Its been a very long time since I've posted anything. It was a very busy time for me.

There has been 3 jobs, my father's passing, two boys in collage (Kevin is graduating in 4 days), I moved 3 times and I got divorced. The only constant through all this has been cycling.

Oh and I went to Tokyo

That was fantastic!

Like I said the only constant was cycling. The 2 previous jobs I had and my current job, have a cycling responsibility. The first was Security at the Missouri Botanical Garden

That was awesome, being able to ride a bike around the Garden grounds kept me in shape.

and I got to see some cool stuff...

  I turned 50 while working at the Garden and rode in 6 Centuries that summer. One every month starting in May. I might have hurt myself doing that but I can now say I was in good enough shape to do it. The next job was for The Partnership for Downtown St Louis as a Bike Guide. We were required to ride around downtown St Louis assisting people with finding places of interest and semi security. In two ways it was a great training ground for my next job. For two years I rode about 5 thousand miles a year. That got me in shape for the 6 months of physical training in the Police Academy. I was 53 when I entered the Academy. The person closest to my age was 20 years younger. I really believe that all the cycling helped me get through it.

After a year and half of riding in a radio car in the 2nd District a position came open on the Bike Unit in Downtown. I applied and got a position. I've been there for the World Series in 2011, Occupy St Louis, and the opening of Ballpark Village. I get to ride a bike for work. I get paid for it. How awesome is that?

There has also been some changes in my bikes. My favorite bike, the bike I've ridden since first purchasing it as a replacement for my Kabuki that was bent in half by a van. My 1981 Trek 710 frame repainted three times, stolen once, is finally finished.

Its built as a 719 with mostly Dura Ace components. This is the bike I rode all my centuries on. Its geared really high (52-42 chain rings and 12-21 freewheel) I think thats why I hurt myself, pushing too high a gear. This is my baby, a very sweet ride. I taped my bars with cloth tape and shellac'd them. They look great. Love this bike.

My Trek 750 is my commuter bike.

Its a little changed from this and I'm thinking of using it as a touring bike so it will change from what it is now. I think drop bars better fenders possibly a dyno hub with lights a front rack and real bags are in it future. I'm contemplating a self-supported three week tour when I turn 60. We'll see.

I have a 1979 Panasonic entry level track bike. It's drilled for brakes, has track forks and its handmade in the factory that made the Schwinn Paramount when they were made in Japan. This is the closest I will be to actually owning a Paramount I think.

I learned how to build wheels for this bike. They are Formula hubs with Sun 27" rims, black spokes and nipples. This bike has a 50 tooth chain ring and 18 tooth free wheel. I was going to use it at the velodrome but haven's yet. Maybe soon.

I also have a  Nashbar Single Speed bar hopper bike.

 Aluminum frame, carbon fork and seat post, Formula hubs with Mavic 700c rims. 46 tooth chain ring with 16 tooth free wheel. Selle San Marcos Regal saddle with brass rivets, Stem Captain clock, and a few other goodies. Most of this build was purchased through Bicycle Works.

I'll keep riding as long as I can.

This is from last nights Wheels of Glory III. In the first round I rode 1.24 miles in 2.5 minutes. It was the overall high but I lost in the second round by about .01 of a mile.

It was a lot of fun...

2009
Time to resume my blog.
Last year was busy but I wasn't very inspired to keep up with this.
Most of my bike miles last year were at work but I did get some recreational riding in. I didn't keep accurate records but it was over 4,000 miles total. The recreational rides were not organized rides by Trailnet or Hostelling International but maybe this year I'll be able to ride some of those. There was a couple of fund raising rides. One started out as a 220 mile ride that we were going to complete in 36 hours, without sleep. Mother nature, goodyear, a vampire butterfly, some suicidal frogs and a killer turtle had other plans for us. We only got 120 miles in 24 hours.
My first Moonlight Fiasco was last year in November.
Oh one more big event, the Ride 64 ride. December 14th we rode on the newly finished highway 64 the day before it opened. It turned out to be a great event!

