Almost 100 miles of hills death ride

TeamSeagal held the 3rd annual 100 miles of hills death ride this past Sunday. Perfect weather really. Mid 40's climbing into the mid 60's by days end. The day started pretty great. 60 or so riders ripping down Clayton road at 9 AM at about 40 MPH. Chilly, but great. Hill after hill came and went. To my surprise, the group seemed to stay together unlike years past. The route was mostly unchanged except for one special little detail. A tribute to STLCC for a visit to there monument from 1921.


Photo by the only person not in this photo.


Thanks for the photo, Mitch.


Video ripped the fuck off from the seagal blog. Thrasher?

The day was awesome. What was supposed to 100 miles ended up being 87, but only because I'm a pussy, which means Chriss Angel has no interest in me. Seeing everyone and chatting around in the group was much needed therapy. But, the real excitement was the car drive home.

About 30 minutes into the car drive home, going about 80 on 270 Randy and I heard a super loud crash sounds. We both flinched. It sounded like a tire blew out or someone crashed into us. That's when I looked in the side mirror and saw my new RITTE hanging off the side of the car. Pulled to the shoulder as fast as I could to see what the hell just happened.

My bike sits backwards because of the tray arrangement on top of the car. Not sure if I forgot to clamp the rear tire down or if the clamp came undone. Either way I almost lost my bike on 270.

The only thing that kept my bike attached to the car was a BROKEN fork leg.


After taking my bike off the rack when I got home I check the fork. I couldn't believe the BROKEN fork leg held the bike to the car. The broken leg flaps in the wind but supported the weight of my bike at 80MPH on the highway. The fork leg that didn't break pulled out of the fork clamp on the rack itself, stripped the lawyer tabs right off.



So I lost a fork but have my bike still. Its a win lose situation. Lose fork, still have bike. I contacted RITTE and am getting hooked up with a new fork for super cheap.

My reaction to hearing loud noise outside of car.


My reaction to realizing I had a broken fork.


Best version of the day HERE.

Till next time... Holla atcha boy.

Jimmy Turner

Jimmy was a good friend of mine for some time several years ago. We used to ride BMX bikes together at all skate parks and dirt jumps in the area. He was a couple years younger than me but could do way more tricks than me. I had fallen out of touch with Jimmy and his older brother Tony starting about 5 or 6 years ago when I started spending way less time at the skate park.

A few weeks ago I learned that Jimmy passed away. Even though I hadnt seen him in half a decade, it was still a shock and sad. He was one of the coolest dudes to ride with. He and his brother Tony were a couple of characters that made everyone laugh. It was always a good time with them. Sure miss those days. Riding with friends and not a care in the world.

Jimmy was 26.

Jimmy at one of his gigs performing in Branson.


Jimmy at the St. Louis skate park.

Finally...

Got out Sunday for a great ride finally with some of the local crew. Much needed. Got 4 hours in for close to 60 miles. Lots of head wind so we were not moving very fast. Didnt bother me. Just glad to be outside.

Rolling.


PG doing what he does. Keeping it real.


Dry spot in the road.


What most the pavement looks like. Shit.


IDOT needs to re-think this I think.


Pretty nasty considering it was sunny and never went on gravel or dirt roads.



Why I do it.... Good times.

The Bosberg

The Boseberg looks good with the standard aluminum box section tubular wheels on it. I know carbon deep dish wheels are a better choice for performance reasons, but the old school wheel gives it special character and adds to the cool factor. IMO.



Perfect for classics(because there are tons of those around here...).

I still haven't had a chance to ride this bike really. Other than my rollers. I built this bike the first week of October last year. But, with my mom becoming extremely ill and passing, I never really had the chance to get it out. Ok, so maybe I got about 40 minutes on it outside right after I built it. That was months ago at this point. All the other times since then was cx specific training which meant I was always on my cross bike.

Now that we are nearing the end of winter(a bad one at that), the shoulders of the roads are covered with ice and slush still. Not to mention all the salt that is on the roads that will eat your gear and make it look like this. Cassette from last year...



Looks like it spent a life time on the bottom of the Mississippi. Hopefully I can get out on this bike soon. It needs to stretch and so do I.

The Classics are coming!!

Training for spring hasnt been going great. Started out with lots of short runs. I then tried to hang with guys who run 30 miles a week for a 8 miler through the woods. Ouch. Over did it. Had to rest for 4 days. That was a few weeks ago. Good now, back to short runs... probably going to stick with those and at my pace. Plus riding rollers a couple times a week.

I also started using the Kettle bell. I also over did my first workout with that. My ass and hammies were thrashed for about 5 days after that. Again. Back at it, but at a much easier work load.

Got sick last week. Spent 4 days on the couch. Felt ok today so I went out for a short run for about 30 minutes. Its crazy how fast you loose fitness. I ran easy but could still feel the lactic acid build up pretty quick. So at this point I think I am moving forward. I have only been getting about 4 to 5 hours of cardio work per week this winter but have also been getting a good amount of core work too. Core is something I completely ignored last year. Completely. As the time starts to change and the weather gets better, I hope to get my hours to the 10-12 range. Its realistic for me.

Hopefully soon the weather will start to turn for the better. I think we have 3 times the amount of snow we normally get in a winter and its just now the second week of February. Plenty of time for more snow. I have cabin fever bad. One... that's one ride outside for me this year. That was last Saturday for a 50 miler down in Jeff co with Drew. The weather this coming weekend is looking good. High of 50 for Sunday and I think I might be heading to Edwardsville for there weekly Sunday ride in the AM. I would love to get 4 or 5 hours in.

Okay.. enough of the boring stuff. The Classics are coming!!

The spring classics in Europe are probably the most bad ass form of road bike racing. Its my favorite for sure. I hope it rains like hell this year on those guys. It has been dry the past 4 years and im ready to watch some muddy one's. Cancellara owned Flanders and Roubaix last year. As cool as it was to watch he kind of made it boring. Hopefully it will be a fist fight all the way to the line this year.


Road to Roubaix trailer. It keeps me pumped when I going no where on my rollers in the basement. I am thinking about gluing some rocks to my rollers and call them classics rollers... hmmm.