March, 2005 Newsletter - Kansas City

Newsletter for Kansas City and Midwest Mountain Bicyclists * Volume 8, Issue 2 * March, 2005
The Beautiful Season Approaches
Spring. It's coming. Yeah.
building equipment for ERTA and
For those who don't subscribe to the hundreds of man-hours on new trail
seems like a small price to pay. Next
E-mail list, you may not be aware
that we don't use the E-mail list any- year we'll have the cookoff again —
oh, and we'll have 10+ more miles of
more. Last month we moved the
EarthRiders discussion list to a new trail and the gear to build more.
Much of the gear is already in posses"forum" format hosted at forums.
earthriders.com. Have you ever vis- sion and was put to use at LOSP. See
page 6 for an update.
ited the forums at MTBR.com? It's
much like that. You can review the
We have some great events upcommessages at your leisure, read only
ing, and we hope you can join us. In
the threads you're interested in, and
April, we're changing up our usual
control your data like never before.
ride-meeting format to have movie
Plus, if you liked the way it was be- night. The Trek Store (see address on
fore, there's a "digests" feature on the back, date at right) will host a presennew forum, allowing you to receive tation of some great MTB movies
messages by E-mail like before. Old while we eat and make merry.
way, new way, your way — check it Weather permitting, we'll do an Urban Assault from there. But if you
out at www.earthriders.com.
happen to meet up with some new or
Speaking of the website, there's also old friends and a trail ride gets
a gallery there for ride photos, work- planned, no one will stop you. Bring
day photos, and bling bike photos.
a lawn chair, and check the forum for
Contact the webmaster to get your
last-minute details.
photos up for all to see.
Plus, in June, we're
We had our tradiworking with the Lawtional "chili cookoff"
rence Mountain Bike
for our February
Club to put on a
meeting this year.
"Family Day" at the
Attendance was
Lawrence River
really low — but
Trails, the perfect lofrankly, we're fine
cation to bring your
with it. Why? Benon-riding spouse,
Karen Owens presents the new traveling
cause many who
chili trophy to Mike Rago, who will have
kids, or friends. We'll
far more competition to try and take it
would ordinarily
have food, demonstrafrom him next year!
have come to the
tions, and plenty of
meeting were prepnon-threatening activities to introping to go to the Lake of the Ozarks duce new people to the sport.
to build the new Honey Run Trails
A beautiful season of mountain bikthere. Sacrificing a meeting to get
ing
awaits. Come on out and join us!
thou$and$ in mechanized trail-
www.earthriders.com
Inside this issue:
Reader's Ride –
Riding in Arkansas
2
MTB101 –
How to Do a Manual
4
Trailbuilding Reports
6
Ride Schedule
7
Brand New Words
7
Next EarthRiders
Meetings
APRIL
Movie Night
@ Trek Store of KC
6:00 pm, Wednesday
April 20th
MAY
Smithville Lake
6:00 pm, Wednesday
May 18th, Sailboat Cove
JUNE
FAMILY DAY
Lawrence River Trails
Noon, Saturday
June 25th
The Virtues of Fleece — Riding in Arkansas
Readers’ Rides
Aaron Browning
It was 4:00 A.M. on Friday,
February the 4th, and I couldn't
sleep.
I hadn't ridden trail in nearly
two months due to the weather
in K.C., so Mike Rago, Dave
Smith, and I were headed to
where the dry trails were,
namely Syllamo, Arkansas.
I met up with Mr. Rago and Mr.
Smith before sunrise and we
were on our way. Packed into
Dave’s van were three guys and
three bikes, with about 24 total inches
of travel, and not a 'damn' singlespeed
or rigid fork among us ;-). We left with
the promise of two days of riding and
camping, and back in time on Sunday
to see whether Paul McCartney would
have a "wardrobe malfunction" during
the "Big Game" halftime show. It was
going to be a great weekend. We
planned to ride 16 miles on Friday afternoon and 16 on Saturday. We made
great time as the sun came up and
headed south towards our destination.
Roller Coaster
Everything was on schedule until
lunch. Mr. Smith had been to Syllamo
once before and told us of a Subway
sandwich shop right on the way. Curing our hunger became our downfall.
As we searched for and found lunch,
we drove right past our turnoff and
added another 30 miles of twisty, Arkansas, Ozark roads to our journey.
