Team Red Wheel

Rim Wrecker according to "The Mitch"

(We've changed his name from Mitch to "The Mitch")

 

This race was awesome.  It will definitely go into the memory books as one that will not be forgotten and talked about for years to come.  We started the day in JC at 0700 with a temp of about 35, windy, blustery and wet (no snow here anyway).  The three of us (Barry, Stoney and I) were under way by 0745 after some minor adjustments. 

The closer we got to the race, the more snow on the ground and in the trees and the colder it got.  By the time we got to Steelville there was about 6 inches on the ground and all the trees had a couple of inches hanging on them, temp about 31.  We talking about how much the race was going to suck and those poor bastards that went camping down there the night before. 

By the time we got down there and found the campers it was about 1030.  Kids were building snow forts and the trees were literally throwing snowballs at us...really they were.  All I am thinking is that I hope that I can see all the rocks and that I did not remember to bring my riding jacket, this was going to suck (suck it up Mitch your a soldier...you are use to doing things that suck).  It's 1040 Barry and Stoney get dressed and get ready for the Marathon start.  1045 Bob's 69er goes tits up, Nick starts cussin about that "F"ing bike, Bob proceeds to start banging it against a tree saying if he had a gun he would shoot it.  Nick ponies up his bike for Bob to use about five minutes before race time.  We all ride up to the start to send them on their way. 

We head back to the campsite where Nick starts cussin again about Bob's "F"ingbike and says he does not even feel like racing now.  Andy decides he needs bacon "lots of bacon" to do this race as Sir Chadwick proceeds to cook.  I break out the rotgut whiskey (Woodford) as I figure that will help take the edge off and get Nick in the mood.  Nick is in agreement as we pass the bottle around.  In the mean time it starts to warm up a little 35 and the trees let loose with the mother of all snowball fights.  You had to be there to believe it.  There were snowball falling everywhere thousands we stood under the easy up while we got pelted for the next 15 minutes.  It was really pretty cool.  We took a couple more hits of rotgut and proceeded to the starting line, but not before Andy had a couple more pieces of bacon.  "Tornado" 

Then the race was underway.  It took all of about five minutes before you were soaked and covered with mud.  The sun came out and the trails had rushing water down middle.  Creek crossing turned into river crossing and the small mud hole turned into mud bogs and Sippy holes one in particular was a hole that was about two bike lengths across and one bike length deep, yeah thigh deep black muck...sweeeet! 

When all was said and done we were all glad for this race to be over with.  The sun was shining the temp was 50 and the snow was all gone.  Team Red Wheel kicked ass with great representation, comradre, 2-first place finishes and a second place finish. 

Nick gets to stay busy for a little while fixing, adjusting and replacing brakes as this was one of the most brake eatingest courses that we had ever done. 

We all headed for home stopping at the Spare Rib for some chow and war stories.  After filling up with gas and getting some ice, I broke out the rotgut and handed the keys off to a DD and we proceeded to talk, drink and be merry.  The day ended with a feel of accomplishment, memories and smiles.  What started out as a suckass day ended up as a great day for being with old and new friends again.  I enjoyed it and look forward to having more fun this year.  Until next time... Adapt, Overcome, Improvise

Goodnite John-boy...

 

(The MItch's race reports are almost as good as Bob J's. Andy has the pic's)

 

camp before nick and bob show up

 

the debacle begins

 

 

Take a close look. Yes, that’s our very own bike shop proprieter showing off yet another one of his many skills…fire jumping. Evidently a revered past-time for individuals growing up in the mokane area.

 

  

 

 

WOW. Job well done!

 

 

 

I'm sorry if you were looking for bike race pictures. You'll have to look elsewhere. This site is for Fire Jumpers only!

Rim Wrecker race report

This race will be remembered by me anyway as the race without brakes.  3 inches of snow on ground at race time.  By end of race snow was completely melted.  This meant lots of braking.  Problem is disc brakes don't like this kind of race.  So half my race I had to either drag a foot to slow down or pick out a small tree to hit in order to stop.  

I will say there would be hell to pay in River City if we did to Binder what this race did to this course. 

But it was a good race and lots of fun.  Best part of the racing is just being with one another.  It's just like the Waltons or the Cleavers.  You never saw those families family fight.  And so it is with Team Red Wheel. 

Rim Wrecker Car pool

How about we all meet at the Taos commuter parking lot (Hwy 50 and M) at 7am Sunday.  That should give us plenty of time to get there before the Marathon/Beginners go off at 11am.

All of you campers - better bring your long johns.  With the windchill it might get a bit nippley.