This year I plan to keep track of my bicycling adventures and anything bike related. So far this year I've attended the 7th annual St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation's Swap/expo, the North American Handmade Bike Show in Indianapolis and Bicycle Day at Jefferson City, MO. Patty, Kevin and Jackson are going to Washington D. C. for the Bicycle Summit.
Also, I participated in two of Will Cycle for Charity's, Wheels of Glory races at Atomic Cowboy. The last Wheels of Glory race is Wednesday March 11th at 7 pm. That also happens to be a Moonlight Fiasco night.

I'm considering trying to ride one century a month starting in March. It will be mainly self-supported rides. More on that later.

This year I've also decided to restore/rebuild my vintage 1981 Trek 710. The frame was purchased in March of 83 for $325.00. Its been painted a couple of times, stolen once and ridden for thousands of miles. So its time to restore it. The Stronglight roller bearing headset that was on it, is going to stay. Also the Dura Ace seatpost, I just like the way it looks. It was stripped and painted by a company in Fenton, a dark blue with metal flake. It looks great but its starting to chip. Not sure what to do about that. It didn't start chipping until the decals were placed on it.

This is what it looked like in 2006, after 6 centuries and 23 years of hard riding.


Most all Dura Ace, including Dura Ace Biopace chainrings!!? and of course a Brooks Saddle.

This is what arrived in the mail today;



and on the inside...


It has an adjustable chain line feature. Very cool.

These shifters were purchased at this year's StL Bike Fed Swap/Expo (thanks Tyler).


Sparkly paint job!

Oh and one more part,


The front Derailler.

This is going to be fun building. I've used the parts from this bike and some extras that were laying around and built a stand in to ride while I'm getting this one finished. It will take a while to do. Money is short and NOS Suntour parts aren't easy to find.

Happy New Year!

2007 was a recovery year for me. I did ride a lot. I started a new job in July with the St. Louis downtown Partnership as a Bicycle Guide. I average about 20 miles a day and I rode until the last week of December. I didn't really keep track of my milage last year, as i said it was a recovery year. December of 06 I started having problems with my right hip. I think it was a result of my fall while riding the Beer and Brat Century.

I am starting this blog again and I will probably add stories about work and post pictures of my bike projects. I have 6 new bikes. 4 Schwinns a Huffy and an AMC. Some of them will be projects and some I may just end up selling.

I have just finished a "fixie" for Kevin. It is an Austro Daimler. Its dark blue and looks really nice (pictures to follow).

The swap meet is three weeks away. I hope to pick up a few good sales...oh and pictures too.

Final Century for the year?

Camp Hihaska make-up ride
Saturday October 7th

Two century rides in two weeks. Not much down time in between. But I did it. I rode in 5 Centuries for the Gateway Council's 5 Star Century Challange. I actually did 6 centuries with the Ride the Rivers Century thrown in for good luck but I didn't get credit for it from the HI people.

It was a cold day for a ride. I wore my wool socks and all my cold weather gear. It warmed up enough so that I just wore tights and my Bad Dog Jersey in the afternoon. Its great country down South in Bourbon Missouri with rolling hills and alot of coountry roads. It also has alot more dogs as well. I was chased by more dogs this ride thatn all of my other rides put together. I also met a woman who rode in the Beer and Brat Century. She also fell on the gravel at the first rest stop. We had matching road rash scars (mine is bigger).

I did this by myself (I found out later that other Chain Gang riders were there) and there were about thirty others who missed the Sandy Creek ride who rode as well.

Stats; Dst: 100 miles, Avs: 14.6, Mx: 39.5, Tm: 6:30

My average went way down from the first century. I always thought it should get better but it didn't. I'm not sure why.

I don't know if I'll do another 5 ride year or not, we'll have to see what next year brings.

