Shane's Blog

Vasque Mindbender

2011-09-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

I just got a pair of Mindbenders and I was going to put up some pictures and compare them to the Newtons I've been wearing, but my pictures don't want to load. Anyway the mindbenders weigh in at 13.5 oz each for a size 12. The outside looks like a much better design than the blur or the newtons. I've had problems with my little toe wearing a hole in the upper long before the shoes are worn out on both of these models. The design of the Mindbender looks like it will solve this problem. Plan to break them in this weekend.

cicada molting

2010-03-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada

Minimalist Running

2009-12-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

So ever since the Ozark Trail 100 I've been keeping up with winner Jeff Browning's blog. Lately he's had some interesting posts on his transition to more minimalist footwear. He's mainly using fivefingers KSOs and the New Balance MT100. I happen to own both of these shoes so it's interesting to see how it's working out for him. There's is definitely a transition period. You can't just go from a beefy trail runner to the MT100s and do the same stuff. He also posted a link to an interesting article HERE. Long,but worth reading.

new shoes

2009-11-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

I got a pair of New Balance MT100's for my birthday. These things are light! Nearly half the weight of all my other size 12 trail shoes. On my scale a size12 weighs 8.3 oz, while a size 12 Vasque Blur weighs 14.6 oz and a size 12.5 Montrail Hardrock weighs 18.4 oz. This lightness comes at a cost. They certainly aren't as beefy or cushioned as most other trail running shoes, so you wouldn't want to enter a rock kicking contest wearing these. I recieved a size 12 , which is what I usually wear and I would say that they fit true to size. I've only been on a couple of shorter runs in them so I can't say how they'd feel on a longer run (plan to try soon), but if I were doing a shorter trail race I'd probably grab these first.

Wyco trails blog

2009-09-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

I've been invited to contribute to the Wyandotte County Lake Park trails blog. I'm excited about the trail new projects that we are considering. There is the potential for many miles of new trail out there. Check out the blog from time to time for updates and new information about trail workdays and such.

Leadville 100 pacing and crewing

2009-08-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

I went to the Leadville 100 trail run again this year. This year there was a large contingent of Kansas/missouri runners toeing the line. The plan was to pace Nick Lang later in the day from Twin Lakes to the Fish Hatchery (mile 60 to 77).
I was staying at Ben Reeves house in Denver before the race. We set our alarms for 1:15 and left his house around 1:30 so we could make it up for the start. We had a run in with the cops that cost us some time , but we still made it to Leadville with about 10 minutes to spare thanks to some badass driving by yours truly!
After the start we went to Chris Langs house for breakfast and to talk strategy. We wanted to get Nick across the finish line. Chris had run the race before so he knew what Nick needed to do in order to be successful.
At Mayqueen and the Fish Hatchery we cheered and crewed for all of our runners! I think everyone really appreciated the hometown support. Twin Lakes at mile 40 is where I think people were starting to feel the day's effort. We tried to get everyone refueled and send them on their way over Hope pass. See you at Winfield we told them.
Winfield can be a bad place. A lot of runners either drop here or don't make the cutoff and we had a few casualties. Andy, Paul, Greg, Tony, Nick, Josh and Colleen all refueled. and took off to get their asses back over the pass!
Ben left Winfield with Nick at around 5:45. Not much ahead of the 6:00 cutoff. When we got back to Twin Lakes we found out that the cutoff was 9:45. 4 hours to climb and descend 3000 ft over 10 miles. We were all a bit nervous because Nick seemed to be at a bit of a low point at Winfield. I prayed that he would make it time.
I think it was around 9:20 when I decided to go put some of my extra gear in Ben's FJ. When I got down to the parking lot I saw some people rooting around in the car. It was Nick and Ben! They made the cutoff easily. I was ready to go! We got Nick up the Aid station and filled his pack and bottles, got him food, lights, fixed blisters. Ready to go. Crack the Whip!
The climb out of TWin Lakes inbound is not small. It took us quite awhile to get to the top of it-mostly hiking. Once over the top we were able to run a surprising amount. I'm not sure if Nick realized it at the time, but whenever I saw a light ahead, I would increase our pace ver so slightly. No one passed us the whole time I ran with him.
I don't remember what time it wa , but eventually we cayght up to Colleen Voeks and her pacer Debbie Webster. Colleen was sleepy and I gave Debbie an extra caffiene pill so she had one too. We wishe dthem good luck and away we went. Shortly after Nick complained that he was getting sleept too. Luckily I had a 5 hour energy that Rick Mayo had given me back at Twin Lakes. A lifesaver. Nick was back online in a matter of minutes an we were cruising.
A quick stop at Box creek and we kept going. Between Box creek and Treeline I started to feel the effects of being up for over 24 hours. I started weaving a bit and started kicking rocks(not on purpose). We made it to Treeline and our crew where we both enjoyed a Red Bull. Now I was good too. Time to crack the Whip again! Nick and I passed probaly 20 more people on the road between Treeline and the Hatchery. When we got there Nick's dad was ready to pace him over Sugerloaf to Mayqueen. After a little tape job on some blisters they were off. My work was done.
There are a few runs that I'll never forget and this was one of them. I never thought about a thing other than how awesome Nick was doing after 60 miles at altitude. I was proud to be his pacer and I was confident he would finish as soon as he and Ben got to Twin Lakes. I made sure to keep close tabs on his food, drink, and salt intake. I wanted him to get that buckle!
At Mayqueen we tried to sleep a bit, but I really couldn't, so we went up to the aid station to wait. Nick and Chris came in around 5:20? I think. Soover four hour left to do the last 13 miles with no major climbs to stand in the way.
Laurie was pacing Nick from here to the finish. There was noting left for us to do but wait so we had Chris and Bonnie drop us at the Super 8 for a quick shower before the finish line gathering.
Andy henshaw had finished long before any of us got there (sub 19 hours!) . So we all got coffee and sat down to wait for our runners. We missed Paul Schoenlaub too! Dang. So Greg Burger comes in with Nick righ behind him. 28:50 something for both! Awesome finish guys! Gary Henry was a few minutes behind them! WE were all waiting for Colleen. fingers crossed. getting down to around 10 minutes to go....here she comes! and we all let out a sigh of relief. There were a few tears too.
I'm proud of the guys that didn't make it too. They were all there at the finish cheering on the ones still running.
An amazing weekend. Great job everyone!

It's been awhile

2009-06-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday my wife Brandy and I had the pleasure of directing our first race, The Summer intro 5k. I've been active at most of the Trail Nerd races over the last several years with course work and marking, etc, but this was the first time that it was totally my baby. We had 106 runners show up to run, which was awesome. The race was held on one of my favorite sections of the Psycho Wyco trail system, the Shane's Debacle/Megerson mound loop. The race was won by Andy Henshaw. Tom Murphy and Paul Shoenlaub rounded out the men's podium. The women's race was won by Sarah Hiller( who was also 4th overall!) with Victoria Thomas in 2nd and Hadley Osborne in 3rd. I felt like everyone had a great time and I'd like to thank everyone for coming out and supporting our events. complete results should be up soon HERE.

Atayne Sportswear

2009-04-30T08:32:00.001-07:00

I just won a $50 gift certificate from Atayne Sportswear through a drawing on the iRunFar website to promote Earth Week. Atayne seems like a very cool company and free gear is always good. I'll post a review as soon as I've had a chance to wear the chothing a few times. Thanks again to Atayne for the free gear and their commitment to the environment.

Rockin K marathon

2009-04-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

I finished. Not sure of my exact time. I stopped my watch accidentally during the race and I didn't pay attention when i finished. I thinkI was around 5:30 something. Super windy all day, but the temperature was pleasant and the water crossings weren't too deep. I traveled to and from the race with a cool group. More details and photos later...maybe.

Psycho Wyco and no Leadville 100

2009-02-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

I recieved my rejection letter for the Leadville 100 mountain bike in the mail last week. There is a lottery to get in and I didn't make it. Bummer.
My Psycho Wyco 50k finish streak ended at three. I opted for just the 10 mile version this year. That turned out to be a good thing because after being sick all week, one loop was about all I had in me. Jackson ran the 10 miler again this year too. He finished around 2:45 ish. Pretty good for a 9 year old. To see how this event has grown and matured these past five years is just amazing. The KC Trail Nerds are an awesome group. We have kickass sponsors and volunteers. Thanks Everyone! I think I might have to start a new 50k streak next year. I'm still trying to decide if I should keep my PsychoStache until then.

Psychopathic 5k

2009-02-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

Sunday Feb 1 was the Psycho 5k. Went out Saturday with Kyle, Jim and James to mark the course. This is one tuff 5k. I decided to go ahead and race. I was pleased with my result (23: 56/15th overall and 3rd in my age group). Jackson ran it as well. He finished in 34:43. Those times sound slow until you try it. Caleb won in 19:18 with Kyle close behind. We had over 100 runners, which I thought was a great turn out. Separating the 5k from the longer distances was a great idea. Much more enjoyable and will make Feb 14th much less hectic and crowded. good start to the season for me. The only thing that sucked about yesterday was that te Cards lost the Super Bowl.

I mailed in my entry for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. I'm supposed to find out by Feb 9th if I'm in or not.

It's 2009!

2009-01-04T18:56:00.000-08:00

Did 2008 fly by or what? I've been meaning to do a new year post and while I was running today I was trying to come up with a list of highlights from 08. I had a pretty crappy year as far as my running and racing. I did bad in every race that I entered so I kind of stopped during the summer.

We started out 2008 on a good note by moving into a new house right next to the Wyco trails.

I'd say the highlight of 2008 was our trip to Colorado last July. The trip started with the Lunar Trek in Scandia, KS and a lovely stay at the Chatfield Inn. From there we spent a few days with Ben and Allison. Ben showed a few local trails and we climbed Mt. Bierstadt.. I think he had fun torturing me on the climbs We also spent a few days up in Steamboat with Brandys Aunt and Uncle. The trails up there are SWEET! The trip also had the years biggest lowlight. On our last day there we were all riding bikes on the path and Josie crashed, knocking out her front teeth and smashing up her face in the process. Luckily she was wearing a helmet. Yesterday was the first time she'd been on a bike since then. One other highlight of the year for me was helping coach Jackson's 4th grade football team last fall.

So back to the present. I had a good run today. I went out for around 1.5 hrs on the Wyco trails. I'm guessing around 9 miles. Felt decent actually. I rolled my ankle on the 1st playing basketball so I had my left ankle taped. I started out slow and took it easy on the downhills. It didn't bother me too much.
I've actually been out on the bike a decent bit due to the good weather we've been having. Once it gets below freezing I'd rather just go for a run. I'd really like to get a pair of winter mountain bike s shoes. Yesterday(1-3) I went out for a ride on the singlespeed. I left wearing shorts and by the time I got back the temp had dropped probably 20 degrees. Crazy weather!
I've been playing chess and doing some art as well. This is a charcoal drawing of a buck that was harvested last fall by a friend. He got to spend the holidays in Afghanistan.

Red Fang

2008-11-22T20:52:00.001-08:00

Veteran's day 4 miler

2008-11-09T20:25:00.000-08:00

I didn't run it this year. I helped out by directing runners on the course and freezing my butt off while riding my bike around. I didn't know it was only like 30 degrees until I was already out the door. Brrr! Hedgehog hill is one of the prettiest spots in the entire park. I wonder if the maples on the hill are native or if they were planted and spread on their own. Juraj (Euro) won easily in 31 min and change.
My motivation to train has been waning lately. Darkness at 5:30 doesn't help. I need a kick in the ass.

Pawpaw patch!

2008-10-27T20:25:00.001-07:00

Pawpaw season is over now, but there was a bumper crop in the woods this year. If you don't know what a pawpaw is, click HERE. I even made some pawpaw and walnut cookies. The pawpaw trees are turning a beautiful yellow right now. I'm going to save the seeds from the fruit I collected and sow them in the spring, so hopefully I'll have some trees to plant and sell next year.

Way behind.

