Race Report #1

What the *&$K kind of bike blog is this!?! The first gear review was about rock climbing shoes and the first race report is about 

running? Makes no sense... 

Somewhere between waiting for my laundry to dry at my parents house and realizing that I had tennis shoes on my feet I got the grand idea of kicking off my spring break with the 31st Annual Westport St. Patrick's Day Run. I really haven't tested my fitness baseline against anyone else this year and also haven't competitively run against anyone for the past 7 or 8 years, so I figured running with 3,100 other people for 4.5ish miles seemed like a great way to determine just what kind of shape I was in. 

Overall I have no idea how I finished. Apparently scoring and entering data for 3000+ people is a task that takes longer than a week (even with a scoring chip...?) I do know that if I want to continue doing this whole running gig I need to start figuring out how to pace myself a little bit since I am pretty sure I was not supposed to have both a high 8 and a low 6 mile in the same race. All in all I finished worse than I wanted to but better than I would have settled for.

So here's to sport, feet and new kinds of hurt. 

Holy Road Bikes!

Before the pain set in.

I rode to and from the Perry Dam Race with this group of fast kids today. For some reason I thought that 4+ hours on a road bike wasn't going to leave me in a world of hurt but I definitely made it home from my 70 mile jaunt just barely hanging on to my sanity.

The way out group.

Sirs Giles and Waller towed me for a lap around the lake while we waited for the fast kids/kids with $ to finish racing so we could ride home. All I have to say about those two characters is that they both earned their gentleman badges today. The Giles and Waller duo towed me back to the group while I flailed and whined trying to catch up after the main group rolled through the stop sign without waiting for us three (don't worry main group guys we didn't expect you to worry about anyone but yourselves, that wouldn't be the true roadie spirit.)

In conclusion, I still don't find road riding incredibly enjoyable compared to other things that I could be doing on my bike. Although I do understand that it is a necessary evil that I am going to have to spend more time at to get ready for the epic gravel racing that's about to heat up around these parts.

So here's to pain, skinny tires and the true roadie way.

Lovely Day for a Guinness

March is here the weather is warming up and we are less than a week away from my favorite day of the year, St. Patrick's Day! I can't hold my excitement in any longer. My countdown timer is ticking and I am officially one paper and one midterm away from cranking up the Pogues/Dubliners/Dropkick/Flogging Molly play list and diving head first into a week of Guiness, Harp and Jamesons.

Not being anything even close to a full-blooded Irish kid I have absolutely no reason to appreciate St. Pat's as much as I do, but I do it regardless.



I love that it's the one day of the year that allows me to drink with the fervor of a gaggle of pirates and have it be socially acceptable. I love that it traditionally marks the start of spring break, and that I look good in green, and that I always have hope that there will be some young pretty girl unadorned in green just waiting to giggle over my innebriated self giving her a pinch. But for all intensive purposes I firmly believe that there should be a Mc in front of my last name.

So here's to Irish whiskey, women and stout.

Movin' On Up!

The Cycle City Kids got a new shop to play in on Saturday! Exciting stuff for the enterprising Fox family. The new shops digs are pretty swank and offers an environment that I really don't think any shop in the KC area can rival. The super open space, classy coffee nook and fitting area really add to something different in the way of bike shop layouts.


In a way it is disappointing to see the flagship store disassembled. Mainly because while I know I probably could muster up the gumption to do a keg stand of Oktoberfest at most any bike shop, it just will never feel like it did at the old store. On the plus side I did score that super plush love seat that I'm sure all of the northlanders sweaty lycra clad backsides have rested on after a ride or two.


The bum part of the week: My body is wrecked, today was my second emergency room visit in the last month (for completely unrelated things.) Which officially makes me a whiny little girl, but at least I can say that I have been to the emergency room 4 times in my life so at least I have rationed well throughout my years.

Here's how I picture this conversation with my body:
Me: Hey body! So I'm gonna treat you real well, slow down on the drinkin', quit the tobaccco gig, train smart, eat healthy. Ya know? Sounds good right?
My Body: HAHA! And in return I will completely screw over your life for almost an entire month by leaving you in excruciating pain with several different illnesses!

The upside of the bum part: I was diagnosed with pleurisy, which feels like a cracked rib but surprise! It's just the outer layer of the lung tissue swelling up so much that it presses unbearably hard against the chest cavity. Which means I should be back in form for the Bone Bender and also means I left the ER with a prescription for HYDROCODONE! I don't know how many of y'all have gotten the chance to experience this stuff but it's out of this world in the pain killer realm. I'm talking so good that I'm gonna be hard pressed not to add doctor/pharmacist on to the list of qualifications for the future Mrs. Slater just so I can have this stuff on tap when my bods on the fritz.

