SEASON

Man it's been awhile since I posted anything! My racing year has been hard and filled with flats and bad condition and mud and just not a whole lot of fun racing! 12 hours of Lil Sac race was this weekend (9-12-09) in Springfield my old stomping grounds. The major players raced at Castlewood. So with those guys being gone I was able to get a win in the solo class! More on the details later. Good race.

RHETT'S RUN

Man.....are the flats ever going to end!!!

Marathon class starts at 11am, I get to Columbia about 9am. Pull in Cosmo and it starts pouring rain. If this was not Nate's place I would have headed back to STL. Got to BS with Dwayne, Mitch, and Nate some did a pre-ride....course looked pretty good! I was kinda getting in my own groove after people spread out on the start...first lap was slick, really slick! I did my best AMA flat track moto impersonation on a grassy turn...no harm! Second lap started to feel even better, passed Dwayne....yes I passed Dwayne....he was down with a flat but it still counts!!!! Right after I got started on the 3rd lap I flatted...stan's would not seal. Put a tube in, half mile later flat! This is around the time that I thought about leaving my pump(and more tubes) in my camelback....me being so smart went with bottles on race day........done deal!! About that time I see Dwayne walking. We made a deal to walk the course all the way so we would not get DNFs. You know we had a blast shouting at people and giving Split times to the experts. Man that race was fun to watch. Congrats to Dave B. on a huge win, that guy was laying it down!

And Nate thanks for the signs man....I about wrecked I was laughing so hard.

St. Joes coming up NO MORE FLATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHUBB

Rode Chubb today....I don't get out there to often. I forgot how much fun that place is. Climbs are killer. I need to make a point to get out there more often. I could use the extra climbing to get in shape for the CANAL LOOP 24 HOUR race that I signed up for on July 11 & 12. No backing out now!!! It's gonna be hot as hell I bet. I think Dwayne and Mitch are going to do it to, now I gotta get Nate to sign up and it will be a party!!!

MUCH BETTER

Got my 3+ in at Lost Valley.....not sure where I could have finished if I would have been able to ride at the pace I did on Monday. I don't really care, it just feels better knowing that I could have rode strong to the finish.

On another note for those who don't know we added GRIFFIN AAROD to our family on 2/13/09! Everybody is doing great....just not much sleep!!! Kellen is an awesome big brother so far...it is so cool to watch him be nice to his little brother and try and help us out with him.

LOST VALLEY

Man...first MTB race of the year!! I had not rode my Turner since January 1st at the Ranch ride. I have been getting some rides in to work and back, but I really did not know what to expect. At the start I pretty much just let the fast guys go and rode my own pace in hopes that I could just get in a good 3+ hours. Well that all went out the window about 5 miles in when I sliced my front tire...the instant flat kind, and before I could even stop BAM back tire slice...huge slice!! I could boot the front one but there was no fixing the rear. So I ran and walked the remaining 7-8 miles back to the truck. I want to thank all the racers that offered help, pumps, tubes, kind words!!! The way I see it that is all my bad luck for the whole year right there!

I am going to go ride Lost Valley again in the morning if we don't get to much rain...I'm going to get my 3+ hours in damn it!

in shape.....not so much

This will no doubt be the worst condition I have ever started a MTB season with. Not that I ever started a year feeling great! Number one I HATE winter....I am one of the few people who would rather ride the trainer or not ride than get out and be cold. Number 2 with the baby coming we have been getting everything ready and I just don't feel like riding a lot. So I will just roll with the punchs I guess. Hope I can get motivated after the baby comes and it warms up outside. What I really want is warm and dry so I can get out on the MTB bike.

?????!!!!!!

It's 18 degrees outside......4:00am......I'm getting ready to ride to work......the only thought that keeps going through my mind is "WHAT HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING?" I'm thinking that tonight I'm going to take all the money out of my saving account and go buy a case of hair spray and set them off in the front yard to help speed up this warming thing.