Race Report: Washington Cyclocross - December 13th

Sunday December 13th I decided to balls up and do my first Cyclocross race. I had been thinking about doing one all season and finally decided I would.

The night before the race it rained a few inches making the race a sloppy, sloppy, sloppy mess. Luckily, I talked my teammate Travis Finan & riding buddy Dana Goodman into racing the Beginner's class with me as well. As soon as we got lined up the gentlemen next to me decided to tell us he usually races a few classes up, but had somewhere to be today so he figured he'd race in our class. That's great and all but seriously? It's beginner's for a reason. . . Needless to say, he still didn't win. Our USAC Judge on hand told us that our race length would be determined by the race leader after the first lap, based on his lap time. Apparently his first lap time was good enough that the judge thought we could do 3 laps in around 20 minutes. 2 laps would've been great, 3 laps was killer. The first lap went by pretty quickly. The other 2 guys in our race separated themselves quite quickly from Travis & I, but we held tight. Lap 2, the course was already showing signs of wear with only 7 racers to hit it so far, at this point I was glad we were the first to race. My biggest fault in this race was not practicing clipping in with my borrowed bike's pedals. They were just a bit different than my SPD pedals and with my messed up shoe I had hard time clipping back in after a remount. I feel like I probably lost a lot of time trying to mess with my shoes in the middle of the race, oh well! So back to the race, the third lap Travis started to hit the wall and the gap between he and I grew pretty wide. At one point almost halfway through the third lap I caught a quick glimpse of 2nd place, but he was way too far ahead to be caught.

Ended up I finished 3rd in my first cross race. I must say it was a lot of fun and I can see why everyone enjoys Cyclocross as much as they do! I'm sure next year I will be doing the Collegiate Circuit of Cross.

Out of the gate

On the back half of the course

Travis & I

Podium!

Muddy Muddy Mess

A big shout out to my family & friends that came out to support me! As well as Corey Case who let me use his cross bike!!

Trek to Re-Energize America 2010

I've finally come to a decision about what I will be doing this summer. My plan is to bike from San Francisco, CA to Washington, D.C. as a part of the Trek to Re-Energize America, again. From their I will conquer the C&O (which took out a bike last year) with Dad (hopefully). Then head up the Allegheny Trail to Niagara Falls, into Canada, around the Great Lakes then book it back home to good ole' Owensville, MO. All in all it will be a little over a 5,000 mile summer.

The trek crew in front of the White House, July 26th, 2009.

Deloris (My new bike)

Last week I purchased a new touring bike, an excellent purchase if I do say so myself. A 1991 Bianchi Peregrine. It is a steel lugged 26 inch MTB that I will set up for my summer 2010 tour. So far, none of my bikes have been named. . . I've decided this one will be named "Deloris." I got the bike from an old lady who owned the bike previously, her name was Deloris, so I figured it fitting for the bike to be named as so. 

Soon (before I go to Florida in January), she will be equipped with Yellow Planet Bike Fenders, a front Lowrider Axiom Rack, a Rear Aluminum Rack, and a Front Porter Style Add-On to the Lowrider.

This is a picture of another bike. Same Model/Colors. 

Where Am I Headed?

Lately my brain has been trickling with ideas for this summer, school, graduating!, and what i'm going to do after school. 

After my past summer my world has been a little rocked by what I would like to do with my life. I am still studying Business & Music and will have earned two bachelor's degree by the time I graduate, a BA in Business Administration & a BA in Music Business. Other than that, a lot of things are going to change...

This summer I am planning on touring for the whole 97 days of summer break. No, I don't have a lot of money but after this summer I will take a step in the direction of the "real world." I have been getting by doing medical studies and doing other odd jobs (substitute teaching) to produce the cash I have, which has gotten me by pretty well. I have no definite plans for the summer as of yet, just biking. If the Trek to Re-Energize can be pulled back together for 2010, I am all hands in for that (San Francisco to D.C.). If not, I will probably be following the Lewis & Clark trail from home (Missouri) to Washington, then north to Alaska. This trip is happening because it is my last summer with a big time gap where I will be able to do what I want without too many constraints for at least 5 or 6 years.