One thing I know is I'm going to be wearing my Chain Gang Jersey to all the Centuries I ride in.

Ride the Rivers Century
October 1, 2006

It was a great ride. Tom and I met early in the parking lot of the Tap Room. This was a good sign, we were going to end in the parking lot of one of the best micro breweries in St. Louis. We also got a free beer ticket to use when we were finished. The great people of Trailnet also gave us socks as the ride premium and as I was wearing my sandles I was glad to have the socks.

We started riding West through St. Louis and headed to St. Peters and the Missouri River. The food for this ride was great. Normally you get the usual cookies and banannas but on this ride there was clif bars, apples, orange slices, oreos, trail mix and enough so every one got as much as they needed.

At the fist rest stop I saw Bob Foster who had a broken spoke on his front wheel. He left the rest stop after Tom and I did and finished the ride with a broken spoke and the front tire wobbling. He is a better man than me...

Well the first half of the ride was hilly and very scenic. Very peaceful and a great ride. We crossed over two rivers on ferries. The Golden Eagle and the Brussels ferries. The Golden Eagle ferry has a fee for crossing but the organisers took care of that and the Brussels ferry is free. After crossing the Big Muddy (the Mississippi) we went through Pier Marquette State Park and arrived in Grafton for lunch. It was sandwiches but you got a choice and it was made to order for you. The bathroom accomindations were lacking but the stop was really nice.

After lunch we rode South on the River Road out of Grafton to Alton. I've ridden this many times in the past but it was always earlier in the day. We were in the midday sun and against the wind. It seemed like we rode for 40 miles this way and I was getting tired but I had the Tap Room to inspire me to finish.

Once we were out of Alton we took stayed on the levys along the river until we got to the Chain of Rocks Bridge. We then took the River front path to Laclede's Landing. There was a couple of events going on at the same time and we actually got stuck in traffic on our bikes.

Tom and I arrived at the finish around seven hours after we started, thirsty and tired.

Stats; Dst: 100 miles, Avs: 15.1, Mx: 32.5, Tm: 6:25

I'm sitting in my dining room writing this as it rains outside. It is cold, dark, and rainy at 11:30 in mid-October. I've heard it has snowed over the past weekend in far-off exotic places like Buffalo and Chicago. It hasn't snowed here but it could have.

It is hard to think about cycling this morning but I need to get the final three centuries posted before I totally forget them.

Tom and I rode several times to train for the Sandy Creek Century. Tom wasn't riding it just me, but Tom was riding with Dave and Brian on a week long ride so he needed as much time in the saddle as he could get. We rode in West county where there are great hills. I seemed to have lost the specs for the ride. I remember riding around 35 miles. Tom if you have the stats from the ride send them to me and I'll edit the post.

We also rode in Columbia, IL for around 20 miles.

My fifth century was going to be the Sandy Creek Century on September 23rd. I started off with a big problem. I was planning to ride and finish in around 7 hours and then go to work. I had it figured out that if I started at 6:00 am and it took me 7 hours I would finish at 1:00 pm and that would give me 2 hours to get to work shower get dressed and be ready for work. Seven hours is reasonable for me. All my other centuries I finished in 7 so as long as nothing went terribly wrong I could do it.

I woke at 4:30 am the morning of the 23rd to the sound of rain. I thought I could still do it. It had rained in at least three of the other centuries. I drove an hour to get to the start. It was 6:30. Already half an hour late. I signed in. Still raining. And now thunder and lightning. I waited until 7:15 to start. I figured I could call in late. If I was an hour late for work it would be OK still.

At the ten mile mark I realized that I wasn't going to finish. I was soaked, and cold. I had fallen on gravel on thse last century, just one month befroe, and my right elbow and right hip were beginning to nag me about falling again. So I stopped at a gas station and looked at the map and decided to go to the first rest stop (at the 20 mile mark) and take the Sag back to the start.