Dave's attempt to hasten our return to
schedule led me to begin to get carsick
in the back seat, but no 'chunks were
blown.' A crisis was averted and Mike
graciously gave up his navigator, front
seat.
On The Trail
We arrived at the Blanchard Springs
Campground around 1:30, and were on
the trail a little after two. The yellow
trail, Syllamo's newest, leads up and
away from the camp. Just finished this
year, we soon realized it had not had
many riders and the ground tried to
swallow you, bike and all, like some
bad Stephen King novel. Rago compared it to riding through molasses,
which seemed very appropriate. The
trail was not without its beauty. Much
of it machine built, it flowed across
mountain face and in and out of
'hollers.' One beautiful rocky, ledgefilled downhill took us to an overlook.
Classic Ozarks.
our backdrop, Dave wove tales about
the trails. Older and more worn in,
with more rocks and even better scenery, we soon forgot about the previous
day's transgressions. Sleep came easily
after some more stories around the
campfire, which was fueled by a
nearby businessman who offers firewood on the honor system, 5 bucks per
stack.
As the afternoon rolled on, our lack
of riding took its toll on us, but on
Mike the hardest. Sixteen miles? We
thought, "No problem. Piece of cake.
We'll be back well before dark." That
was before the fatigue and cramps set
in. We all suffered. We weren't even
sure how much farther we had left to
go when Mike fell to his knees — the
cramps had won. We pushed on,
though slowly, and Dave and I decided
that I should go ahead and get back to
camp and come back with lights, while
he and Mike would continue, but at a
slower pace.
Day Two
Racing back to camp, I had newfound energy. Maybe it was the
thoughts of hound dogs and hovering
helicopters with infrared scopes that
crept into my head if Mike and Dave
didn't make it out before dark that
pushed my speed. I was ripping
through trail I had never ridden before
and the fear of a crash was always
right there with me. Maybe I would be
the one that would be in need of being
saved by a smelly canine. Dave
warned me of the last half mile; "You
will need to walk parts of it," he said.
When I found that section I knew I
was close. The trail was beautiful, constructed by hand out of rocks to create
a staircase, though walking was a necessity. I found the light and headed
back up only to meet them about 5
minutes out. We were OK but a little
humbled.
Back in camp, which we all agreed
has to be one of the nicest we have
stayed in, we had a recovery meal of
steak and potatoes, and talk turned to
the next day. After a hot shower, with
the nearby Syllamo creek bubbling as
TWO
Saturday began with a classic camp
Mother Rago breakfast, and we were
on the trails by 11:00. We allowed an
extra few hours this time. Our day
would combine the Scrappy Mountain
loop and the Bald Scrappy loop. Dave
had spoken of the downhill that would
begin our day. He and the trail did not
disappoint. Nearly three miles later,
with huge grins, we stopped. Did we
just experience that? Whoa...deep
breath. That was awesome. Rocks,
rock stairs, and a trail that has somehow achieved a sort of mountain biker
nirvana. After we crossed Highway 5
we climbed. This section of trail had a
wonderful new feel. At the top of the
climb, we began to traverse a ridge.
More rocks, bigger grins. Then we
came flying down an old fire road,
back to the highway.
Back across the highway, the trail
pulled off its third mask of the day.
Two creeks were crossed, with only
Dave successfully navigating them
with two dry feet. Wonderful climbs,
though not hard, were followed by
flowy, effortless downhills. More classic Ozark scenery, showcasing the local 'karst topography'. We crossed another road and began what Rago
dubbed the 'The Dream Mile'.
The trail's fourth mask revealed serpentine trail across a mountain flank
smattered with rocks bigger than your
bike. We hammered through it. The
last stretch tested your reserves and
came back out for an encore with some
more of that beautifully sculpted machine-built trail we had come to expect
(Continued on page 3)
EarthRiders
Membership Application
Get a bicycle. You will not regret it,
if you live.
Support local mountain biking, trail maintenance, and land access
efforts. Return this application with a check in the amount of $25.00
individual or $30.00 family, made payable to EarthRiders, for annual dues to: EarthRiders Membership, P.O. Box 14414,
Lenexa, KS 66285.
http://www.quotegarden.com/bicycling.html
Name: ______________________________
E-mail: _____________________________
Mailing Address:_____________________
___________________________________
City, State, ZIP: _____________________
___________________________________
Telephone:
Officers
Gary Baack
Treasurer
913-254-9793
[email protected]
Ryan Roemmich
Webmaster
913-481-5009
[email protected]
Todd Posson
Secretary
816-686-3456
[email protected]
Nate King
MMBP Director
816-797-1877
[email protected]
Sean Cairns
Special Projects
913-894-2396
Ken Miner
[email protected]
Michael Gier
Newsletter Editor
816-436-3754
[email protected]
and a little climb to finish off the day and remind you that
this trail is boss.
