Par-T-time...

Riding bikes to me is all about fun. If it's not fun than I'm not gonna do it, nope. I just picked up this little Specialised Fuse and am dubbing her 'coffee', as I will be hitting the bike park on my to work in the mornings to relive the fun I had as a kid; jumping and crashing my brains out till I puke or just am awake. That should set me straight for the rest of the day, every day. Yeehaw!

six @ swope...

Course Map

Spoke Pony Showdown 3/6 - Big time endurance mountain bike race this weekend here in Kansas City. The temps have dropped and it's time to take a ride on the pain train. Opt for three or six hours of single track bliss, full of all that you can (or can't) handle. Swope is the king of kings around here; dialed trail that works you like a minimum wage job. Don't even bother coming out to race without a few extra tampons in your jersey pockets you roadie jerks, this is the real deal. I'll be there for the long haul, loving every grueling minute. You better be there too; unless you're a tool. See you Saturday for dirt loving good times.

Fourteen Hours West...

Say it with me...ROAD TRIP!

Full report coming very soon...

Tell-u-RIDE...

Good times in Telluride last week. As sson as I get through playing catch-up with city life, I'll write something about it. Until then, close your eyes and pretend you just rode fiftteen miles in the rockies and had a helluva great time.

Mayhem Inferno...

Can’t stand the heat, Get out and stop bitchen. Shawnee Mission Mayhem happened. The course was sweet and the temps were off the chart.

My morning started out with packing up the Burley trailer with a cooler full of ice cold water, beer and my riding gear. I live about a mile from the race venue so I thought it only appropriate to ride as opposed to drive. The real kicker to this idea however is the Ogg Road hill coming up from Midland. This is one bad-a$$ hill; the kind that separates the Men from the Manimals. It’s a long climb that gets steeper as you go, and at just when you think it’s over you turn a bend only to see it steepen for another 100 yards. If you want to get strong, do hill intervals here. If you want to blow-up, ride your single speed pulling a trailer full of beer and water.

I arrived with enough time to get suited up and give Beej a high five for completing his first mountain bike race (which had just finished moments earlier). It's funny how ‘off the couch Beej’ can do these things, especially after only riding his ‘90s model single-speed-converted Kona only once on trails this year, which was to pre-ride the race course with yours truly the day before. Nice work buddy!

Now it’s go time. I lined up with the posse and off we went. Down a gravel double track for ¼ mile in the blistering sun and then we’d drop into the single track. Before the race I had figured I’d be the last guy into the woods. I am still running a retard easy gear from my last trip to Colorado, though I tried to get my freewheel changed before the race, but failed to get it to budge. Spinning my brains out on the gravel was not going to be worth it and I knew I could make up the time on the technical sections of the trail. I did indeed succeed in being the last guy into the woods but began my subtle attack and had passed 8 riders by the time we hit the 4-way mid lap. My boy the trail asshole would be proud to know that one pass occurred when I hopped a large fallen tree as the other rider went around, and two riders I passed at each of the (2) hard left switchbacks while they could not make the turn w/o dabbing. Towards the end of lap one you bust out onto the power line cut and into the heat surrounded by 4’ tall grass; it was like riding into a hair dryer. Just plain nasty and sucked the life right out of you for the final ¼ mile to the start/finish. As I started lap 2 my man Beej did a perfect bottle hand-up and I was rolling once again on the gravel double track. Here I used the easy riding to toss down some fuel and water. I was also passed by two guys on single speeds who were geared spot-on, not like me spinning my nuts off. This of course lead to the chase and me eventually passing these guys on the technical terrain once again. Moving well and solid, I kept a solid pace and was psyched that my final lap was almost over. Just before popping out once again into the power line cut and heat, Beej and little Will blasted me with a shot of heat-slaying water which revived my drive to finish strong. As I pushed up the final hill some fella on a geared bike decided that he needed to pass me for some reason. Whatever I thought; I’m not racing you anyway. I then decided to go ahead and give it to him since he wanted it, and I pushed hard and made the fella about have a coronary getting across the line as we sprinted the last 100 yards.

Special thanks to Mark for his DNF. Without you buddy, I’d have gotten 4th. Your 3rd at the Farmhouse Classic 100 the day before was a lame excuse…Pappy was out racing and finished and he’s like 6 times your age. The Ethos crew killed it as usual with 7 podiums. Awesome work fellas!

All in all a good time on my home turf. Had I been geared right I’d have had a better finish time, but probably not a better place. I’m just not fast, but I do like to ride bikes.

Blazing Saddles...

Had a killer ride on Sunday (as you loyal fans now knowingly observe as Dirt Church) with my Cousin Brad at Swope. It was blazing hot but we had a killer time riding all that is Swope. Phase 4 is a great addition with some drops, bumps and flowing single track. We were the first car in the lot and when we left there were 20. Swope IS a big deal. Get there, ride and enjoy.

Sunday it's going to be over 100 degrees. I suggest you all get your fat asses over to Shawnee Mission Park for the Sunday afternoon weight-loss program, also known as Shawnee Mission Mayhem. I know I'll be there, because I tend to do battle best in the dire pit of hell, and this race and the forcasted weather might just serve it up good. Hope to see you there!

Here's the course...looks prime!

Mountains of Fun...

Dave and Burnsey enjoying a hike at the Shambala Mountain Center

4th of July weekend was nothing but good times for my wife and I. We headed out to Colorado for a few days to visit our pal Dave, who is recovering from surgery - as well as visiting a handful of other friends we enjoy the company of. I'm not going to elaborate since I did not do any riding while we were there, but I did manage to drink more than my share of beer, climb some Granite in RMNP and do some good hikes. Someday I will live in the mountains.

Burnsey's Garage Sale...

I have a bunch of bike related goods for sale HERE. I'll add to the list as I find more items and have the time. Enough stuff to build a few bikes. I might even get the motivation to take some photos of the goods soon...

Swope with the Crew...

Sometimes it feels SO good to hurt. The pain of crawling off my office chair and onto my bike at the best trail system in the Midwest to ride with good pals is worth it. The Manimal, Dave and I made short work of everything at Swope, both ways - all pushing single speeds. We even enjoyed a short game of mountain bike chinese fire-drill action; switching bikes to see how each differs in feel and performance. It was cool to ride Dave's Niner carbon frame. Feels really nice. Jesse's Stumpy was sweet too. If you have not been to Swope to ride, do it. If you are traveling across the country on I-70 and need a break to ride, do it. Kansas City's finest trail. Post ride there had to be 30 cars and many groups of post-ride peeps tossing back cold beers and telling stories of there adventures. A real scene for sure. We chose the comfort of Dave's porch for our beer consumption. Good times.

The Wolf & The Medallion

The Wolf & The Medallion from Jeremy Collins on Vimeo.

A great friend, A must see...July 23rd at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.