You got to understand, after at least 20 years of riding in organized and unorganized rides I had until that point never Sagged back to the start. Even after falling off my bike.

Well, I knew at this point, I couldn't expect to finish the ride and get to work. So I got to the first rest stop. It was thundering and there was no break in the clouds at this point. The rest stop had two volunteers helping out. One of the volunteers was Jasper a Turbo rider from the Gateway HI. He is one of the 70+ youngsters that Tom and I have had the pleasure of riding with, or pleasure of trying to keep up with on some of our training rides. He and I talked for a while, while I was waiting for the Sag.

Right as the Sag got to the rest stop to pick me up the sun came out. Susan, another Gateway HI volunteer who I've ridden with on other centuries, was the driver of the Sag van. She offered me a cup of hot chocolate. It was the best hot chocolate I've had since the last time I was camping.

Anyway I only went 20 miles on this ride. I averaged around 15 miles per hour, not my best but this was the Sandy Creek Century. The hilliest ride of the year, so far...

I haven't posted in awhile but that doesn't mean I haven't ridden. I have 5 rides that I need to catch up on.

The first ride was Saturday August 5th
Buder State Park in Jefferson County Missouri.
I found out earlier in the week that the last Century of the Five Star Century series was going to be the hardest century of all five. It was mainly the hills that were going to make it hard. Jefferson County, for all of you who don't know, is very hilly. There isn't a flat spot in the whole county and the hills are big ones. So it is a great place to train if you are going to ride a century in the hills.

I got an invite from a list I'm on, I think its one from the St. Louis Regional Bike Fed, for a ride at Buder State Park starting at 7:00 am. This was organized by Bob Chekoudjian. Buder is an hour West of Belleville so that means I got up at 5 and got in the truck at 6 and was ready to go at 7. I woke up to a flat tire. I just bought new ones and put them on Wednesday night and must have pinched the front tube putting it on. I changed it again before I left. By the time I got to Buder it was flat again and I only had one more tube. The third time was a charm, I changed it and it held until the end of the ride.
We rode from Buder State Park to Shaw's Arboretum and back. The park is beautiful and the area around it is great for a ride. Tom has said many times in the past that he likes riding hills and he would rather ride a century in hills than flats because on flats you have to pedal all the time. I didn't understand until I rode this ride.
Stats: Dst:44.61, Avs: 15, Mx: 35, Tm: 3 hrs.

The next ride was on Sunday August 6th and it was in O'Fallon IL with Dave and Brian. Brian and family had just gotten back from Door County and Dave and family had gotten back from the Grand Canyon. It was an easy ride, we were mainly getting some time in the saddle.
Stats: Dst: 35, Avs: 15.6, Mx 31.5 Tm: 2:14.
We really weren't pushing it.

My third ride was in Jefferson County again, another Bob Chekoudjian organized ride. Saturday August 12th. Rockwoods Reservation to Pacific and back. Again many hills and a good group of people. We actually stopped for lunch in Pacific at a little diner called the Depot.
Stats: Dst: 44.35, Avs: 14.5 Mx:45, Tm: 2:50.
Yes, thats right, Max Speed 45 miles per hour! I glad I had new tires.
The hills were very big and with this route some of the down hills were long and straight. I actually walked up two of these hills. I couldn't ride up all the way.

The next ride was Tuesday August 15. Tom and I went to Alton and rode to Pierre Marquette State Park but we rode in from the back side and returned to Alton on the river road. There was a bunch of dogs on this route and the final dog pack was two mean Chihuahuas and a really ugly Pug. I fell off my bike at one place and had a flat but the rest of the ride was nice except for the feeling that I was on the set of the movie Deliverance a couple of times.
Stats: Dst: 44.35, Avs: 15.6, Mx: 34, Tm: 2:50.



