Oops I did it again.

Well if you haven't already heard through one of the other social media outlets I regularly whine about my life on...
i.e. my Twitter, FaceSpace or Mybook (possibly the only person who still has an active account)
Then you probably don't know that, per the normal, I got a bit carried away one night (this past Tuesday) with friends, crawled into the bottom of a bottle of booze, then crashed my bicycle on the ride home.
Pretty normal for me, right? Not so much this time.
The next morning I woke up early, not with a hangover (surprise!) but with a bad feeling something bad had happened.
And I was right, something had.
I rolled out of bed walked in the the bath room, looked in the mirror and was surprised to see a bloody battered face looking back at me.
A bloody battered face that was also missing teeth.
"Oh shit. This isn't good." Was my first thought.
"My Mom is gonna be PISSED!" Was my second.
Laying the bike down in some manner or another on the way home from a night out (sober or drunk) is a pretty regular thing for me. Typically its little to nothing. A failed track stand at a traffic light or sliding out in the gravel of the Trolley Trail.
Not this time.
Not being completely sure what happened (thank you booze and/or face plant) I can only guess.
And I'm not even sure what to guess besides that some where some how I came off the bike and plowed myself face first into the street.

Ouch.

So I'm left with this:



Which really isn't all that bad.
The mustache hides most of it.
There was/is pain. But its not the teeth that hurt. Its the busted up lip that hurts.
The teeth don't have exposed nerves and they can eventually be fixed (so much for saving that tax return for this years trip to the RAGBRAI... damnit)
My biggest concern is the lip.
Per a phone conversation with my favorite ER doctor, Dr. Greg Cummings, (see his article on ticks and Lyme disease in the newest issue of Dirt Rag magazine) after 12+ hours its a little late to get a lip injury stitched up should it need it. Its already started to heal and you just have to hope for the best.
So heres to hoping mine heals nicely.
Because as much as I like my mustache I don't want to have to have it. 


Its been a just about a week and thankfully it does appears to be healing nicely.
The lip is a little tight. I can't make my "O" face or spit properly with out a bit of discomfort.
But all things considered I, once again, got pretty lucky.
I even managed to make it home with my bike which besides a tiny bit of wobble in the new front wheel is in prefect condition.

So. What have we learned today?
I do stupid stuff and when I do, stupid things happen to me.
No point in crying about it.
After all, I've got no one to blame but myself.

Its back!

I hadn't give up the hope it would find its way back to me and recently if finally did.



The long version:
I got my purple Pake (PAA-KAY) back after mistakenly misplacing it.
"Mistakenly misplacing it" meaning I was a little drunky riding home from a party early one Saturday morning and crashed it. I got up and for some reason wandered away with out the bike.
I realized this when I "woke up" walking home. At first I thought that I had decided to leave my bike at the party until I realized that my u-lock was in my pocket and my helmet was on my head.

Shit.

I was pretty close to home and kind of bloody from the crash so I decided that the best choice was to go home, clean up and then go search.
I got home, cleaned up and passed out.
A few hours later a friend came by and we set out on the search.
Obviously we come up empty handed.
A couple days later I took a look at Craig's List just to see if by chance anything was listed.
I found an post in the Lost and Found section:

"Found - Brookside trail
Found bicycle along the Brookside Trail - 57th and Wornell - Describe to claim"

I sent an email with the description of the Pake right away
I waited a couple of days and didn't hear anything back
So I tried again. No answer. Again. Nothing. Again. Nothing.
This went on for almost 4 weeks. I was getting frustrated. I put up my own Craig's List post.
Nothing.
Then out of the blue last Saturday I got a text message from my old boss at BikeSource. He gave me a name and a number with and suggested I call it because he thought they had my bike.
Sure enough.
Turns out that the gentlemen that found my bike never got any of my emails.
He finally decided to try and track me down.
He typed Evil Pedalphile Kansas City in to Google and one of my blog entries comes up as the first result.
I couldn't believe it so I tried it myself.
It works.
Freaky.

Through my blog he found BikeSource.
BikeSource contacted me.
I contacted him.
I got my bike back.
Happy days are here again.

Little CX Nats preview

A video preview of the 2009 Cyclocross Nationals course in Bend,OR done by CX Magazine.



Looks cold
And if the course dries out (or at least stays frozen) it looks like it could be a speed race.
One set of barriers (unless I missed one), a 15 step run up, and several quick short climbs that in a group could easily turn into run ups.
Looks to be a fun course
Unless the temps go way up and it turns in to a mud pit
Or like the 2007 KCCX Nats, frozen one day, mud and standing water the next, then a frozen rutted nightmare...
Guess we'll see

Did I mention that Wednesday was new bike day?

Cause it was. At least for me.


2010 Giant TCX frame set
FSA headset
FSA Gossmer Cranks with Mega XO external BB
40t Surly chain ring
Salsa Chain guard
N-Gear Jump Stop chain guide
Ultegra 9 speed STI levers (set up 1x9)
Ultegra RD
Ultegra 12-27 cassette
SRAM chain
Shimano 105 rear hub laced to Mavic Open Pro rim w/DT Swiss spokes
Hutchison Bulldog tires
Specialized 30.9 seat post
Specialized Phenom saddle 143 CroMo rails
Paul touring canti rear Neo Retro canti front w/Salsa cable hangers
3T stem 110 31.8
Ritchey WCS bar 31.8
Specialized S-Wrap bar tape
Specialized Stout front hub laced to Salsa Delgado Cross rim w/DT Swiss spokes
Shimano cables
Jagwire housing

I had to modify the N-Gear a bit. The bike came with a pulley so you could run a bottom pull FD.
The bolt hole for the pulley was right were I needed to put the chain guide.
Nothing a little bit of grinding couldn't fix


Done and done.
Now its time to put some miles on it.
Don't know if I'll actually race it CX or not.
When I talked about it at the last race I got told I "wasn't allowed" by the buddies I race with. I guess they don't want me on gears since I normally run single speed in the CAT 4.
Maybe if I feel entergetic enough for two races I can use it for some Master's B 35+ races.
I doubt that but we'll see.
I'm just excited to have a new rig.
And its purdy too!