Adventure Monkey Tour

Round two of Adventure Monkey Tours is complete! The weekend was pretty fantastic albeit we could have done with some slightly warmer weather. Wind I can deal with, that's always gonna be there. But, I thought for sure we were done with the cold!



Perhaps not amber yet, but these waves were rockin' in the wind. It was a beautiful sight, one of many we saw throughout the weekend.



This pretty much sums up Bobby. Always enjoying life. He was able to join us for our Friday ride, we all sure wished he could have stayed the whole weekend. It doesn't matter where you're riding as long as you've got this guy along!



The Superfly needed a rest.



Navigating a creek crossing and getting a little taste of former DK200 glory.



Stopped at an old cemetery along the route. There were headstones for Civil War and even Mexican-American War vets!



Trip wouldn't have been complete without a trip to Bummy's in Elmdale. Gary was serving us up. The lady who runs the store is 94 and has been operating the place since 1947. Simply amazing.



These are some ol' time malt makers. This place used to be a butcher shop and malt stop. It definitely served us well with some of Milwaukee's Best brewskies and chocolate milk. Not a malt, but refreshing none the less. Make sure to sign up for our fall tour here!

High Gear campfire ride

Had our first fantastic campfire ride of the year. Hopefully more will follow over the course of the summer. About 15-20 came out to turn some laps at Raunchy Randy's Racecourse. After grilling some 'dogs and chowing down a few of us continued the fun well into the night with some night riding. Bobby, Dustin, and myself topped the night off by rolling out sleeping bags and sleeping under the stars.

Big ol' thanks to the fine folks at High Gear for providing the food and setting this little shin dig up. I'm ready for the next one!

p.s. sorry no pics, I was to busy riding!

Go by bike

That's right, if you didn't already know shame on you, May is Go by Bike month. That means it is beautiful out and you should be riding your bike everywhere that's possible. There are the obvious health and money saving incentives, but if that isn't enough High Gear is going to sweeten the deal.

Simply take a picture of yourself, your bike, and the place you commuted to (ie. work, school, grocery store, etc.) and email it to info@ridehighgear.com and you will be put into a drawing for a $25 gift certificate! I know, I'm going crazy from excitement myself!

Go to the High Gear website if you want to read the parent post. So go ride your bike already!

Slowly but surely

Thank you Shawn and Scott for putting the hurt on me. Got in a decent little ride with a few of the fella's and it proved to be quite taxing on the legs and the collar bone. I get a little overzealous sometimes and forget I'm only 3 weeks into this thing.

But, it is healing nicely, albeit slower then I would like. Just in time too as there are some great things on the horizon. Namely next weekend's Adventure Monkey Tour. Check out the website for more information on the weekend of a lifetime!

Sorry Doc

I know doctor's always want to play it safe and are going to give you their best advice on how to not advance an injury you may have. But, they told me I would be in a sling four weeks and not riding until 6 weeks. 3 weeks in and I put 30 miles in on some nice Flint Hills terrain.



It wasn't the toughest the Flint Hills has to offer, but the sign in the photo does read "minimum maintenance..." and that particular stretch did make a DK appearance once upon a time. Needless to say, it was rough enough for a broken collar bone. As things look now I will be making it back on the trails in no time. Which also means racing soon! (hoping for a comeback at Fancy Creek!)

I regret to inform you all that I did not get the job with Trek Travel this summer. I was a little bummed at first, but I couldn't be happier to continue my work with Adventure Monkey and racing for the best team in all the land!



I also made it up to see mi madre this weekend. I went up with my brother and the most beautiful girl in the whole world. She was pretty tuckered on the way home. That girl can sleep through anything.

Bone Bender

I may be forced off the bike, but I still got one good hand for handing up water bottles. Two of High Gear's finest were heading up to Clinton to contest the 6 hour solo race. Plus, Dustin and Joel teamed up to take Bobby and I's spot in the duo. I couldn't miss it, even if I was slingin' it!



The turn out was great. I got a sweet video of the run, but I'm not smart enough to get it off my phone. Damn smart phones are smarter than me.



Joel kicked off the race for the duo team. Joel was in for a surprise as this was only his second race and first time at Clinton.



He looked a little shell shocked after the first lap, but championed it out and rode hard for a couple more laps.



Dustin running up the final climb of the lap. 3/4 of the field chose to do the same up this slick, rooty/rocky, and off-camber climb.



Mike was speeding along so fast I could barely get his picture. His day got cut a little short though when he clipped a tree and tumbled down a cliff. Left him with some sweet raspberries and welted quad. He still rode a lap and a half before calling it good though!



I was gonna go for a swim in between water boy duties, but I had to keep my clothes on. That's no fun.




Randy was tearing up the course all day long. It was straight out of a Rocky film, and I felt like Mick. Only this was mountain bike racing of course. Every lap I was telling him to ride as hard as he possibly could. He always says he could have rode harder at the end of a race and I wasn't gonna let that happen!



He may not have pulled out the Rocky style victory, but 2nd in the 50+ and top 20 overall. A finish the Italian Stallion would have been proud of. I know I was!

As for me, I'm two weeks into this broken collar bone and really starting to feel better the past two days. I leave for Wisconsin this Monday. Hopefully I can do enough to convince them they should pay me to ride bikes and lead others doing the same. Im pretty confident of one thing, when I get back in two weeks I will be dying to ride with the guys and gals of E-Town!

Out of Comission

No, this isn't my attempt at trying a new hand position. But, fortunately this is the only damage to my bike after my crash in last Sunday's collegiate road race. Man, I was doing good too!



Unfortunately my body didn't hold up quite as well.



I tried to save some money and tell them I already took pictures. They didn't think that was good enough. The doc told me I'd be out for 6-8 weeks. I told her I'd be riding again in 2. (I gotta land that Trek job!)




Fortunately I can still ride the trainer. I got bike on the bike tonight after 3 days of slacking off.



I've got these wonderful roomies to thank for keeping me motivated and always pushing me! And I without a doubt have the best family in the world! So, needless to say I won't be mountain biking much this spring, but I'll be back stronger and more motivated then ever to win a collegiate championship this Fall. Just gotta avoid that road racing!