zeke's biken

Realized that if I don't do a new entry the page never looks different.. so here we go.
Great week/weekend. Tuesday's off road ride at BuRP kinda sucked. I obviously lost a lot of my off road skills by only riding road for the last several weeks. Plus flatted out on the rear, I wasn't concerned or angry really. I looked at it as a excuse to take a breather. Pulled the wheel off, tube out, checked the tube for thorns etc, new tube, back together, shot of CO2, bolted back on, back on the bike, roll less than five minutes down the trail rear tire goes flat again. WTF? Now a little irritated I open up my seat bag, no extra CO2's, pump is not in my jersey pocket, used my only spare tube, and the patch kit has dried up glue and one unhealthy looked patch....shit. At the risk of blowing my top and winging my bike into the woods I decided to calmly wake back to the Green Torpedo. I ran across some guys I had been riding with on the walk out, they offered a pump, CO2, and patches...I was on the edge of popping for some reason so I tried to politely refuse and I walked out of the woods to the pavement and walked around the park back to the parking lot. That's a long walk. However I had decided to walk out that way instead of getting stopped by every biker on the trail asking if I needed help of offering to loan things. Not that I don't appreciate the offer I just didn't want to have to talk to anyone...I was in that kinda mood. The walk helped, I was giggling at myself by the time I was back at the van. I went ahead and replaced the tube with another spare. Nothing wrong with the tire it was a bad tube, looked to have a bad spot in the rubber...odd but oh well...what do you do? Went in to the bar and had some great chicken fried chicken with mash patatos, green beans, and of course everything was covered in gravy....oh yeah Tuesday special for $6.50....plus a side of some the best tator tots ever! On and of course 3 Buds...why bud? I don't know it was the first thing I thought of when the waitress asked. Craig told me today that he is in talks with his wife about getting to ride every Tuesday...not nessicarly for the ride but for the chicken fried chicken special. Speaking of that I need to remember to load my 29er and gear in the company van to take to work tomorrow.

Wednesday I started out going to the dentist for a teeth cleaning and checking out what else needs to be done. I knew that at some point I needed a tooth caped cause of a root canal I had done in early spring. I just didn't expect him to do it that day. My appointment was at 1030 and with the cleaning and capping by the time I left it was after noon...and my jaw ached. From just holding my mouth open for so long and from him pushing on the cap when putting it in....bonus! Its a temp I go back later for the real one which will be more of him leaning on my face pressing it in place. Oh well...at least I like this dentist, plus I ride with him. I didn't go to the dentist for years for anything due to the "family" dentist when I was a kid. The last time I went to him I had a "drill and fill" done and he called me a pussy when I winced... " What's the matter. Your dad does this with no aesthetic!" No one said my dad was sane....give me another shot....dick! Needless to say I never went back...or to any other dentist for years....part of the reason why I have lost teeth to the point of pulling compared to fixing. My parents hate that after spending so much money on my braces.
I ended up taking the rest of the day off. As usual he had to give me a huge dose of aesthetic just so I could tell it had been deadened. (I had the same problem when I was in the hospital last year. He had to give me huge doses of stuff to keep me down. My friends joked about how my body was too used to performing while being drugged so it takes alot to put me down. Probably not far from the truth.) I swung by the Mom's work and said hi and chatted with her for a bit. Then headed home to fire up the A/C and surf the net or lay on the couch and watch a movie until the deadness in my jaw went away. I did discover that my DVD player doesn't work any more. It might have OD'ed on porn....I left one playing the night before and it was still running when I ejected it to watch some thing else. After that it didn't work any more... damn I don't have the dough for another DVD player. I guess I will just use the PS2...
I rode from home out to BuRP and did several loops. Felt good and rode well. I even rode in the dark a bit. I brought a head lamp as I expected this to happen. It was my first night off road ride. It wasn't quite dark enough to where I felt a need to turn the light on until the last mile of trail before I popped back out on the road for home. Not technical enough to be a real test for the eye. TS at work told me today that I shouldn't practice the one eye in the dark riding experience until the race....it will make it more fun he says. I don't know about that idea. If I can pull off a lap every hour I will only have to ride about 3 1/2 laps in the dark. I will have been on the bike for a little over 8 hours when it gets dark and doesn't strike me as a good time to try something new. It rained some today and is supposed to rain tonight hopefully not much I would like to get in some laps tomorrow, in the light and the dark, plus get some chicken fried chicken.