Back in camp that night the fire was built a little bigger
as we settled in. We felt tired but very lucky. The trails,
the scenery, the camp did not disappoint, and it was decided that we would be back and it will be more than
once. These trails are that good. And as we understand,
what is finished is just stage two of five, with a total of 85
miles planned — over 35 finished to date.
After sleeping in on Sunday, we checked out what else
the campground had to offer. It includes a neat swim
beach on the Syllamo creek, and a huge group camp area
right next to a huge rock wall with a natural cut out along
its base. Just up the road is the Blanchard Springs Cavern
with its own rock pathway. Just downstream is the ruins
of an old grist mill and accompanying dam and lake that
is stocked with trout. A father-and-son team were doing
quite well catching fish. And lastly we visited the camp
office, store, and entrance to the Blanchard Springs Cavern, "One of the most spectacular and carefully developed
caves anywhere." The friendly folks there informed us
about the cave, which you can tour if you so choose but
be prepared to get dirty if you want the best tour. They
also told us of the hope for more trail in the future. We
were stoked.
EarthRiders membership information is not sold to third parties.
For more information about membership, see
www.earthriders.com or E-mail [email protected].
Karen Owens
Ambassador Coordinator
816-804-5679
[email protected]
(Continued from page 2)
Other Things to Do
( ____ ) _____- __________
Mike Rago
President
816-795-7360
[email protected]
Mark Twain, “Taming the Bicycle”
Also nearby are the White and Buffalo rivers and
Mountain View, Arkansas, the "Folk Music Capital of the
World."
The drive home is never as good as the drive there, but
this time was different. We were giddy with thoughts of
returning, not only to ride the existing trails again to confirm our experience, but also about the possibility of
more new trail and whether they could improve on an already nearly perfect experience. Ideas of bringing the entire family and making Syllamo a trip for everyone to enjoy were debated and agreed upon.
Wonderful scenery, awesome trails, great weather, a
perfect camp site, that IS Syllamo.
Kansas IMBA Representative
913-894-4276
[email protected]
Note: You'll have to ask Aaron to tell you the virtues of
fleece. — Ed.
Brian Robinson
Missouri IMBA Representative
816-547-0128
Hey! Check out:
[email protected]
www.resourcerevival.com
THREE
Skills Clinic
How to Do a Manual
Sean Cairns
The topic for this edition of
Mountain Bike 101 is supposed to
be "How to do a Manual". By my
definition a manual is the act of
rolling on only your rear wheel
for an extended distance, without
pedaling and in a standing position. Balance for this trick is obtained by moving the bike forward and backward underneath
the core of your body. Before you
can practice riding a manual
you'll need to learn how to get
your front wheel off the ground
while leaving the core of your body in a
good position for balancing over the rear
wheel. Consequently, a good deal of this
article will focus on properly executing a
front wheel lift. Once you learn to lift
properly, learning to manual is considerably easier and your ability to do it for an
extended distance becomes a matter of
practice.
position for additional moves or will
leave you in a front-heavy, crash-prone
position.
Definitions:
•
Lift - lifting the front wheel of the
bike off the ground by use of
weight transfer and leverage.
•
Float - maintaining a lift for a
short period of time, usually just
long enough to pull off a stunt.
•
Manual - riding in the frontwheel-elevated position for extended lengths of time or distance
or until momentum dies.
Lift Overview
A front wheel lift is done by quickly
shifting your weight in a downward and
rearward arcing path off the back of the
bike. As you approach the limits of your
reach, allow your arms to lock out and a
subtle flick of the wrists and push of the
ankles helps the bike to pivot at the rear
wheel. The front end lifts off the ground.
