know about flow, the better your riding will be, regardless of what or where you ride. Flow isn't about the frame or components. Flow is knowing how to read what the ground and your bike are writing. A person with good flow riding a crappy bike can generally kick the ass of a person on a techy new bike who has not yet unlocked the secrets of Flow. Flow makes one Li Mu Bai, master of the Wudan, where before they were Chuck Norris, Texas Ranger. Or maybe flow makes one Betty Crocker where before they were merely Lil Debbie.
I have a theory that all of life's answers can be found in rock lyrics, so I submit for your consideration this sage advice from 70s rock philosophers .38 Special:
Hold on loosely, but don't let go. If you cling too tightly you're gonna lose control.
Probably best if I leave it at that."


Peace
Squirrel

Yard Jump'n

From the top





Bottom of landing



I wonder if I could complete a back flip and stick the landing.?.??.... I bet Super Cam could:)





Peace
Squirrel

Cam Kirkpatrick Facts

Top Ten Cam Kirkpatrick Facts

1. Cam Kirkpatrick' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried. Ever.

2. Cam Kirkpatrick does not sleep. He waits.

3. Cam Kirkpatrick is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.

4. The chief export of Cam Kirkpatrick is pain.

5. If you can see Cam Kirkpatrick, he can see you. If you can't see Cam Kirkpatrick, you may be only seconds away from death.

6. Cam Kirkpatrick has counted to infinity. Twice.

7. Cam Kirkpatrick does not hunt because the word hunting implies the probability of failure. Cam Kirkpatrick goes killing.

8. Cam Kirkpatrick doesn’t wash his clothes, he disembowels them.

9. Cam Kirkpatrick is 1/8th Cherokee. This has nothing to do with ancestry, the man ate an Indian.

10. In fine print on the last page of the Guinness Book of World Records it notes that all world records are held by Cam Kirkpatrick, and those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone else has ever gotten.

Additional Cam Kirkpatrick Facts

• Crop circles are Cam Kirkpatrick' way of telling the world that sometimes corn needs to lie the f### down.

• Cam Kirkpatrick is ten feet tall, weighs two-tons, breathes fire, and could eat a hammer and take a shotgun blast standing.

• The Great Wall of China was originally created to keep Cam Kirkpatrick out. It failed miserably.

• Cam Kirkpatrick always knows the EXACT location of Carmen SanDiego.

• If you ask Cam Kirkpatrick what time it is, he always says, "Two seconds 'til." After you ask, "Two seconds 'til what?" he farts in your face.

• Cam Kirkpatrick drives an ice cream truck covered in human skulls.

• When Cam Kirkpatrick sends in his taxes, he sends blank forms and includes only a picture of himself, crouched and ready to attack. Cam Kirkpatrick has not had to pay taxes, ever.

• Who let the dogs out? Cam Kirkpatrick let the dogs out... and then farted on them.

• Cam Kirkpatrick invented Kentucky Fried Chicken's famous secret recipe, with eleven herbs and spices. But nobody ever mentions the twelfth ingredient: Fear.

• Cam Kirkpatrick can win a game of Connect Four in only three moves.

• There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures Cam Kirkpatrick allows to live.

• Cam Kirkpatrick once ate three 72 oz. steaks in one hour. He spent the first 45 minutes having sex with his waitress.

• In a fight between Batman and Darth Vader, the winner would be Cam Kirkpatrick.

• Cam Kirkpatrick is the only man to ever defeat a brick wall in a game of tennis.

• Police label anyone smelling Cam Kirkpatrick’s farts as a Code 45-11.... a suicide.

• Cam Kirkpatrick doesn't churn butter. He roundhouse farts near the cows and the butter comes straight out.

• The quickest way to a man's heart is with Cam Kirkpatrick' fist.

• A Handicapped parking sign does not signify that this spot is for handicapped people. It is actually in fact a warning, that the spot belongs to Cam Kirkpatrick and that you will be handicapped if you park there.

• Cam Kirkpatrick will attain statehood in 2009. His state flower will be the Magnolia.

• Nagasaki never had a bomb dropped on it. Cam Kirkpatrick jumped out of a plane and punched the ground.

• Fool me once, shame on you. Fool Cam Kirkpatrick once and he will mess you up.

• The opening scene of the movie "Saving Private Ryan" is loosely based on games of dodgeball Cam Kirkpatrick played in second grade.

• Cam Kirkpatrick once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger, by yelling, "Bang!"

• Cam Kirkpatrick once bet NASA he could survive re-entry without a spacesuit. On July 19th, 1999, a naked Cam Kirkpatrick re-entered the earth's atmosphere, streaking over 14 states and reaching a temperature of 3000 degrees. An embarrassed NASA publicly claimed it was a meteor, and still owes him a beer.

• Cam Kirkpatrick has two speeds: Walk and Kill.

• Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy, it is a Camtatorship.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is based on a true story: Cam Kirkpatrick once swallowed a turtle whole, and when he crapped it out, the turtle was six feet tall and had learned karate.

• Simply by pulling on both ends, Cam Kirkpatrick can stretch diamonds back into coal.

• Cam Kirkpatrick is not hung like a horse... horses are hung like Cam Kirkpatrick.

