A Flyover Blog

Follow The Leader

Today was the first day since mid-April that we haven't had a full agenda of house-related stuff to accomplish. Ya know, rest is hard to do when you've fallen out of the habit! We had a very good day, though. We did a little yard work this afternoon, spent some time at Barnes & Noble, and tried to catch up on some rest.

This morning, I worked on a big new project while Mitch headed over to nearby Nixa to ride in a bicycling event with nephews Nick and Blake. He planned to do the 35 mile ride, but slept in this morning and got there in time to catch the end of the 6 mile ride instead. Six miles for Mitch is nothing, so he quickly caught up with the group and passed them.

Twenty minutes later, he glanced at his little computer and discovered he was 7 miles into the 6 mile route. He was going to continue on, but glanced behind him and discovered that the whole herd was following him! Yep, they all breezed by the short route markers and were on the 35 mile route, too. Some of the other riders had small kids in tow, and no one but Mitch was carrying a drop of water. So, Mitch stopped, turned the whole lost group around and headed back to the start point. Just in time, too; severe weather moved in shortly after they got back. It's still stormy here tonight.

We haven't made plans for tomorrow yet, but I think another day or two like this one, and we'll both feel almost human again. May you have a restful Sunday, and very happy and fruitful June!

What's Mitch Been Up To?

I thought I'd show you what Mitch and our good friend and master bike mechanic, Craig have been up to this past winter. They are building a line of custom bikes - mostly 29ers - called Urban Prodigies. They are gorgeous! This is one of two Motobecane Fantom 29ers they built -

You can read all about the specific components they used on this one here.

They also built this sweet 26" bike, a Motobecane 700ht. Specs on this one can be found here. Mitch and Craig will have a total of four custom bikes for sale soon. Mitch posts extensively about them on his blog. He has detailed pictures of each bike there, too. They're building fantastic custom bikes, so if you know a cycling enthusiast, pass the word.

Happy Monday

So many big things have happened since last Wednesday that I haven't been able to get my head around them yet. Don't worry; they're all good - great actually. I'll give you the skinny after the details are sorted out. I ran on sheer adrenelin for 72 hours last week and totally missed all the signs that I was headed for a little asthma episode - until Saturday night when my chest hurt and I was wheezing like an old pump organ. So, Sunday, I did all my meds, rested a lot and hit the Twining's Earl Grey, which works for me every time. (No, the Twining's people didn't pay me to mention them - I don't do paid posts - I just love their tea. Miracle in a can, that's what it is.)

Oh yeah, I promised you an update. Mitch loves night trail riding. Instead of watching the Super Bowl like the rest of the country, he took his bicycle to the State Park for a twilight ride. Five miles in, he met a Park Ranger, who is also a bicycle enthusitast. He told Mitch the park is open until 10, but the trails close at dusk. Bummer. The guy was very nice about it; he told Mitch he'd never seen anything lit up like he was speeding along the wooded shoreline in the dark. It spooked him; I guess he thought Mitch was a ground-hugging UFO. lol Anyway, the night riding will continue - just on another trail.

I know there's a lot of stuff out their vying for your attention, but my advice for this week is this: Stay focused on YOUR goal and shut out the noise. That's what I'm gonna do.

Night Ride

Okay, the Super Bowl is on - the commercials are better this year I think - I'm cruisin' the net. And where is Mitch? In front of the TV with yummy junk food? No Way! He's at Table Rock Lake State Park with his custom Clark Kent bike, on his first ever night trail ride. The last thing I said as he hurried out the door was, "Don't hit any skunks." That, in my mind, was the worst case scenario, and if you know me at all, you know my mind jumps to W.C.S. mode far too easily. He's been itching to take the Kent out at night since Christmas, but we've had a stretch of rainy icy weather. So tonight, it's 53 and he's hit the trail. Gotta love it. I'll let you know how it went. And now, back to the game.

Sweet Ride

 

A few weeks ago I surprised Mitch with an early Christmas gift - a Motobecane 29er bike frame. He was one happy camper, let me tell you. He wasted no time ordering the additional parts he needed to build the bike. Last week, he finished it.

All of the components are carbon and it has Schwalbe Big Apple tires. It is one impressive bike. We went to the lake one very cold day after Christmas and I snapped a few pictures while he took it out for a spin. The sun was going down, but the pics are still pretty good.

Mitch has become an avid biker in the past year, which thrills me no end. His blood pressure is down, he's lost a lot of weight, and he's found something healthy that he absolutely loves to do. For Christmas, he bought our 3 nephews bikes. I hope they can keep up with him.

Tour of Missouri - Part 4

This is my final picture post for last week's Tour of Missouri. These are some of my favorite photos taken in the second half of the race. Sorry I don't know these fabulous cyclists' names, but even if you aren't familiar with the icons of the sport, you can appreciate these amazing athletes.

That's the TV crew again, following another cyclist.

