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Karen Kirkley - aka Bad Monkey

Karen is my buddy. She's a fearless mountain biker.

Karen is a biker chick - that is, she races bicycles. Unlike a lot of wimpy girls, she love to kick guy's asses and is a fearless downhiller on her mountain bike. Karen won the 1999 Louisiana State Mountain Bike Championship in the Sport Class. She beat second place by over 10 minutes, and was within a few seconds of the girl that won the Expert race.

Karen is an expert with Adobe Illustrator, PhotoShop and PageMaker. Karen and I worked together at two places. Karen did a huge amount of the work on this electronic catalog. She was working for John Cobb (yes, the guy that built some of Lance Armstrong's time trial bikes) at Bicycle Sports. Karen is smart, witty and knows more about music than anyone I know. The guys in the band "Cowboy Mouth" like to write "bad monkey" on her forehead when they see her. Don't go riding with her, because she'll spank you. Other girls want to ride on the back of a Harley - Karen bought herself a Ninja.

John Thomas

My arch-rival in every form of racing for 30 years.

John and have been friends for over 30 years. We met after racing each other on motorcycles and have been competing with each other ever since. We've raced motocross, mountain bikes, RC race trucks, jet skis, and anything else that moves.

John runs Total Training - a personal training business. John was a skinny kid when I met him. In college, he took a weight lifting course and it changed his life. Today, John is a big strong guy with the kind of body that every girl wants to hug. When we would go out, I was like the invisible man - all the cute girls wanted to talk with John, and would knock me down to get to him.

When I started racing motocross again, John's superior fitness made it tough for me. He was always faster on 125s, and I was faster on 250s. We only raced mountain bikes once - JT finished 16 and I placed 17th. But I went on to become much faster than him, so JT wisely decided he'd never race me again. Wise move Yo-Hon...

Today, JT is riding a Honda CBR-1000RR in Repsol colors. It is a replica of MotoGP world champion Nickey Hayden's bike.

Mike Sinkule

Master of the House of pain.

Mike Sinkule is an expert mountain bike racer. When we met, he taught me a huge amount about MTB racing. He pushed me so hard, it hurt. I tried to beat him, the only time I ever did was while Mike was recovering from being hit by a car. We did a lot of racing together and had a lot of fun.

Mike would train over 400 miles per week. It was unusual for us to go to a mountain bike race and Mike not win his class.

Mike has been hurt pretty bad. Mike was leading a race in the last corner when a guy slammed into him. Mike hit a curb, flipped and hit a brick wall, upside down. He was in intensive care with a broken arm, leg and internal injuries. He rode his trainer while he was hurt to stay in shape and came back ever stronger. Then he got hit by a car and had to start all over. Mike is tough as nails. Mike is a father now, and it seems to have brought him much peace. He's a great dad.

John Cobb

Pioneer in bicycle wind tunnel research.

That's John Cobb and Lance Armstrong's 1999 Tour de France TT bike in the wind tunnel. You can guess who the rider is. John designed the bike, had it built for Lance by Litespeed, (but that's a secret). Yes, it does have Trek stickers, but all LiteSpeeds in the tour have another manufacturer's name on the side. Trek didn't like that and consulted with John to built a real Trek for Lance the next year. John is famous for his wind tunnel research and known by triathlons all over the world. John is a cool guy, and taught me a lot of stuff about aerodynamics. The Lotus might be a little faster (Lance had one) but you wouldn't want to ride the Lotus down a twisty hill. That Litespeed is STRONG and STIFF. John also designed that special helmet Lance uses in the TT. After he won the Tour de France, Lance gave John one of his yellow jerseys. John has it framed, hanging on his wall. John's web site is www.bicyclesports.com.

The smoke wand in the picture allows John to see how air flows past the new helmet he designed. Aerodynamic engineers already know they have the answers. John makes no such assumptions and goes to the wind tunnel to really find out. He discovered that some so-called aero-tubing for bicycle frames work better installed backwards. Not everything in the world works like the "experts" say. You'll notice Lance is the only guy in the Tour that uses that helmet. Everyone else uses a "tear drop" design that the aero engineers say "should" work best. All I know is Lance has won 6 Tours in a row.