• Faster than a speeding bullet ... more powerful than a locomotive ... able to leap tall buildings in a single bound... yes, these are some of Cam Kirkpatrick's warm-up exercises.

• Cam Kirkpatrick is the only human being to display the Heisenberg uncertainty principle -- you can never know both exactly where and how quickly he will roundhouse-kick you in the face.

• Cam Kirkpatrick can drink an entire gallon of milk in forty-seven seconds.

• In the Bible, Jesus turned water into wine. But then Cam Kirkpatrick turned that wine into beer.

• Time waits for no man. Unless that man is Cam Kirkpatrick.

• Cam Kirkpatrick discovered a new theory of relativity involving multiple universes in which Cam Kirkpatrick is even more badass than in this one. When it was discovered by Albert Einstein and made public, Cam Kirkpatrick farted in Einstein's face. We know Albert Einstein today as Stephen Hawking.

• In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Cam Kirkpatrick could use to kill you, including the room itself.

• Cam Kirkpatrick does not teabag the ladies. He potato sacks them.

Weekend Fun

What a weekend 50's both days, perfect for riding your ass off. Friday afternoon I spent cutting wood for the Mayhem ride/feed on Sat. After loading the wood onto the trailer I fired up the ol' antique snapper to pull it up into the backyard. Once up there I started to think man that would make and excellent jump, so I grabbed the planks and built a 5ft. jump with an almost perfect roller landing. The jump was fun although I couldn't get anyone else to hit it.

Riding to the Vaud. on Sat. was Teri,Sammy and I pretty non eventfull just a slow putt-putt. I'd say around 30 patrons where in attendece. The first short film "One Got Fat" was totally hilarious, but could possibly scare a youngster from riding his/her bike. I missed the title of the 2nd short film but it too was funny and had everyone in the room laughing. Teri and I have seen the Triplets, so we only stayed until a little after 3pm so we could enjoy the rest of the warm afternoon before the Mayhem ride.

Mayhem ride went good with just Ryan, Sammy and I actually riding. Denmans was in good condition in the moonlight. None of us had lights and we didn't need them with the moon directly above the trail lighting our way. We came out of the woods with big smiles, like three little kids playing hide and seek around the neighborhood at night. Back at the house Teri had started to cut some of the ingredients for the Paella, and kept the fire roaring till us monkeys got back. Once back at the house a few dark beers where opened, then the Paella cooking started. Heather,Jamie, Chris, and Darcey showed up shortly after. Then Lou and Jan stopped by before going to dinner to say hello. We were up till after midnight planning our take over of the world.

Sunday morning (7am) I was meeting Pistol Pete and Lou at Starbucks for b-fast and coffee. After that we headed to Zanzibar to meet the rest of the group. After more coffee we decide that it was just the 4 of us Lou,Andy,Petey, and I. So we start to gather our stuff and in walks Hanser, booze dripping from his forehead as if he was out all night party'n. Now we're off, the day was going to be a gravel grinder but we opted for urban instead with our small group. We headed up Ingersol heading to the Center for some dirt, upon arriving we find that the trail is going to be a little muddy so we bail out at Valley dr. and take the Rabbit trail to Water Works. As we are heading toward downtown I say lets go and hit the wall ride by the little leage diamonds off of Bell ave.

The walls are around 4.5 feet tall a foot wide and 75 yrds. long. The first one has a sharp turn in it about 20feet short of the end. I think Petey and Andy made this one, with Lou and Ryan not attempting. Second wall is pretty much a straight shot, I wish I would have had the camera, cause when I finished I turned and the whole pack was on the wall, would have made a great shot. Petey and Andy cleaned it with Lou wheelie dropping off around the half way mark, so that leaves Ryan, he's past the half way point. At this time I wanted to say something but didn't thinking I would f___ him up, as soon as that thought went through my head Ryan's front tire falls off the wall with Ryan following. HUMAN YARD DART HAS LANDED:) Holy shit I thought he'd broken his collarbone, but he didn't all was good with little pain. After this we tooled around DT, over by Targhetto, the Beaverdale area then we broke for the day. All in all 30 miles of fun. Good Day:)


Peace
Squirrel

Sat. ride/ Full Moon Mayhem (feed)

Sammy likes a little "Squirrel" with his Paella

Sammy's Paella open fire style:)





Yo mates here’s the smack down for this Sat.

Meet at Rassy's place around 1:15pm to head to the Vaudeville Mews for the movie “The Triplets of Belleville”. Hang out, down a few pints, roll out and tear it up in an Urban Assault on downtown for awhile. Then we’ll me at my place 1208 Walnut St.WDM (time to be determined at the Vaud) to head out for the Full Moon Mayhem ride thru Denmans(no lights if a clear night). Once this is under our belts we’ll shoot back the short distance (6min.) to my place for Sammy’s world renowned Paella meal cooked over an open fire in my backyard. Call (please) me or just show up (if your the procrastinating type)490-6239.

Today's cyclists don't know what tough is. :) Quoting

Read this and this. Now that is hardcore folks. May he rest in peace.

