Why Is Kansas City in Missouri?

Well, we recently got back from the strangly named Kansas city. We went to the nationals cyclocross race. I didn't race, (been slacking off this season) but Jansen did. For his race, (which was on Friday) the thick mud left over from the previous day had frozen into concrete-hard icy ruts. In a nutshell, it was nearly impossible to ride the stuff, but Jansen managed. He placed 16th, I think. Lesson learned: When it comes to icy ruts, use mountain bike wheels. You can glide right over the slats, while other racers with thinner wheels will slide into them, impeding speed. The next day (Saturday) it snowed. Probrably the first snowstorm i've ever been in. I loved it. Lots of snow to goof off in. Most of the other people sharing our tent (Dan, Daryle,Oscar, etc.) went out and raced on this day. The course was very slick due to ice and snow, as well as the unfortunatly re-churned gloppy mud. As the day came to a end, Jansen and I managed to convince Jim and Adam to have a snowball fight. This reseulted in Jim and Adam tackling each other, as well as Jansen and me. We didn't get a movie of the ensuing ludicraty, but we did get several photos, which I am sure will make way onto the blog at some time or another. Afterwards, we left for the hotel, swam a bit in the lovly heated pool, then got up at 4:30 and flew home. It was quite a ... interesting experience. I really did like the snow, 'specially since we never get it around here.

Hmmm cartoon's

Watch out Superman there's a new man in town!

Who remembers The Tick?

Not a fan of the time change

Rushing around, trying to get a workout in before dark and three flats in two days. Sometimes I feel just like my good friend Sam!

Thanks for all the support in 07!

Stopping to Breathe

We have had so much happen this summer. I don't know where to start!

My parents came for a great visit. They watched Everett race on the road and Jansen race xc. Mom and Dad are natural cyclists and hopped right on our bikes to cruise around in the dirt for awhile........it was contagious, and my mom bought an Electra Townie while she was here! It is super sweet and she has been cruising around her town in Texas ever since. Dad bought a bike soon after. I hear there is a little spin competition going on there.....

Everett had a great time road racing and was very happy with his results at the State Championships. Way to go Everetto! He is running cross country now at a public school and loving it. Cyclocross is right around the corner, so he'll be a busy guy. He's always creating new electronic creatures and loves to melt metal.

This is one of Everett's favorite shirts.

Jansen had a great mtb season and enjoyed every minute of it! We love the shaggy hair and cool hats. Huge congrats short stack. Cyclocross has meant some running for him, too....and sore legs. He found a couple old bikes to fix up and he's done a pretty good job, too. He is still addicted to the hot glue gun.

This is the blacksmithing furnace their grandpa made for them and all the blacksmith tools they have accumulated over the years.

Shey has done his fair share of 100 milers and we couldn't be happier for him. He has proven to be a great all around xc racer and still enjoys it so much. (I would say I could kick myself for buying him that first bike, but he wouldn't be who he is now......not that he couldn't use a few self-help books!he-he)

We have had some awesome birthdays this summer and this is the dessert Shey always makes me for special occasions. Yummy! Both boys were able to celebrate their birthdays with some very special friends of ours.
Aimee and Rob - great people!

Peter and Shey in Ohio.

We attended the wedding of a wonderful friend a couple weeks ago. It was outside and very peaceful. We had a great time and enjoyed visiting......and not being sweaty and tired! Congratulations to Peter and Kim! May you have many great years ahead. (we also go to see Marv and Karen's new young one. very cool.)


More later......................

12 Hours of Dauset

No, Kari and I did the six hours of Dauset. Another one of those smooth fast courses that gets really tough and rooty after about 4 or 5 laps. With a flatter course comes a constant very fast pace that will wear a racer down. Give me some nice longer hills and a chance to rest please. It was nice to be able to talk with my mtb friends after the race and hang out.

Can I get one of these please!

2007 Georgia Cyclocross Schedule

10-21-2007 Conyers GIHP OTR/Bike Center
10-28-2007 Winder Fort Yargo GTC
11-04-2007 Monroe Criswell Park Sorella Cycling
11-11-2007 Macon Sandy Beach Bike Store/Thomson
11-18-2007 Augusta/State ASU Complex Augusta Club
12-02-2007 Blue Ridge Fannin County New Leaf Adventures
12-09-2007 Dahlonega High School D Wheelworks/Lifetime

2007 Georgia CX Demo Fleet

Hell yea Cannondale. My favorite rep Wiley came through again this season with some really nice bikes for the Georgia Cross Series. The first few have hit my door, check out the new color!

