Ozark Trail

Well I was up at the Berryman on Saturday, Sept 24 and Sunday, 25th, manning a Checkpoint for the 36 hour race of the Berryman Adventure, and of course, being in the vicinity of "ground zero" for Missouri's finest mountain biking, I HAD to take the bike along for some post-race fun for myself.
The biggest and toughest decision for me was, "Which trail should I hit?" Berryman Trail, Council Bluffs loop, Trace Creek, or Middlefork? Decisions, decisions.
Well it was sunny and cool Sunday morning as I drove from Bass River Resort towards Potosi, and it clouded up fast, really wicked fast. Sure enough, without notice, it began raining. It was not an isolated shower, this was a "socked in and not going anywhere for a while" type rain. Well that made my decision even easier. The Middlefork trail has a really small rock/chat type trail surface with incredible trail design allowing it to resist mucking up during a rain, and sheds water very well.

Despite the constant light rain and 51 degree temps, I was dressed properly and made the most of it. It was a good ride. Looking forward to going back to the Middlefork very soon. The guys and gals who laid out that trail design and cut it in should be put into the IMBA Hall of Fame.

post by Bryan Greaser

Broemmelsiek 'almost' race'

Well my bud Matt O and I headed to the Lou Saturday morning with the fam's to spend a nice day at the STL Zoo and many other fun things, spent the night in a hotel, woke up to a delightful stlbiking post on the message board that the Broemmelsiek race was still ON! Right on! We stayed in the Brentwood/Clayton area, and it stormed pretty hard on Saturday night, but the race was miles away, so the way summer storms can be, we figured it could have missed the race location. Well about 7:15 Sunday morning we check the board and the race was a GO.

We woofed down some Continental, packed up the bikes (didn't pull into the parking garage with bike on top) and started heading W out 64/40 towards St Chuck. We hit Chesterfield area and it started raining, and approaching the Missouri River bridge, I can't decide if it was raining buckets or cats and dogs? Hmmmm. Still wondering if it was raining at the race location, I decided to check stlbiking and sure enough, Mitch had to pull the plug on the race, noting that it was pouring at the trail.

Oh well, we had a great weekend anyway. Matt and I were really looking forward to riding a new trail we had never done before, especially for 3 hours in the Marathon class. But that's life.

post by Bryan Greaser

And another gravel grinder....

Stepping up the gravel grinder rides the last few days. Did 42 miles on Saturday, followed up with another 25 today. Legs are feeling oh so good.
I'm not really an early morning person, but getting up at 6 and doing long rides is pretty dang fun! And great training for some fall racing hopefully.

Post by Bryan Greaser

Shawnee National Forest gravel grinder

Got up early this morning with two friends Jeff Smith and Brad Brown, met at the bike shop at 6:30 am, and the three of us took off for a 30 minute drive across the river into Illinois and set out to do a 28 mile gravel grinder. Legs were feeling good, weather was mild, so we kept going, exploring a little bit, and eventually we logged 42 miles this morning, about 3 hrs 20 minutes or so. Some gravel roads, paved roads, fire roads, doubletrack, you name it. No singletrack though.
I paid close attention to the Trail of Tears State Forest layout, and the trails within it... A race there someday I see. Lots of trails and acreage to work with.
Anyone who thinks for a second that this part of Southern Illinois is flat should think again.... Fun times, good training ride.

post by Bryan Greaser

Man, what is UP??

It's been forever since I have updated this website. The team has been nursing some injuries this season, and while we've normally raced at least three races by now at this time of year, we've not raced at all.
Yesterday I went out and did a 25 mile 'gravel grinder,' as we've been calling them. It is a hybrid ride between a mountain bike ride and a road bike ride. We look at a map, maybe on Map My Ride, and we plot out a route to link up miles on gravel roads at a generally modest pace. Rarely are we killing it. But we do in on a mountain bike.
The gnats and mosquitoes were killing me yesterday, absolutely nearly intolerable. You had to keep moving or it was major trouble. I rode in Southern Illinois, and checked out the Trail of Tears State Forest. Hmmmmm, not a bad place for a race someday....
Anyway, just training as usual. Running and biking when I can. Work has been super busy.
Oh, and after several months when the new Lynskey Ridgeline, love it. As in, REALLY love it.
Not sure what the rest of the season has in store for us. It's just a really funky year with team injuries and crappy weather.

post by Bryan Greaser

Joy's 70th Birthday book

Click here to view this photo book larger

New bike on the way....

Lynskey 2011 Ridgeline-29 VF Mountain Hardtail

Ready for Titanium!!!!!!!!


by Bryan Greaser
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------