A crusty P.O.V: Playin' Catch Up

I was waiting on a video to post from last weekend's race but I will have to wait. Technical difficulty in sending me the video. Trust me, it will be a worthy stand alone clip. So this little diddy is about last weekends race then Halloween ride. Both which were outstanding but in opposite pole kinda of way.

First off Boss Cross 3. Fabulous race/course/utilization of the many parks that Kansas City is graced with. Jeremy & Joe didn't disappoint in laying out a course that needed 100% of concentration or otherwise you were off the course, off the bike, or just off the back. It was really nice to come home to race such an awesome course. I might not have done as well as I wanted but I was grinning from ear to ear. Even throwing out some 'words of encouragement' to my fellow racers... The course definitely reminded me of this...

Now to my Halloween ride. Since there wasn't a race going on I decided to get some extra miles in to build back the fitness I lose every two weeks. The ride started off as normal. With only one idea of finding a new route to Benettis. Accessing Raytown is difficult by bike from Less Scummit. That is unless you want to travel highly congested roads, to which I'm not a fan of. So as I proceeded down through the many strip malls I noticed a 'new' access road...

Well to my amazement my 'new' access road was perfect route towards my coffee fix. As I traveled down the road other objects came to my attention...

A paved bridge in the middle of nowhere?

A sweet downhill into an open valley

Yes, that's a beaver damn.

The interesting thing about the valley is that there are several creeks running through it. Was odd to see such a valley like this laying between a mall and a highway. What I didn't realize was that after the valley the trail was gone. Well besides a deer trail which was rideable until the creeks. A little CX practice then some riding then a little more CX practice then absolute hike a bike. To my surprise there was a 6' security fence surrounding the valley. On top of the security fence was barbed wire effectively making it 8'. Oy vey! Did a little scouting around only to find this..

Well someone else has used this route also!

Hung the bike on the barb wire, climbed through the hole and off I go. Only to be stopped by an industrial staple sticking in my tire. Ok, not that route was odd or anything but this is where the whole ride goes towards the...

As I'm fixing my flat under the bridge of the highway, mind you a 6 lane highway, a couple comes jogging down the road towards me. Then suddenly veers to my right towards on of the foundations of the bridge. I honestly thought one of them had to pee, so why not behind the barrier? But NO, they continue up the side of the rock embankment, towards the highway. Suddenly they are out of my sight. Blocked by the bridge base its self. I put my wheel down to shuffle over to see where the hell they went. No clue. No sign of them. They either crossed the bridge or started running on the side of the highway. There is no other streets near here. It was Halloween, sooo maybe aliens got them?

The next little interesting incident during my voyage was...

One of my backroads was almost completely blocked by all these branches someone decided to dispose of right in the middle of the road. The road is just two cars wide so that will give you some idea of the amount of debris deposited. The amazing thing was the height of the mess. It was about 8' tall. Absolutely crazy.

Finally made to Benettis to only find out I missed this guy...