Russ Walker

Five-Time State Champ.

That's Russ's in the green helmet, about to win his 5th LA State Road Race Championship in a row. Russ is the master of training, and helped me a lot. Russ was the team leader of the BMC/Wal-Mart racing team - the dominate team in our area until it was disbanded. You'd think he'd have a big ego, but he doesn't. He always told me "Look, I'm just a fast local guy - at any pro race there are 50 guys that will kick my ass".

A lot of racers are rather selfish, but Russ has always made it a point to help others become better racers. He helped train Kathleen Scully-Wiener, Mike Simpson and Mike Sinkule. He certainly changed my outlook on training.

Russ is driven to win and is willing to go far beyond what most people realize can be done. How many people want to win enough to sleep in a small chamber with reduced air pressure to simulate living in the mountains? Russ does. The amazing thing to me is Russ will go for months without riding, then start training six-to-eight weeks before the state championships, and win.

Russ once told me "The fastest guy doesn't always win - it's the smartest fast guy that does". Russ was both.

Kathleen Scully-Wiener

USA Master's National Time Trial Champ

Kathleen Scully-Wiener is amazing. She has opened a Pilates/yoga studio in Shreveport LA. Kathleen is so fast, that all the female racers race for second place. She is faster than most men, and would race the men's classes to get some competition. She also rides a Lotus TT bike.

Kathleen married Don Wiener, and just gave birth to a baby girl, Sophie. That means other girls have a chance to win some races. Kathleen has an amazing low heart rate. When we would train together, I'd be running at 180 beats per minute, and she would be running 130. That sucks when you're really hurting.

I rode a 100 mile tour with her. After we rode about 10 miles, she said "I'm training for a triathlon, so I want to pull the whole way. Is that ok?"

"Sure" I replied. She was asking to ride in the front, while I could draft behind her. Drafting drops your effort 20-40%. At the halfway point, we stopped for about 10 minutes at a store for a drink (I was pretty tired) and nobody caught us. We were miles ahead of third place. She pulled me the entire 100 mile ride. Well, almost. A mile from the finish, my feet were burning hot and I had to stop and pour water on them. Kathleen is brutal. I'm glad she married a guy who admires her.

Evan Yares

Writer, Engineer, and a hell of smart guy

When I first picked up CADalyst magazine, I found a reviewer who had a way of telling the truth about products without insulting the vendor - a pretty tough tightrope. Magazines exist for readers, but live off the income of ad sales. Most writers simply avoid talking about the shortcoming of the products they review. Evan has a sharp, piercing mind, and offers a frank evaluation without being harsh. When I first started my CAD dealership, Evan befriended me and showed me the ropes. Over time, I began to realize what a fine person he is.

Evan was also an AutoCAD dealer, but moved on to do much bigger things. Evan is the President and Executive Director of the Open Design Alliance, Co-founder and former CTO of Cyon Research Corporation and a Former president of The CAD Society. Evan works hard to try to prevent our design work from being locked into vendor-controled closed file formats. This might not sound like much to non-engineers, but it is extremely important work.

Evan is one of the smartest engineers I have ever met and he's just getting started.

Bob McNeel

Perhaps the smartest businessman I have ever met

When I met Bob, he seemed to be a nice, quiet, thoughtful guy, but over time I became amazed at his "ah shucks" approach to business. His ability to develop business processes that are deceptively simple and effective amazes me. Bob seems to have a sixth sense about what to do, and what not to do. If Bob made cars, somehow you would end up building your own car, and be happy to pay Bob for the privilege.

I thought I was a pretty smart business man, but Bob pointed me down a path where I learned more that I ever believed was possible. I could write a book about the things I've learned from Bob, and barely scratch the surface. I'm sure Bob would prefer I stay quiet.

Bob's company develops amazing 3D modeling software. If you use 3D Modeling software, look at Bob's Rhino. It's amazing stuff.

Friends - what's life without them?