Peace
Squirrel

MTBR Passion post

I surf MTBR every morning like some folks pray every day. Read this
My favorite reply below, and if you hold a group ride don't leave anyone behind:)



Cyclists are the biggest sandbaggers and secret trainers around. They'll say anything to soften you up for the kill. Don't let this happen to you. Study this handy rider's phrasebook to find out what they really mean when they say:

"I'm out of shape."
Translation: I ride 400 miles a week and haven't missed a day since the Ford administration. I replace my 11-tooth cog more often than you wash your shorts. My body fat percentage is lower than your mortgage rate.

"I'm not into competition. I'm just riding to stay in shape."
Translation: I will attack until you collapse in the gutter, babbling and whimpering. I will win the sprint if I have to force you into a pine tree. I will crest this hill first if I have to grab your seat post, and spray energy drink in your eyes.

"I'm on my beater bike."
Translation: I had this baby custom-made in Tuscany using Titanium blessed by the Pope. I took it to a wind tunnel and it disappeared. It weighs less than a fart and costs more than a divorce.

"It's not that hilly."
Translation: This climb lasts longer than a presidential campaign. Be careful on the steep sections or you'll fall over -- backward. You have a 39x23 low gear? Here's the name of my knee surgeon.

"This is a no-drop ride."
Translation: I'll need an article of your clothing for the search-and-rescue dogs.

"It's not that far."
Translation: Bring your passport.


Peace
Squirrel

Testing a new light

This year I finally decided to retire my old Marwi Night Pro Expert (9yrs old)to a back-up light. The new rig I'm testing is a Cygolite. I've had this light for around 2 weeks, been out with it 3 times on one charge with a total burn time of just under 5hrs. so far. Not bad eghy:)


Features:

*Hi-Output Solid State emitter
*Equivalent to 10 watt halogen
*Rechargeable NiMH water bottle battery
*Hi / Low light output settings
*SSR optics (Solid State reflection) for maximum brightness
*Super long runtimes of 6 hours and up
*Detachable Wideview lens
*Remote thumbswitch
*Headlight swivel for better road coverage


I still haven't had this thing long enough for an honest opinion/review, but as of right now it's kick'n ass or I mean kick'n darkness. I really like the bright white light it puts off compared to the blue or yellow of other lights I have. I've yet to detach the wideview lens, weight it, or make sure it goes past the 6hr. mark in a full ride. Although I'm sure it will. The low beam is just that... very low, just enough that a car or person could see you. Thats all for now, I think I'll go and ride my Uni around the shop for awhile.


Today's workout:
lift legs.
ride home from work around 28 to 30 miles depending on route.
go home and wait for tomorrows pain:)

Peace
Squirrel

Urbana goodness

Hanser working on his skillz.
6 of us (Sammy, Ryan, Bake, Jeff, Jacob and myself) showed up at Rassy's for a very warm ride Sat. afternoon. Woodland Cemetary was the first stop, Hanser has this great idea of a "Fat
Tire Crit" though it. Short, twisty, brick climbs with some fun and fast downhill twisty decents. It does sound fun. From here we ventured into the Sherman Hill area for some climbing, up then down, up then down. What fun:) Then we found a perfect skinny for the novice riders to get on and ride. Its a full block long, 10inches off the ground and around a foot wide. PERFECT. We preceeded to jump off, ride down, or on everything we wanted too. Ended up on 4th street at the Royal Mile for a couple after ride pints, too talk about how we're taking over Iowa with TTF's (technical trial features) and Single track. Upon leaving the Mile, Sammy and Hanser ended up in a pile right infront of everybody on 4th and Court. Totaly helarious. You have to watch out for Sammy after he's had a couple I guess. What a perfect day.

Peace
Squirrel

Training Log

This year I plan on using a training log on a daily basis, something I haven't tried before. I wanted something that I could use on the computer, was pretty detailed, could graph, and was relitively cheap. After searching a few different sites here is what I found and will be using this year http://www.racingbuddy.com/ . This is much better than trying to read my chicken scratches in a notebook:)

Peace
Squirrel

Urban ride/ Ouachita Challenge

Last night Jacob Naumann and I hit up the urban inner city paved system for some light miles. The night was perfect as the temp was a sweet 37 degrees on our departure. I just couldn't believe it was just us two, although alot of our riding mates are on/in different phases of their training so I'm sure most were on the DEVIL OF THE INDOORS. We saw a few peeps other than that the city was ours. 1.5 hrs of light spinning + good temps= 2lbs off my ass. I've dropped 7lbs since the 1st and have 8 or 9 to go to get back to race weight for the Ouachita. Ride On!

Speaking of the Ouachita Challenge there were 64 spots left in the race as of yesterday and today it's full........ of Iowans:) Thats right 12 of us ( Brian Abbott, Pete Basso , Lance Chase, Dennis Grelk, Jeff Kerkove, Sammy Lopez, Andy Lueck, Matt McCutchen, Jacob Naumann, Todd Cully, Matt Yerke, Brian Pottorff) corn fed cycling freaks are heading to Arkansas:) SWEET:) Someone is looking to score $5oo paper backs for breaking the course record of 4:39:00. Good Luck.