Firewater 50

The Firewater 50 was on Saturday.
I HAD A BLAST!
Great job Hodge you nut
TT might have won and topped Tibbs before everyone else but IMO GT owns Tibbs!
Great ride everyone and thanks for the memories

Shey

The weekend

"It happens every year with the changing of the seasons, as summer turns to fall. Leaves change color. Road racers hang up their jerseys and dream of spring. Football fans shop for beer and pretzels. And in the local parks on the steep sides of hills, a few visionaries can be found running in the dirt, bike on shoulder, in preparation for the upcoming cyclocross season. Last weekend my wife Kari and myself held an early season cyclocross clinic for riders new to the sport. Lots of fun and new faces finding the sport for the first time. Its not Cross weather yet here in GA!"

Thanks for the pictures Carl!

www.mestaphotos.us

Can you feed me?

Learning along the way, if you ask to get a feed at the race, be very specific about exactly what your talking about! Idea's could vary dramatically!

Nice ride on Saturday

Kari dropped me off across from the Mex restaurant in Ellijay and they went to preride Carters Lake. Rode from Ellijay-52-Gates Chapel and it poured down hard, leaving me soaking wet 30 min into the ride. Plan was to ride up Mountaintown, but changed after rain. Up FS90, right on ? too Potato Patch-Right all the way to Dally Gap (about 1 hour)-turned around back to Potato Patch (this has to be my favorite section of gravel road/very tough climbing), back down to top of Bear Creek, all the way almost to the parking lot, right turn up Pinhoti 1, Pinhoti 2 @ 90A lot, Pinhoti 3, right on 52, left on Pinhoti again up to Tatum Lead, Left on Tatum Lead for 30 min, back to 52 and up to Ft Mountain where Kari was waiting for me.

Great ride, will do it again sometime.

73 miles, 10865 elevation gain, 6:08 hrs

Mohican 100

Mohican State Park in Ohio, June 2, 2007. Real quick, great trail, tough racing and fun times. Met more of the 100 mile crowd this weekend including Gerry Phlug and Jason Mohokey of Soiled Chamois fame. Took seventh place @ 8:03:48 behind some super fast racers. Lost contact after about 50 miles or so due to an early lull in performance (bonk) but recovered on a long rail trail section (about 14 miles of flat riding) to catch back up to 5th and 6th. Felt great throughout the rest of the race but a mechanical around mile 95 put me back two minutes or so. My goal was top ten so I’m very happy with the results and riding with this crowd is very rewarding.

This picture of me with fellow Atlanta racer Pete Joski shows a BearNaked/Cannondale but if you look closer a true Bikeman racer can be found.

On to the Lumberjack 100

Shey

Cohutta 100 cont.

Well, these things take time as my Dad would say.

The start is about two or three miles of pavement and went very quick probably because everyone wanted to get in the single track and out of the cold. My hands were stinging, long finger gloves would have been nice. Good position in the single track, maybe top 8 or ten. A gap opens up on the first small decent and here we go, lost site of the front group and start pushing harder. Pass and get passed by a few riders and finally catch the front chase group of Brandon D, Andy Mills, Harlan Price and a few others. We do some chatting and ride a long time together, but no one seems to be pushing too hard. Brandon and I do most of the work for a while since the other riders seem very content. The course starts to flatten out and I keep thinking to myself, we really could be making up lots of time if we could work together, why are we not- and the answer comes up just around the next corner. We just caught Tinker and Chris, they see us and Tinker takes off, not hard but enough to get out of site. Chris gets on the back of the train and we do some more work or Brandon and I do.

The Blue Whale - My hippie roots are showing.

I can't believe that we haven't taken the time to show off our newest member of the family. After a short debate, we decided to purchase an old VW bus. It's a 1989 vanagon with westfalia bench in the back that makes out into a bed.

Shey has been sneaking it from me in the mornings, so I haven't had the chance to drive it, yet.