While a front wheel lift is the basic
As the front wheel lifts, your weight is
move that gets you into position for ridbehind the rear wheel, counterbalanced
ing a manual, it is also the technique used by the weight on the front end of the bike.
in many other situations like jumping
With practice you can balance at this
over a log or up a curb. A properly exepoint and unweight the rear wheel to roll
cuted lift will also leave your body in an
over or off of an obstacle or kick upward
excellent position to absorb a bump or a
abruptly to jump.
dip in the trail and even allows you to
Note: In teaching this technique over
jump upward, performing a J-hop. The
the years, I've found that women have
lift is one of the core tricks you absolutely must learn if you want to become a more difficulty learning to lift than men
do. I suspect that this is due to gendersuccessful mountain biker.
specific, structural differences at the hip.
If you watch someone do a lift you'll
Women don't seem to be able to get their
notice that it is a very smooth and fluid
hips behind the saddle as well as men can
maneuver. If you were to graph the speed and this affects your ability to transfer
and elevation of the front wheel while
your weight. I recommend that women
executing a lift, the profile would look
lower their seat considerably while learnlike that of a bouncing ball. The lift starts ing this trick. Once you figure it out, inquickly and the upward movement peaks crementally bring your seat back up to
slowly before transitioning back into
the correct height and adjust your techdownward movement. As you experiment nique to deal with the new limitations.
with the lift you'll find that you can keep One of these days I'll find two people of
your front wheel in the top portion of the opposite gender but similar height and
arc longer; this is called a float. When
build so I can make a comparison.
you can keep your front wheel at the top
of the arc for an extended period of time, Learning to Lift
that is a manual. Unlike a lift, a jerk conI like to teach the lift using a spotter
sists of yanking up on the bars to get the
but this only works well if the spotter is
front wheel off the ground momentarily.
strong enough to balance the rider. The
While the jerk is useful from time to
advantage of this practice technique is
time, it will generally leave you in a poor that you can do many repetitions with
FOUR
little effort and quickly get the basic
move down before trying it at speed.
Drill Setup:
•
The spotter stands over the front
wheel of the bike with a wide
stance and balances the rider by
holding on to the ends of the handlebars.
•
The rider stands on the bike with
both brakes fully locked. The
brakes remain locked for the entire drill.
•
The rider's feet should be in the
3/9 o'clock position.
•
The center of the rider's shoulders
should be directly over the bars.
•
Knees and elbows should be
slightly bent.
The Drill:
To start the lift the rider slowly leans
forward an inch or two. I tend to focus on
momentarily compressing the front tire
and/or shock a bit as I load up the front
end. The rebound from the shock and tire
gives a slight boost to your ability to lift.
Then in a smooth but quick motion, dive
the core of your body downward and
backward toward the rear of the bike.
There is no upward movement of your
core or arms involved in this trick, the
front wheel lifts off the ground because
the bike is acting as a lever, pivoting
where the rear wheel comes into contact
with the ground. As you hit maximum
rearward velocity, push forward just
slightly with your ankles and pull back
with your wrists. The most difficult part
of the lift is the first few inches. Once the
front wheel becomes airborne the amount
of effort required to get the wheel farther
off the ground is exponentially less. Failure to anticipate this can land you on your
backside, even with the brakes locked.
Spotter's Tips:
•
Balance the rider but do not assist
with the lift.
•
Continuously remind the rider to
keep the brakes on.
•
Once the rider figures out how to
pull off a lift, prevent them from
over-lifting and falling over backwards.
ADVERTISEMENT
•
As the rider gets better, help them
to find the front-to-rear balance
point. Let them find the balance
zone and play around in it.
•
Be highly aware of the front
wheel and its proximity to your
crotch.
When you are ready to try this trick
without a spotter, the techniques are all
the same except that the brakes are off
and you are rolling, obviously. Anytime
you are practicing a trick that involves
lifting the front end off the ground, you
should always have a finger on the rear
brake lever. I don't know how many novice wheelie riders I've seen attempting to
ride around on one wheel but without
covering the brake, a busted tailbone
waiting to happen.
the true definition of the term? You're an
expert at the lift and you can float pretty
well, but now you want to learn how to
manual. Well, honestly I can't help you
too much. You see I can't manual, at least
not by my own definition. I can float
pretty darn good and I've got a pretty
good understanding of balance, but I
honestly haven't spent much time learning to ride a manual long distances, just
for the fun of it. The technique above
gets you in the ballpark and once you get
that figured out it really is a matter of
practicing until you get it right.
While I admit I can't do the trick I do
think I alluded to one of the keys of pulling off a manual. In the first paragraph of
this article I wrote:
"Balance for this trick is obtained
by moving the bike forward and
backward underneath the core of
your body."
