Snow? . . . of course!

2 days ago it was 70. Yesterday it was 30, today it's in the 20's and there is 3-1/2" of snow on the ground. Good thing I rode yesterday.

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Went to a little town called Little Blue. It a little step back in time to 1842. I can't find a lot of info on this town.


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Basically it's a little town with 3 store fronts. A Post Office (Right), something (Middle), and a Blacksmith (Left).


In the Post office window there are a few things on display

The Blacksmith is down on the other end. It's pretty much just a door.

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If you haven't had the Rickey Road experience, heres a little Peek-See. Going up the hill just off Noland. There is an old foundation and stairs of sorts.

Probably at one time was a good view looking over Little Blue. The porch suggests that, since it's about the same size of the house.

This looks like it was the back wall to the old house.

I peek of the side of the wall. I guess weather, time, neglect took it's toll on this house. I know of 2 other houses like this that people still live in.

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Rickey road has some turns to take at Freak Speed . . . Turns to test your tires adhesion.

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But beware of the old bridge at the bottom. It look nice enough at speed.

The bridge has some tire snaggers. I found this out because about 5 years ago I came through at about 40+Mph and lost both bottles, my pump, and flated a tire. I thought someone hit me from the side with a rocket.

Bridging The Gap

The Bridging the Gap people were showing Breaking away Thursday Night at UMKC.

So Bob and I went to go check it out. For more information on the Film Series click this

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http://bridgingthegap.org/egap.php?id=129

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The film was good as always. So afterward we went to a local Coffee Shop, it was a nice night so we went out side and played a game of chess. Little did we know there were Chess Vultures hiding in the rafters. One of them came down and wanted to watch. Only thing is neither one of us really know all the rules and don't really care. (However Bob does have a beard, so if you have a beard you must be Chess Savy). We just wanted to have a nice time enjoying the nice air, and enjoy some conversation. So about half way through this guy is barking suggestions to us. Then the guy spills his coffee on my phone. So now this guy will now be known as "Spazzky". That's only funny if you know who Spassky is.

Nice Ash!

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That's it.

A little steel, want a steal!

So your out on a ride, then all of a sudden your chain is skipping on the gears. Upon closer inspection you discover you have lost your top deraileur pulley . . . Now What? We went back a bit to look around, but the pulley and bolt . . . Bolted. So we found the next closest thing, a rusty nail. A few more miles down the road I wore through that nail and I once against force to scan the road for some piece of steal. I found a flat thin piece of steel and threaded through where the oulley bolt would have been, and Viola! I made it another 3 miles.

Lucky for me I have a collection of crashed out deraileurs so I had some pulleys hanging around. Who loses a deraileur pulley? Sure I admit I had it apart . . . 4 years ago! I have to admit it's not the first time this happened, last time I was able to find the pulley and found a nail to replace the bolt. Also I've been out twice with people and this happened, and funny enough we found nails to remedy the problem . . . sure are a lot of nails around where I need them.

Swope Park Trails

I was able to get out for an hour yesterday so I went to the Swope Park Trails . You can get to them off Oldham road between 79th street and Hillcrest Road (Closer to Hillcrest) in Swope Park.

The enterance is right before the gate. The gate is closed sometimes and you might get the impression the trails are closed, but they are always open.

I thought the trails might be ridable. It rained two days ago. I've ridden in rain many times. It's usually raining though. There difference between riding in mud when it's raining, and when it's been sitting. This mud seems to Snow ball . . . How's that front deraileur working?

got mud? . . . Like I said it snow balls. Even getting off the bike and pushing it at this point didn't help. I just collected more mud every where.

Ahhhhhhh. On the sunny side it's was a total different story. It was even a little dry. I've ridden the trails on the other side. I thought they were good trails for the beginner, but this side of the trail presents a lot of challenges.

I cal this the entrarance to King Tut's Tomb.

Inside the tomb.

Do you take the trail, or the rock? Both way you have to navigate the trees. depends on what's on the other side.

I went back from where I came. and back and forth going over this section a couple times. However I'm not going though the mud again. I need to make like Steve McQueen in "The Great Escape".

I've spotted a point of refuge! It's a bar called Percy's.

. . . a hole in the bottom of the fence. (You can see how dry the trail is on that side by how clean my tires are.)

We're out.

Doeh! What bar opens at 5pm on Sunday? I thought I might some kind of information on this bar. Lengends & Lore. I found none.

I suspect this bar will get a lot of MTB traffic this summer. It's got an outdoor patio, beer, & food.

Kansas City Brevet Series

Looks like 2 rides in March. I wanted to do these last year, but life got in the way. Maybe I'll loosen up this year.
Note: the 1000k starts this year in Santa Fe, NM


http://www.kcbrevets.blogspot.com/

If you do the 200k, 300k, 400k, 600k, and 1000k you get a special pin and you qualify for Paris-Brest-Paris. Not that I'd go to Paris, but who knows.
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Paris Brest Paris isn't exactly a race, it's what 'They" call Randonnering. Basically a non-stop, self supported ride. That ends up as a race in the end . . . like any other group ride I think I've been on.
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One interesting note Scott Dickson from Kansas City has finished PBP 7 times, won 3 times, and used to (or still does) hold the Record time 43hr, 20min. Who Knew? . . . He's from Kansas city.
PBP Records

Friday the 13th

First off I missed Street Cred last week, and it looks like I'm going to have to miss this Sunday . . . although for different reasons . . . I will hit next Sunday, and if I got it right the next Sunday after that.
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With that said, I am planning a ride for March called "That was then, this is now".

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That was then . . . 13th & McGee

This is now . . . 13th & McGee

You get the concept? What about Electric Park? (45th to 47th, the Paseo to Woodland Avenue). Probably not since it closed in 1925.

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That was then!

This . . . is . . . . Gates? . . . . Smokes! That's a bit of a change.

. . . Oh what will we find?

Ass . . . embled

Have you had enough of this bike yet? I know I have. I thought I post pics of the bike assembled.

Plenty of seatstay tire clearance.

Chainstay clearance is right at tolerance. I still might dimple them to give some more clearance. Good this it's painted with Krylon.

More than enough rotor clearance.

Too much crank clearance. That's because I could only find a 120mm spindle instead of 110.

But will bringing the crank in 5mm cause a problem with the granny/Chainstay clearance? . . . I did mention I was going to dimple the chainstays right?

The disc tab is in order.

Downtubes . . . that's right plural . . . tubes!

Midwest Cyclery . . . Where the magic happens. Well at least all the facing, chasing, aligning, and checking. I should have made that a blog entry, maybe next time.

Just enough fork clearance. Like I said, I might have gotten lucky by not being able to get 3.0" tires.