From Indiana

After this summer, I suppose the "real world" will be setting in. I will be either graduating Fall 2010 or Spring 2011. Either way, Fall 2010 will include more upper level business classes along with my Music Business internship. Needless to say, Fall 2010 will probably be a painful semester.

I have decided that after I graduate I will not be joining the Peace Corps,right away. Granted, that would be the optimal time to do it, I just don't see it happening then. After graduation I  will end up joining the work force, hopefully somewhere other than STL, doing something in the business field. Work for about 5 years then do Peace Corps. With experience in the business field i'll have a higher chance of doing what i'd like in the Peace Corps (Economic Development). 

After that will probably come Grad School but who knows?

Joan Osborne, The Holmes Brothers, & Paul Thorne

Possibly the most painful concert of my life. 

Granted it wasn't my style and it was free. It still was painful.

The Rules of Diplomacy

After a few conversations that have happened in the past weeks, a topic came up in my "Pricing & Strategy Negotiations" class that I thought was very relevant to keeping life in order.

Obviously, the main topic of the class is pricing, setting prices, and negotiating prices. Just this past week we started studying a chapter over "Price Competition," talking about positive sum, zero sum, and negative sum games in relation to pricing. Finally, we arrived at the "Rules of Diplomacy." These rules entailed how to react to competitors and the price wars that happen in the business world. They made a lot of sense and seemed like they could be applied to life pretty easily. 

The rules are as follows:

1.) Make your intentions & capacities clear.

2.) Be Consistent.

3.) React quickly to threats directed towards important aspects of your life (markets or accounts in the pricing game).  

4.) Don't hold a grudge.

I tried finding a "real list" of some rules of diplomacy (other than the board game) online but had no luck. These are from my pricing text book.

I'm not saying that I follow these rules every second of my life. I will say that if one were to follow these as close as possible, especially in a relationship or their social life in general, a lot of problems could be solved or altogether removed.

Will I try to follow these? For Sure, I feel like I do pretty well with them at this point in my life as it is. 

P.S. I now have a twitter, I caved. My Twitter.

For your listening enjoyment. . . 

Who Killed the Conversation?

For a while I have been thinking about doing this and after reading an article online about it the other day, I am going to follow through. . .

Since I've had a cell phone, i've had text messaging, just like everyone else in this world. I've soon realized that conversations via text messages are probably one of the most ridiculous things in the world.

Let me be a little bit more specific about this pandemic. Text messages are specifically useful for instances where the phone call would last under 10 seconds, usually involving telling someone you're at their place, you will meet them somewhere at a specific time, sending them an outlandish picture and/or quote, etc. . .

The problem is not with those messages, but lies when you start having "deep" or "meaningful" conversations over text messages with people who are "close" to you. Or also, people you have just met. Once you start having these conversations I feel like you lose the intimacy and connection that come from what the 20th Century calls a "Face to Face" conversation where you sit down with each other, and talk. Or you call them, if for some reason you cannot talk to them face to face, and have the conversation that is intended to be had.

Not to mention the interpersonal skills that you lose by using text messaging. I swear that I see people walking around messaging people more than they speak to other human beings. Also, what about peoples writing skills? Soon words start missing letters and have numbers added 2 them. I'd love to see some papers wrote by people who are fluent in the "IM" language. Check out this short snippet.

Now, I know that this blog may be hypocritical for the sheer fact that I have had these conversations before via text message and sent tens of thousands of texts per month on a pretty regular basis. . . This is the reason for this blog, today this ends for me. Text messages will be only used for the ease of communication (i.e. can't call due to loud noise, in class, conversation would be shorter to just send a message) or to kill boredom (this excludes any "deep" conversations). Who knows what this will lead to, we will find out. . . 

Here are a few picture diagrams to help you visualize what these are like, in case you may have never experienced some of these. . .

A text message conversation. . .

A telephone conversation. . .

A face to face conversation. . .

Social Ranting Blog: I'm Last.

The other night as Cory & I were driving to the STL Bike Co-Op we had a discussion about how we do not really blog much anymore. Cory always had a mock diary blog and I usually stuck to blogging about my trips. Since I am not traveling at the moment thanks to a thing called "School," I figured I will start doing thoughts on conversations that I have with people, or as I would like to call it, a little social ranting blog.

