Success is Sweet!

Saturday September 15^th dawned cloudy and a little cool, but a small band of intrepid cyclists turned out to challenge the 60 kilometer course my staff and I had laid out through the city.  Traveling through historic streets and sheltered urban forests, it showed some of the best that Kansas City has to offer.

There were a lot of competing events for Saturday and not being able to move my birthday did force us onto a specific date. There were at least 3 other bike rides, the Zoo Run, numerous fall fests and events that competed with ours.  We had four riders, but all four went the distance.  In addition to myself, Jim Haake, NHS construction manager, Leslie Alford, Executive Director of the Blue River Watershed Association, and Brent Berry, Loan Manager for Wells Fargo Mortgage.

We headed out in good time, the weather was beautiful as the day wore on, and we ended the first loop back at our offices after 25 miles.  Despite some aches and pains, all four of us set out, and finished the rest of the ride, completing the full 60k in around 4 hours.  For the metrically challenged, this is about 37 miles, so four hours is pretty good when you factor in breaks and the hills that the route covered.

The ride-ending cook out was much better attended, with roughly 20 folks enjoying burger, hot dogs and some Kansas City brewed refreshments at the end of the ride.  Board members, neighborhood presidents and incoming board members were in attendance, as well as realtors, lenders, staff and general well wishers (like my brother John.)

Thanks to everyone that helped support this event-  Brent Berry, Erica Dobreff, Lynn Craghead, Bradley Streeter, Mike Nied, Time Clemons, Saundra Hayes (especially for the great cake!), Joe Keane and Anne Kinerk, Amy Crouse, Craig Colbert, Bridget Oelklaus, Joyce Wrinkle, Marti Lee, Ann Nixon, Jennifer Buxton, Jackie Watts, Augusta Wilbon, Venita Fain Siffre, and Leslie Alford.  Thanks too to Robin Wells of Country Club Bank and Turner Pettway of US Bank.  Special thanks to my wife Diana who put up with a lot of early morning rides and empty Sunday mornings so that I could get in shape for this. Love you De.

Some thanks to unofficial sponsors too. Revolve on Troost gave me a lot of good advice, as well as selling me my bike.  Kmart carried a great selection of stuff for my bike and Schwinn and Bell had great products that worked right and performed as advertised. Dicks Sporting Goods was a great spot to buy the less traditional items such as bike clips and padded bike shorts. (I do love those padded shorts!)

Finally, the NHS Board and Staff were supportive throughout, and as far as I know, none of them bet against me finishing. If you did, I hope you covered the spread!

I finished the day with what I thought was going to be a quiet dinner at V’s in Independence, but turned out to be a surprise 60^th party. All my kids, grand kids and extended family put in an appearance.    I was supposed to carb load before the ride, but I am sure I will burn it off as I continue riding.

Sunday was a rest day, but I was back out on Monday, hitting the streets and the trails, and finished slightly over 10 miles in 58 minutes.

The bike blogging is behind me, but I hope to continue to post items of interest related to housing, special programs, houses for sale, neighborhoods making progress forward, and of course, whether or not Brad Pitt will be at the ribbon cutting for Bancroft.

Stay tuned. 

www.nhsofkcmo.org

The last pre-ride blog.

7:30 Sunday, 62 degrees, quiet and beautiful. Jim Haake and I are heading out to finalize the map for the ride on Saturday the 15^th.  We have decided that having a 25 mile run that starts and ends at the office will commemorate my 25^th Cancer Survivor anniversary, then complete part of it to get to 60 kilometers for my birthday years.  Kind of hooky, but it works for me.

Down Troost Ave, and right into the Brush Creek Trail.  Jim has noticed an entrance that I missed, and it makes the transition very smooth. Head to end of trail, circle back and stop for a  breather at Paseo.  Right at 7 miles for that leg. Cool.

Head up Paseo and a nice slow hill.  I am pretty pleased to see that I am making the climb in a higher gear and at a higher speed than when I started 90 days ago. No pain or struggling. Also cool.

 

We turn where we expect our first water stop to be at the 12 mile point, then head down Campbell. The old Campbell Soup jingle, which is the Campbell Clan bagpipe song is playing in my head.  In bagpipes. Pretty cool.

We swing back onto the Brush Creek trail, and head through the Plaza. This is the part that I was trying to fit into the ride, and it is working well now. We also head over to one of our projects on Westwood. I think we will include that on the tour.

Back to the Trolley Trail, left at 85^th, (I have decided not to take the group on the piece of the trail that the City has closed; I won’t say that I have ever ridden the closed part, but I have seen it done.)  A not too bad climb up a hill puts us on Paseo, and heading back to the office.  Almost exactly 25 miles.  With stops and making notes etc., it took us around 3 hours, but it will probably go faster on the ride itself.

As I was riding, I noticed all the houses that NHS has built along Paseo, at least 25.  All along the route I saw houses that NHS has rehabbed, including new roofs, new windows, and complete rehabs that we have re-sold.  It reminds me that we are having a significant impact on the neighborhoods we serve, and that our work continues to be both relevant and important.

This is the last pre-ride blog entry, so if you haven’t, I hope you will make a pledge to me or another rider, or a donation to NHS.  The need is great, and the resources are continuing to contract.  

Our Board Chair made a statement at a Board meeting a while back; invest your resources where it will impact you. Basically, you should support those organizations that have an impact on your neighborhood and your life.  I hope you will support NHS as we continue to strive to have that positive impact.

