2 flats.2 days

Other than a couple of pending adjustments, the bike rocks! It is super quiet, and definitely feels good. The only thing is I am 2 for 2 on flats. Between the raining and construction work, the greenways must have picked up some metal shards and such. Christmas day I hit some gravel and took a cut only to discover that my Co2 was already spent so I walked home for about 30 min. (luckily I was pretty close). Today I picked up some staple-looking metal sticker in the rear tire after about 20 min. of riding. I got the bike going though and finished out the ride without incident. I'm going to go for a long....flat free (while crossing my fingers) ride tomorrow. I'm looking forward to redeeming myself, and my bike. The weather is supposed to be awesome!!

Awesome Sunset pic I took from the cell last night out of the car window...I really should get a real camera.

well...almost the new bike

After some frame imperfections on the new bike, and some generosity on behalf of the warranty department over at Specialized, I now am riding the S-works SL2 Frame Spec'd with the SL's Sram Red Group with Ksyrium SL's. Pretty Sweet upgrade!! Still waiting on the weather to let up a bit so I can get out on the thing, but from the couple of parking lot strolls that I've taken so far I can tell that It's going to be stiff, light (sub 15pds), and hopefully fast as it looks!

I'm looking to dabble into the road racing scene this upcoming season, so I've been training quite a bit doing a lot of core strength exercises, and some spinning. I'm looking forward to getting out there and seeing if I can work my way up a bit in the competition, but having fun is my main objective!! There are a lot of good riders and friends of the shop who I'll be joining at the races which I know will allow for an awesome experience!!

In the meantime, I've been doing a lot of substitute teaching, a bit of shop work, and preparing for this spring semester. In preparation for D school I'm going to be taking a Class over at MSU, and another at Drury. On top of that I am auditing a course in Neuro over at the DU. The plan is to lay the foundation for the intense schedule my first year at UMKC (about 22.5 hrs first semester). My roommate and I already have an apartment in our sights which is about a two minute drive, or 4 minute bike ride from the school. The Plaza is only about four minutes away, Crown center is around three minutes, and the Power and Light dist. is about four minutes....needless to say we're are in the middle of it all! I'm not worried about losing focus on what I'm there for, but I am excited about the opportunities around the city when I do get a little down time.



I'll post some pics of the completed road bike soon, and of my Monocog 29er that I'm working on converting into my KC commuter!! (kinda sad to lose the SS mtb, but I can always bring it back to original form if I start having withdrawals).

Now I Better get to the last minute Xmas shopping...........Happy Holidays!!

The new bike is in!!!

So I got a new road bike that just came in today...just got a text from Petey. Can't wait to get it going! I'll put up some pics as soon as she's built. I'm going to try to finish it tonight..... Here's a preview above.....the bottom pic is from the last Fat Tire Fest of our bikes in the "Retro" Joy Motel of Eureka. Nothing like watching the tour the night before a race....and then I think it was UFC with a knockout kick?!

This might be the only time I'd need running shoes...

Dschool!

So..I think it was sometime early January 2008 when I first went to visit UMKC and the admissions director. After deciding during Freshmen year at Drury U. that I want to be a Dentist, I made sure to keep in regular contact with the people up there who could council and lead me in the right direction to increase my chances of acceptance into the program. After taking the Dental Admission Test (more than once), filling out a 9 page application, taking eight hours of organic chemistry 1 and 2 during the summer, visiting with people at the school multiple times, getting letters of recommendation from 5 different people,graduating from Drury, writing many different follow up thank you letters and e-mails, and after many phone calls I received an invitation for an interview for admission in their dental program in September. This cut the field of applicants from about 1500 people to 350. This included filling out a 10+ page application survey prior to my interview. Everything was paying off slowly, but the waiting game was quite bearing along the way. I was not too sure about my chances of getting in, but the different people who were encouraging me, and helping me along the way really gave me the hope and confidence I needed.
My interview went very well, my visits to the school all were very productive, and I was becoming increasingly optimistic while trying to keep things realistic in order to not get my hopes up (I also discovered that there was a bit of a cycling community within the school..always a plus!).
After my interview I wrote a few follow-up letters and thank you's to the faculty at the school, and from then on the waiting game was once again in session. About a month later (Dec 1st) I was to find out if I was in. The way it went down: you get a letter in the mail on that day either (accepting or denying you), They will call you on Dec. 1st starting at 8am (in alphabetic order) ONLY if you get in, and they will call 90% of the accepted students on this day.
The breakdown:
The class will have 102 students
70 are Missouri applicants
approx. 30 are pre-accepted
This leaves approx 40 positions out of the original 1,500 applicants who apply to dental school.
Needless to say.....the fight for spots is competitive and chances are slim....
The morning of Dec.1st I took a substitute teaching job at Phelps school to try and take my mind off of the possible impending fate. I told nobody to call me for the whole day because I figured that if I were to get a call, I would not want any interference. Well since my last name starts with "K" I thought I may get called sometime around 1:00 in the afternoon, if at all. Nick texts me at 8:05 "hey bud, I'm saying a little prayer for ya", my mom texts me at 8:10 "I luv you"...ha, and I was thinking I needed all the love and prayer that I could get....then I started to think...have I even said a little prayer this morning yet?...no! So I did my thing, and about five minutes later (8:24a.m.) my phone started to vibrate. "UMKC!!" I quickly left the room and took the call.......I was in!!!! The conversation was pretty surreal and is still kind of hazy in my mind still since it was such a shocking experience...I just told myself not to say anything stupid, and it worked out...I made it in. On entrance back into the 7th grade classroom the other teacher said, "He's in!!", and all the kids gave me a nice little round of applause.
It's a great feeling knowing that I can now look forward at what is to come, rather than wondering how much longer I will have to put my future on hold. I don't think it has completely set in yet and I feel like I'm still dreaming, but I bet after our first "official" meeting at the school things will become more real.
Till then...taking a couple of classes this Spring in preparation, riding, and working when I can............I can't wait!

New Beginnings...

Well, after some recent changes in the direction of my life for the next five years plus, I've decided to create a blog for the friends and family of mine who care to keep up with me and my endeavors. As always, I've got a lot going on...and hopefully this will bring more clarity than confusion to the question, "where the heck is Chase?". Hope you enjoy.....!