A few days ago I had a talk with someone about how much time that they spend doing things for other people, school, music ensembles, etc. They said they wished they had enough time to just go out and do something that would be relaxing to them. . .

This is something I realized this summer, it is necessary to do relaxing things when you need them, or even if you don't. Making time to relax, enjoy yourself, and do something you love to do is a pretty key component in de-stressing my day. When touring this summer I would, usually after dinner, go somewhere alone and write about my day and reflect. That was de-stressing. 

Now that I'm back at school I usually accomplish this through biking. Every day I roll out on my bike, sometimes with no destination in mind, out to push and enjoy myself. Zoning out and wandering through the country side is one of the most relaxing things to me. No one is trying to push opinions on me, no one trying to get me to go do something with/for them, just me doing my thing.

It blows my mind more people don't do this for themselves? Even if you do have to study all night or have engagements all day, you can always find time (even 15-20 minutes) to do something that is YOUR relaxation time, stress & worry free.

Try it.

Got the touring itch

Lately I have been pretty antsy to get on the bike, load up everything I need, and take off again. . . Due to school that will definitely not happen anytime soon. I have 3-4 trips in the making right now, they are as follows:

Late December - Bike from Owensville, MO to Higginsville, MO (2 days)
Mid-January - Drive to Florida, Tour, Drive back (7 days)
May 16 - (Potentially) Bike from STL to San Fransico (6 Weeks)
After that - Trek to Re-Energize 2010? To DC

It's not like I do not ride enough at the moment, I just dislike riding back to the same place I started everyday. . .

My touring bike will be needing some upgrades before it is even rideable again. A new rear wheel after that blow out incident on the C&O Canal Trail in August. One new set of panniers. My rear Cannondale panniers from the 90's held up but my newer, although cheaper, set started ripping at the seams... They will have to be replaced. The tires should have another 1,500 miles on them... & now that I have a GPS for my Road Bike, I will be able to use that on tour!

Here are a few pictures from when The Trek was crossing the Appalachian Mountains:

Finally.

I finally got a ride in this week. It may be my only one at the rate this week is going. So here is a little music video to celebrate. 

Update

I have been neglecting my blog pretty badly since I've been back from my trip. So here is an update, I will start updating regularly again ASAP.

-School is going well, 16 credit hours this semester since I had to drop a class. 

-Sad to not be living on my bicycle anymore but happy to be settled and getting on with school. I am biking about 100-200 miles a week right now. Working hard towards hopefully being competitive in the spring. 

-I am opening a Bike Co-Op on campus. It's pretty exciting stuff. We will have free bike rentals, repairs, and repair seminars. As well as organize exercise rides and social rides. With very minimal advertising/word of mouth we have gotten very positive feed back about the shop being open, so I think it will be good for the school/biking community in Saint Charles. 

-My transamerican journey via bicycle will be completed Summer 2010. STL to San Francisco. I will be using the same $25 bike I rode to the East Coast only this time I will hopefully use a home built trailer to avoid the sever amount of stress I put on the rear wheel last trip. 

I believe that covers it. 

Here are a few pictures from the last part of my trip this summer, mainly from Washington, D.C.

From the top of the Washington Monument. Props to Kevin for literally running over there in the wee hours of the morning on one of our days off to get tickets!

Me, in front of the Capitol Building.

Me, in Maryland just west of D.C. on the C & O. Day 1 of flying solo.

The Colorado Group in front of the Capitol Building. 

The whole Trek Crew upon arrival. 

Smooth like butter.

Hangin' Out In Durango, CO.

For the past few days I've been hanging out in Durango, CO with Kelly & Lucy. We have been making some headway with the documentary but have definitely been preoccupied with other adventures...

Friday we went on an short bike ride...
Saturday we hung out in Durango...
Sunday Kelly & I hiked up "Engineer..."
Monday Kelly, Lucy, & I went mountain biking for a few hours & then worked pretty steadily on the documentary followed by watching a movie called "Moon" at the local theatre.
Tuesday (today) we are making final preparations to get a lot of work done in Taos, NM. Which is where we are going tomorrow.

Home From D.C.!