Peace
Squirrel

FAT CHAMP!! Happy New Year

After 3 months off the bike I've managed to grab the "Fat Champ" title. Thank you, thank you. Now 15 lbs heavier I suspose I should get off my ass and do something about it. I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe eve of getting wasted for the last time in 2005. Time to go log some miles:)

Peace
Squirrel

Hangin' with tPod, the Grand Master and the Jedi Master by Cam Kirkpatrick

So here it is, the middle of my pizza/hamburger/French fry/beer season. I haven’t had a hamburger, pizza or French fries in a few weeks. I think I had a beer last weekend. My normally healthy eating habits seem to have taken over. Does this mean that the rest of me is ready to get back into the ‘routine’? I don’t think so. Most of my cycling posse have already started on next years training programs and I’m still a couple of weeks away from even thinking about doing anything that resembles a structured plan. Physical activities have pretty much consisted of riding once or twice a week and hitting the weight room three times a week.
The down time has been nice, but it’s always a challenge trying to figure out productive ways to occupy the time that was normally spent in the saddle. So here’s what I’ve been up to for the past month or so.
The IMBCS (Iowa Mountain Biking Championship Series). I’ve been dumping a ton of time into the series this fall/winter. I’m working on some spreadsheets that will enable me to track points much more efficiently and they are almost done, woohoo! I’ve also been encouraging all of the race directors to give us their race dates for next years races as soons as possible. The goal is for Thad and I to have next years schedule put together and out for public record by the end of the year. We have a few dates set but I don’t want to disclose anything until we get all of the dates finalized. Our hope is to avoid any conflicts with some of the more important road events and also the Nebraska State Mountain Biking Series (Psycowpath). I’ve also been working with Grand Master Lou in getting a stand alone website for IORCA / IMBCS put together.
I can tell you that we will have one new cross country race this season that is being hosted by Amanda Miller at Geode State Park (about 90 minutes south of Iowa City). I’ve ridden there before, maybe four or five years ago. All that I remember of it is that it was flat, fast, I had an altercation with a tree that resulted in my grown getting slammed into my stem, and maybe there was a lake there. It kind of had a Peterson Pits feel to it. It should be a great event and I’m looking forward to it.
There is also a really good chance of there being two stage races in the 2006 edition of the IMBCS. In addition to the stage race that will be held at Seven Oaks, Andy Lueck has also decided to try a stage race down at Sockum Ridge, the same place that I saw that one-eyed farmer who told me he saw a bear or a lion in them thar woods…. Actually, I don’t remember what kind of an animal it was that he saw. I do remember that I was more afraid of him than any animal he may have seen. There are a lot of trails there that were not a part of last seasons cross country race, so it should be a pretty sweet event. We plan to score the stage race events a little differently next season. If you participate in both days of the stage event, you will earn double points for the weekend. If you choose to just do the cross country event on Sunday, then you will only score points for one event.
Eating. I’ve probably had a hamburger and French fries more times in the past couple of months than I’ve had the past five years combined. We’re not talking about the McDonalds / Burger King crap where the ‘beef’ comes from some stray dog that was found in the back alley. I’m talking about a real burger from a real cow and French fries that come from real potatoes. I’ve also probably consumed more beer and wine than I have in the past five years as well. Not to the point where my lips turn purple as Grand Master Lou is well known for after downing a few bottles of the Seven Deadly Zins. I can’t drink that much anymore, just the smell of wine or beer gets my head buzzin’. The beautiful thing about all of this debauchery is that I’ve only gained about seven pounds. Sweet.
Training… Maybe the term ‘exercising’ might be a little more appropriate. I’ve only been riding once or twice a week for the past month or so. Lately it’s been too crappy and cold out for night rides. I usually cut out of work around 11 on Fridays, so I’ll hook up with Grand Master Lou, Petey, tPod and Jedi Master Gammel and we’ll hit the Science Center for about 90 minutes. My only focus during these rides is working on bike handling skills, with no concern about effort or fitness. This is especially good when there is snow or ice on the trail. I also think it is important to spend a little time off of the bike during the off season. Being a weekend warrior helps to recharge my mental batteries. It’s been pretty easy to maintain a little fitness doing other forms of exercise such as the stair hamster, eating and thinking about bike racing.
Training plan. I've been a self coached cyclist from day one and it has definitely been a learning experience. I've been very fortunate in that I’ve made fairly substantial improvements every year. So my plan for next season is to do better than last season. I’ll do basically the same thing that I did last season with a few minor tweaks here and there. I did very little LT training last season, mainly because I chose to spend more time working on my bike handling skills. So I’ll try to incorporate a little more LT training in for next season.
I’ve also spent the past two months in the weight room. The first couple of weeks basically consisted of lifting embarrassingly light weights with high repetitions. If you’re a dude and your main objective in going to the gym is to impress female(s), I would recommend doing this phase elsewhere. I’ll spend the next month or so doing what I call muscular strength workouts. The main objective with MS workouts is gain strength in certain key muscle groups, including legs and certain upper body groups that are needed to ‘throw the bike around’. I’m also doing a lot of core exercises, which I do throughout the year.