2008-08-24T21:22:00.000-07:00

I'm way behind on the blog, but here's a shot of me and Ben on Mt Bierstadt. Cody called me earlier totell me that he just climbed Pike's Peak on the Barr trail. He said he saw Matt Carpenter when he was headed down. MC was running UP the golden staircase. I saw that he won this years Pikes marathon in 3:36. Wow! I think that it's pretty stupid that people thought it was a good idea to cut a road to the summit. I need to post some more pics from this trip as well as from the Leadville 100 run. Soon.

Lunar Trek 20 mile

2008-07-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pics from the Lunar trek in Scandia KS. I was a pretty cool race actually. Neat farm roads out in the middle of nowhere. I wish the sky would have been clear so we could see the stars, but it was still bright enough that I barely had to use my headlamp. My plan was to try to run it in 3 hrs. The first half went perfect-10 miles in 1:30. Not lon g after the turnaround I began to realize that eating a thickburger with fries a little over two hrs before a long run isn't a good idea. The humidity and the course conditions(mud) made it harder than it should have been as well. I got a bit behind on electrolytes and fluids and really slowed the last 5 miles. Finished in 3:26. Much slower than my goal, but it was a good time regardless. I even got to spend the night in Caleb's hometown before heading to Colorado (pics and story soon).

Psummer Psycho 15 miler

2008-07-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to writing a race report after a little over a week. The whole lead up to the race this year was very exhausting. I didn't even try to keep track of how many hours I was out working on the course. Not to complain though, I like it. Anyway, I've had too many irons in the fire lately to do anything resembling a long run so I opted to do the 15 mile instead of the 50k. The first loop is always the most fun, right? One problem was that the day before the race was the 4th of July. I opted to have fun instead of rest and drink water like I should have been doing. That is probably why my 15 mile loop was more like 50k pace. I finished in 2:38. Not what I was hoping for, but Oh well. It was fun hanging out and supporting finishing runners afterwards instead of killing myself on a second loop. Maybe I'm just a wimp, I don't know. One thing that did make me really mad was when a skinny girl with red hair went flying by me at Pat's aid station. For a second I got pissed and was going to chase her ass down. So I stopped to top off my bottle real quick. When I looked up she was already at the top of the paved hill out of the aid station. At that point I forgot what I was thinking about so I just decided to go my own pace to the finish.

Jackson and Josie both ran the 5k along with Jackson's friend Austin. I think it was an awesome race with tons of happy finishers. Lots of cool race reports too. Check some of them out on BadBen's Blog

Also Big Congrats to Tony Clark 50k winner 4:33 (Tony ran Bighorn 100 two weeks previous) ! Close to Wynn Davis' CR. I'm not sure if the course change made it easier or harder. For me I'd have to say that singletrack is easier even if it did add another significant hill.

Next up for me is the Lunar Trek 20 miler on the 18th. It looks like we're getting a gang together to head out to the Leadville 100 . I've never been to the run so it should be cool.

Summer Intro 5k

2008-06-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

We had a good race today. It took quite a bit of work to get the course ready for race day and it was a bit short, but I think it's a sweet loop that will be fun to train on as well. I had a decent race . Definitely shoulda started a bit easier. I ran the first mile in 4th and then I blew up. I couldn't smoke the long downhill like I wanted because I was still trying to recover from the hills. I think I finished 8th or 9th in 19:25. Some dude tried to blow by me at the finish, but he got shut down.
Jackson and his friend Austin both ran the race and they were talking about doing the 15 mile Psummer Psycho so they can get a medal.
I had to go to work after, but some of the Nerds went to work on the Psummer Psycho course. I get out there and do some work soon.

Awesome

2008-06-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

This picture is awesome. It gives me goosebumps. It's Greg LeMond winning the 1989 World Championships...in the rain. Ran the course for next Saturdays summer intro race today. It's a good course with a sweet fast finish. When I was almost back home the cold front rolled in and it felt like someone cranked up the A/C, or would you crank it down? Whatever, it got cold. I saw an owl today too.

Shrooms

2008-06-14T19:52:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of lovely mushroom pics. Morels and oysters. I also recently found a nice batch of suphur shelf(picture soon) mushrooms. All are edible and delicious.For more info on edible mushrooms check out americanmushrooms.com The running and riding is going okay. Next Saturday(6/21) is the summer intro trail race at Wyco lake. We've decided to do a 5k run this year and we've blazed some new trails so it should be an awesome course. Correction: It is an awesome course.

Haiku

2008-05-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

twenty one vultures
in a tree they sit and wait
for something to die

TTAS- #2 amended

2008-04-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

I can't figure out how to make the email from bonkhardracing readable and I can't find it on their site. What I was saying is how ridiculous I find it that people actually lost their canoes during this race. People who won even donated their winnings back to help pay for the canoes. I wouldn't have. Getting some money back in the form of prize money is the only way these races are worth doing. I understand the logistics and equipment needed to execute a race, but the cost is just way too high for me to be able to enjoy it and crap like that is just going to make entry fees higher. The jerks with no canoe skills should pay for the canoes they lost. It shouldn't be up to other people to cover their asses. When Kyle and I did Berryman a couple years ago ( we got 2nd) we practiced canoe entry and rescue techniques and practiced paddling together. Pretty dumb to go into something like that without any idea of what you're doing. I lost a good friend to a canoe accident a few years ago, so it strikes a sour note with me.

Things that are funny- #1

2008-04-18T17:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a little piece about climbing Everest that I found on Jason's blog . Go HERE to read it.

Things that are stupid- #2

2008-04-18T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've attached this entire email for your viewing pleasure. How in God's name can you lose your canoe in Kansas? There are no rapids. Wouldn't you think people who are entered in an Adventure race would have been in a canoe before? Kyle and I practiced entering the canoe from the water with only one person in the boat before we did Berryman the last time. Trust me, someone can get in a canoe without capsizing it. You can also get back even if you have capsized. For God's sake people, read a book. I think that there should be some sort of qualifications necessary for races like this. I had a good friend die in a canoeing accident. It's not funny.

BONK HARD RACING NEWSLETTER

Adventure Racing News & Updates

APRIL 2008

In This Issue

Sunflower 24-Hour

Mighty MO Expedition

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SUNFLOWER 12/24 HOUR :: RACE RECAP

Racers from all over the Midwest (and as far away as Arizona and New York) made their way into Lawrence, Kansas on Friday, March 28th to check-in for either the 50 mile 12-Hour course or the approximate 100-mile 24-Hour course.

At the pre-race meeting, 24-Hour racers were relieved to hear that, for once, they started an hour AFTER the 12-Hour racers, who were scheduled to start the race at 7AM the next morning. That's when, what some might say, the fun began. That's where we say, one heck of an adventure began!

12-Hour racers started at 7AM, and had a short road run to a boat ramp in Clinton State Park to start a 5.5 mile canoeing leg of the race. As teams got into their canoes at the boat ramp, on the back side of a ridge, everything appeared to be fine. Windy, but fine. As these racers paddled around the side of the ridge, the winds really started picking up!

Teams were paddling head-on into high winds that were creating some serious whitecaps at this point, and every whitecap that they went through splashed water in their canoe. As this water added up in the canoe, any slight movement would cause the water to "slosh" back and forth, and for some, it eventually capsized their canoe.

We have had a pretty rough winter here in the Midwest, and the water temperatures at the time of the race were in the low to mid-forties. As team's canoes were capsizing, and racers were floating in the middle of Clinton Lake in the beginning stages of hypothermia, there were a few events that took place that morning that I will not soon forget:

1. RACERS HELPING RACERS. Teams that were lucky enough to keep their canoe up-right in the lake realized that this was a serious situation, and that the racers in the water needed to get out of the water...fast. As racers that were still upright were trying to rescue the capsized racers, they soon realized that they couldn't pull them out of the water without tipping their own canoes. So, after some quick thinking by a group of racers led by Adam Manninen, they decided to "link" the canoes together to create more stability. By using this technique, they were able to get a lot of the racers out of the water and paddle them to the shore! Adventure racers are truly amazing, and even though you are in a race, you are always looking out for others.

2. LAWRENCE AREA EMERGENCY SERVICES' RESPONSE TIME AND RESCUES. A number of emergency services from the Lawrence area responded to a number of 911 calls from racers in the lake. It was amazing how well the system works! It was very obvious that all of these medical and rescue organizations have trained a lot of hours for situations like this. Their response time was unbelievable, and within a few short minutes, boats were in the water. I would like to thank the following organizations for their quick response and rescue efforts:

- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

- Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks

- Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical

- Kanwaka Fire Department

- Douglas County Sheriffs Office

Thanks to everyone that helped in this situation!

3. HENRY'S COFFEE HOUSE AND THE FLAMING MONKEYS. Henry's Coffee House, a team in the 12-Hour division, was leading the race as they came off of the canoeing leg on Clinton Lake. They were one of the few teams that actually made it to CP1, on the other side of the lake that took them headfirst into strong winds.

Henry's Coffee House was made up of two local racers, John Dines of Eudora, KS and Steve Weaver of Lawrence. As they pulled into CP2, the canoe take-out point, Steve decided that staying in first place in the race wasn't the most important thing at that point in time. Steve is a member of the Lawrence Fire Department, and instead of continuing on leading the race, he decided it would be best if he helped with the rescue efforts taking place on Clinton Lake!

Just as impressive as that selfless act by Henry's Coffee House, the team Flaming Monkeys, who made the trip in all the way from Colorado, had made it to the finish line of the 12-Hour course first. Instead of crossing the finish line and being declared the winners of the race, they decided to wait on the 2nd place team to join them. None other than Henry's Coffee House! They both crossed the finish line in a tie for first place!

The acts of these two teams, as well as the other teams who helped rescue people out of the lake and into their canoes, are the reason why I love adventure racers. It's what separates adventure racers from athletes in other sports. I have seen, as a race director over the past 4 years, similar acts of kindness and disregard for oneself during races. I personally don't know of any other sport in which people help one another during the heat of competition like they do in adventure racing, and that is one of the reasons why adventure racing is the greatest sport on Earth.

Once all of the excitement from the Clinton Lake Debacle, as it known in the Elsenraat household, had subsided, and everyone was accounted for and safe, the race did go on. And it turned out to be one heck of a great race!

Teams completed an Orienteering course in Clinton State Park, rappelled off of a 10-story building, did an Orienteering course on the beautiful Kansas University campus, rode some fast, smooth singletrack and 24-Hour racers also did an orienteering course at the Baker Wetlands and paddled the Kansas River later on in the race. To top it all off, everyone in the race got a free donut at Muncher's Bakery during the race! Despite the high winds and capsizing canoes on Clinton Lake, it turned out to be a fantastic adventure for all!

Because of the canoe situation on Clinton Lake, 24-Hour racers were short-coursed. A paddling and trekking section at Clinton Lake were removed from their course. A huge congratulations goes to Ryan Slebos & James Kaufman of the 2-Person team INERTIA, the overall winner of the 24-Hour course, as well as WEDALI, the first 4-Person team to cross the finish line and 2nd Place Overall, and Alpine Shop, the 2nd Place 4-Person team and 3rd Place team overall.

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

24-Hour :: Overall Results:

1. INERTIA - 11:27

2. WEDALI - 11:45

3. Alpine Shop - 12:10

4. Dynamic Earth - 12:37

5. Columbia Multisport Club - 13:38

6. Team Subaru - 14:23

7. Proformance Therapy - 15:19

8. Off-Road Fixation - 16:43

9. Team Torti - 19:49

10. Ain't Skeered - 21:18

12-Hour :: Overall Results:

1 (tie). Flaming Monkeys - 8:21

1 (tie). Henry's Coffee House - 8:21

3. Wichita Mudskunks - 9:30

4. Krasnovian Cat Herders - 9:38

5. K.inetic E.nergy - 10:02

6. Advengineers - 10:03

7. Lost But Found - 8:28*

8. The No Tow Zone - 8:56*

9 (tie). Blazing Saddles - 9:13*

9 (tie). Team Sisu - 9:13*

* Shortened paddle.