Had an Incredible 30 something days on the bicycle! Definitely would've kept going if I could but ran into serious wheel issues on the C&O Canal Tow Path in Maryland and didn't feel like forking out the dough for only 4 more days of biking!

I am headed out to Colorado in a few days to hang out with Kelly & Lucy. Then Lucy & I will be heading to Taos, NM to edit the documentary. Thennnn I will be headed back to School for Resident Advisor Training, YAY!

A Big update will be coming soon, I just need the motivation to type it up!

Update from Pocahontas County (Somewhere in the Appalachian Mountain Range)

Hey Guys! This will be a quick update!

Ever since we left Charleston, WV it has been an ascent into the mountains. Many of the grades are 9-10% and we have done a few mountain passes so far.

The views have been incredible over the past 3 days! Experiencing the mountains on a bicycle is probably the most personal way to do it, second to backpacking. You smell the mountains, you see many things you wouldn't see in a car, and you hear the noises of the mountains. Also, their is nothing like climbing for a few hours at 3-7mph and descending a twisty curvy road at speeds of 30-50mph in just a few minutes.

I saw a bear for the first time when we were having dinner by a little stream. It was a little cub but we didn't see the mother. It was probably only 150 feet away.

Right now we are resting in a Library in Pocahontas County, I do not know the name of the town that we are in. We should be out of the mountain range in the next few days.

6 More Days of the Trek
11 Days Solo
1 Day on a Bus
1 Day in a Car
3 Days in Durango, CO (Doing the Iron Horse Classic -- 3 Rocky Mountain Passes in 50 Miles... Durango to Silverton is the route)
3 Days in Taos, NM
1 Day car ride to Lindenwood.

In Charleston, WV

After a long day of riding yesterday, we arrived in Charleston, WV.

We had a semi early start after a night of barhopping and riding Huntington's new critical mass route rolling 12 deep. Once we were rolling in the morning we were moving quite fast. It was a beautiful ride through the hills of West Virginia, all seemed well.

About 2 hours into the ride, Lucy & Nathalie were about a quarter mile back so we stopped to let them catch up but as soon as we stopped every car in the line of traffic pulled up to tell us "they wrecked!" or "they crashed!" so we really didn't know what was going on. I took off and road back to where they were and sure enough, they had wrecked. Nathalie had gotten off the road a bit and couldn't get back on the road because of a 4 inch lip then Lucy ran over the back over her bike bending her back wheel up in a somewhat hardshell taco form. Luckily their were only minor scrapes. We called the LBS and they came and picked up Nathalie and the rest of us rode into meet her and have lunch in St. Alban, WV.

We take off from lunch and about 30 minutes later I look back and everyone is pulled off of the road. I stopped and they were starting to get off of their bikes. I rode back over to them to find Remy with a broken spoke! We disassembled his bike and contemplated how to fix it, we had the spokes, but because of the location of the broken spoke we were unable to make any headway with it, and then it started to pour. Here we are with a disassembled bike, everyone lounging, and it's pouring... we ran for the overpass. We were somewhat dry under there but still had no idea what to do about Remy. We called our hosts and they were more than willing to come out and pick Remy up which was awesome!

Soon, the 5 of us, made the quick 30 minute trip into Charleston, WV to a nice quiet neighborhood that sits right on the riverfront. We will be spending today (the 18th) as a rest day with the other Seattle group making us 30 something strong on the road now!

9 Days Left on the Trek to Reenergize America.
Followed by an 11 day solo tour.
Followed by 7 days in Taos, NM Biking & Video Editing.
Followed the day after by move in for RA Training.

In Huntington, WV

Well the past few days have been interesting!

Yesterday we started out from Owingsville, KY and headed out for Grayson, KY. After a long debate in the middle of the horse race track where we were camping we decided to ride about 20 miles and stop at the Library to try and get the website up and running again.

We made it about a mile and then decided to stop and charge electronics since all the iPods were dead and most importantly my iPhone which is our GPS! After another wasted hour or two it is almost noon and we are on the road again.

After a quick 2 hour ride we roll into Morehead, KY. A quiet college town nestled at the base of the Appalachian Mountains. We swarmed the library and then swarmed the state university stealing all the wi-fi we could get our hands on. We still could not get the site updated so we decided to ride on, it was almost 6.