So here's to swank bike shops, tatterred couches, pain and the pills that dull that damn pain.

Creature of Culture

Wow, that was fast, Friday is here again and I find myself incredibly swamped with work but not quite motivated enough to do any of it due to this cursed afternoon of supposed relaxation. 

So to celebrate the beginning of this weekend I have decided to dig into the "Slater Special Reserve" list. The list is comprised of the utmost finest wines from only the most sought after collections throughout the world. Past bottles that have made the list include such timeless classics as the 2006 Yellowtail Rose, 2008 Foxhorn Merlot, 2005 Three Little Penguins reserve blends and of course California's own Nathanson Creek. 

This afternoon I have chosen to open a bottle of 2006 Gru; an Italian red that unapologetically refuses to let itself be categorized, blend or otherwise. It's advertised as being a montepulciano grape spiced red, but it's flavor lends itself to an exquisite taste that I feel is best embodied in the Dave Chapelle skit "Purple Drank." Wherein instead of describing one's drink as grape juice it is solely categorized as the product of water/sugar/purple. Gru does indeed lend itself to the same palette pleasing incarnation of drank but in an even more delightful mixture: water/booze/red. 

Now you may be asking why I have broken out such classy accoutrements seeing as it is a relatively droll afternoon, but I have big plans this evening... Tonight is the opening night of the Universities production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and I managed to score tickets to this sold out production. It's billed as being aimed at the same audience as the A&E channels "Mad Men" but I have a hard time believing anything done in musical form can take on the brazen, booze brandishing, womanizing, idyllic era that every male wishes they could pilot a time-machine to (at least for a day or two), but I'll give anything a shot. 

So here's to private reserve lists, black comedians and university theatre.  

Race Season Ruminations

I have absolutely no pictures that pertain to this post so I will leave you with three of my recent favorites.

XOXO Jesus

Damn it! It happened again. Completely without intention I have gotten myself into another season of racing bicycles. I was rather adamant about not racing or competing this year after suffering mega burnout from chasing a decent road season and then somehow stumbling straight out of that season and into last year’s list of blunders. But… it is almost March 1st, my name is on three rather epic start lists and I plan on suffering through a six hour solo attempt at Chris Locke's Bonebender in two weeks.

Waller, kitchen tongs, bar...

While on my second lap on the river today I realized that there must be something hard-wired into my brain that makes me do this to myself every spring. Maybe it isn’t specific to bicycles but something in my head definitely starts screaming at me to get back in shape around the beginning of February every year, so inevitably I do.

Kels making an attempt to send "Corner to Corner"

On the downside:
- I am in the least of form to be a threat to any podium spots in an xc race. Since I have completely ditched road riding my top end and climbing form has essentially disappeared.
- I have absolutely no time to train this season. 18 hours of class and the job have left me pretty much m.i.a. between the hours of 7 and 7. Today was my first day on the bike in almost 2 weeks.

On the upside:
- I feel I am in the most well-rounded form of anything I can remember from years past.
- I am between 15 and 20 lbs up on my old race weight due to actually putting in some core work and spending 4 nights a week at the rock climbing gym (this is a good thing, 130lbs at 5’11” has to be unhealthy).
- My cardio feels immaculate due to the combination of flushing my body of all tobacco, beating the sun out of bed to get a run in before work on the weekdays, and quitting that awesome habit of drinking my dinner that I was so fond of.

As an aside, this will be my tenth year racing mountain bikes. So here’s to another year of sticking it in the big ring, climbing into the pain box and not coming out until cross nats are done and over.

Gear Review #1 Evolv Bandits

Nothing makes me giddier than new gear. Although this year I have been relatively light on the stuff purchases (partly because I am broke and partly because I own at least two of most things anyone could want or need to play outside), I scored these for a song and after one size swap back to the vendor they returned to my doorstep today.


I'll keep the review short since I'm assuming at least half of the people who read this could care less about rock climbing, while the other half is wondering why I posted a picture of ballerina shoes.

In short these things are rad. I sized them more aggressively than my La Sport Mythos and compared to the rest of the Evolv and Mad Rock families they fit my heel to perfection. They aren't the best for standing around in all day but I don't think I am going to be spending hours hanging off North American in them anytime soon. The down-turned sole is pretty stiff and kept me pinned to some nubbins that were pretty squrimy on my old shoes. Overall I'm impressed with the Trax rubber and the way the shoes seem to lend themselves to the skinny footed, high arches, long second toed weirdos of the world.

Here's to hoping that first impressions are lasting impressions.