We took it to the 12 hour race this weekend and it was so sweet! The boys and I just lounged around and stretched out our legs in the back. Super nice place to chill and it had room for all our gear, too. We loved having it there. I understand it will take me an extra 10 hours to get to any race, now and only one speaker works...but, that's okay because the stereo system is so bad that you can't understand the music anyway!

The oil light isn't buzzing at us anymore and the air conditioner isn't blowing hot air...all thanks to Shey and his dad. Thanks guys!

I am very, very excited about taking this out on road trips and hope it holds together for us. (I think it feels like one of the cool kids, now that we put some stickers on the back window.)

Kari

12 Hours of Yargo

12 Hours of Yargo

Results:

Shey - 1st Place Overall Solo Male

Lindner's and Adam - 3rd Place Co-ed


This weekend we all raced at the 12 Hours of Yargo. Shey competed in the 12 hour solo event and the boys and I entered as a co-ed team with our family friend, Adam Jones. (we seem to be able to talk him into doing all our crazy stuff with us!)

We also had a surprise visitor for the weekend. Shey's dad, Glenn, drove over from Texas and spent the weekend watching our crazy family race in the dirt! I think he had a lot of fun.

Race Report:

Man! What a beautiful trail!! I would pick the cooler weather over the heat and dust from last weekend, any day.

We had a great time and it was really a shame that there were timing difficulties because everything else was perfect.

Jansen decided that he would go out for the first lap and he laid his bike at what he thought was the far end of the lemans start (so he could run farther and hop on his bike ahead of a lot of people).....well, when I got to the start, the poor guy was way at the back of the riding start. So I moved him up a bit to mid-pack with Kate, Aimee and Rob and hoped I didn't upset anybody. I'm sure they were thinking, "Why are you putting a 12 year old in front of me."

So they took off and came around the parade lap and Shey looked like he was going to have a good day and Jansen had already moved up to a much better position.

When Shey came through the first lap I could tell by his body position up the grassy climb that something had happened and he was a little "off". Once he got closer I could see that he had fallen hard. I found out this morning that he hit a bridge pretty hard with the side of his face, was knocked out for a couple seconds and woke up on the ground. He has a pretty swollen cheek today and some decent sized gashes on his chin, that he is being very stubborn about and won't tape up. Goober.

Jansen came through just a couple minutes behind the lead group and must have flown through that first lap. It's the hair. I was so excited for him!

I was next and had a lot of fun out on the trail. Once I figured out that the trail was not as slippery as everyone thought it would be, I had a great time. Small breathing problem when I was almost finished with the lap and I forgot my inhaler (that was a little scary), but it all worked out fine and I didn't have any other issues. The roots were very slippery in the sections where the trail was holding water, but otherwise it was fast.

Adam Jones went out next and I could tell that he gave it his all when he got back in. I don't think he had ever sprinted a faster lap. Great guy. I can't tell you how cool it was to have him on our team.

Then Everett went out. He usually has lap times within a minute or two of his brother's. He was out a little longer than I thought he would be and found out that his bike was not behaving. Dropped the chain 7 times and not able to shift. Adam said it was not fixable today. So we shared my bike. "old blue" Everett still had a very strong lap.

Jansen went out again and passed the mean bean guys. I went out and they passed me. And that was how it went for most of the race.

All three of my teammates stayed very consistent.

Adam sprinted hard so that I would be able to hold our 3rd place position on the last night lap. I was laughing at times during that last night lap and I was flying down the descents, because it always amazes me that we are crazy enough to strap HID lights to our helmets and ride at race pace in the dark. Very cool!


Shey's Dad completely enjoyed the race and wants to get a mountain bike to ride around his ranch. He said he has at least 2 miles of trails that he can ride. Another Lindner on a bike!! It was nice that he could watch everyone race all at one time.

Shey and his dad, Glenn. We were so glad he came for a visit!

Nancy, Adam's wife and our very, very good friend was the pit crew for Shey's 12 hour race. I can't thank her enough for filling my shoes and doing a bang up job! Thanks so much, girlie!

Shey had an awesome first place finish with 13 laps completed in the mens pro/expert category. His light battery went dead on the last lap and he rode in behind another rider.

Again, it was really great to see everyone out there. All of our friends raced incredibly strong and we see every weekend how lucky we are to have these awesome people surrounding us.


Kari

Ol' Blue is ever faithful!