Rim Wrecker this weekend

The Red wheel Posse is heading south to Council Bluff Lake this weekend for the Midwest Fattire    Rim Wrecker  race.

Rumor has it that Andy, Bob J, Sir Chadwick Gaylord of Boston, and myself are going down Saturday to do a little prerideing, camping and yes, beer drinking. Let us know if you want to come down early and we'll save some room for you.  Other confirmed racers include Peat, Mitch, Justin, Sonya, Celeste, Corry, Zack.... Mean Jean....uh...Stoney, how could I forget Stoney? Who else did I forget? Someone needs to get ahold of Berry and Nick C. Bopp has some family things this weekend, and Jessica is running 20 miles on Saturday (training for her marathon) so she may or may not make it. Luke? You coming?

For those of you coming down Sunday, the race start/finish is in the camp ground this year (don't ask me, must work better that way) Look for the Red Wheel Element, you'll find us. The Specialized Demo Trailer will be at this race so if you've been wanting to take out a carbon fiber S works "somethingortheother" they'll have it down there. Don't forget, they have a $4 gate fee to get in the race. And of course, our personal chef (Sir Chadwick) will be cooking up some gourmet hot dogs for our post race celebration. And yes, we'll also be drinking beer.

Race Web Site

For the roadies out there....

A real TRW post

In a case to get off of probabtion let me post a true team red wheel post.

I rode my bike the other day and then hopped off and drank some beer.  Then I knocked my wife up again and drank some more beer.  Oh, then I rode my bike and yes, drank more beer.  This time I drank beer and then rode my bike.  The time after that I drank a few, rode my bike and then drank a few more. 

Then I raced my bike and drank beer.  Then I heard some dumb ass talking about actual biking topics so I called him a douche bag and drank a few beers. 

SoI hope this qualifies as a real team redwheel post.  Can I get off my probabtion yet?  I will drink more beer if needed....

Lost Valley Race Report

Long day yesterday. I met up with Luke just before 7:30 and got everything loaded up to go. 15 minutes later the Red Wheel Element showed up and we hit the road. Once we get to Lost Valley and registered, Justin shows up wearing bright yellow crocs. WTF? I guess he got tired of being made fun of for wearing gay-ass Elton John glasses.

We had 5 Red Wheelers line up for the marathon class. Me, Pete, Zach and Luke were in a 31 man field. Jessica lined up with 2 other ladies. Someone whispered "go", and we took off like it was a cyclocross race, pacelining 22mph uphill on the gravel road. I went to pass a few guys in front of me, then realized it was Pete and Dan Furman and I had no business being in front of them. I started to slow down, then realized they were spun out on their singlespeeds, so I went ahead. The guys behind me were like sit, shit or get off the pot!

It took me about 2 laps to recover from those first ten minutes of hammering. I was climbing the big hill at the beginning of the 3rd lap when I realized the expert and sport classes were about to start. I decided to try and hold them off until after the first section of singletrack. I was just barely able to get to the double track before the expert class swarmed me. That effort caught up to me towards the end of the lap, when I could feel cramps coming on. I passed Janeen and she said was doing a second lap because no one told her the beginners race was over. Apparently no one had the balls to tell her to stop riding.

Pete and I both managed to get 5 laps(42 miles) in. That was only good for 18th and 19th places respectively. Jessica rode consistently doing all 4 of her laps in 50-51 minutes for second place. Luke and Zach rode much of the race together and got in 3 laps. Justin and Nick did the sport class and I was surprised Nick never caught me, but he decided not to go out for his third lap. The course was not good for singlespeeds, about 3 miles of singletrack and 5-6 miles of doubletrack/gravel roads.

Sonya and Celeste both did the womens sport class. Sonya won by 17 minutes over second place. By my count, her time was faster than 22 guys in the sport class. She probably would have been faster, but when she was passing dudes up she would put her hand on their lower back and give them a little boost. Then she'd ask if they needed water or a gel and told them to have a nice ride before she passed.

After the race, we stopped in Defiance for a bite to eat. Nick paid for all of us. Thanks again, Nick! Somehow I managed to miss a turn on the way home and instead of taking 94 all the way back we detoured to I-70. I'm a dumbass.

Of course, I have to say everyone who didn't go to this race is a fag, douche, and/or pussy. Rim Wrecker is next weekend, hopefully we can get a larger group together. Everybody who did race, post up your comments and pictures.

Lost Valley is on Sunday

First Midwest Fat Tire Series race of the year - unless it gets rained out.  So who is going?  Are we carpooling? Updated - We are meeting at 7:30am at the Katy Trail paved parking lot.  