Saturday I slept in. Piddled around until lunch. Made my self a burrito and was checking email when Frank Tuesday called. He wanted to ride some dirt and wondered if I wanted to go. Hell yeah! I made plans to meet him on the trail at BuRP around 2. I finished my lunch, got geared up (I team kitted up that day, I figured if I was going to treat it like a training ride I will look like I am on a training ride) and pedaled out to BuRP. The ride out on the road when much faster than I expected. I was at the meeting spot in a flat 30 minutes from my front door...that's alot faster than the norm. I paid for it 40 minutes later when I BONKED big time. I was getting tunnel vision no balance etc, I ended up laying on the trail and sipping water for 30 minutes....not good, so much for treating this like a training ride. I was having a hard time before the bike. I had zero bike handling skills...the bonk just make it worse. After I sat for a while I was much better, I my bike handling was a little sloppy but I didn't crash. I got to Frank's car and he offered a ride home. I took what was left of his water and pedaled home. I figured it would be good for me in the long run. I got home and rested for a while, did some major water drinking and feeding. Hopped on the LHT to run a couple of errands. Around 8 PM I hopped on the fixie and headed down town. First stop was the Grand Emporium. This was a classis bar to see bands in for years. Some great great music was played there. The whole inside of the bar was covered in show bills, layers and layers of them. Lots of great bands. A couple of years ago the owner sold the bar for some reason. The new owners scraped the walls clean, changed the lay out a little, added TV's and neon lights....killed the place I thought. Apparently when there isn't great live music playing there (still draws some good acts) it doubles as a dance club gay bar...Oh well. So I was there to see Russ Christopher play. That is the name of the band and the front man. He plays electric violin and sings. Pretty good too. He is the nephew of a very good long time buddy of mine. Good show. Plus I haven't seen Glenn's mom or sister since before I played tag with that car last year. Their show was short (although I think that's because I missed half of it) then the bar crew started putting up these sound walls to separate the bar from the dance floor for the DJ...more odd not old school G.E. stuff. Left there and headed more down town to the Brick to catch Dana's band the Last Call Girls. They kick ass. I got there right as the 2nd band started...The Von Hodads they were all instrumental surf style music. I know Cody was one of the guys in the band I met him years ago, good gutairist. They were good. Then The Last Call Girls started up...oh yeah. 4 cute girls and a dude drummer....rockn' out. The bass player was wearing a little skirt and cowboy boots...nice legs. Talked to a few people I knew there. Molly was there, getting hit on by another drunk creepy weirdo....just like she was when I met her the first time...we joked about that. Show ended at 3, Molly got a bit drunk so I stuffed my bike in her car and drove her home. Dropped her and pedaled the 5 miles to my pad. Laid down in bed well after 4...around 430ish. whew.

Up Sunday morning at 6 to head to BFE Kansas to work the Cider Mill Super Century. I was 10 miles from it when my brain decided that some thing was wrong with the directions and I turned and went the wrong why for 30 minutes....the directions were right I just haddent gone far enough yet. Stupid zeke, what the hell is a matter with you? Lack of sleep I claim, not to mention the whiskey from the night before. Got back on course and found the SAG station I was to set up at. Got my area all set and pimped out. Sat down in my chair and did some reading. Luckily nothing really for me today. Chit chatted with lots of riders when they rolled in for a pee brake and to refill water bottles and their tummies. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. I guess there were over 300 registered riders but I was at the 1/2 mark for the 100 and the other two courses (the 20 and the 40) didn't come though this SAG stop. Not a whole lot doing the 100 and the ones that were came though early. We closed up before noon. I split and headed for home. I was hungy and decided that I had a craving for fried chicken. Stopped at Church's and picked up some chicken tenders, japelano poppers, and some mash patotos...yummmmm....Spent some time laying on the couch expecing to fall asleep but didn't. Heading over to the sis's house for dinner with the kids and Dad for his birthday. 53 years old with 4 kids under the age of 8...I don't know how he is still alive.

Today was another day at the shop. Things went soomthly. I was expecting a huge order of Specalized goodies that didn't come. Probably tomorrow. I ended up teaching a basic mechanics calls for a woman's tri group called Tri 101 put on by KC Multisport. Ended up being quite fun and there were several nice looking ladies to look at whick is always a bonus.

Ok...that covers last week. Up next is Tuesday night ride (hopefully it doesn't rain much if at all) and the Tour of KC this weekend.


Single Speeders Get Off More - zeke out