The fifth ride was the Beer and Brat Century in Millstadt Il, Saturday August 19th. We had around 13 to 18 people in a group that stuck together for the first 67 miles. John & Michelle, Mike K, Virgil, Dave, Brian, John, Tom, Craig, Joey, Kathy, and three or four others I didn't know rode with us. The beginning of the day was very nice, overcast and about mid 70's and no wind. We stayed together for most of the first part of the ride. I dropped a tube out of my seat bag and had to go back after it but I didn't get left behind. Tom however dropped his water bottle and was very far back after about 30 miles. I slowed to see if I could help him catch-up but I didn't see him and I didn't want to get too far behind so I sped up to catch the pack. Well right before the second rest stop at Washington Park in Fayetteville I turned a corner on gravel and went down. Hard.
My bike was fine. I was a little scraped up, a little loss of skin and a large raspberry on my hip but no broken bones and no deep cuts. I got some first aid help at the rest stop and continued on.
I saw Craig leaving the rest stop as I came in, he wasn't fooling around. He stayed out in front of us the whole ride even tho he said he didn't feel well. He had just returned from a business trip and said all he ate was conference food (m-m-m donuts).
Tom caught up with us at the rest stop and we rode together again for about another 20 miles and then Tom flatted. He ended up with two flats on the road and the last tube he had was going flat as he ate lunch so he stopped at 67 miles.
After lunch we got ready to go and Dave had a flat. He fixed it and we got started and about 10 miles into the last 30 Dave had another flat. Some of us went on and some stayed with Dave. Brian and I rode together and met up with another rider from the Belleville area. Brian had a flat at the 80 mile marker and we had a little difficulty getting it aired up. Dave and the group with him passed us and continued on. We eventually got Brian's tire aired up and rode on.
The total flats for the day for our group was 9. Total for people falling off bikes in our group 2 (Michelle also went down but she was OK). I heard of several others having trouble with the gravel that day. The Illinois roads were covered in gravel this weekend.
Stats: Dst: 100.6, Avs: 17 (sad times but I think it was because of all the gravel), Mx: 32.5, Tm: 5:54.
This is patch #4 for me...
I heard it was Joey's first century. He looked strong, he'll be out there again I'm sure.

One more picture from the day of the ride...
Arm road rash...


I also wanted to mention, Joey, Dave Brian, Kathy and I talked about the team jerseys after the ride and we have a date of September 18th for delivery, if I can get the art to the printer by Thursday the 24th. We have sponsors and we have a design all I need to do is put the two together and send it to the printer and we will have jerseys.
We would have looked awsome on this century, riding in a pack of 15 with matching jerseys...

Logo, New Tires and a new Bike!!!

Here is a drawing for the Team Logo. It will be "Chain Gang" and I thought a catchy tag line should read "Take No Prisoners" just to sound like we have a really bad attitude.
Vote whether you like it or not.

Brian, I will incorporate the line of riders in the over all logo.

NEW TiRES!! I wanted to wait until I rode all 5 centuries before I got them but I noticed the threads coming through the rubber on my old tires.
This is a momentus day my friends...


And finally. A new bike, well new to me anyway.
I've been looking for this type of frame for literally years.
I don't think I'm going to ride it in any centuries or even training rides just yet.

Its more for fun than anything else...

Weekend rides
Saturday July 22, & Sunday July 23 2006

Saturday Dave and I met Brian and we rode the country side around O'Fallon. There is much damage from the two storms this week. So we rode slowly.

Stats; Dst: 31.11, Avs: 15.6, Mx: 31.5 Tm: 1.59.13

Sunday Dave, Brian, Joe S, Joey S and me. We rode to the catsup bottle in Collinsville.

Stats; Dst: 38.1, Avs: 16.2, Mx: 35.5, Tm: 2.20.44

Both days the weather was great. Cool around 70, a little wind on Sat and almost none on Sun.

Sunday July 9 2006
Firecracker 100
Greenville IL

This ride is called the Firecracker, I imagine because of it being right after the 4th of July and normally it is really hot.