Nick & Jessica's Excellent Adventure

I'll  keep this short. (The only thing more boring than riding the whole Katy Trail is reading someones story about it)

Day one: Rolled out of Clinton around 8:30, the trail was soft and the B.O.B was heavy.

By mile 50 I was smoked, Jessica however was doing just fine.

We did 90 miles the 1st day, the last 10 was an absolute crawl. I told Jess if the old barn on the side of the trail had cable TV I would happily sleep there that night.

Day two: We left Rocheport with only a bagel and cup of coffee for breakfast, hoping to find something open along the trail. We had to ride 55 miles to Mokane before we found anything open. thank GOD for the Mokane bar!

Well worth the Wait.

We finished day 2 with 80 miles in Herman (I was smoked!)

Day three: The last day, only 60 miles today. My legs were cooked by mile 20. By noon we had only gone 25 miles but made it to Dutzow.

Corned beef and cabbage in Dutzow. Holy Smoke!!

   

After a kick ass lunch we started to pick up the pace, stopping out side of Klondike park for some sun and ibuprofen.

This must be where "my people" are from.

St Charles at last. I need  leg transplants, Jessica of course, is fine.

OK, I know everyone is thinking it, and YES Jessica out road me. And NO, I will not do this again. Next time I ride the Katy Trail, It'll be on THE RENDELMAN RIDE! Prepair your livers!

Mandatory Tuesday Night Mountain-Cross

I rode (kind-of) Binder twice in the last two days and plan to make a break again sometime today. If a three-peat occurs it will be the first time in 19 months and 15 days...

I would say 95% of the trail was rideable. The other 5% was saturated and required dis-mount. (Obviously a few before me felt an overwhelmingly strong desire to play in the mud...always a few dipshits in the bunch. Thankfully nothing a little spring cleaning can't fix.) Oddly enough, the sections that required dis-mount all seemed to be on fairly steep grades and made for an enjoyable mountain-cross adventure.

At some point during my rides it hit me...next Saturday marks the first day of spring. Yes, spring. Remember Spring? The birds chirp in the morning. The sun shines...after work. The grass will turn green, and low and behold Tuesday Night Rides will commence.

and so i propose this Tuesday the 17th be our inauguration of Tuesday Nights 2009.

I made a few calls in order to set this plan in motion...

Barry said he would be there and plans to ride 3 complete loops before gorging himself on banquet beer and oreos.  See…u know I talked to him because who else would say something like this?

Bopp said he would be there with the whole family…and then he asked me what pressure I would be running.

Chad said he raced once and now he's retired, but would be happy to grill a few dogs and drink beer.

Stoney...well Stoney didn't say much, but I bet he's there.

Cary said he would be there and riding his road bike. And why not...he does pull the road rides on his mountain bike.

Jenkins said he would be there and he’s bringing his boat along in case anyone wants to sleep in it. How could I make that up?

I talked to Wulf. He said he was afraid of getting dirt on his white road kit, but his mom and his lady would be there. WTF Wulfy?

Lindsey said Nick could come.

Pete said he’d be rollin out of stl at noon on Monday and hoped to make it to the ride around 5 or so...could someone give him a ride home?

I called Ken. Someone answered…I said “is this dick yours?”…they hung up.

Janeen said she'd be there. I know better than to poke fun at Janeen.

Lori said she was in...and that makes me nervous because my male ego hates getting lapped by a girl.

Kling-on...that has to the be the best nickname ever!

Tony, Katie, and Sarah said Marty, Ryan, and Derrick could come play.

Lake crew i don't have your numbers...but safety meetings will be mandatory for 2009 Tuesday Nights so i'm assuming you'll be there.

Darryl told me that he would be there and riding his jamis but his other bike is an epic.

Jeremy said he was coming...but only if he could ride Darryl's Jamis.

Maurice said he'll be there with a camel back full of diet rite and rum!

Sonya, Jess, Robbie said they would run 5 miles and swim a mile while the rest of us drink beer...more beer for me.

Mitch said he'll be there and plans on passing everyone on the elevated trail section.

Bonnie...that was a joke.

Jon Boy said he was out...he would have been late anyway. I think he's afraid of Bopp.

Old guys and gals i didn't mention. I still have love for ya.

A few of you i don't even know yet, but don't worry i, will soon enough, and I promise I'll make fun of you next year.

Furman, Yeilding, and Steven Seagal lovers bring your friends to Binder this and every other Tuesday evening.

Nick you better be there. After all, this post was partially your idea and if everyone hates me for it I'll need someone to ride with.

Baitshop Tuesday 5:30 unless it rains.

Feel free to make fun of me in the comments...i can handle it.