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Andrea and I finished the drive into Kansas City this morning after over-nighting again in Columbia, Mo. We got to the race venue around 10.30 am, picked up our race numbers and got setup to ride when the course opened at noon.

When we got on the course, it was definitely a new experience. Nearly the entire lap (1.6 miles) was thick sticky mud from tape-to-tape. I think I got in around 4-5 laps and managed to sort out how to ride the conditions and picked out lines for tomorrow, etc. Even in that short hour, the course was firming up due to the sun and the relatively warm temps. At 1p, we got off the course since the racing had started. We changed and stayed to watch the Women’s Masters 30-34/35-39 race where we knew some people. Andrea took some photos which she will put up on her blog a bit later…

I snapped a quick pick of my bike after scraping off the big mud chunks… the worst part was the mud ball my pedals turned into. They did continue to work, it just felt strange since I had to put my cleat in the pedal through about 1.5-2″ of mud between the pedals and my shoes.

BTW, the white bar tape cleans up well with Simple Green and a plastic bristle brush.

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Before we left, I got my replacement batteries in for my headlamp. I took the battery pack to Batteries Plus and they wanted $85 to rebuild the pack (I have found new ones for $65). Instead, I search and found the needed batteries from an online store (batterystore.com) for about $32. I will have to do some soldering, but they even build the pack-connecting the 5 cells to make the 6V pack.

new battery pack and the old one that stopped performing….a project waiting for me when I get back.

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Another project that I did do, was hang blinds around the front door. My plan to hang them got more complicated when I looked at the panels around the door. Instead of being wood like I originally thought…it was metal sheets with a foam core. I ended up using drywall anchors… the hardest part is that they want to spin before you can get them to bite.