I’ve also hooked up with a new road team with the intent on doing a few road races next season. The team is called ‘Midwest Speed Merchants’ and is run by triathlon badass JJ Bailey. My primary focus will still be on the dirt and I’ll fit in road events during the off weekends. The team consists of JJ, Ralph Henderson, myself, Tony Nichols (tPod), Kim West (the mostly reverend), Garrett Davis, Nathan Bartels and Collier Schofield (southern fried Collier). Five of us are cat 3’s and my primary responsibility will be to work my arse off for my teammates and help deliver wins. I chose to join this team because I like what JJ’s goals are, it’s a really good fit for me. JJ is launching a coaching business and he and I have very similar philosophies and ideas when it comes to training and racing. I would also like to get to the point where I can upgrade to a cat 2 by early summer, we’ll see how it goes. It’s looking like there will be quite a few early season mountain bike races so it may be difficult to squeeze in enough road events to qualify.
As I’ve mentioned in previous entries, I’ve had an incredible season. I collected 10 wins in the IMBCS and 2 wins in the Psycowpath series, I also won a couple of cat 3 races last spring. Some of my more memorable moments from last season would probably be repeating as IMBCS champion, that’s always a good thing. I think two of my biggest moments were getting my first overall win in the Nebraska series. That was a pretty huge breakthrough for me and gave me a ton of confidence for the remainder of the season. Winning my second Nebraska series race was just as big because it was also the Nebraska NORBA state championship race. I also have to mention my training camp in Colorado. The riding in Durango is absolutely incredible. I also had a great time riding with Fig Nooner in Aspen for a few days. Colorado is always one of the highlights for every season.
There a few people that played a pretty significant role in my success. Firstly, my Mom and Dad were huge. They both show an incredible amount of enthusiasm for what I do. My Mom lives in the Quad Cities and usually attends a couple of my races every year. When you consider that she has her own ambitions with running road races, marathons included, almost every weekend, it means a lot to me that she takes time from her busy schedule to come and watch. My Dad lives in Texas and would come to every race if he could. He also does a lot of riding including mountain biking. I usually have two training camps every season, one in Durango and the other in Texas. He’s there for both and provides an enormous amount of support. I also get all of his hand-me-downs, including my new hard tail race rig for next season, 2003 Specialized S-Works M5. I call him the schwag man, but he also goes by ‘Plumber’ and ‘the old man’.
Rasmussen Bike Shop. I can’t say enough about all that Greg Rasmussen, Sterling Heise and the Rassy crew do for me. I started racing back in 1999 and spent my first five years racing on a team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Just about all of my races were in Wisconsin and Rassy’s still took good care of me despite all of that. This season was my first season as an actual member of the team and it is by far the best team that I’ve ever been on. I truly wish that I would have joined sooner. There have been a number of times when they would go well out of there way to help out when I needed something. There is no way that I can possibly put into words how much I appreciate every thing that Greg and Sterling do for me. In addition to all of that, it’s simply a great place to just hang out. It’s not unusual for me to spend an hour or two there, shootin’ the breeze, playing cribbage, tinkering with my bikes or trying to provoke Terry to play his strawivari (if you don’t know what this is, ask him).
Oakley. Rob Versteegh, the local Oakley rep has given me some great deals on Oakley gear. They have the best eyewhere, hands down. I race with the Half Jacket Array glasses and have never had a problem with them.
Last spring Diamondback gave me their 2005 full suspension race frame, rear shock included, free of charge. It took me the better part of the summer to get it put together and the remainder of the summer to get used to it. I did the 24 hour race at Seven Oaks on it and my back thanked me for it. I raced mostly on my Mongoose because it is about 5 ½ pounds lighter. I could loose or gain 5 pounds on any given day depending on how much I eat and/or purge. The more that I ride the Diamondback, the more I like it. I feel very comfortable on it now and really don’t think the added weight is that much of a disadvantage.
My big goals for next season are to repeat as IMBCS champion and also to win the overall for the Psycowpath series. My bikes of choice will be the aforementioned 2003 S-Works for my hardtail. Fully assembled, she weighs in at a scant 21.0 pounds, compared to the weight of the Mongoose at 22.5 pounds. I’m not completely sure what I’m doing for a duelie yet. I plan to either lighten up the Diamondback or acquire a brand new rig by ‘other means’. I’ll let you know more about my ‘other means’ when I know more. I put together a race resume and it might pay off for me.
I’m really stoked about next season, there should be quite a few cats that will upgrade from sport to expert. So the size of the expert field will be a little larger, that’s always a good thing. I honestly hope that a few dudes can step up their game, I love close competition. Winning is fun, whether it be by 17 minutes or 1 second. Both are very satisfying, but it’s tough to beat the adrenaline rush that I get in a closely fought battle.
So that’s a brief rundown of what’s been goin’ down in my world. As I write this, I’m sitting in the back seat of my parents car and were flying down I-80 at about 92 mph on the way to Christmas with both of my sisters in Denver, CO. It’s about time to stop for some grub so I’m outta here.

Thanks for reading,

Cosmo

Another Trip Around the Sun? Done.

So I’m sitting here thinking that I wanted to snail-mail out a Holiday Newsletter telling all my friends and family what I’ve done over the past year, maybe include a nice picture of me from some occasion I thought memorable. Then I thought to myself, “I’m way too lazy to do something like that and I can’t afford to take time away from building an award-winning, gingerbread nativity scene.” (Putting the Reeses Pieces eyes on baby Jesus takes, like, forever) So instead, I’m posting something on the blog. Yep… you can’t get more lame than an annual Wuzzzup-Blog-Posting now can you? No you can’t.

But there is an inherent problem in writing any on the WWW; there is no way to show emotion of any kind. Right now I could be loving or sarcastic, I could be joyous, I might be watching a Tim Allen movie, or I could have a fork shoved into my eye socket… you don’t know. And that is because the World Wide Web is a cold, emotionless, dispassionate, poker-faced tool of communication that can never be trusted. And I've never trusted the Web. I've always seen it as a coward's tool. Where does the Web live? How do you hold it personally responsible? Can you put a distributed network of fiber-optic cable "on notice"? And is it male or female? In other words, can I challenge it to a fight?

These troublesome questions have plagued the Internet since its inception, to say nothing of all the phreakers using their 28.8-baud modems to hack the Pentagon with their Prodigy accounts. Bah-humbug.

So, why even bother with a personalized e-newsletter? Really I’m not sure. And where is all this going? I’m even less sure. But as a constantly persecuted minority in this nation (white, male, Christian… can’t a brother get a break pa-leeez!) what I do know is that I’m a giver. I’m not the guy to talk about me-me-me at the end of every year. I’m humble. I’m modest and I promise to give 110% to this e-newsletter. I do it for the fans and no one is more prepared to write this than me. I’ve been training, watching videos and studying tactics to lead this e-newsletter writing team to victory! And there is no I in team people… unless you’re speaking Spanish; equipo! But then “I” would be “yo” and it still wouldn’t work. Darned semantics.

Anyway, what I’m trying to convey here is that I had a pretty good year. And by “good” I mean “outstanding”! Minus a couple chunks of “awesome” and sprinkle on a pinch “rockin”. Now that is one mighty fine annual-fruit-loaf. I started the year in January and decided to mix things up with a short-monthed February. March and April blew but May was totally metal. June was not what I was expecting at all and because of it I overslept through July but felt perky for the late night festivities in August. September was a drop in the bucket to all the different events titled October-fest. And November never felt so Novembery. December is what it is and that brings me to today. One more full trip around the sun, a couple of crow’s feet around the eyes, a few more grey hairs, and one step closer to having removable teeth.

Wishing you all smiles and an awesome 2006!

DQ

And be sure to hit the title link on this post. Fuh-knee!

Special Holiday Wish for Andy

Happy Holidays Andy Laeiouk!

Happy Holidays!

This holiday season we'd like to send out our blessings and good wishes to you and your family! Stay safe in your holiday travels and we hope all your Christamas and New Year's wishes come true!

Your family at Rasmussen Bike Shop!

Greg Rasmussen
Sterling Heise
Terry Nelson
Donny Quixote
Matt Buchanan
Andy Leuck

Can You Read This?

Can you read this?

Olny srmat poelpe can.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rsaeerch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

If you can raed tihs psas it on !!

Science Center MTB RIdes

Science Center MTB rides for this weekend:

Friday - 1
Saturday - Noon
Sunday - Noon

All rides will meet at Rasmussen Bike Shop. The pace will be whatever
you want it to be. If you ride with Pete or Grand Master Lou, you will
go fast. If you ride with me, you will go slow. Anybody is welcome.

Hope to see you there,

Cam

Science Center MTB Ride

I'm planning to ride the Science Center at 1 this Friday, snow or shine. I don't plan to make it into a hammer fest, however I can't be held accountable when Grand Master Lou and Petey Basso decide to lock horns in a battle of testosterone.I also plan to hit the Center on Saturday and Sunday at 10, hopefully before it gets warm enough to turn the snow into peanut butter.Plan to meet at Rassmussen Bike Shop for all three rides. Anybody is welcome to join in.Hope to see you there!

Cam

Pics.

Sunday mornings Rassy Crew. The Pug. truely goes anywhere.

Wild Bill cutting some after ride cookies.

Snow biking bliss.

Its all about the trees baby.

Ski Biking = BIG SMILES:)

A little cross up for ya'll. Going X Games kiddies.

Hanser tearing up the hill.

Need a lift.

Hey dude that's a cool sled you have there, can I ride it?

Peace

Squirrel

Sunday's Epic Adventures

Sunday morning at 8am Master Lou, Pistol Pete, Jacob N, Bill Fanter, Jason Alread, Sterling, Teri, and I all showed up at Targhetto for a 5 degree ride. While we were waiting for Sterling to show up Lou passed around the bottle of Bailey's Irish cream. MMMM. The trail was in normal snowy conditions with ATV tracks for us to all ride on. Once we got to the frontage rd. by the sandbar we all decided for a photo opp on top of the soon to be burnt out blazer. Totally funny, it even already had bullet holes in it. From here it was all fun to the brickyard, but the frontage rd. after the B.Y. pretty much sucked. So we all opted for the quickest route out which was up onto Lower Beaver. Once this decision was made I started to go back to tell Teri the plan, and on my way to her I cased it, right over the handlebars. I think everyone got to see this crash. Getting up to Beaver was a total ass kicking, snow plowing butt kicker, the snow had to be 7" deep. Once to Beaver it was back to the parking lot. Bill F and I were riding the sidewalks back, jumping the plowed snow, shooting through parking lots, cutting through where grass once laid green and it was here that I ate shiat again. I go over the handlebars, but this time I had some speed and pretty much adjusted my neck and back all at the same time. Master Lou on the other side of the street had a good laugh at my expence. We all get back to the parking lot and its time for all to get in our cars and head out, but not before doing many sideways donuts in the unplowed Targhetto parking lot. Whooooo hooo kiddies. Before leaving some of us decided it would be good to go and get some joe at Grounds for Masterbations (Celebrations). Upon arriving Bill has this "briliant" idea of no coffee a Guiness sounds better, its not even 10am folks. So to AK's it is. Teri,Jacob,Bill and I have some beer(s), while Master Lou throws down a couple pots of coffee. Shortly sometime after 11:30 we all head our seperate ways. Teri and I head over to Wild Bills house to check out some furniture and a bike he is willing to just give away. After hanging for awhile its off our house to load up the ski bike for is inagural flight. I head over to Hansers house sometime after 2pm to pick him up and go to South Woods Park for some downhill adventers. Upon this arrival we are getting some interesting looks at our perferred sledding device. But once we shoot down the hill a few times everyone wants to ride. Ski bike = GOOD FUN. The ski bike is a great time we just need bigger hills and some jumps, oh and more ski bikes:) I will have pics. up soon, the blog isn't letting me load them this morning.

Peace
Squirrel

Ski bike done

Finished the ski bike this afternoon, will be testing and taking some pics. tomorrow sometime. If you want in on the test ride call me. 490-6239

Peace

Squirrel

Ski bike build (part two)

$23 bucks of material and its off to the shop to get the build going for the ski mounts.

At this particular shop its always wise to get yourself a soda pop.

Get'n my weld on, don't look directly at the light its bad for you eye's.

Cutting material......kinda like a badass sparkler:)

A work in progress.

Damn that looks good:)

Almost finished mounts, have to hit the wire brush/grinder and then paint. Next the skis need to be cut and mounted, on the next episode of I'm a bike geek. Damn that was alot of work I'm thirsty:)

Peace

Squirrel

Bike Snow Plow

Check out the sweetest snow plow. We're looking for anyone who has the time and energy to build one of these.... we'll toss 'em a dandy gift card to the shop to help with their holiday spending!

Bike Plow

DQ

Sunday morning ride

Attention all pizza and beer drinkers,
I will be going out Sunday morning at 8:00am and riding the sycamore trail out and back at a nice leisurely pace taking in all the sights (trash and burned out cars) and enjoying the snow. I would gladly accept some company for the journey so please show up at the ex Targetto and we will ride!!

Sterling

A Bitter Sweet End To The 2005 Season by Cam Kirkpatrick

The season finale for the Psycowpath series was held at Platte River State Park, located about halfway between Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. If you’ve read some of my more recent journal entries, you know that my history at Platte isn’t that great. You would also know that I thought that I was in the drivers seat for the Psycowpath series overall title. Well, it ended up being a weekend full of surprises, some good and some not so good.
I drove to Omaha the Friday before the race to meet up with a good friend of mine, Greta, who was driving all the way from Boulder, CO. I must be an OK dude if somebody that hot was willing to drive all of that way to hang out with me and watch me suffer like an animal in a bike race. Greta was a mountain bike racer back in the day and was pretty damn good at it. She used to bang bar ends with Heather Irmiger in the Winter Park series in the mid 90’s. Heather is now an accomplished pro with a few NORBA wins to her credit.
Saturday morning arrived and I packed up my race gear and headed out to the course. I arrived at the park with about two hours to spare before the start. I unloaded the bike and cruised over to the registration tent. I talked to a few cats along the way, Shimonek, Jesse Peterson and Matt Gersib. JP was looking pretty focused and looked like he was ready to rip somebody’s legs off. He built (with a lot of help from the THOR folks) all of the trails that we were about to mix it up on. This has to be one of the best race courses in the Midwest. Lot’s of killer stuff mixed with a lot of pain and suffering. What more can I guy ask for?
I got suited up in the Rassy camo kit and went out for a pre ride with Shim. He was gracious enough to show me a few lines through some of the technical stuff. As the ride progressed, the smile on my face grew bigger. This course has a lot everything, lots of high speed, banked corners that allow you to ‘g’ it out unlike any other. A killer roller coaster section, a couple of high speed descents that can provide some quality air time if the right lines are taken. My legs felt pretty decent during the ride and I felt like I would have a pretty good race. It had been a couple of weeks since I had turned a pedal in anger and wasn’t really sure what to expect this time around. I had planned to do a couple more cross races before this weekend. The last cross race that I had done was a couple of weeks prior and it resulted in a bum ankle from all of the running. I hate running, it hurts. So I figured that I better back off on the cross racing before I really screw something up.
As I was cruising around waiting for the race to start I saw Steve Tilford and Travis Brown wandering around. Cool. If you’ve never heard of these cats, Tilford is a multi world mountain bike champion in the masters category. Travis Brown has been a pro since the early 90’s and was a NORBA national champion at one time. He also took part in the 1996 olympics, though I have no idea how he did there. I knew that I didn’t have a realistic chance of beating either of those dudes, however I go to every race with the expectation of winning and I wasn’t going to let a couple of mutants tamper with my mindset.
I was talking to Shim after the pre ride and he apologized and told me that he screwed me over. I had no idea what the hell he was talking about so I asked him to enlighten me. Earlier this season I was reading through the Psycowpath rules and regs. They didn’t make any mention about dropping races. Every season prior to this season, they would allow a racer to drop their lowest score at the end of the season. So if the series had six races, your five best scores would count towards your end of season score. I called Shim and asked if they were going to allow the same deal for this season. He called me back and said yes, that it would be the same as it had always been. On one of the weekends, the Iowa series had a race that was on the same weekend as one of the Psycowpath races. So knowing that I could drop a score for Psycowpath, I skipped the Nebraska race to do the Iowa race. Well that one came back and bit me in the arse. The Psycowpath series director decided that since they forgot to put that in the rules for the 2005 season, they weren’t going to allow a drop for this season. Whatever… I almost got pissed off, but the reality of the situation quickly took over and I came to the realization that it wasn’t really that big of a deal. It is after all just bike racing and it was still a crap load of fun. The people that put the series on work their butts off to do it and I can’t say enough about how much I appreciate it. I still exceeded all expectations for this season and could still be happy with that. For the record, you didn’t screw me over Shim. I should have looked into it further rather than assuming things, it’s all my bad dude.
So the race started and Tilford took off like a freakin’ bat out of hell. He was the first to the top of the climb, with T Brown following closely behind. Schlake was the only dude from the ‘human race’ that had enough balls to try and follow them. JP was next followed by me. Within a couple of minutes, Tilford, Brown and Schlake were completely out of sight. I rode JP’s wheel for about a half of a lap and had an absolute blast doing it. He knows all of the fast lines and I was riding faster than I’d ever ridden there before. I felt really good so I passed him about midway through the first lap and was able to gap him a little. Big mistake. I really gassed myself trying to loose him and by the time I got to the rock garden, I was in that all too familiar cross-eyed, legs boiling over with lactic acid state of delirium. The rock garden is the most technical section on the course and you really need to have your act together when you get there otherwise you will screw yourself. I hit the garden and bobbled on some of the rocks because my heart was trying to jump out of my throat. JP caught back up to me and passed me shortly after we exited the garden. That was the last that would see of him until after the finish.
One of the coolest things about the Psycowpath series is the people. During all of the races, I hear people yelling my name in encouragement throughout the race, even though I’m from the center of Iowa. This race was no different. There were a ton of people hanging out in the rock garden area, it was sweet. There was one cat that was going completely nuts when somebody would ride through the garden, it was way too cool. I must have seen or heard Greta three or four different times each lap, she was everywhere. She probably got a better workout than I did with all of the running around that she was doing. She provided a lot of motivation to keep the pressure on, despite the fact that my arse was being handed to me by JP, Schlake and the mutants.

