Weekends just keep getting better!

A week ago I found the arrowhead while hiking around BnB Ranch, then today I found my way into first place in the Missouri State Championships MTB beginner over 40 class!

Wow!
Thurday night was the 2nd round of the dirt crit short track series presneted by Alpin Shop.

My first ride a week ago left me with a 16th out of 34 "C" class aka Beginner. Round 2 I decided to take a demo ride on a Gary Fisher 29er hardtail, instead of my Stumpy 29er SS. The move paid off! I moved to 4th out of 43(still pending final results). I was even able to add some entertainment for the great crowd on hand! I pulled a beautiful wheelie across the finish line...I just wish I would have stopped with the wheelie and not with the back of the head plant in the dirt. I pulled up that lightweight Fox fork and and crushed myself all the way to the dirt. I haven't seen a picture yet, but I am sure someone managed a copy as there was 50-100 people at the finish area cheering. Alls well, I am ok. Nothing a beer won't fix.

Friday I took the day off work and went fishing with my Dad. We decided to head for Salt River for a little catfishin'. We loaded up supplies and headed for the ramp at the Louisiana, MO riverfront. I started backing the boat trailer down the steep ramp and all of sudden my brake foot went to the floor. Quick pump it, nothing damn...rolling backward and picking up speed! Shit! Slam it in low, and stomp the gas! Tires burning like Jimmy Johnson finishing a good day at Lowes Motorspeedway. Finally the tires hooked up only a few feet from the water, the boat and trailer are now sideways and only inches from a jack knife damage. I managed to get everything back up the ramp in one piece and we found that the steel brake lines had blown apart. So now that I have securely removed the seat from the truck with my ass, we took it home and swapped it for the S10. The rest of the day went off without any major problems(minus a the rain showers). Almost a dozen channel cats and a suitcase of natty light, and a nap!Even with the rain we had a great time.

So Saturday morning I woke with the alarm at 6...well if ya don't count the 2 snooze button hits. The mission...road ride with Granada Cyclery at 7. I made it to the store by 6:58AM...only a couple riders, but a lot full of cars....hmm...ride must have left early. I just pulled the (still unnamed) Bianchi SS out of the truck and prepared to ride. I rolled out with a couple other riders and we made our way to St. Paul where we caught the early group that rolled at 6:30...(New start time). I just rolled back to the store with Brad (Fixie) It was a fast spin for me, but I had a great time. In the range of ~22miles total. On the way home I remembered the local race today at Castlewood on Blue Ribbon. My previous thoughts on this course were to skip the race. It was a tough run back in December during the Castlwood 8 hour Adventure Race.{Team Trail Monster SS ;) }

Some twisted motivation appeared and I hurried home with the thought of making the race...It's 9am...Race starts at 11...(psst its 35 minutes to Castlewood from home) I sprung in the door with the great thought...."Lets go racin'." Wendy perplexed says "where?..." Castlewood for the State Championships. She agreed to go watch. Out the door and over to race with 30 minutes to spare. No need for a warm up...just figure out which race....I settled on Beginner 40+, even though I rode the race on a SS. I am still a beginner racer, well I was. I guess it's now time to Catup! Yes I managed 1st in 40+ and 3rd overall in the beginners. I lead out the race with the hole shot, and stayed there until a 1/4 mile from the tunnel. The hills on Blue Ribbon, forced me to hike a bike a bit and that cost me 2nd place to Cammeron....well that and the minor crash back at the tunnels...I couldn't unclip and just took a slowspeed fallover. I was super stoked with my results given the 20 Miles I did for breakfast. The course today was about 5.3 miles, and as a beginner I had one lap.

Now its time for one of the following:

Founders - Red Rye Pale Ale

Bear Republic - Racer 5 (Favorite)

Southern Tier - Imperial Cre'me brule'e Stout

and maybe a little nap.

Oh and Sydney got a treat today.

A train was stalled at the tracks, and the engineer let em' get a quick picture.