Congratulations to ALL the teams that came and participated in the Sunflower 12 & 24-Hour adventure races!

Bonk Hard Racing would like to thank all the companies that sponsored the 2008 Sunflower Adventure Races:

Sunflower Outdoor & Bike

MyTopo.com

Zanfel

We would also like to thank Kent Saturday of Rescue 360, for once again setting up and organzing a fantastic ropes course at the race!

Last but definitely not least, a very special thank you to all of the volunteers that came and spent the weekend with us, and made the race possible! With the Clinton Lake Debacle and course re-routing during the race, it wouldn't have been possible without you! Your help is VERY appreciated by us and all of the racers who attended!

OFFICIAL RESULTS

2008 PHOTOS (taken by David Shultz, volunteer)

Rappelling off of Naismith Hall, a 10-story residence hall at Kansas University.

Greetings! Welcome to the Bonk Hard Racing Monthly Newsletter! Our newsletters are full of great information on upcoming Bonk Hard Races, as well as other information about adventure racing and off-road events throughout the Midwest. Just one way we like to keep you informed and off the couch this year!

THE DIRTY DUO

GRAB A BUDDY AND PREPARE TO GET DIRTY!

We have moved the location of the 2008 Dirty Duo to one of the most popular parks in the K.C. metro, Shawnee Mission Park. With miles of paved biking and running trails in the park (and miles of single track trails for that matter), Shawnee Mission Park is a fantastic venue for the upcoming Dirty Duo race!

You will not want to miss the 2nd running of this 6-mile race in which teams of two alternate between biking and running. Along the way, about every mile apart, racers will complete fun obstacles before continuing. Here is how the race works:

One team member starts out biking while the other starts out running. Unless you choose to stay together, the biker will be far ahead of the runner and make it to obstacle #1 first. At the obstacle the biker drops the bike, does the mystery event and takes off running. Once the runner gets there, they do the obstacle, find the bike and take off biking. They will pass the runner and arrive at obstacle #2 first, dropping the bike, doing the obstacle and taking off running. You continue "leap-frogging" like this to the finish. There are 5 obstacles that each team member will do and transition from running to biking or biking to running. At the end the biker will wait on the runner to catch up and both teammates will crawl through a big, gnarly mudpit on their way to the finish line!

The Dirty Duo is open to teams of two and are based on gender and the total age of the two racers. There is also a Clydesdale division (both racers must be 200+ lbs.), a Parent / Kid division and a Masters divsion (total team age must be over 100 years).

Want to get the little ones involved? We are offering a 1-mile shortened version of the course, called the DIRTY DUO JR, where kids between the ages of 5 - 10 can participate in the race and crawl through the big mud pit at the end. Every kids dream!

** Bonk Hard Racing is extending early registration for one week! You now have until April 25th to sign up at this discounted rate. What are you waiting for? Grab a buddy and register today!

WHAT: A super-fun 6 mile race where teams of two alternate between biking and running (or walking) throughout the course. Along the way, you will complete fun obstacles...the last one being a big mud pit!

WHERE: Shawnee Mission Park (Kansas City metro)

WHEN: June 21, 2008

FORMAT: 2-person teams only

To learn more about THE DIRTY DUO (like a course map, how to register and directions to the park) visit THE DIRTY DUO website.

TODD & KAREN HOLTMANN, WEDALI & THE CLINTON LAKE DEBACLE

Todd & Karen Holtmann of Team Subaru / Race St. Louis

** NOTE: Before reading this, you should read the Sunflower 12/24-Hour Race Recap to the left.

Although all of the 12-Hour racers that capsized during the Sunflower Adventure Race in Lawrence were okay, a part of the Clinton Lake Debacle saw 6 canoes lost in the lake. As racers were getting rescued, there was no other choice but to leave the canoes in the lake. A guy named Chris Santora, owner of Mountain Creek Campground & Canoes near Lebanon, MO, provided canoes for the Sunflower 12 & 24-Hour adventure races. Something that a lot of people may not know is that Chris and Mountain Creek were a last minute fill-in to provide canoes at the race, because the outfitter that we normally use was COMPLETELY flooded with all of the rains that Southern Missouri has seen this Spring. It seemed like a relatively easy task for Chris though, who is originally from the Kansas City area, and he agreed to transport 40 canoes over 4 hours to the race in Lawrence, KS. Little did he (or anyone else for that matter) know what the weekend had in store for the racers and Chris' canoes.

Not only did 6 canoes end up floating away in Clinton Lake, 2 more canoes were later lost on the banks of the Kansas River on Saturday night. We were now up to 8 canoes lost in all. Mountain Creek Campground and Canoe Rental is a fairly new venture for Chris and his wife Laura. They took the property over less than 3 years ago, and are still trying to establish themselves in the competitive campground and canoe outfitting market on the Niangua River. The last thing they needed was to lose 8 canoes out of their inventory at an adventure race in Kansas.

Chris left Lawrence on Sunday morning, after the race had concluded, with 8 less canoes than he came up with. After checking with both Mountain Creek's insurance company and Bonk Hard Racing's event insurance, neither of the insurance coverages were going to replace the cost of the lost canoes. This really left Chris (and us!) in a bind. On top of all of that, his campground was getting flooded for a second time the week after the race. I promised Chris that we would put into effect Operation Canoe Rescue on Clinton Lake and the Kansas River. And so we did.

The Wednesday after the race Laura and I had decided we were going to rent a boat on Clinton Lake and search for some of the lost canoes. My mom, as a lot of you probably know from meeting her at past races, is always one that is willing to help us out...no matter the situation. So, I wasn't overly surpised really to have a knock on my door at 7AM on Wednesday morning and have my mom looking at me through the screen door saying, "I'm ready to help find canoes." She had gotten up at 3:30AM that morning in Hermann, MO (where I grew up and they currently live) to drive up to Kansas and help us out. Good thing she did, because the day definitely required the work of three people!

My mom, Larua and I setting out on Operation Canoe Rescue.

So, at Clinton Lake with a rented boat, the three of us set out on Operation Canoe Rescue. For those of you that don't know, Clinton Lake is rather large. There are about 85 miles of shoreline on Clinton Lake, and we set out in a boat that wasn't much larger than the canoes we were looking for. I knew it was going to be a long day, and I knew we would be very lucky to find any canoes four days after the Clinton Lake Debacle actually occurred. But none-the-less we set out looking to find some.

After the first hour of pounding our way through the waves (it was another very windy day on Clinton Lake), I was started to get discouraged and it really started setting in that there is a good chance that we weren't going to find any canoes. As I was thinking of how I was going to repay Chris for a minimum of 6 lost canoes (we were pretty confident at the time that we could find the 2 canoes on the Kansas River), I heard Laura yell (at the top of her lungs which almost scared my mom out of the boat), "CANOE! CANOE! I SEE A CANOE!" Sure enough, there was a beautiful, shiny aluminum object on the north shorth bank of Clinton Lake, and it sure looked a lot like a canoe!

As we got closer, we realized that it was indeed a canoe. The canoe had washed up onto the bank and it was full of water. It was on a rocky section of the lake, and so we decided that it was safe where it was for now, and we made a mental note of its location and continued our search for more canoes with the plan of coming back to get it later in the day. We really wanted to find as many canoes as possible, and then come up with a plan for getting them out of the water and off the shore.

So we continued on. Our spirits were high at this point, but after about another 60 minutes of searching without seeing another canoe, I went back to thinking about how I was going to repay Chris for at least 5 lost canoes. Again, about at the point of losing hope of finding more canoes, eagle-eye Laura yells again, "ANOTHER CANOE!", pointing at the banks ahead of us. This is when it got fun. About 6 to 7 miles away from where racers where capsizing in their canoes, we ended up finding 3 more canoes on the shoreline at the very back end of the lake!

After all day of getting the rented boat to the shore (Clinton Lake has a very rocky shorline), bailing water out of the canoes and paddling or towing them to the nearest boat ramp, we were spent. It had been a very, very long day. The sun was on its way down and we had to pick up our daughter, Josie, in less than an hour and a half from daycare. So, after much debate, our plan was to get the three canoes that were the furthest away to the nearest boat ramp, hide them deep in the overgrown brush were no one could see them (or mess with them) until the next morning, and then go bail the water out of the first canoe that we found and haul it back to the marina, load it in Rusty (our work truck that is aptly named) and haul it back to KC. So, that's what we did.

The next morning (it should be noted that my mom stayed with us that night and again set the alarm for 3:30AM so she could make it back to work in time that next day), I hopped back in Rusty and returned to Lawrence to get the three canoes from the overgrown brush by the boat ramp. On the way up there, I called Chris at Mountain Creek and told him the good news. He was very, very happy to hear that there was a good chance that he would be getting 6 of his 8 lost canoes back (4 found on Clinton Lake and the 2 on the Kansas River which I planned on getting that day).

When I arrived at the boat ramp and walked back into the brushy area where we left the canoes...I didn't see anything except overgrown brush and three matted down areas. I should have seen overgrown brush and three matted down areas with three big, beautiful shiny objects in them, but there were no shiny objects there. The canoes had been taken (which is just a nice way of saying stolen). I couldn't believe it. After making all of the necessary phone calls to the local authorities and filing a report, I was told that there was a very good chance that I would never see those canoes again.

At that point I almost started laughing and said, "DUH!" The Clinton Lake Debacle went from very bad (canoes capsizing during the race) to much better (finding four canoes in the lake) to "you've gotta be freakin' kiddin' me" (3 of those 4 canoes were stolen)! So, I had to do it. I had to call Chris (an hour after I told him there was a good chance of getting 6 of his 8 canoes back) and tell him that three of them were stolen. At this point in time, Chris's campground was completely flooded. His campground store was underwater. There was water 2 measly feet from going into his house! When I told him that the three canoes at the boat ramp were stolen, he sounded as if this didn't even surprise him at this point. He just said, after a very long pause, "That really sucks, man."

So, the only thing left to do is to go and get the 2 canoes off of the Kansas River. The team that left the canoes there had emailed me a Google Earth image of where they thought they left the canoes. I hadn't quite come up with a plan yet on how I was going to get the canoes out of there (I was hoping that I might be able to carry them to the nearest road where I planned on parking.) So, I found the closest spot to park and set off down some railroad tracks to this tributary where the canoes were located. I found the tributary, and walked up and down it three different times looking for the 2 canoes that were left there. Never found them. Ever. (Even the team that left them there went and looked for them that weekend with no luck.)

So, earlier that morning I called Chris and told him there was a good chance that we would get 6 of his 8 canoes back. Then I called him and told him that 3 canoes were stolen, so we were looking at getting 3 of his 8 canoes back. I couldn't get myself to call him that evening and tell him that we have 1 of his 8 canoes. That call had to wait until the next day.

At this point in time, Laura and I were pretty down on humanity. Who could have the means to carry those 2 canoes out of that tributary? Who could have even seen them there? How did someone haul off 3 canoes from Clinton Lake?

The weekend went by and on Sunday we received a call from Todd & Karen Holtmann. We have become friends with Todd & Karen through adventure racing, and they have even let us stay at their house while we organized the Castlewood 8-Hour. They were asking about the canoe situation. At the time, I thought it was just a friendly call to check on the status of the canoes. Turns out, it was a lot more than that.

A few days later, we received another call from Todd & Karen. They called to inform us that they had created a page on their website, ARMonkey.com, in which people could donate money to help pay for the lost canoes! Laura and I couldn't believe it! At a time when we were down-and-out by the huge burden of paying for these canoes, and with taxes due in a couple of weeks, you have people like Todd and Karen Holtmann. That was one of the nicest things that anyone had ever done for us! Not only that, but when they called, they said that they had already received over $1,500 worth of donations! We seriously couldn't believe it. The website collected donations for another week, and by-the-time it was all said and done, their donation page collected over $2,700!!!!