I think the technique described above
answers the question most people are trying to ask when they want to learn how
The key here is moving your balance
to manual. But what if you are indeed
point and not moving your core. From
interested in learning how to manual in
FIVE
what I've seen when watching others
manual, it appears that the rider's knees
are bent and the movement of the knees
push and pull the bike around under the
rider to maintain the balance point. Also I
don't think there is much use of the
brakes on an extended manual. As with
any trick, the best way to learn is practice, practice and then practice some
more. I also find that visualization is very
helpful, as is setting goals. Don't just try
to manual as far as you can. Pace off a
reasonable distance and attempt to make
it that far. Increase the distance when you
can consistently make it to your goal.
Good luck and give me a call if you
figure it out or you want someone to
practice with.
Trailbuilding Reports
Blue River Parkway — Feb. 12th
The soggiest section of the middle trail
(east of Blue River Rd, south of the power
lines) has been replaced by a new section
of trail.
Everyone worked hard bench cutting
several very rocky sections of trail. Not
only did they get a soggy section of the
middle trail re-routed, but they also made
extremely good progress on the first section of the new technical trail (the high
trail on the east side).
quite a relief to be able to hand portions of trail over
to individuals or groups and know that things would
just get taken care of, allowing me to worry about
other details (like lunch and gas). Without the help
of a lot of people that I was able to put my trust in,
this never would have gone as smoothly as it did. I
relied on a lot of you heavily, and you helped keep
my head above water.
The Dingos should be here soon, and we'll start
working on the benchcut areas and the south loop
pretty soon.
Thanks to all that came down. — Todd Posson
Thanks to: Ron Acklin, Gary Baack,
Ed. Note: These are going to be great trails for a
Pete Barth, Scott Cotter, Steve Duckworth,
short weekend trip, as much for the sweet trails
Frank Ferguson, Barb Hoffman, Nate
as for the Ozarks hospitality. Have breakfast at
King, James Mayfield-Smith, Rob
Kay's in Osage Beach, one of those places where
McGarry, Alan Penny, Brian Robinson,
when they say, "Y'all come back and see us," you
Andrew Smith, Dave Smith, John Tinnin,
know darn well they mean it.
Frank Wilson, and Mike Young for putting
in almost 80 total hours of work.
— Rob Stitt
Landahl Park Reserve — Feb. 26th
A big thank you to those who helped start building the "Nick's Special' extension (more on the trail
The weekend's participation is approximately as name later) of Rim Job. The new trail will eventually connect with the intersection of Will's Wanfollows:
derer, Family Trail and Dave's Maze, creating a hub
Friday — 8 people, all from KC, ±5.5 miles of
from which users can access all of the trails easily
trail corridor blown for corridor clearing. 10:00am
and with less confusion. This new section will byto 6:00pm. A distinct smell of gasoline coming from pass the perennially wet area on the very northern
someone at dinner....
end of Rim Job just above the Scout Camp area.
Saturday — ±65 people: 6 from the Ozarks, 10
Also a short reroute was finished on Will's Wanfrom Columbia/Jeff City, 2 from Trenton (yeah,
derer to bypass some eroded trail and the closed trail
Doug & Mike made a hell of a drive) and about 45
was reclaimed by the crew using naturally rot resispeople from the KC area. Approx 5.5 miles of trail tant Cedar and Hardwood to install check dams and
corridor prepped for mechanized benchcutting.
the transplanting of native vegetation into the old
10:00am to 6:30pm. Mardi-Gras themed pub crawl trail corridor. The check dam material was harvested
passing through Pickled Pete's as ER members prac- nearby using parts of trees that had been damaged in
ticed an interesting "Catch and Release" system....
previous wind/ice storms; no live trees were deLake of the Ozarks State Park — Feb. 18-20th
Sunday — 25 people, ± 2 miles of trail re-routed
and blown. 10:00am to 2:00pm
Overall Picture — 14 pieces of power equipment
got one hell of a break-in period. We need 2 new
chains for the chainsaws. We burned 9 gallons of
gasoline in small equipment. We prepped approx.
7.5 miles of trail corridor. Approximately 900 hours
of donated labor in one weekend (including drive
time). We got a lot done, but we've still got a long
way to go.
stroyed in this project,
The corridor is finished on the 'Nick's Special'
extension and a small percentage of the dirt work
was done, but there is much left to finish. The new
trail will hold with the flavor of Rim Job and have a
few rocky areas and many grade reversals, it should
ride well when finished.