The weather was great for a ride. It rained a little but not enough to spoil the fun and the cloud cover gave us a rest from the heat. This ride was the day after the donut ride and a few of us from the donut ride woke up early and rode the country side of Greenville Illinois. Joe S., Virgil, John, Michele and Joe P. were in attendance. I arrived late and didn't ride with our group. I don't recommend this to anyone. If you ride a pretty fast race or ride one day and plan to ride a century the next day make sure you have someone to ride it with.

Riding by myself, I was continually thinking of the bad parts of the ride. Especially after 70 miles or so. The ride was great, there was enough hills to make it interesting, no dogs and the scenery was beautiful. But I got into a funk and couldn't see anything but the uphill climbs and the rough road. I did suck on to a couple of pace lines and rode with some really nice people. It took my mind off how tired I was, but it would have been better. I am going to make a point of riding with someone next time.

Enough complaining.

First off, I forgot my computer...

I don't know my times and distance from my computer but I took my time off the time sheet and the distance off the trip sheet and figured out the speed etc.

The scenery was great. This is a little country side church...


We rode on several small highways most of the time but traffic was not a problem...


Nothing but corn and clouds...


About 80 miles in I broke the pad on my aero bar...



Finally finished...


Once I finished I found Joe S, John, Michele and Virgil. They started out about a half an hour before me and I almost caught them. It wasn't because I rode so much faster, they rode 100 miles and I only rode 96. The course was set up for only 96.

My stats: Tm: 5.41, Dst: 96, Avs: 16.89

Not bad for a 96 mile ride the day after a 31 mile race.

Tour de Donut cont....

Dave, Joe, Brian and Tom...


Sitting left to right, Dee, Dave, Joe S, Tom
Second row, Mike, John, Michele, Joe P, Brian
Third row, Kathy, Peggy, Virgil


Real times...
8 1 :20:41 Virgil Moehsmer
12 1 :23:32 Kathy Fisher
26 1 :27:05 Joe Switzer
29 1 :27:58 Mike Kapilla
49 1 :33:57 David Paeth
50 1 :33:59 Michele Hopkins
53 1 :34:05 Thomas Cramer
93 1 :41:02 Bryan Kendall
94 1 :41:03 Joe Pierce
135 1 :46:52 John Hopkins

Adjusted times...
1:11:03 Joe Pierce
I only ate 6 donuts and I finished 4th for the over 50 adjusted time group...

Specs off my computer, Tm: 1.35.31, Dst: 31, Avs: 19.4, Mx: 33
19.4 Average speed. That is an all time best for me for 31 miles.
We all really did well. Virgil, Kathy, Joe S, and Mike took off at the start and didn't slow down until they saw the finish line. Great job everyone!!


The whole town welcomed the racers. The main street in town was closed to automobile traffic and a lane was kept open for the riders to go through.


This was a very cool ride and I will do it next year...

Tour de Donut cont...

675 people in the race...


Joe & Virgil at the front of the pack...


Brian and I started near the front of the pack...


Kathy was the first woman to cross the finish line (second from the left). At 1 hr, 23 min, and 32 seconds, she was the 12th person to cross the finish line. Way to go Kathy!!!


Gold medalist Kathy Fisher...

July 8th 2006
Tour de Donut
Stauton, IL

It was a great day for a race. The morning temperature was in the low 70's and still, no wind.

We all met around 8:00 am and discussed strategy, actually we all talked about how little sleep we got the night before and tried to figure out who was going to eat donuts and who wasn't.

Dave didn't want to waste any time getting to the race so he slept in someone else's trailer and got up with the birds dressed and ready to go...


Joe was thinking if he left his glasses off he would be 6.2 ounces lighter and just a little faster. But can I see?!?


Discussing strategy...or dreaming of donuts...


The parking lot filled quickly...


Brian & Tom before the race...