Me in the Rock Garden.



















WWJ in the rock garden.










As the race progressed, I could see that Shim was consistently about a minute behind me. During the third lap, Greta told me that Schlake had popped and was going really slow. I thought to myself that he couldn’t have been going that slow because I couldn’t see him anywhere. About three minutes later, there he was. I passed him like he was standing still. As I passed he had his tongue hanging out and he asked me if I had a gel. He was going through a major bonk. I guess all he had to eat was a small bowl of cereal before the race. I managed to keep Shim at bay and finished the ‘human race’ in second, about four minutes behind JP. Tilford won the mutant race in a sprint finish over T Brown. It was my best result and the closest I’d ever finished behind JP at Platte River. JP was about four minutes behind Tilford and Brown which put me at about eight minutes behind them. That sounds like a lot, but then when you think about the fact that they beat guys in pro races by 15 or even 20 minutes sometimes, I can feel really good about that.






The podium: Tilford on the top step, T Brown to his left and me on the far right. Shim is one the far left with JP next to him.






The series points, with all six races scored, put me in 4th for the overall. If they had allowed us to drop a race, I would have won the series overall. I’m cool with knowing that if they had done it as they always have in the past, I’d have been the man this season. It was still a lot of fun and I definitely plan to do it again next year. I just won’t screw myself over like I did this year.
So now the racing season is officially over. It’s been a very long season, longer than usual with this last race extending into pizza, hamburger, French fry, sausage and beer season. I’m looking forward to all of the rides at the Science Center with all of my greasy mountain biking bro’s. It’s a different kind of riding in that I could care less what kind of effort I’m putting in, it’s all about having a good time. I’ll still be doing periodic posts on the blog about training and whatever else I may be up to. Until then…

Thanks for reading,

Cosmo

I want to be a Ski-bike

when I grow up I want to be a super fast ski-bike.


I'm going to be so HARD KORE!


"She likes Chrome" oh so sexy:)

You know everyone will want a Pink Saddle now.

Stay tuned for Saturday's building of brackets to mount the ski's too, then attach to bike.

Peace

Squirrel

A little snow ride

The Rig.
entrance to Denmans.
Lucky ridder's tracks
first mate didn't ride Little Italy bridge
I got to make first tracks here
self explanitory
me ugly mug.


Left work yesterday and came home to go and hit up Denmans. I was hoping to be first tracks as there is just something spiritual about cutting first tracks. As I rolled up to the snowy paved trail I was let down just a little as someone else had beat me to the trail. DAMN:) The snow on the trail was perfect light and fluffy with about 4 inches of depth. After riding all of Denmans I headed to the shop for my next mission....... Pick up some BMX pegs for the BUILDING OF A SNOW BIKE. Yeah baby. I'll have some early snow bike build pics. soon. How do I get this text above the pictures?


Peace
Squirrel