Around 8 we roll into the quaint town of Olive Hill, KY. Luckily, a few hours earlier, I called the fire department to see if they knew of a place we could stay and the man on the phone joyfully said ¨We have a yard here! Stay with us!¨ and that we did. As soon as we rolled up we were met by what seemed to be the entire fire department and there families!

We introduced ourselves and the assistant fire chief soon told us the exciting news that they had left over food! Spaghetti, Salad and all the goodies, fresh french bread, and many desserts. Ends up they just had their monthly meeting and had all the food left over, once we got our paws on it, there was no food left.

After a night of jolly people, a lot of internet, a redesigned website, it was nice to hit the hay in a cold carpeted room.

In the morning we woke up and ate a good breakfast with cold milk, fresh fruit, and all kinds of other goodies, we headed off into the sunrise ( it was then 10am). We made it .6 miles before I noticed that Kelly had a flat tire (she is the queen of flat tires).

We immediately pulled off and all layed down in the shade while Kelly got to work on her bike. The tire was fixed, pumped, and we put the bike back upright and it was already flat again. Round 2, we put in another tube, pumped it up, loaded the bike up, and it was flat... again!!! Round 3, FLAT AGAIN!

At this point we just decided we should eat and decide what to do... After a nice meal behind a discount cigarette shop we thought we would hitch hike, at least two of us, the chosen were kelly with the battered bike and nathalie her security.

Soon someone we ran into a few hours earlier offered to take us at 5 PM into Huntington, buttttttt at the same time I received a text from our host and informed him of our current situation. He then told us that he´d be able to help us out!!!! Sure enough, 2 hours later, we were ALL picked up (it takes two vehicles) and taken into Huntington, WV.

Upon arrival Kelly & I Rode to ¨Jeff´s Bikes,¨a local shop and picked up some new drink mixes and tubes. Then headed to the grocery and back to our hosts who are fixing up a pleasant BBQ in the back yard!

All in all, A very lazy but very good day!

A weekend in Louisville, KY

The Group!
L to R
Kelly, Me, Natalie, Aur (our host), Anne Caroline (the disciple), Remy, and Lucy

Early last week from the road we heard about "Forecastle," a huge three day music, arts, & activism festival taking place in Louisville which is where we'd be this past weekend. Upon hearing about it Lucy decided to email and see what we could do about getting in to the festival and sure enough we were able to get in free, and VIP.

Friday we rolled into town early after a short 20 something mile day that involved a rural 13 mile long subdivision of overdone houses and 4 or 5 miles on interstate where we had to take our own lane just past the morning rush hour. Whizzing by were tractor trailers, cars, and motorcycles but luckily we crossed into Louisville then appeared bike lanes and many bikers everywhere we looked!

We ate a picnic soon after arriving in downtown Louisville outside the festival gates followed by a quick 9 mile ride to our hosts home! Mark Thomson & Family provided us with a wonderful basement & futon as well as two meals that were great!

Back to Forecastle, it was an amazing festival! Many festivals i've been to have organic and clean energy booths but they usually do not amount to much.. mainly peta and other organizations that are usually just trying to make a scene, or so it seems. This festival was much more laid back with booths from all over the midwest promoting a sustainable way of living, bicycling and walking as the best mode of transportation, and many other admirable things and none of them were in your face about it. I thought that was very cool.

All in all, it was a great weekend!

I have been on the road for 14 days and logged a few hundred miles (not sure how much). 2 weeks until Washington, D.C. followed by two more weeks until Pittsburgh, PA.

Long time, No Blog...

So, I've been on the road for almost 2 weeks now biking across the United States. I told myself I would blog everyday, but that hasn't happened, but now i'm going to try. I have a big blog coming to update you until now... but until then you will have to deal with these little tid bits that I throw your way from Libraries across the country...

Today we started out on the western edge of the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana. Last night we got a little bit of rain and had a wonderful dinner under the porch of an 1800's smokehouse that overlooked a lake.

I've found that on the road I eat a lot healthier than I do at home. Meatless, which I already do, but fishless (almost) as well. It is almost all frest fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, cheese, and of course some candy to top it off!