In addition, team WEDALI, who won the 24-Hour 4-Person elite division at the race and won $1000...they donated the entire $1000 back to us through the canoe donation page!

Todd & Karen, Scott Lund, Justin Bakken, Molly Moilanen and Scott Erlandson (all of WEDALI), thank you so much for this. You have helped us out tremendously, and you kindness will never be forgotten!

There are plenty of more people to thank as well. Everyone that donated to the canoe fund, Laura and I say "thank you, from the bottom of our hearts." If it wasn't for your donations and help...I'm not sure what we would have done.

Like I said in the Sunflower race recap (to the left), can you seriously get a better group of people than adventure racers?

ALL OF THE TEAM WEDALI AT THE USARA ADVENTURE RACING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN FLORIDA.

We hope you enjoyed our Monthly Newsletter, and we hope to see you all at some upcoming races!

Sincerely,

Jason & Laura
Bonk Hard Racing, LLC

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Word of the day

2008-04-14T21:41:00.001-07:00

I learned a new word today. The word is Fupa. I'd never even heard this word before today, but apparently it's quite a phenomenon. For more info go HERE.

Things that are stupid- #1

2008-04-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start a new blog project. Every time I encounter something that is noteworthably stupid I will chronicle it here. So here is #1.

Paying money to enter a race and then plugging your earphones in and cranking up the Kanye West and ignoring everyone. What's the point? If you want to be a standoffish A-hole you can do that anytime for free. I like when I say something ( Hi or On your Left or How's it going or whatever) to someone during a race who has their phones in and they have to take one out and say "What?" To which I reply "Never mind."
Exception- If you are running an ultra and will be spending hours alone and music helps you to pass the time then earphones are acceptable.

Tagged

2008-04-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by "BadBen" to play a little game called "six word memoir".

Here are the rules:
1) Write your own six word memoir
2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4) Tag at least five more blogs with links
5) Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

Here is my six word memoir:

"The seasons change, so do I."

So tag onward! Sorry folks, but I tagged..... Rick Mayo, Gabe, Paul Sidwell, Cameron Chambers, Chris Locke, Ben Reeves.

Commute

2008-03-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

commute
Find more Bike Rides in Kansas City, Kansas I didn't have to take Julie to the Mother in Laws yesterday, so I rode my bike to work. I was still a bit under the weather and bascally felt like crap, but commuting by bike is an easy way to get some riding in. You're riding instead of driving. It's like magic, but not. This is a map of my commute. I'll probably start taking some longer routes home as the weather improves and I feel less crappy. Happy trails!

Blah.

2008-03-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

Haven't felt like posting much lately. To be honest I don't know why I'm posting this. Bored, I guess. Haven't felt like running much lately either. Had a shitty race at Red Bridge. I didn;t feel 100% before the race, but I shoulda been able to run a lot better than I did. Ipretty much quit after 2-3 miles. My shin was killing me and I couldnt really hold the pace that Stuart and Gabe were setting. I had more fun setting the course the day before and we raised about $250 for the trails so that was a good thing.
The last two weeks I've had a bout of some kind of stomach bug and now I have a cold. Pretty much a crappy last two weeks for me without much running or riding and I don't really care. I don't really know what my problem is, but I'm in a funk.
Here are a few pictures that I took the day before Red Bridge Ramble.

map

2008-03-07T22:34:00.000-08:00

15 from wyco lake
Find more Bike Rides in Kansas City, Kansas Just trying this out. This is the ride I did last Sunday. Super windy. First half is hilly and the second half is pretty flat.

Nice weather................NOT!

2008-03-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Nice blizzard this morning and now it's 14 degrees. I thought spring was almost here. Pretty nice run on Thursday night. Had a group of 6. The main trail was a mess so we ran a little road and the Debacle section at Wyco. This section is always in good shape even when the main trail is a quagmire. We ran for a little over an hour so probably a good six miles. Did a little recon for a possible summer 5k trail race while we were out there. The course will most likely be a two loop 5k. Very runnable and faster than the usual Wyco course. Planning on helping mark the Red Bridge Ramble course tomorrow afternoon with Ben. Should be a fun one.

It's Cold again.

2008-03-04T22:02:00.000-08:00

Got in a short road ride on Sunday in the wind ( 1 hour- computer batteries died so I don't know the distance, but I'm guessing only 15-16 miles). My legs really burned from my dehydrated long run on Saturday. The headwinds were pretty extreme while going with the wind I could go 30 mph without much effort...then it got cold and rainy and the temp dropped about 30 degrees. Ran for about 50 min today with some hill repeats-now my right shin hurts a little. I hope it's temporary.

I found a pretty funny blog post about how to be popular. It's a biking blog, but it could work for running too with a little modification. Read it HERE. It may seem like a long list, but the reason that I'm so cool today is because of the time that I was carrying an ace wrap in my pack. Ask BadBen about it sometime.

Note: I would consider the Ace wrap to be part of a running "What to Bring" list.

Hot weather?

2008-03-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

Ran the Psummer Psycho loop yesterday(15 miles-3 hrs). I have no idea why. It was super muddy and hot. Ran out of water after about 10 miles and the hydrants are still shut off. Slowed way down the last 4-5 miles. It's strange how hot 65 degrees can feel after a winter of frozen runs. It's 70 degrees now. Think I'll go for a ride.

Snow and Solitude

2008-02-24T16:52:00.000-08:00

I was lazy and missed the group run this morning, though by the looks of the tracks, it was a small group, so I went out at about 11 a.m. Here are a few pics. Decided to go for a bike ride this evening too. About half of the road around the lake is still snow covered. Tough to stay upright and keep moving in the slushy stuff.

KC Track Club Dinner and the PCT50

2008-02-16T21:27:00.000-08:00

Just got home from a nice dinner courtesy of the KC Track Club. I felt honored to be recognized along with the other Trail Nerds for our work on Psycho Wyco 50k as well as our TRAIL SERIES. And I just signed up for the PCT50 -should be an awesome time.

Office Space Flare - Part 1

2008-02-15T15:34:00.001-08:00

Kyle brought me back some nice flair from Rocky Raccoon. I'm not sure if the Trail Nerds have a rule about flair. Went running yesterday for the first time since the 50k last Saturday. Right IT band it still really sore on the downhills. I'm gonna have to work on it a bit. Just got back from a short ride and the knee felt ok. The Xcal needs a few upgrades, but I really like the way it rides. I've spent a little time reading blogs from the Arrowhead 135 the last few days. Very intriguing. I'm kind of a wuss in the cold though.

Psycho Wyco Race Report

2008-02-11T19:49:00.000-08:00

As far as Psycho Wyco goes, I think it's safe to say that I had a terrible day. I started off at what felt like a mellow pace. The course conditions were better than I had expected them to be early on. I was running with Mark Koester for about the first five miles. I felt a bit off, but I thought I would loosen up a bit as the race progressed. I felt like I wasn't warmed up even after an hour. Like when you start a run and your breathing is a bit labored and you're muscles are still a little tight. Not really what I had in mind. So I dropped my pace a bit to see if I could work it out. I couldn't. My first loop was about a 1:52 and change. That wasn't a horrible time, but I seriously considered dropping at this point because I felt as if I'd already done two loops instead of one.

Brandy was helping at the aid station and told me to just keep going so I started walking across goose flats to begin the second loop. Burger caught up to me here and we started talking about feeling sorry for ourselves because we weren't doing as well as we'd hoped. I decided to just suck it up and do the second loop. So Greg and I ran together and actually passed a few people back. When we got to Fester's Wander I started to feel pretty crappy again and that was the last I saw of Greg. I caught up to Keith Dowell around this time. He was favoring one leg and said he was going to drop after this loop. I had some of James Barker's kickass chicken noodle soup at the shelter 10 aid station and that made me feel a little better. I did realize that this was the first time I'd bothered to stop and eat any soup during the three times that I've done the 50k here. I trudged onward and came in with a lap time of around 2:18? which put me at around 4:10 cumulative time for two loops. A bit depressing because last year I was way ahead of that ime and actually still felt pretty good- with similar training leading up to the race.

I drank a little coffee and ate a bit while at the aid station. I think I was joking at the time because knew what he would say, but I asked BadBen if I should just take a 20 mile finish and call it a day. I'm not sure if I would have quit if he would have told me it was okay.
So on to the third loop. I was actually feeling decent until my IT band in my right leg started to tighten up like a sonovagun. I actually had to walk DOWN a couple of hills. I stopped a couple of times to try and stretch it, which did help a bit. Once I got through Fester's Slip-and-Slide for the third time I could smell the finish and was able to lift my pace a bit for the last few miles and pass a few people, which feels good no matter how bad of a race you've had. The unofficial results have my finish time as 6:40, which gave me a 3rd loop split of around 2:27. Almost an hour slower than last year. Doh! I thought the MUD would slow everyone down, but I guess I was wrong. A bunch of people ran fast times and Caleb's course record was broken so what do I know.

I am happy that I finished though. It was a real mental struggle because I knew during the first hour of the race that I was definitely OFF and was going to have a crappy time, but I stuck it out and I have to give Greg a lot of credit for the company and encouragement on that second loop.

As far as nutrition I ate gels and Clif BLoks. The bloks always seem to taste good. I used Endurolytes on a time schedule and took a couple of S-caps late in the race when I started to feel a little cramping coming on. Also the soup was good!

I'm also very proud of my son Jackson, who ran the 10 mile event, my high school football teammate Steve King, who ran 20 miles and all of the Trail Nerds who ran their first ultra. You know who you are.

A final thanks goes out to RD Bad Ben, everyone who helped with course work, all of the race day volunteers and everyone else who came out to run in the MUD!

Psycho course marking

2008-02-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

I went out yesterday and got about 3 more miles of the course marked for Psycho Wyco. There was one spot near the bottom of what is known as speed demon ridge where some flags and ribbon had been moved. The offenders also left about 4 or 5 beer cans ( Note to flag movers: Karma's gonna get ya) Anyway, I moved them back and finished marking through Fester's Wander. After that, I went out to Ted's Montana grill with the family for Fat Tuesday.
After a little sledding this afternoon I went up to Tiffany Springs tonight to run a few easy miles. Nobody else showed and since I forgot my light and my dog I just went home. Oh well.
Congrats to all who finished Rocky Raccoon. Check out Gabe's Blog for a detailed race report. Now I wish I would have ran the 50 down there so I could skip the mud this weekend. Waaaah!

Psycho Pstuff

2008-02-03T20:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I got in 16 days of running in January along with a few hikes doing course cleanup and marking. I also got out on the bike a few times when the weather was decent. Mark K., Emily and Beth showed up this morning and we got in around 6 easy miles while marking the course for next Saturdays race. I feel like I'm definitely lacking in the long run dept. , but I'm better off than I was for Psummer Psycho so I should be fine for the 50k. If the course conditions are good I think I might be able to improve my on my time of 5:48 from last year. It's supposed to be warm this week so hopefully the course will dry out a bit. The rain today sure didn't help.
Rocky Raccoon: I know Kyle and Tony Clark finished RR100 in 18:14?!!!, but I haven't heard about anyone else. Kyle did say that everyone was still on the course so hopefully everyone's races went well. We'll find out soon.
Gear: I recently bought a spray skirt for my kayak at kcpaddler. It's a Seal skirt tropical tour model. I also got a bilge pump and paddle float so I can practice my self rescue techniques when the water warms up.

World Record

2008-01-28T21:58:00.000-08:00

This is good stuff. I remember buying the Guinness Book of World Records at the book fair in elementary school and I most definitely remember THIS.

Cyclocross Worlds and other stuff

2008-01-27T18:12:00.000-08:00

Lars Boom won the cyclocross world championships today in Treviso, Italy. The Americans didn't do great, but they didn't do bad either. Jonathan Page was the highest placed American in 23rd.