I like this shot. The cyclist and the car passed right in front of my camera.

The Tour is scheduled to return to Missouri for the next 2 years. I plan to be there, with my camera.

Tour of Missouri - Part 3

Welcome to Part 3 of my Tour of Missouri... in photos. Gotta tell ya, I don't know the names of most of these riders. I do know that they are the finest cyclists in the world - 120 of them - but until I get the order roster for the race, most of them will go unidentified. Sorry about that.

This was one of the first cyclists that passed by and I was thrilled to catch him getting a quick drink. It was uncomfortable that day - mid-80's, no wind, blazing sun and high humidity.

I got a big smile from this guy in the Mavic car before the race.

There was nothing between the cyclists and oncoming traffic but these light metal rails. Made me nervous.

I do know who this is - Levi Leipheimer, the world's best Time Trial specialist and the winner of Stage 3. He also won the Tour de France Time Trial this year. Levi rode the 18 mile course that day in 39 minutes, 37 seconds. Awesome ride.

This was very exciting. The cyclists started the race 2 minutes apart. The guy in front reaching for his water bottle didn't see the rider coming up behind him. Although they weren't racing each other, this moment was fun to watch. More photos coming. Stay tuned.

Tour of Missouri - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my Tour of Missouri photos.  These 2 cyclists from the Discovery Channel team passed by before the race; they were scouting the course.

A scouting party from Team Slipstream. Note the front rider checking out the heavy truck coming up behind them. (The road wasn't closed at this point.) On their way back through, I heard one of them say, "If this is the easy grade, I don't even want to see the big one!"

I took this early on in the race. There were 2 mobile TV crews following riders. The TV 2 guys passed by 5 times filming different riders.

This cyclist from the BMC Racing Team was one of the first racers to pass by. Tomorrow, more photos. Stay tuned...

Tour Of Missouri - Part 1

Last Thursday I accompanyied Mitch to Stage 3 of the Tour of Missouri Pro Cycling race held right here in Tiny Tourist Town. Mitch was a Course Marshall, assigned to Chula Vista, an old scenic outlook on Hwy 248, which used to be the main road into town. That's him in the orange shirt at right, clearing rocks and debris off the course. (Click on these pics for a larger view.)

Stage 3 was an 18 mile Time Trial over what is described in the tour brochure as "rolling terrain." lol  What we have here is long steep grades and lots of banked curves, kinda like a roller coaster. It made for a world class time trial course. The HP closed down one lane for the race; the other lane was open to traffic, much of it heavy trucks going to and from the nearby rock quarry. I don't know if it unnerved the riders, but it sure scared me.  Before the race began (and the road was closed)

several non-competing bikers rode the course. While Mitch was doing his Course Marshall stuff, I grabbed the camera and scouted the road for the best spot to take pictures. I decided to set up camp by that clump of yuccas just past the road sign.  I was able to see the riders coming up the hill and get some good shots as they passed by, not 10 feet from me. This race was unique because the riders left the start gate one at a time, approximately 2 minutes apart. They were racing the clock for a best personal time. Each rider got their own police escort (on the open stretch or road we were on) and it gave me a chance to snap pictures of everyone. I took more than 600 shots in about 3 hours. I completely used up a 2 gig card and missed a couple of riders at the end. Note to self: next year take 2 cards.

These 2 vehicles went by before the race; they're from Mavic, a team sponsor; they were scouting the course for their riders.  They had incredible bikes on top of those cars. Way cool. 

This week, I'll be posting some of the photos I took, so if you have a cyclist in the family be sure to stop by for my coverage of the Tour of Missouri Time Trials. I got some very good shots of all the members of the Discovery Channel team, which includes Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie.

Tour of Missour is Here!

Okay, I'm officially excited. Earlier this evening, Mitch and I went down to The Landing to grab dinner at Canteen Laredo (an upscale Mexican restaurant.) The Landing was buzzing with activity for tomorrow's Tour of Missouri Stage 3 Time Trials. After dinner, we walked around a bit amidst the tourists. Low and behold I spied 3 members of the DFL Team (from Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden) in the crowd. When we got home, Mitch's course assignment was waiting for him in his email. And that's when it hit me; this is a huge big deal!

Today's Stage 2 winner, George Hincapie of the Discovery Channel Team, is pictured above arriving in Springfield this afternoon. Today's race was not without incident. This quote from The Guardian UK describes it best:

"The stage started bizarrely. American Dan Schmatz was forced to abandon after crashing into an armadillo and sustaining a broken collarbone and head lacerations about six kilometers into the stage."

I'll be snapping pictures like crazy tomorrow morning while Mitch does Course Marshall "stuff" (I have no idea what that involves.) I'm taking a case of Dasani, 4 battery back ups for the camera, and a blank journal so I can scribble notes between cyclists. I'm praying for a cool, sunny, armadillo-free morning!

Thanks to the official Tour of Missouri website for the photo.