"Missouri mudfest"!

It's 9:40pm Sunday night and Karen and I just unloaded the car and completed the initial unpacking after seeing the state of Missouri and enough mud to last the rest of the year!
There were two races this weekend and it was a road trip. I of course obeyed the doctors orders and did not race, but Karen was on a mission!

Karen was in Columbia, MO for a work conference Thu-Fri so I rode out to KC with Mitch Johnson, Greg Ott and Dwayne Goscinski and met up with Karen at race HQ.

The weather forecast was not promising for the weekend and it did not go back on it's word!

- Sat - Bone Bender 6 hour in KC - absolute mud! Karen chose to ride her geared bike and save her single-speed for Sunday. People were dropping out within the first 30 minutes because it was nearly impossible to ride more than a few minutes without having to scoop the mud out from between you wheels and frame. Karen flatted in the first 15 minutes, came back to the start and swapped out her whole wheel from her other bike. Then the girl suffered a broken derailleur and like a pro turned into into a single-speed. But after a couple more miles the chain broke. There was just too much mud, sticks, and debris to get everything working again so she had to bail. But the girl gave an A+ for effort!! Dwayne once again proved to be inhuman taking 2nd overall and 1st on gears. Mitch got 2nd on gears. Greg was smart and stopped after the fist lap to save himself and his bike for Sunday.
- Sun - Tour de Tick in Neosho - Very wet and muddy but the trail was accommodating. Karen proved to be a force to be reconed with on her new singlespeed. As usual she was steady and strong. Three girls got a lead on her in the first lap but by the end of the race Karen locked in a solid 2nd place finish. At-a-girl!!! Congrats babe!! By the end of the race all were covered head-to-toe in mud. Dwayne got 1st, Mitch got 3rd, and Greg got 4th. The STL crew may have been small at Neosho but they represented and brought home some hardware!!

Here's some pics..

And my personal favorite... Jim taking time out of his busy day to point out to Karen that in order to ride a bike like that it requires a chain and a derailleur!

Karen's new ride

Well, this was the first weekend sitting on the bench and it sucks!!! But the shoulder is getting better each day.

Karen on the other hand was out riding her new single-speed on Sat and Sun. The girls got a new ride and she's liking it! Its the Specialized Stumpjumper Marathon. Very nice!

Ouachita 2010!

Well, Ouachita 2009 was an absolute bust for us! We (Karen, Loreen Matson, Kerry Rascher, and myself) made the 8-hour drive down to Odin, AR to race in the Ouachita Challenge. It's absolutely beautiful country down there. Karen and Lo were entered in the 60-miler. Kerry and I were stupid enough to enter into the 80-miler. We pulled into our luxurious 1970s resort The Shangri La at about 5pm, met up with Keeven and Sonja, then headed over to eat the provided pasta dinner and get our race numbers.


blah, blah, blah, we ate, registered, got bikes gear ready, went to bed, got up, and lined up to start the race.


Let's just get to the race... The race started at the local high school. We road maybe 2 miles on pavement then another 3 on gravel. Most of this was uphill but not too bad at all. Then we entered onto some double-track that was more climbing. At this point, Karen, Lo, and Kerry were somewhere behind me. I was making good time climbing up the field - maybe going too hard from where I had started - I could see the lead pack in front of me.


After more climbing on the double-track we hit a long straight section of downhill. We were finally able to let it rip a little. However, about half way down and at about 20mph the guy to the right of me hit a stick about 2" in diameter. The stick broke in two and half of it shot right into my front wheel. Yep, I immediately turned into Superman and flew over the bars, landed on my shoulder before doing a couple flips on the ground. My bike actually flew over me and landed about 6 feet down the trail! I immediately felt the pain - it f'n hurt! Everyone around me was very cool and asked if I was allright. What was I going to say, "no, I'm a wuss and I'm going to cry"! Heck no, I caught my breath and jumped up like a gymnist.


I waited for Karen to come by (she is a Nurse Practitioner) to check me out. She stopped her race for a couple minutes to look me over and confirmed that nothing was broken. She even pulled the stick out from being wedged between my fork and wheel.


After sitting there for a bit and contemplating my situation in this 80-mile race, I gathered the following facts: shoulder hurt like a #$#$, I busted my camelback bladder when I fell so I had no water, I broke 1 spoke and bent another, and I had a throbbing headache! With all of those facts, I grabbed the bike and was calling it a day.


You'd think the story would end there but it doesn't. After getting back to the high school and having the EMTs clean up my cuts I drove out to the first aid station to see other racers come through. I was hoping to catch Karen and the crew to cheer them on.


I got to see quite a few people I knew. Sonja came through, Matt Hoffmeyer came through, but where was Karen, Kerry, and Lo. Finally they call came out of the trail together. Kerry had fallen and was bleeding very bad on his arm. Karen used her nursing skills and savviness to tape up Kerry's arm with duct tape. Kerry needed stitches pretty badly.


There were two hospitals close: Hot Springs (45 mins away) and Mena (30 mins away). Since Hot Springs was on our way back to STL we all hopped in the car and headed to Hot Springs. the race was now over for all of us. Lo had already had 2 flats and was out of tubes anyway. Plu Karen and Lo had spent so much time helping me and Kerry, their race was over anyway. Kerry wound up with 10 stitches.

I went to to see the great Dr. Matava yesterday and yes, I tore a ligament in my shoulder and have a separated shoulder. Now I'm off the bike for 3 weeks and prone to arthritis when I'm old!! Fortunately, it wasn't bad enough to require surgery. That would have really sucked donkey balls!

So, Ouachita Challenge 2010 here we come for some sweet revenge!


By the way, in case you hadn't heard yet, the amazing Keeven finished the race riding on his back rim with no tire or tube for at least 4 miles after getting 3 flats. I belive he still wound up 5th in the 80-mile single-speed class. Right on Matt!