I went out to the KC ice bowl disc golf tourney with my brother and two cousins. It turned out to be a real clusterfrig. It was way too crowded and there was a big logjam on hole one so we got in behind a couple groups at hole 5. When we were getting set to throw some asshole said there was no jumping in and that we had to start a hole 1. I told him that we'd been waiting for like 20 minutes already and we were going to throw. He didn't say anything else, but I was already kinda mad. There's just no reason to act like a dick about stuff like that. When we got back around to hole 2 there were like 10 groups in line. I didn't even want to finish the first round, let alone the second round of nine holes. Luckily Kyle came to the rescue. He and Caleb were going to work on marking the Psycho Wyco course so he stopped by Rosedale park and picked me up. I think we got about three miles worth of the loop marked.

MLK day

2008-01-26T21:51:00.000-08:00

Last Monday was MLK day. I'm reading the book Bowerman and the Men of Oregon right now and just read a chapter about the issues black athletes faced in the late 60's when he was assassinated. This year was the 40th anniversary of his death.
Anyway I had the day off and the weather was decent so I got in a good long run at Wyco - long for me any way (4hours). So after that I showered, ate, and drank a pot of coffee before hopping in BadBen's Element, along with Kyle and Caleb, for the jaunt out to Willie Lambert's Great Plains Running Co. in Topeka. If you need trailrunning gear it's worth the trip from KC to check out his store. I even won the raffle for a pair of new Montrail Streaks. I hope they come in Brown.
This MLK day also marked the 2nd anniversary of the construction of the infamous Wyandotte Triangle trail section on the Psycho Wyco race course.
I got in a good 7 mile run in the slush today. Even ran into Stuart Johnson, who was finishing up his run.
One more thing. On Thursday I cut my run short so I could go see No Country for Old Men. Definitely worth going to see. I think I'll read the book as well when I get the chance.

Cool Bikes.

2008-01-14T20:50:00.000-08:00

Check out this blog from endurance cyclist Mike Curiak. He rides some sweet machines. Click HERE.

How to prune trees

2008-01-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

This is some good material to read before doing trail work. You don't want to leave mutilated wounds on trees that won't heal over and invite disease. When you prune a limb off of a tree you want to cut it off at the branch collar. In other words, not completely flush, but nearly so. Pruning a limb extremely close to the trunk creates a larger wound than necessary. Leaving a big stub, in addition to looking stupid, won't heal over correctly and will probably cause disease and wood rot. Check out this link for a photo and more detail.

Dear Abby

2008-01-06T09:04:00.000-08:00

Dear Abby,
My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the beginning, and, when I confront him, he denies everything. What’s worse, everyone knows that he cheats on me. It is so humiliating.

Also, since he lost his job six years ago, he hasn’t even looked for a new one. All he does all day is smoke cigars, cruise around and bullshit with his buddies while I have to work to pay the bills. Since our daughter went away to college he doesn’t even pretend to like me and hints that I may be a lesbian. What should I do?

Signed: Clueless

Dear Clueless:
Grow up and dump him. Good grief, woman. You don’t need him anymore!
You’re a Senator from New York running for President of the United States.
Act like one.

Dick in a Box Slo Remix...

2007-12-31T18:56:00.001-08:00

Again, if you are easily offended, don't watch. This sketch won an Emmy!

Monkey Balls

2007-12-31T17:49:00.001-08:00

If you are offended easily by crude sexual humor, or you just don't like monkey balls, don't watch this. You've been warned. Please no negative comments. I already know how wrong this is. I just couldn't help myself. Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-24T21:36:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!! The year really flew by. Caleb and I went to the cyclocross nationals last week at Wyandotte park(not the lake) to check out the action and to cheer on the locals(and part time trail runners). Cameron got on the podium in the singlespeed race. The mens elite race was exciting as well . The course really got sloppy once it warmed up. Tim Johnson won the stars and stripes. The last time he won was in 2000, which also happens to be the last time the race was in KC. Local stalwart Steve Tilford's race was messed up by double flatting not once, but twice. The first time I know he probably had to ride half the course on two flats. He still finished on the lead lap even after all that.

WTF!

2007-12-24T21:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (Sun)I went out for a couple of hours at Wyco in the snow. I ran and hiked through the snow, just enjoying the solitude. On my way back towards my house I caught up with the redneck crew out tearin up the trails in their all terrain mud slinger. I told the old boy drivin it(who had three dogs with him)that I thought it did more harm than good havin that thing out on the trails. He told me that was the only way they could get back on the trail to do "maintenance", otherwise he would start hearing about it from the horse people. Whatever. He also told me I should tell the rangers if I didn't like it. I asked if he was part of the maintenance crew. Thats when he told me he was the park director. Now you understand the title of this post. I told him that the Trail Nerds would be out soon to do some trail work....on foot. P.S. Someone even tried to drive a truck on the trail from the maintenance shed area???

I'm lazy

2007-12-11T21:29:00.000-08:00

First off congrats to Paul Schoenlaub and Dave Wakefield for good runs at Sunmart. Secondly, I think all of the posts about taking some time off finally rubbed off on me. I haven't ran since last Thursday. I had been feeling kind of crappy lately so may be I needed a little break. I am looking forward to Th Cyclocross Nationals this weekend. I'm going to go out and watch Cameron and Joel race the singlespeeds Sun morning and probably watch the pro race later in the day. It will be a lot cooler than watching the Chiefs get their asses handed to them again. Hopefully I can sack up and run tomorrow night and get a decent long run in on Saturday. Also I like eggs.

Snow!

2007-12-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

We had a great run in the snow at Wyco lake tonight. We ran our 6 mile loop that includes most of the Veteran's Day course. Although it makes for tough running, it seems like snow is an instant mood lifter for me. When its cold and crappy and there's no snow it's just depressing. The snow makes me happy. I wore my Yaktrax on our run tonight. They work pretty well when the snow has a little bit of depth and is soft. I think they work better than screws in some situations. It's supposed to snow more so Saturday should be good for the Alternate chili run. By the way, those are 24's I'm rollin on.

Clinton Cross country challenge

2007-12-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

Well, Jackson and I went out to Clinton Lake for the 2 and 5 mile cross country races last Sunday. I was sick again and for sure would have bailed if I hadn't already signed up. The weather was brisk, but nowhere near as cold as last year. I ran the 2 mile with Jackson in 24:?? . Then I lined up for the 5 mile and ran the first few miles with BadBen. I started to feel a little better toward the end so I picked it up a bit. finished right at 40:00. If nothing else it was a good workout and I didn't make myself sicker...or is it more sick? Steve and Marcia Riley put on some good events. I definitely like the format of two races back2back. It's fun and its something I'd like to see us add to one of our races. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, so I threw in a shot of my new car. I got in a pretty good run tonight. I did five hard hill repeats of about 1 min. ea. along with a warmup and cooldown. I felt a lot better than I did on Sun. I just need to get out of this funk that I've been stuck in since the time changed and get back to training consistently. Next Sat is the Alternate chili run at Wyco. I heard there were a few crazies out there last Saturday in the rain. Jeez.

Nathaniel's run

2007-11-23T19:49:00.000-08:00

I went ahead and did Nathaniel's run. I did 20 laps in about 4:30 , which works out to 26 miles. I had thought about trying to do 50k, but my legs were pretty shot by then and I just didn't feel like going any further to be quite honest. I didn't really ever get bored or anything, even with the loop being only 1.3 miles, my legs just got tired. The turnout was pretty low. It would have been nice to see more people out there. I think that Paul Schoenlaub did 32 laps and Stuart Johnson did 31. Cody did 24 laps. This event was a nice change of pace(and an easy way to get in a long run) and it was for a good cause so I'm glad I did it.

Veteran's Day 4-miler

2007-11-13T17:22:00.000-08:00

We had a pretty nice race at Wyandotte County Lake last weekend. The weather was much nicer than last year's race and we even had a little fall color left to enjoy. We ended up with 60 runners, which was a good jump from 37? last year. Jaraj took the victory with a sub 30 minute time. I know that doesn't sound that fast for a 4 mile run, but this course will kick your butt. Rick Mayo put in a strong run for 3rd place and it was good to see Caleb out there mixing it up. My son Jackson, who is 8, ran the race too. It was his first race longer than a 5k so I was very proud of him. At the last few short races I had done I started like a jackrabbit and faded, so I told myself to start a little slower than I have been and it paid off. I ran 34:39, with Stuart Johnson on my heels for the last 2 miles, which was good for 10th. I ran 36:11 last year on the same course so I was happy with that. Here are a few pics that my brother Adam took. Results and more photos HERE. My photos HERE. I also threw in a shot of some nymphs( Hare's ear and Pheasant Tail) that I tied at my class this week.
I almost forgot to mention how bad I scared Caleb (and Kyle) after last Thursday's course marking and run. A few of us ran the course after marking. Caleb and Kyle dropped me so I jogged back on the road from the archery range. When I was almost back I could see their lights in the woods and I had an evil idea. I hid behind a big tree that was right beside the trail. When they got to me I jumped out from behind the tree into the trail while simultaneously screaming and clicking my light on and shining it up at my face!! Caleb didn't seemed to pleased, but Kyle ;aughed a little. I thought it was pretty funny myself, but it was a bit mean.
I'm still undecided about Nathaniel's run on Friday. Not sure I'm up for 6 hours of running. I'm actually thinking of doing the Cranksgiving alleycat race next Sun. I've never done anything like that so it could be fun. I might do Dude, where's the trail. I'm doing the Clinton cross country challenge fer sure though. Then the alternate chili run and after that a short break from races.

Fly tying

2007-11-06T20:41:00.000-08:00

I signed up for a fly tying class at Cabela's. I've always thought it would be cool to know how to tie flies so I'm learning. Here's a shot of the woolly worms and woolly buggers I tied last night. Next week is nymphs!

New Toys!

2007-11-04T19:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been looking for a deal on a new bike for awhile and I finally found a pretty good one. I bought a Gary Fisher x-caliber 29er. I rode a Surly Karate monkey (rigid with gears) for most of the last two years and finally decided to buy a bike with some suspension. I plan on setting up my KM as a singlespeed. I don't want to get soft in my old age(I turned 33 today!). I think the x-cal is a pretty good setup. It has the same frame as the higher end paragon and it has a RockShox Reba SL fork. I rode it today for the first time and I'm pretty stoked. It's a little heavy, but I'm going to switch out a few things and get some nicer wheels built for it. I'm thinking Chris King hubs with Stan's ZTR 355 29er rims. Should be pretty nice and I'm sold on the 29 inch wheels. They roll!
My other new toy is a kayak. I probably didn't need it, but I've been thinking about getting one for awhile and it was heavily discounted at Cabela's. I figure that It'll be good for training if I get back into the Adventure Racing. I really missed that this year. Anyway, It's an Old Town Cayuga 160. 16 feet long. No rudder, but I can add one if I want. I bought a Pacific Paddles T1 touring paddle to go along with it. 29 oz. for $115. I'm pretty happy with it so far. Now that it gets dark at 6 I should have plenty of time to go out for a paddle, right?
Last weekend I ran the 5k(more like 4+ miles) and rode in the cyclocross race at Wyco park. It was a good time and I was dead tired after getting killed in the cross race. Let's just say my time on the bike has been minimal. They had tons of good food and Boulevard beer!
Next Sunday is the Veteran's Day 4miler. I'm going to try and get out and clean up the course a bit before the race. See ya out there!

heartland 100

2007-10-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

Most of you probably know that my brother Cody dropped at mile 64 at Heartland. He reached the turnaround in 10:20, but started having problems around mile 60. Here are a few pics I took out on the course. The one in the dark is at the start. Some big storms went just north of the race course that morning, but it turned out to be a pretty nice day. Paul DeWitt broke the course record with a 14:26! The record was held by Eric Clifton. A nice race, but a hard one mentally I think. You can see a long ways down there in the flint hills...maybe too far.

Riding the Wind

2007-10-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

Check out Anton Krupicka's blog. It has his race report from Leadville as well as some interesting training info. I'll post some pics and write about Heartland soon.

