photos of my crashed capo here

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=185343&id=641212258&l=15970d50e2

I fought a Mercury Grand Marquis and lost

It has been a while since I posted but I have not vanished. I have still been active in cycling. This last Tuesday I was on my way to work and a car pulled out in front of me. He pulled out of one driveway on West Macarthur and crossed the road right in front of me. He was so close I did not even have a chance to grab a brake handle. Probably a good thing since part of the damage was a brake lever shoved around to the side on my bullhorn bars.

Thankfully I was only bruised. my left shoulder and left hip was bruised from hitting the car. My right knee was bruised from hitting the ground. I am merely fortunate from hitting the car instead of the car hitting me.

The accident was also classified as a hit and run. The driver stopped and asked me if I was ok. He then got mad at me for calling 911 and got in his car and drove off as i gave his tag number to the 911 dispatcher. He drove to the laundry mat where he worked and went inside. He then came out and got his newspaper and went back in. The police officer found him inside reading his paper.

I declined an ambulance ride but went to the emergency room for a checkup as soon as I got my bicycle home. Nothing but bruises and an abrasion on my right knee. Hopefully I will be fine in a week or so. Medical expenses including lost wages from work will be covered by my auto insurance who will go after his for reimbursement.

The only thing I will have to fight his insurance over is the cost to repair my bike. That will consist of a new wheel, two new tires, a new seat, helmet and a new front fork. The shop does not know if the fork is damaged or not but since it is carbon fiber they have determined the only way to be safe is to replace it. Carbon fiber forks can have a microscopic crack and it cannot be detected.

Once the police officer brought the man back out of the laundry mat he offered to buy me a new front rim. Offered me $30 right there. He was shocked when I told him just the tire on the rim was $50.

Hudson Chicken Ride

I rode 54 miles today according to my computer. The ride started and ended in Hudson Kansas. The map for the route claimed it was 60 miles. It was a beautiful ride with the exception of the 10 miles against the stiff north wind. Fortunately the ride started and ended with a tailwind so it was easy to forget about the headwind. To be honest I love riding my fixed gear on rides like this as there are always people who express awe that one would do that.

I will probably ride the ride again next year but wont stay for lunch. I was told that they serve the best fried chicken in Kansas. I beg to differ with that.

I am alive

I have been very poor about posting lately. I have actually been bicycling though which I had not done much for a while. I rode over 100 miles this week including a few enjoyable days with little to no wind which is rare in Kansas. I have a 60 mile ride planned for the 1st of August in some remote area right in the middle of Kansas.

I also have taken up a new hobby that I almost enjoy as much as cycling. I have been searching for something to do outside of the gym for my upper body strength. I went on a canoe trip to Oklahoma a few weeks ago and enjoyed it so much I now own a canoe of my own. Although the Arkansas river is not near as pretty as the Illinois river one can still see parts of nature you would never see when flying by in the car.

Last weekend my brother and I canoed from Riverside Park to 18th street and back on the Little Arkansas River. This week one evening I went from Riverside Park to 13th street and back. It wasn't until I rowed alone that I got a real workout. I am eager to try it some more.

The only thing I don't like is that in Oklahoma on the Illinois River we turned the canoe over twice on purpose just to cool off. On the Arkansas I hope to never even accidentally turn it over because of how disgusting the river is. In the Illinois River one can see the bottom of the river except for in a few really deep spots. In the Arkansas even in one spot where my canoe bottom was scraping the bottom of the river I could not see it because of how polluted it is.

No bike riding lately

Sorry John and others, I haven't really had anything to post in the last week. I figure the three days I spent in the house due to my allergies wasn't worth much. If I stepped outside the sunlight hurt so bad I had to close my eyes so I just stayed in. It was only yesterday that I made it out to mow the yard and it was tall enough by then that it took precedence over even bike riding. I do after all have a wife to come home too.

If anyone has a good refrigerator to sell I am looking for a used on. I am laid off till September and am trying not to have to buy a new one.

Exploration trip to LeHunt KS.-bet you can't find that one in the atlas.

Yesterday I did something a little different then bicycling. Although next time I am going to take my mountain bike with me so I don't have to walk quite so far down the gravel roads to get to the old concrete factory.

LeHunt was once a small town supported primarily by the United Kansas Portland Cement Company. Little is left of the town beyond a few old ruins of the cement plant and an old cemetery. Once a thriving community, now the town can only be discerned from overgrown avenues of trees, broken sidewalks and foundations hidden by grass and heavy brush.

In the 1920’s the concrete factory was a thriving business but with the advent of the Great Depression, it shut its doors and the small town died with the plant.

The concrete plant lies about ½ miles to the west of what remains of the old town and can only be reached by hiking through the underbrush. While trees and weeds try to choke out where the town's cement plant once stood, the walls, ovens and giant smokestack of the factory are still remarkably intact.

The old site of the cement plant is said to be haunted by the ghost of one of the workers by the name of Bohr, who died in a tragic accident at the plant. As the story goes, Bohr fell into a vat of concrete and his body was never recovered. After this disastrous event, his co-workers embedded his wheelbarrow, pick and shovel into a wall of concrete that was under construction at the time. His name, as well as his pick axe can still be seen at the factory ruins.

The old factory is just to the northwest of Independence Kansas.

If you would like to see photos of the old concrete factory I posted them to my facebook.

Humid day for riding but still good.

The good part about being laid off has to be that I can go ride whenever I feel like it. I just got done riding 30 miles. If you get a chance this summer go to Sedgwick County Park and ride the path on the west side of the stream. The trees and brush are a lot fuller then they were a few years ago after the beavers had there run on the place. It is now looking like the beaver population there is once again under control. Also the store there is a lot safer place to park your bike and walk away from it then say a QT.

Today was a perfect day for me to go to there and back on another note as well. The wind is out of the northwest which means I had a tailwind coming home. Overall it was a very good ride except for the man who told me to get out of his way even though he was the one riding on the left side of the path. I couldn't help but come back with a retort since I knew he didn't have a chance of running my Cannondale down with his Next brand mountain bike.

Now if the rain will hold off I will probably ride to the softball field later this evening.