Post Ride Blog next. More to follow. 

www.nhsofkcmo.org

Bikes, Bridges and BiState

From the 4^th to the 7^th, I was in St. Louis for the Governors Conference on Housing. I took my bike along hoping to squeeze in some riding, and I am really glad I did.  

The first day I just cruised around downtown near my hotel. ST. Louis has a nice bike route system with plenty of signs and logos painted on the street. It made it easy to get around and see the sites.  With accidents and detours on I-70, it took me six hours to get to St. Louis, so I really needed to stretch and loosen up.

We didn’t start until 9:00 the next day, so I was up early and headed to the river to find the River Front Trail. This runs down by the river (obviously) and ties in with other trails to the North and West of St. Louis.  Unfortunately, I was only riding for around 30 minutes when I noticed this giant black cloud blowing in out of Illinois.  I headed back to the hotel with the Witches theme from the Wizard of Oz playing in my head. (ta da de da de da   da duuuummmmmm.)

Thursday I had a gap in my schedule, so I took an afternoon ride. Fantastic!  The McKinley bridge crosses over into Illinois and keeps going, but I stopped at the Illinois line. Then, following the signs, I rode over to Soulard, the old market district.  Then back to the River Front Trail and back to the hotel. A good twenty miles in a little under two hours. Pretty happy with that.

I took some really cool pictures which I have somehow managed to lose. As I may have mentioned, I’m not a techy.  It was pretty cool taking my morning ride with a National Monument on one side, and the Mississippi river on the other.  One thing about the trail though; a lot of it, you are inside the flood wall.  When the apocalyptic meteor hits and the river jumps up about 10 feet, you do NOT want to be on the wrong side of that wall! Otherwise, a really great ride and a good experience. I recommend it to anyone heading to St. Louis.

More later.

www.nhsofkcmo.org

Mud is slick, concrete is hard

After the rain that KC received courtesy of Hurricane Isaac, Sunday morning was fantastic.  I met up with fellow cyclist Brent Berry of Wells Fargo at our offices, and we headed down Troost Ave. Our goal was to see what parts of the Brush Creek trail were clear for riding, and get a mileage count on that portion of the ride.

As soon as we entered the Brush Creek Trail, we found mud, lots of mud.  At least 20 places had mud covering all of the path.  By taking it slow, and coasting, we were able to make it through all the spots as we rode to the end of the trail.  We were a lot more cautious as we made the return trip, and I was very pleased to see that the path under the Paseo Bridge was once again open, and we could ride up to the rear of the businesses on Emanuel Cleaver II.  A few feet across a vacant lot, and we were back on paving. 

Crossing Troost put us back on the path and heading for the Plaza.  More mud and more slick spots.  Careful pedaling got us through until I found a wide crack in the sidewalk that was filled in with mud, just as we passed under one of the bridges.  My wheel twisted, and my bike went sideways.  I managed not to fall, but I was slammed into a rough concrete wall on my right.  Since it was still cool, and I had on long sleeves, my only damage was a scrape on my leg, and a small gash on my little finger. I am glad I was not going very fast, and I am more certain than ever that I will always wear a helmet.  I didn’t hit my head, but if the bike had slid a little sooner, I would have, and without a helmet, even at only 5 or 6 miles an hour, it would have meant a bunch of stitches.

We finished the ride through the Plaza, hit the trolley trail and rode it around to the end.  When we circled back, we went all the way to Troost, and challenged the hill we had been avoiding.  As long as we were geared right, and didn’t try to rush it, it was not bad.  We finished our 20 mile ride back at the office.  With the delays for mud on the path our speed was down, but we managed a very respectable 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Heading home for iodine and a band aid.

More later.

www.nhsofkcmo.org

Old dogs and new tricks

This week has been a good week to ride. Pretty cool most mornings, and I am using some new tricks and tools.

One thing I really like about the bike riding is that I have to make adjustments and changes in my schedule, and how I look at things. I have gotten  little rigid and crotchety in the past few years, and this is good for me.

I have been using the bike riding to also lose some weight, and I  have been turned on to a new phone app in the past week, My Fitness Pal. Tracks what you eat, how much you exercise etc. Really a good tool for those of us that need some structure in our exercising and diet planning, but don’t want to commit to weekly meetings and weigh ins. I will keep you posted on how this works as we go along.

After riding the trails with Jim Haake, I broke down and bought a bell.  It is actually a pretty nice way to let folks know you are approaching from the rear.  Actually, I bought a Bell brand bell (or Bell bell) , which I think is kind of funny. I now have this shiny circle on my handlebars, and I know my friends will comment, “no kidding?”

Learned something else from Jim.  I have been attacking hills, going as hard as I can for as long as I can, then stopping and gasping for a few minutes, then attacking again. Even though I know this is a marathon and not a sprint, I can’t seem to not attack the hill.  Watching Jim make it up a hill by using a slow steady pace was a learning experience, and I now use it all the time.  I have now made it up “Suicide Hill” on Lees Summit road twice with stopping, and the last time I was only gasping slightly.  Much better.

Speaking of gasping, a quick word to those of you that think you could never do this. After around 2 months, I am now cruising up hills at 10-12 miles per hour that I was struggling to get up at all when I started.  It does not take long to get some proficiency, and some stamina.  If you get checked out by your doctor, take it slow, and don’t try to become a racer overnight, you can do this.

More later.

www.nhsofkcmo.org