Sand Rat Trail Race

2007-10-07T19:22:00.001-07:00

The Sand Rat trail race was not what I wanted to do this morning. I've been sick the last couple of days so I just ran a steady pace and finished without trying to hurt myself. Even though I was a bit under the weather, I wanted to be able to wear my T-shirt. The victory was taken by Juraj (pronounced Euro) who runs with the trail nerds occasionally. Kyle Amos ran a good time. Our good buddy Caleb even got a rat!
I just checked the results from Arkansas Traveller 100 and it looks like all of our local runners finished! Congrats Rick, Gabe and Willie. Carey Smith of St. Louis also finished comfortably. Kyle and I were talking today about how weird it is when you know someone is running a 100 miler and you keep thinking about them throughout the day and into the night and when you wake up the next morning you hope they finished. My brother Cody's first 100 is next week at Heartland, where I'll be pacing and crewing along with Keith and Caleb. The last time I was at a 100 miler was Arkansas 2003 when I paced and crewed for Kyle along with his wife Stacey. I don't know when or if I'll ever do one myself , but I'm looking forward to the atmosphere of the 100 miler.

Baseball's Best Hissy Fits

2007-10-04T20:47:00.001-07:00

I was just looking at the Pitch that had the Trail Nerds as the best running group. The pine tar incident was recognized as the best Highlight clip. It was 1983 and George Brett had just hit a 2 run homer of Goose Gossage to give the Royals the lead in the ninth inning. The umpire noticed that he had too much pine tar on his bat and when they called him out on it he tried to kill the ump. This is the only video I could find-its at the end. Enjoy and GOOD LUCK to everyone running Arkansas Traveller!

Fall is here

2007-09-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a decent race at Clinton. I finished 11th in 1:12:55. Whatever. Nobody took any pictures, so that kinda sucks. Good Luck to everyone at Flatrock this weekend. I can't go again. Maybe next year. I am looking forward to Heartland though. I'm going down with my brother Cody, who is doing the 100, to crew and pace. I think I'll take my bike so I can ride a bit and get some good pictures during the day. After that who knows. I might do the Rock Creek 50k of maybe the Blue Springs marathon.... or maybe I'll just watch football. The 6 hr Nathaniel's run might be okay. Anyone else thinking of doing that? I'm actually already thinking about PsychoWyco 50k in Feb. I want to see if I can get under 5:30.

PsycoWyco Run Toto Run 2007

2007-08-29T19:59:00.001-07:00

I don't know if everyone who wants to see this has seen it yet, but Mark K. has put a lot of work into it. Check it out. It makes me yearn for an icy trail. By the way, I went running by myself at Wyco last night and I ran into about 500 spiderwebs. I also found the seed ticks and chiggers. Gosh I love chiggers!

P.S. Congrats to Lou Joline for finishing the Lean Horse 100!!! and to Pat Perry for Cascade Crest 100!!!

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

2007-08-23T16:51:00.000-07:00

I ran across this quote today,I think it was by Carl Yastrzemski, and it kind of got me thinking. The other day a friend asked me if it was weird when my kids were born. I told her that it's more weird now that they're eight. I don't really feel old enough to be the father of eight year old twins. I don't know if that makes sense or not, but it's how I feel.
On the running front, I suppose everyone has seen the results from Leadville last weekend. Greg Burger did the Winfield 50, which I think has a nice ring to it and that Ol' Krupicka fellow proved that last year was no flash in the pan. Personally, I'd like to see Jurek do Leadville.
We went to Barley's last night as sort of a farewell dinner for Ben and Allison. They left for Colorado today. Group run at Wyco tonight then the Chiefs game. Hopefully we get some rain soon. They're calling for it tomorrow. Think about that quote.

Recent happenings

2007-08-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I last posted so this might be a long one. After Psycho Psummer was in the books we went to Florida for a family vacation along with Kyle and his family. I hadn't been to the beach in a long time so I was excited to get out of town and turn into a beach bum. We rented a house right on the beach for a week. It was pretty sweet. Did a few barefoot runs on the beach(are you listening Barefoot Rick?), cruised around on the longboards(Kyle can even ride with a 12 pack on his board),we also tried to skimboard, which was pretty fun. I managed to avoid the jellyfish unlike some other people in our group. Oh, I almost forgot about the drinking. I only drank too much one night. The tough part has been trying to return to normal. No shirt and flip-flops is my new attire. I almost forgot how to use a computer while we were gone too. Since we got back to good ol' Kansas I've done two races. The Grass kickin 5k and the Psycho night 10k. The 5k wasn't really the big of a deal, I ran like 21 min., but I think that race format could catch on. I did have an idea related to that race though. I think it would be cool to do a 5k trail series during the summer. Something like a race every week for 4 or 5 weeks. with a points system and a low entry fee for the whole series. Just a thought. Last friday was the 2nd annual Psycho night 1ok and we had 58 starters I believe . It was as hot as and I'm sure more than humid than hell. I ran a little faster than last year, but the conditions were just horrid for trying to run fast. We did have a night little after party at my house though. I really enjoy the group gatherings after a race. Saturday night we went to a going away/baby shower for Good Ben and Allison at Raul's place. They're moving to Denver next week. We'll miss you guys, although I do look forward to visiting . I'm also coaching a fall baseball league and our first game is this Saturday. Whew! Oh yeah, one more thing -Greg Burger is running the Leadville 100 this Sat. so keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Good Luck Greg! P.S. Did anyone notice the Floyd Landis finished second to Dave Weins in the Leadville 100 mtb last Sat. I heard that he had an early crash and got a flat late in the race.
I would also like to mention that I'm a big fan of professional cycling and the current state of things just boggles my mind. There's a new positive test about every day it seems. Vino, Mayo, Katche-howver the hell you spell your name-kin. Seriously, why would you do a blood transfusion of take EPO when those things are easily detectable. Contador is probably a doper too and now that Discovery is disbanding who knows if he'll even be able to get a contract for next season. I am excited about team Slipstream for next year though.

Psycho Psummer is done!

2007-07-16T19:13:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading all of the emails and posts from the race last Saturday. Thanks to everyone who came out for the inaugural PsychoPsummer 50k/15mile. We had a lot of out- of- towners for this race. I feel like this race could really catch on in the ultrarunning community and become something special. Congrats to Wynn Davis on taking the overall win on a brutal course in hot and humid conditions. I'm also proud of my brother Cody , who came in fifth in 5:21 (Cody also won the style competition. I think you can read his shirt in the photo). Personally, I ran slower than I wanted to, but I made it through without puking or overheating so it was a mild success. The thing that surprised me was how tough that second loop was and looking at the split times confirms it. Those hills got really big the second time around. Check out these stats from a garmin 305 that was worn during the race. When we first decided to do this race we decided that we wanted to change the course from the winter Psycho and also reduce the # of loops from 3 to 2. Kyle, Ben and I had discussed numerous course options before settling on the final product. I'd say that we came out with a keeper. We were all very lucky there was no mud. While I'm rambling I'd like to thank Bad Ben, Raul and all of the volunteers who ran the aid stations all day. One of these days I'm going to have to sit out a race and help out (hopefully not a forced sit out due to injury or what not). Everyone who finished either distance should be proud of themselves. I'd say it's another successful KC Trail Nerd race in the books. See you at the Psycho night 10k.

While we were enjoying ourselves Sat. some of the big guns were duking it out at the Hardrock 100 in Colorado. Scott Jurek set a new course record of 26:08. Our very own Paul Schoenlaub finished in 37:09. I also noticed Mike Dobies there in 35th place. Kyle ran the Arkansas traveller 100 in 2003 and he and Mike pretty much ran the whole thing together. So I kind of paced them both for 26 miles. Cool.

Psycho Psummer is Psoon!

2007-07-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I missed out on the Leadville marathon this year. The picture is from last year when Good Ben and I ran it. Cody, Greg and Ben ran it though and Caleb and Sarah did the Heavy half. It's a nice course. The altitude makes it tough though. Just been gettin ready for the Psycho Psummer 50k. We ran a 10 mile loop at Wyco last Sunday and then a bunch af us stayed for a couple more hours to do some course work. We got the spillway trail cleaned up nicely. I think its a good addition to the course. Tom, Adam and I also cleaned up the hill from the spillway parking lot down to the grass below the dam. I haven't thought of a name for that section yet. I'm planning on going out Wed or Thurs. with the DR mower and mowing some connectors trails through the grassy areas. The course was in fairly good condition last Sun so hopefully the rains will hold off for another week or so. I'd rather not have to slog through 31 miles of slop. I'm also excited to find out who this ultra-god trailrunner person is. See you out there.

My friend Caleb

2007-06-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of my friend Caleb at a recent gathering. He's a good runner!

Quote of the day

2007-06-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

Why should I practice running slow? I already know how to run slow. I want to learn to run fast.
Emil Zatopek

The photo is of Matt Riley, who won last weekends summer intro 10k in 44: something-that's fast!

Western States

2007-06-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty eventful week. On Tuesday I went out to Shawnee Mission Park to run. I decided to take my mountainbike and do a little riding before the group run. I ended up having one of the worst crashes I remember having. I was going pretty fast on a downhill stretch of trail. I misjudged my takeoff for a bunnyhop over a log. I fell on my left side, cracked my helmet and bruised my hip area pretty heavily. Nice. I bailed on the run after that. For a little while I thought I might need a hospital visit. Yesterday we had our summer intro race at SM park. Amid concerns that the trail gates would be closed due to overnight rains, we had over 100 runners show up! What a turnout. I was disappointed with my own performance, but Kyle did a great job directing and everyone had a good time. Matt Riley from Lawrence took the win. Nice job. Bad Ben is in California pacing Patrick Perry on his attempt at the Western States 100. I just checked the webcast and Pat finished. Great Job Patrick! I can't wait to hear their race reports. Later.
cool link!

Gorillaz in the mist

2007-06-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

We've been running and workin on the traiz out at Wyco a lot lately. Gettin ready for Psummer Psycho. Check out the pics from last Thursday. This Saturday is the Summer intro 10k at Shawnee Mission Park. Be There!

Double rainbow

2007-06-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

This is a picture from Memorial Day weekend. Nice double rainbow. I haven't been able to read Kyle's race report yet( I do know he finished in 19:23), but if you haven't already check out Gabe's report from Kettle Moraine 100.

When it rains, it pours

2007-05-31T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from last weekend. I did some biking, some running and went camping too. I even caught a nice snake. I think it was a Northern Water snake. Cody and I ran a super soggy loop at Wyco last Sunday. It was so wet that the mud didn't even stick. Nice. On a sad note, my Grandma passed away last Friday, May 25. She was 85 years old. Her funeral was yesterday. There is a lot of grief and it was hard for the whole family, but her quality of life had really gone downhill in the last year or two. It's hard to watch a loved one wither away like she did. She's in a better place now. A couple of local runners are doing the Kettle Moraine 100 on Saturday. I'm anxious to see how they do. I'm going to be spending more time out at Wyandotte County Lake, both for training and working on the course for Psummer Psycho. I'm hoping to get some long runs in out there. It looks like I'm headed to the Leadville Marathon again in July against my better judgement, so I better get my ass in shape.

Shawnee Mission Park Trails!

2007-05-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

Last night I finally got a chance to check out the new trails at SM Park. My tubeless setup on my mountain bike was jacked up so I didn't get to ride them, but I ran a loop with a small pack of Trail Nerds including one new recruit(Phil).It's also good to see James back out on the trails. One word comes to mind-SWEET. I would like to thank everyone who worked on these trails and made them a reality. They really are nice and if the planning meetings go well and there is room for more trail, this trail system will be stellar. All of the old jacked up, eroded rock pile crap is gone and in it's place is a 4 mile loop of sweet singletrack. I think my favorite part is where the trail crosses the powerline for a short stretch. I I love the figure-eight format as well. I look forward to a summer of running and riding out there. Hopefully we can get everything lined out and have our Summer intro trail race out there.

I don't like the price of gas.

2007-05-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

I ended up wussing out on my plan of not driving my car at all last week. I rode one way of my commute every day and drove the other half. I filled my Beetle back up on Sunday for $21.00. Not too bad considering the price of GAS. It really is getting ridiculous. I'm giving some serious thought to selling my Jeep. I ran on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, so I ended up riding about 50-60 miles, running around 20 miles, going to two baseball practices, two baseball games, and working like a dog all week. I was plenty tired, so I took today off except for Jackson's baseball practice. He wanted to stay after and catch some fly balls. He ended up getting hit right on top of the head with one. From the sound of it, I thought his head was going to be split wide open, but he was pretty much ok except for a knot. He even wanted to keep playing. On Sunday we had a small group out at Wyco park to check out course options for a possible Psummer race. It was a nice day-not too hot. We've pretty much got a 15 mile loop dialed in. Some of the additional mileage will come from gravel and dirt roads and it looks like we will have a 2 mile out and back comprised of new singletrack. Should be pretty COOL. I almost forgot to mention that the maintenance dorks are still "helping" us out by cutting big logs out of the trail. They just don't have an effing clue. DOH! Sidenote- The Floyd Landis hearings have really taken a turn for the weird.

Ride you bike to work!

2007-05-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

I filled up my beetle tonight at $3.19/gal-SWEET! May 14-18 is Ride your bike to work week. Do it! Save some gas and some money. Oh Yeah, Happy Mother's Day too! The photo is the summit of Mt. Bross in Colorado.

MUD!

2007-05-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

Ive been pretty busy lately. Jackson's baseball team started practice and the twins had their first communion last Sunday. I can't believe how fast they're growing up. On the running front, I went for my first real run tonight since my level 9 meltdown at Free State. I did a fartlek type run on the trails behind the nursery. I felt pretty decent actually. It's nice and muddy with the torrential rains we've had lately. I guess we're going to check out some stuff this weekend at Wyco lake to extend the Psycho course enough to make a 2 loop 50k course! Sweet. I've been checking out trail info, both for mountain biking and running. So many trails..so little time. I've added some links on the right-check em out.

Free State Trail Run

2007-04-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know what was wrong with me last Saturday, but I hit the wall big time. I was signed up for the 40-mile version. I missed the Rockin K marathon earlier this month with a bum foot, so I was a little worried about the distance. The first 21 mile loop went fine. Lance, Cody and I ran together for most of the loop and we finished it in about 3 1/2 hrs. We were on a pretty good pace for a sub 8 hr time. The second loop turned into a death march for me. By the time I got to the Land's End aid station I had stopped looking at my watch. I felt terrible. I finally stumbled onward and made it into the KUS aid station. I found Lance and Gabe there and I ate some watermelon and drank some water. The three of us left together and made decent progress for a couple of miles. I stopped because I thought I was going to puke. I sat there for a couple of minutes and then I decided to lay down and rest for awhile. A few runners went by (Thanks Stuart and Willie) and said they would tell the land's end aid station that there was a man down. A little while later Sarah came by and asked me what I was doing. I informed her that I was tired and was taking a rest. She was having knee problems so she decided to keep me company for a bit. We finally decided to try and make to the aid station so we both started walking. We had only been going a few minutes when BadBen and Jesse came running down the trail. They both looked a little worried. I asked Ben if he thought I should try to finish. After he told me NO! I was okay with dropping out. I'm kind of disappointed, but at what point does it become pointless to continue. Would it have been worth risking further damage to keep going or was I just being a wuss? I always ask myself questions like these after a DNF. I just look at it this way. I got in a nice 32 mile training run and I got to get sick and puke in a trashbag in the car on the way home. The weird part was that my legs felt fine during the race, no cramping or any other problems. My stomach just went sour. I guess that's what I get for underestimating the heat and humidity.
Kyle put in another strong run, almost breaking 10 hrs for the 100k!!! Cody decided to drop down to the 40 mile and finished in 8:15( He really looks like he's enjoying his run in the top photo, doesn't he). Lots of other local trail runners had good races as well( http://www.psychowyco.com/id1.html ). Our Vasque shoe rep Dan Dehlin smoked the marathon in 2:40 and fellow trail nerd Mike Swords ran a 3:12! Great job on the 1st annual and a big thanks to everyone who helped out!

1998 Amstel Gold Race

2007-04-25T16:14:00.001-07:00

I'll bet that hurt. Sunderland ended up with a brain hemorrage from that crash.

Blah.

2007-04-23T21:23:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post, but I can't think of anything worth saying. I'm in a funk.

O'Grady wins 105th Paris-Roubaix!

2007-04-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

Stuart O'Grady won the 105th edition of Paris-Roubaix over the weekend. In doing so, he became the first Aussie ever in the race's top three. The race covers 260 kilomaters through northern France. The course includes 28 sections of pave(cobbles) and finishes on the velodrome in Roubaix. This is one mean race! Some of the worst cycling crashes and injuries occur in this race. If you win it, you are a Stud. Check out the report at www.cyclingnews.com . After helping Stacey celebrate her birthday on Saturday night I didn't feel like getting up early, so I went to church with the family and then went for a solo run at Wyco. It was super slow and MUDDY, but no ticks.

Shrooms

2007-04-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

I've been hoping to find me a mess ov shrooms, but I don't know if I'm gonna have much luck with this cold weather. One other thing-Many of you may have read my older post about how to give yourself a self-exam for gayness. I am working on some new additions for the list but here's a tidbit. If you choose the VEGAN dish after Brew to Brew---you are an extreme flamer!

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.

2007-04-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

Edward Abbey

The most scenic trails?

2007-04-07T16:16:00.000-07:00

The question recently posed on the KC trailrunning group site was this- Where are the most scenic places to run in the KC area? I would have to say that the North Shore trails at Clinton lake in Lawrence have the most to offer. I am a bit partial to the Wyandotte County Lake bridle trail(also the Psycho Wyco race course), but the Clinton trails have a little more to offer in my opinion. Where else around here can you run ( or ride) a 20+ mile loop without seeing the same terrain twice? Lake views, rocks, roots, water crossings, fast sections, and just enough climbing to keep things interesting. These trails pretty much have it all. Try them out for yourself on April 28- http://www.psychowyco.com/id1.html You've been training, right?

Brew2Brew part 2

2007-04-06T18:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I crewed at Brew to Brew for my brother Cody, who was doing it solo. I thought he did pretty well considering his training program has been pretty mellow since Psycho Wyco. He ran the first half of the race with Gabe. He struggled a little in the middle of the race, but he recovered and finished in 7:56 for 15th place out of 39 male finishers. I ended up running part of leg 7 and legs 9 & 10 with him. Gabe ran strong. Jacque Jackson ran strong too-she won the female solo. I looked for Markos out on the course. He ran the Olathe marathon the day before and was attempting a solo brew2brew. I found out later he dropped midway through-I can't say I blame him. It turned out to be a pretty fun day. Cody's friend Keith (mine too I guess) came out to Lawrence after the race. We chowed down and had a few beers at Free State Brewery afterwards. They do need to cap the race next year though, there were just too many cars and people (www.brewtobrew.com). On the way home traffic was moving pretty fast. I'd say I averaged about 95. At the toll booth on I-70 I raced a rice burner(fartpipe racer) honda. I got the ol' Ford freestyle up to 115 mph before we got into traffic. Yes, I won! I'm sitting out Rockin K with a bum foot. I have gout...again! I'm pretty disappointed. I really felt like I was ready to run a good race out there.

Brew2Brew

2007-03-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

The past few days I've just been heading out into the woods by myself. A little running. A little hiking. Whatever. It's amazing what you see if you slow down sometimes(Not that I'm all that fast anyway). My wildlife tally for the last 3 days Wed: Wyco- lots of deer, 12 turkey vultures(I don't think they were after me), One great horned owl. Thur: Trails at Nursery- About 10 deer, one covey of quail, and 11 turkey Tonight:Nursery- 2 great horned owls hooting at each other, a nesting pair of canadian geese, 5 ducks(not sure what kind). I also sat really still for awhile next to a puddle where I knew some spring peepers were calling. They're pretty hard to spot. Man do they make a lot of noise for being so small. If you are wondering why I'm telling you all of this it's because I just finished reading Why We Run by Bernd Heinrich, who was quite the runner in his day. It's a pretty quick read and has a lot info about animal and human physiology that I found very interesting. Check it out.I'm not running Brew2 Brew this weekend. I'll either crew for Cody or help at the aid station. Todays photo is a shot of the scenic course. To everyone doing the race, be careful this weekend! Good luck to Gabe, Markos, Cody and all of the other soloists.

RED BRIDGE RAMBLE

2007-03-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

I know this post is kind of late, but that's better than never...maybe. We (KC TRAIL NERDS) had a pretty good turnout for our first short distance trail race of the 07 season. A trail race is an awesome way to get St. Patrick's day started and Dick Ross was there taking photos for us.. Thanks Dick! A few days before the race I checked last years times to see what I should aim for since I had never run this race before. Last year the only people to come in under an hour were Caleb and Kyle. Speaking of Caleb, he had to sit out this years edition with an injury, so he was unable to defend his crown, but he showed up to help with the race and to offer a little moral support. I set an hour as my goal for the race. The race started pretty fast and I had to back off the throttle after the first mile. I heard that Rich, who I was running with, had a split of 6:12 for the first mile. I don't know how accurate that is , but it was pretty fast. Anyway, I settled into a pretty nice rythym after the first hill. The water crossings were nice and chilly and though they were uneventful for me, I did hear about a few people going for a swim(GREG). Rich and I went back and forth a few times throughout the race, no doubt pushing each other to a faster time. We each tried to crack the other in the last mile, but we came out onto the grass together. I nipped him at the finish for 10th in 57:41. I felt like I ran a pretty smart race and I was pleased that I accomplished my goal of breaking an hour. The fact that 12 runners broke 1 hour really shows the quality of the field at this years Red Bridge Ramble. I think our trail races are really starting to catch on. I don't know why anyone would choose a pavement run over a course like this one! One thing that really sucked was that Kyle had to stop and fix some course markings that had been messed up by hooligans. I guess it was either stop and fix the markings and mess up his own race or risk pretty much everyone going off course... very unselfish. I guess thats all I have to say about that. I'm feeling pretty good and after yesterday's 15 miler out at Clinton and I think I'm ready for Rockin K. Gotta get used to the warmer weather though.

Back in the swing of things

2007-03-09T22:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I kept my post Psycho lazyass period pretty short this year. I went out last Sunday to Clinton and ran about 21 miles with the other nerds. Thursday night Cody and I went out and ran the course from the Veterans Day run. We went pretty hard. My time was bout a minute slower than the race last fall. I had forgotten how steep hedgehog hill is if you are going up! I hope to get in 2 more runs in the 20 mile range before Rockin K. I'm just doing the Marathon. I know, I know, I'm a wussy. I just want to redeem my total collapse of last year. I guess I learned that Psycho Wyco is too far out to use that as my long run !HA! The pics are from last years Brew2Brew. It's a good time, but I don't think I could handle that course as a solo. By the way, the Cody vs. His Friends matchup for Brew2Brew isn't finalized yet, but if it happens it should be entertaining. One more thing-If you haven't already you should check out Gabes blog- http://gabebevan.blogspot.com/ . Oh, my goat actually says- BBAAAAAAAHHHHHHDDDDDD BBBEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!! SCRAPE SCRAPE!

Check out my goat!

2007-03-02T18:22:00.000-08:00

This here is a picture of my goat, His name is DOUBLESTUFF. He enjoys eating, scraping his horns on things, female companionship and 50k races. Right now he is training for this one- WASATCHSPEEDGOATS 50k! I think his form is really coming around. I might see if he'll run Psycho Wyco with me next year. SCRAPE. SCRAPE. BAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Double-edged sword

2007-02-28T20:43:00.000-08:00

Days like today are a double-edged sword. I decided to go for a ride today since it was about 69degrees. I got my mountain bike out and headed towards the lake. I thought I'd just cruise around a bit and try to see some eagles.Five cars passed me from LV Rd. to the park entrance. It kinda sucks when you look forward to spring and nice weather after freezing yer ass off all winter, but when it gets here you have to put up with harleys, crotch rockets, woofers, people who let their dogs hang out the window and bark at people on bikes and all of our good friends who go fishing at the park, bring a case of beer, a bucket O'chicken with all the fixins (or maybe just a sackful of TacoHell)and then when they're done they just throw all their trash on the ground!!! Maybe the fuckin Raccoons will pick up your trash for ya. Ya think? I tried to mention everyone, but I probably forgot someone. I am starting to get back in the swing of things, as far as training goes. I started the book The Perfect Mile. It's about the quest to break the four minute mile. I went up to the track Monday to run a bit and I decided to see what I could run a mile in- 5:44. Pretty slow. The mile is a pretty hard distance to run fast with out any specific training. I never ran in high school so I don't even really know what kind of time I'd be capable of. It seemed pretty interesting that my mile time wa 5:44 and my time at PsychoWyco was 5:48. I wonder if Caleb could run a mile in 4:39, Kyle 4:42, Greg 5:15 etcetera? Pretty nice storm tonight. I guess March really is going to come in like a Lion.

tributo al grupo B

2007-02-25T21:35:00.001-08:00

OK, I know I'm gettin carried away with the youtube, but this is BADASS!

Tanner Hall Chad's Gap Fall

2007-02-25T21:30:00.001-08:00

I saw this last year during the X-games. Probably one of the worst wipeouts I've seen. If you're squeamish, don't look.

Ryan Leech in Kranked 6 Progression

2007-02-25T21:25:00.001-08:00

I'm thinking about building a trail like this out at Wyco. We can run on it too.

No Leadville this year

2007-02-22T07:41:00.000-08:00

I got a letter from the LT100 the other day. It said I didn't get in this year. Sucks.
From: LSD
Subject: lt 100
dear jonny,
I'm really tired of hearing all this stuff about the lt 100 and how it's such a cool, hard, epic race etc... I'm sure the recent news about lance and floyd doing it (or not) has brought a lot of attention to the event, but come on, it's nothing but a high priced race that, for some reason, has been added to everyone's "must do list". If you like long jeep roads and no single track, and paying out the ass for a fricking belt buckle (if you finish in under 8 hours or something), maybe this one is for you, but there are a ton of other races that are more noteworthy and a hell of a lot cheaper: Crested Butte Classic (free), KTR (free), the Grand Loop (free), Soul Ride (when it comes back)(not free, but reasonable)...I can go on and on. When are people going to wake up and just ride their bikes? They don't need a belt buckle to tell them they suffered. "Wiensy" will help with that when he puts the wood to them (if they even get that close). I'm sure I'm going to piss off a bunch of people (maybe even you), but I'm just tired of the recognition this race gets. See ya at the Old Pueblo (best event ever!)

Ride Anything But Leadville

I found this over at DC. It pretty much sums up how I feel about this race, but I still want to do it again and get my damned buckle. I promise. One will be enough.

Wyandotte County bobsled team???

2007-02-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

When I first read the caption on this photo, I thought the fellas might be startin their own bobsled team. I'm still not sure if they are or not, but they did mighty good in the Psycho Wyco 50k. By the way, if you like really gooey mud and slush, you better get back out to the Psycho race course in the next few days before it all dries out. I guess I must like it, because I've gone out the last two days. While I was running on Monday I picked up some of the signs from the race (they were thawed out enough to pull out of the ground) and I saw some footprints that looked like about a size 10 Blur. Kyle?

Psycho Wyco 50k RACE REPORT

2007-02-15T20:01:00.000-08:00

In the week leading up to this years race I felt a mixture of emotions. Excitement, Dread, anticipation. This race is different from all the others for me because of all the work we put into it. From marking the course to stuffing race packets, I really had a good time this year with all of the race prep we had to do.
My main goal for the race was to improve on my time of 6:08 from last year. I knew that the course conditions were going to be tough. I went out on Wed. before the race to finish up some course marking and all of the snow had melted and refrozen on the trail. Screwed shoes were going to be in order. I don't know about everyone else, but I've pretty much had my fill of ice running for the year.
Here's how the race went. It was about 15 degrees at the start. The crowd was huge. Nearly 300 hardy souls got out of bed early on this frigid February mornin'. There was a strong contingent of talented ultrarunners...even Barefoot Rick was there! Kinda chilly but I knew we'd warm up when we hit the trail. Good ol' Caleb was still sportin his shorts. Bad Ben said Let's Go! and off we went. My plan for the first lap was to take it pretty easy. I talked a little with Kevin P. , Mark K. and Gabe . I saw at least a half dozen sweet wipeouts and I managed to have one of my own on an ice free section of the course. Funny story-While I was running with Gabe we were going down the ridge after the paved hill and stepped on a piece of a tree branch with my inside foot while I was leaning to the right. I was on my face before I could blink. DOH! I bet it looked pretty funny to the guys behind me though. I finished the first loop comfortably in about 1:43. Second loop was about a 1:53- slowed down some but still felt pretty comfortable. I caught up with my wife Brandy, who was walking the 10 mile race, at about mile 19 of my race. She said something about losing screws so I thought I'd check mine. When I picked up my foot to look, my hamstring locked up real nice and I let out a little squeal. AAAHHHH! I got moving again, took a couple of Endurolytes with some water and tried to work it out. I came into the start/finish at 3:37 for 20 miles. I was still feeling pretty decent and was thinking I might be able to get close to 5 1/2 hrs. That thinking changed pretty early on during my third loop though. I was fighting some nice hamstring cramps for about 3/4 of the entire loop. I was fine going downhill but whenever I tried to push it uphill the old hammys really started to squeal. I got pretty close to my brother Cody on the pavement hill by the dam, but he started running sooner than me before the singletrack and I never saw him again until the finish. Many of you may have seen him on the course. He was the one wearing the TUXEDO T-shirt. By the way, that was his first run longer than about a dozen miles and he finished in 5:45. I came in bout 3 minutes behind him for a finishing time of 5:48. I'll take it.
I did have to stop and retie my damn shoes in Fester's wander on my third loop, so that probably cost me a minute or two. Gabe actually caught up to me right after that and we told each other about our cramping problems. He sucked it up pretty good considering that he paced Rick for 40 miles at RR100 the previous weekend. Mark K. was closing in on me with about two miles to go. When I saw him it kind of gave me a little boost for the last two miles or so. He came in a couple of minutes later and Gabe came in soon after him. Both under 6 hrs. Good Job guys! A good start to the season.

Shane's Top 10 Race highlights :

Caleb redeeming his miserable performance of 06 and winning this thing for the Trail Nerds. A new CR in skating rink comditions. Awesome!
Kyle's close second place- Awesome, but you didn't really surprise me. Actually you did just a little. You are my pick for the Free State 100k.
Greg"A rolling stone gathers no moss" Burger- 5th place. You must have really been flyin down them hills. Great job man! Leadville 07!
My brother Cody finishing in front of me in his first ultra. That was with a long run of about 10 or 11 miles. ??? Awesome job. You could probably run 100 miles on stubborness alone.
Mark Koester in under 6 hrs. And you said 7 hrs. I knew you had it in ya!

6.All of our aid station and race volunteers. I can't believe how many compliments I've read about you guys. You helped make a great race.
7. Awesome sponsors!
8 . Dick Ross for showing up in the frigid conditions and taking tons of great photos- FOR FREE! Thanks Dick.
9. My brother Adam, Good Ben and Rick Mayo for getting some good pics and video. Mark is going to edit the video so we should have something to watch before long
10. Bad Ben for being the ringleader of this whole circus- Congrats on your 500 mile RR shirt!

I think that's it. See ya next year!

Caleb Wins Psycho Wyco 50k... and his beard is pretty sweet too!

2007-02-11T16:16:00.000-08:00

My good pal Caleb Chatfield won the 3rd annual PsychoWyco 50k yesterday. In the process he set a new course record of 4:39:17. Kyle was second -only three minutes or so behind. Awesome! Many of you might also know that Caleb has been growing out his beard. Here is a shot of him after the race yesterday. Anyway, I think the race turned out great and everyone did awesome. Adam got some pretty sweet footage and together with Ben's we should be able to make a good video of the race. If you liked the cold and icy conditions yesterday and want some more, check this out and maybe put it on your schedule for next year. http://www.arrowheadultra.com/ There is a good report of this race at- http://www.surlybikes.com/surlyblog.html

Colts and Cold weather

2007-02-05T20:07:00.002-08:00

A bunch of us trail nerds spent Sat morning marking the course for PSYCHO WYCO 50knext weekend. It was COLD!! On Sunday morning, just as COLD , as a few of our own were finishing the Rocky Raccoon 100(Good job BadBen, Rick, Patrick and Gabe), we ran a loop of the course. Hey guys, I thought the race was this weekend. Just kidding! I really didn't feel so hot though, so I just cruised at an easy pace. I hope I feel stronger next week or I could be in for a long day. After that I took a hot shower and a 2 hour nap. Then I watched the Big Game. I really wasn't surprised at the outcome. The Colts had to win. Look at the bright side. Tony Dungy seems like a good guy and next season we won't have to listen to the commentators talk about Peyton not being able to win the big one. Oh Yeah, I almost forgot, the squirrel who's trying to munch on my frozen Beardsicle in the bottom photo owes me a Red Bull(12oz please).

Sucky weather and the Super Bowl

2007-01-31T19:37:00.000-08:00

The running conditions were pretty crappy today. I went out for about 4 miles in the new snow over ice. I wore my Yaktrax and I don't think they helped much. The only way I could find the ice was to step on it-and then slip. I hope the conditions are better for the Psycho Wyco 50k (http://www.psychowyco.com/id7.html)on Feb 10th. If you haven't signed up yet, do it. There are 3 distances and the race packets and prizes are AWESOME!
On another note, I pick the Colts. I don't think Peyton is going to be denied. I also changed the name of my blog. I like inane becuz it rhymes with Shane. I couldn't think of a cool word like ramblings or musings though. Any suggestions?
One more thing that I almost forgot. Jonathan Page won a silver medal at the Cyclocross world championships last weekend. This is the first time an American has ever won a medal in the elite men's race. Check it out at http://www.cyclingnews.com/ AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shane's Blog

Vasque Mindbender

cicada molting

Minimalist Running

new shoes

More blogs to read

Wyco trails blog

Leadville 100 pacing and crewing

It's been awhile

Atayne Sportswear

Rockin K marathon

Psycho Wyco and no Leadville 100

Psychopathic 5k

It's 2009!

Red Fang

Veteran's day 4 miler

Pawpaw patch!

Way behind.

Lunar Trek 20 mile

Psummer Psycho 15 miler

Summer Intro 5k

Awesome

Shrooms

Haiku

TTAS- #2 amended

Things that are funny- #1

Things that are stupid- #2

Word of the day

Things that are stupid- #1

Tagged

Commute

Blah.

map

Nice weather................NOT!

It's Cold again.

Hot weather?

Snow and Solitude

KC Track Club Dinner and the PCT50

Office Space Flare - Part 1

Psycho Wyco Race Report

Psycho course marking

Psycho Pstuff

World Record

Cyclocross Worlds and other stuff

MLK day

Cool Bikes.

How to prune trees

Dear Abby

Dick in a Box Slo Remix...

Monkey Balls

Merry Christmas!!

WTF!

I'm lazy

Snow!

Clinton Cross country challenge

Nathaniel's run

Veteran's Day 4-miler

Fly tying

New Toys!

heartland 100

Riding the Wind

Sand Rat Trail Race

Baseball's Best Hissy Fits

Fall is here

PsycoWyco Run Toto Run 2007

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

Recent happenings

Psycho Psummer is done!

Psycho Psummer is Psoon!

My friend Caleb

Quote of the day

Western States

Gorillaz in the mist

Double rainbow

When it rains, it pours

Shawnee Mission Park Trails!

I don't like the price of gas.

Ride you bike to work!

MUD!

Free State Trail Run