Also deserving of a THANK YOU is local business owner Will Coates, of Billy Goat Industries.
Will provided/loaned the crew with an OutBack
Words cannot really express how much I appreci- model walk-behind Brush Cutter which made quick
ate everyone taking a HUGE chunk of time out of
work of the low growing brush along the trail corritheir lives to help out down at LOSP this weekend. dor. Also available was a Contour high weed
mower, which was not used on this project but could
We've got a lot of really talented trail builders/
have its uses in future trail building endeavors.
designers in the KC area (and beyond) and it was
Nate Hates The Grates
"You are in total contact with the bike, the road, and
everything around you..." Zeke Shepherd, quoting
someone else about fixies.
A while back I was riding downtown and came in total
contact with one of the storm grates that run parallel to
the street. Saw it too late and hit it at speed, hard, and
put a six-inch flat spot in the back wheel. Amazingly, it
didn't blow the tube or the tire off the rim though.
Along with the equipment Will loaned us a company vehicle and trailer to transport the equipment
to the job site.
Billy Goat is also the title sponsor of local cycling team Billy Goat/Midwest Cyclery/Summit
Bikes. Will's and Billy Goat's dedication to and
support of cycling in the area is tremendous and I
am grateful to have them helping us out. Check out
billygoat.com for more info.
Lunch was provided by Team Billy Goat/
Midwest Cyclery/Summit Bikes and capped off a
very hard but productive day.
Total hours over two days were: 55 hours of new
trail work, 4 hours of reclamation, 2 hours of design
and layout. 61 hours logged.
Those who helped out were: Ron Acklin, Steve
Duckworth, Greg Palmer, Bob Brady, Travis Swicegood, Aaron Browning, Keith Brown, and first-time
trail builders Derald Herinckx, Charlie Mclean, Dale
Crane, Steve Dowell, and his seven year old son,
Nick, whom the trail will be named after.
Thanks again. — Aaron Browning
Smithville Lake — March 5th
We completed ~0.5 mile of new trail spread out
over a couple of different sections, a rock creek
crossing (no Mr. Rago, it ain't near as pretty as
yours), and about 1/2 the benching needed on the
Pulpit trail.
The new trail eliminates having to ride along the
County trail in 2 spots and eliminates 2 (confusing)
crossings. Once we finish the benching on the Pulpit, we will eliminate 2 more crossings - and get
back to looking at areas for "new" trail.
We also managed an 8+ mile (the plus was 3 of
the other guys) ride despite (me) being dead-dog
tired. When we got to one of the longer new sections, we ran into 4 other riders coming from the
other direction. The trail had been completed all of
2, maybe 3 hours and already getting traffic from
non-ER types. Cool.
Thanks, in no particular order:
Ryan Roemmich, Keith Brown, Geoff Wilson,
Michael Gier, Stan Gaskill, Doug Ronk. Honorable
Mention: Ken and Keifer Miner. — Neale Shour
The above trail reports were stolen from the
trail stewards' public reports. The editor is responsible for any omissions or errors.
I was able to limp the bike home. I'm glad I was able
to react quickly enough to get my front wheel up and
across the grate. If I hadn't, it would have been ugly.
Rear wheels can be replaced; had the front wheel hit, all
the broken bones in my face would have been harder to
fix.
Not really mountain bike related, but if you are so inclined, feel free to send a note to your city council person
and ask them about replacing those bike-eating grates
sooner rather than later.
Happy to still have all my teeth, Nate King
SIX
Brand New Words
Why we don't ride when it's wet. Copy this flyer or ask an
officer for copies for you to hand out, to help the uninitiated
understand that we must leave no trace.
The Washington Post's Style Invitational asked readers to take any word from the
dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing a letter, and supply a new
definition. These entries from ER members are specific to MTBing:
Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a new chi-chi bike, which
renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
Sarchasm (n): The gulf between some people's sarcastic wit and
the person who doesn't get it.
Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease experienced on Frank
Tuesday events.
Karmageddon (n): It's like, when everybody is sending off all
these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes
and it's like, a serious bummer. (I left this one alone....but we've
all experienced this on "one of those rides")
Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of riding stupid lines to seem
smarter when you just decide to ride them faster.
Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after
you've accidentally ridden through a monster spider web.
Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a monster spider that gets
into your helmet at the time of an Arachnoleptic fit and cannot
be cast out.
Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a caterpiller in your mouth from Beelzebug's web.
Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about not taking the lead
on a summertime ride for the purpose of screwing the other guy
into suffering Arachnoleptic fits. — From Neale Shour
Stan·tag·o·nostic (n.): Someone who opposes the use of Stan's
NoTubes without really knowing for himself, in a contentious
fashion.
Stan·tag·o·nist (n.): Some one who purports trouble with the
use of NoTubes in an effort to illicit a response from
stan·tag·o·nostics. (See also cyclepink) — From Chris Pinkham
Mechanotic (n): Someone who attempts to install expensive
new bike parts without knowing how and then has to pay someone to do it right. All mechanotics have been cashtrated to some
extent. (Ed: Rago thinks it’s “mecantic”)
Ride Schedule
Frustify (vb) -fied, -fying: to demonstrate to be just, right, or
reasonable, using feigned ongoing frustration. frustifiable (adj),
frustification (n). Example: "He frustified his fancy tubeless
setup by pretending he could never fix a flat correctly". — From
Joe Folse
Mondays: Smithville Lake Trails. Meet at “W” Hwy
parking lot, 6 p.m.
Tuesdays: Taco Tuesday at the Blue River Parkway
Trails. Meet at Good Time Charlie’s parking lot
(formerly Pat Murphy’s), 130th and Holmes. Rides start
at irregular times after work, generally several groups of
varying abilities.
Wednesdays: Hump Day at Kill Creek. Leaves from the
Shelter 1 parking lot 6-6:30 pm.
1st Ride: Friday, Apr. 1st, Sunday, May 1st. See the
forum for locations.
Rides are subject to weather and leader availability, and
are "show and go." Check the appropriate forum thread
for the latest updates (sign up at www.earthriders.com).
SEVEN
P.O. Box 14414
Lenexa, KS 66285
FIRST CLASS MAIL
e Midwest by
access in th
ip. See
Support trail
ur membersh online.
renewing yo
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re
ders.com to
www.earthri
For address changes, send a note to the address
above or E-mail [email protected]
EARTHRIDERS SPONSORS
Acme Bicycle Company
(816) 221-2045
www.acmebicyclecompany.com
412 East 18th Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
Bike Source
www.bikesourceonline.com
(913) 451-1515
Corner of 135th and Quivira St.
Overland Park, KS 66213
Bike America
www.bikeamericakc.com
(913) 381-5431
9514 Nall Ave
Shawnee Mission, KS 66207-2950
Bike Stop
www.bikestoponline.com
(816) 353-8448
4013 Sterling Ave
Kansas City, MO 64133-1309
(913) 780-4500
2053 E Santa Fe St
Olathe, KS 66062-1608
(816) 224-8588
925 SW US Highway 40
Blue Springs, MO 64015-4605
(816) 524-1819
32 SE 3rd St
Lees Summit, MO 64063-2323
Leawood Bicycles
(816) 942-4442
12311 State Line Rd
Kansas City, MO 64145-1148
Helme
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all ER-s are required
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ith me m ponsor
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Midwest Cyclery
(816) 931-4653
3957 Broadway St
Kansas City, MO 64111-2542
Peak Performance Therapeutic
Massage Center—Art Ryan
(816) 471-0505
(816) 881-0164 (pager)
308 E 18th Ave
North Kansas City, MO
64116-3609
Ride Bicycles
www.ponyexpress.net/~ridebic
(816) 233-1718
2320 North Belt Hwy
St Joseph, MO 64506-2208
River Market Cyclery
(816) 842-BIKE
315 E 3rd St
Kansas City, MO 64106-1001
Summit Bikes
www.summitbikes.com
(816) 554-8989
1317 NE Douglas Road
Lee’s Summit, MO 64086
The Wheel Cyclery
www.thewheelcyclery.com
(816) 455-BIKE
5126 NE Antioch Rd
Kansas City, MO 64119-2502
Trek Bicycle Store of KC
www.trekkc.com
(913) 631-6800
10412 Shawnee Mission Pkwy.
Shawnee, KS 66203
Smithville Spokes
(816) 532-8150
[email protected]
14462 North 169 Highway
Smithville, MO 64089
All rights reserved. The information in this newsletter is subject to change without notice.
Copyright © 2005 Earth Riders. Reproduction without written permission prohibited.