I am currently really ready for a nap and since we've arrived at our days destination, Corydon, Indiana, I can do so. I feel like i've been here before, in fact I know I have but I just can't remember when...

Exciting News! We are going to a huge music festival called "Forecastle" where you are supposed to ride your bike and then they have bike valet parking, which we are all stoked on. But the coolest part is that we contacted the festival and told them what we were doing and now we are getting to meet the producer of the event and we get to have an interview with him one on one!! Oh and we get in free;) ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA!!!

But since we have to go to Louisville for this festival we are getting up around 4 AM to peace out. Tonight we will probably be camping outside the christian church, they had a sign out that said "July 19th - - Bike Blessing followed by a 40-50 mile bike ride." ohhhh yaaaaa.

Pictures are to come soon!

12 Days Left...

Only 12 days left until I leave for my Cross Country bike tour. The Seattle group of the tour has already been on the road for 30 days! We will be meeting them about 25 days from where I join our group, which is the Colorado group. 

I still have a little work to be done before I am completely ready to leave such as wrangle up all my gear and make sure it is ready, get the bike in the shop for a full tune-up and a stem riser installation, as well as find housing for my group for about 5-6 nights. 

You will be able to read this blog (www.paulbaker.tk). As well as my groups blog, www.fromthesaddle.org & the whole Trek's blog at www.trektoreenergize.org 

Along with blogging I will be doing some Video Blogging. On Friday I am getting the new iPhone 3GS that has video capabilities. Hopefully I will be able to post a video every two days or so with a big recap video at the end of the week. We will also be shooting a documentary as we go that is being focused as somewhat of a "public service announcement" that bicycles can be an efficient mode of transportation!

For those of you who wonder! This is the bike I will be riding on the trip. It is a "Fully Loaded Touring Bike." This means that the frame is a little longer than a normal bicycle allowing a better weight distribution for the gear you have to haul. I'll be carrying everything I need from a tent and sleeping bag to food, pans, and a stove. The bike weighs in, when loaded with gear, right at around 55 lbs. Because of the weight the bicycle is geared lower than the usual bicycle for the extra power needed to move the bicycle as well as to crank it up and over hills and mountains.

Julie is Old.

Yesterday was my sisters 26th Birthday! Here is a photographic recap!

ACTION SHOT!

Julie looks stoked.

Mmmm... Soy Beans

Funky Ice Cream. The green kind was not good... at all.

Sushi!

Rain!

Storm!

RAIN & STORM!

Too much time on my hands...

In the past three days i've seen 5 movies...

UP was really good! The dogs were nutty but it was a really good movie. The 3D was crazy at times and the glasses were even cooler:P

Two Words: Let Down

This was good! It's a movie that portrays the truth!

Intense.

This was okay. I thought the ending could've been spiced up a little bit more although there was an interesting twist that had been foreshadowed almost the whole movie...

September 3rd

Blink-182, Weezer, TBS

In STL.

In it to win it.

Day Hike at Cuivre River

Today I decided to go hiking at Cuivre River State Park in Troy, MO. I took the Cuivre River trail & Frenchman's Bluff Trail. 5 out of 8 miles was all along a bluff that was at least 80 feet high, if not close to 150 in some places. It was a pretty fun hike except horses were allowed on the trail too and a group must have hit the trail when it was still muddy because the trail was tore up with hoof prints that went almost 12 inches deep in some places making it a muddy mess. All in all, a good day! 

Summer Itinerary

Just so you know:P

June:

6th - Show in Sullivan

7th - Show in the Loop

11-13th - Med. Testing

20-27th - Vacation in Arkansas

27th - Nicks 22nd Birthday Party

28th - Start bicycling East across the country from Tebbett's Hostel

July:

26th - Will arrive in Washington, D.C. by bicycle this day.

27th - Rally for The Trek & Meet with state representatives

28th - Hang out in D.C.

29th - Hang out in D.C. in the morning and head out on the C&O Canal Path Mid Day

August:

1st - Will be at the Cumberland Gap

6th - Arrive in Pittsburgh, PA & hang out

7th - Board Greyhound bus to Missouri

8th - Be back in Missouri

Possible road trip when I get back with Seth. 

16th - Move back into school

24th - First day of school (I think)

PIX OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN