Visual Note from Dejay

Mural
Originally uploaded by Endurosnob.

I don't trust that guy on the stilts.

Pimp My Shop

Stopped by the shop yesterday before pushing pedals for three hours. Gravel to intervals to Wilderness. MW, MG and Jeff Bonsall were also out enjoying the day. Riding out to Branched Oak to meet the gathering of the tribe at 1pm. If you're looking to ride out, I am leaving at 11:30 from the Casa de Snob.



Mrs. Snob likes pink. The shop looks better than I can ever remember. Nice work everyone.



"Everything is under control, Sir."



Suburban Bohemian.



Kris working that sales floor magic.



29er ready and able.



Jeff in tears as I leave to ride.

Counting Calories

EBBscale
Originally uploaded by Endurosnob.

Dejay, the weight weenie, sent along this shot. It, of course, happens to be what I will run as well.

Mr. 24 finally got his bike situation ironed out. Now he can relax and start cracking skulls.

Who's riding this weekend?

Listen... Do You Smell That?

Jesse's prognosticated winner for TI is out, but now he's in himself. Nice. (Maybe Marko would like Big Skinny's spot.)

Speaking of Big Skinny, he joined Jeff and I on a quick one gear jaunt through Wilderness last night.

The Pic is Dejay kicking it Old Pueblo style.

Need something to do on the weekend after TransIowa? You can always register for the EnduroSnob Epic. May 6th. 5pm Central Standard Time. (Gotta get the morning ride in.) 50 Riders Total.

Are You In?

Dare I Say, Genius!?!

Creepy Friendy = Genius

Rode through Wilderness this morning. Clocked Two Hours. Back at it again tonight.

If you listen closely, you can hear the race season coming up behind us.

Back in the Game

Last week I was face down in the everyday life but now we're back and ready for Action. For some reason, I got promoted at work, I didn't ride as much as I should and let myself get frustrated by the way the Olympics is covered, but it's all good and the game is back on. (But please, don't show me the beginning of the 4x10k XC relay and then switch to ice dancing for 40 minutes. I like to suffer, but not like that.)

Dirty Kanza entry is away. 50 slots. I am not a fan of the element of chance involved with mailing the entry in, but given how close I am, maybe I should relax. The anxiety does mean that the Epic will be done online. The Rogue Seven won't find there way into this one early.

Got a note from Johnny right before his Quality orientation. I would imagine he was the one orienting them.

Dejay was back in action at Old Pueblo, but from the note on the Swizzle, it sounds like he got some bad information and shut it down too early. Frustrating I am sure. Btw, Dejay is rocking it Niner style this year.

This post was brought to you by Nirvana's "Incesticide." I'm Stained.

Tricks of the Trade

Remember the local "Enduro Debates" we had a few months ago? To have or not to have endurance events? How many? Keep it simple. Make it conform, complicated. Name calling, etc? G-Ted has a nice string of posts going about endurance racing and the latest tackles the subject of XC vs. Endurance Racing. As usual, it's well done. Read it, comment on it, think about it.

Blogging Intertwined: Visit Marko and find that Paddy knows his music. I want one of those shirts!!

If you've got Gold locked up and decided to throw a Method, you better fucking stomp it. (Come on, it's a Method.)

The Palm would have stomped it.

Rise Above

Shout outs all around to the LBC crew. Those guys are all quality so they're probably all eight steps ahead of us and working a plan. I always enjoyed popping out of Wilderness and stopping in for some shit talk before heading up the Rock Island home.

Johnny will be taking off shortly. The Quality at QBP just shot up double digit percentage points and they don't even know it yet.

I've been watching Olympic Bordercross all night. Hard not to want to move back to Cali and hit Kirkwood again and again and again.

The Buzz in the Bloodstream

I visited the shop over lunch yesterday for some ordering and was treated to some good conversation with RockD, Jeff and Butch. I just ended up excited. About what? Well, basically everything.

In Epic news, RockD chatted with our Chadron contact who agreed to lay out a single-track route of whatever length we choose for the race. I'm pumped. Apparently the guy commented that some of the track is a bit rough. Rock told me this and I said, "So?" And he just smiled and I said, "Yeah, I know."

I'm also contemplating using the tech geek side of my life to my advantage. More to come there, but if you are thinking of rocking the Epic, we might be able to give your friends and family some pretty cool updates on your progress.

Btw, Paddy's got plans.

GET RAD

Cool post from Jesse today, it sounds like someone is catching the endurance racing virus.

These cats charged my card yesterday, so stopping devices should soon follow.

I am a bit nervous about the fork. The phrase "Back Ordered" probably alarms anyone whose worked at a shop and is hoping for the timely appearance of parts. Dejay suggested an alternative.

Today's post was brought to you by "Today" by Galaxy 500. Keeping it mellow.

Dead Legs and All

Spent another morning doing the back and forth through Wilderness. Today was solo though as Jeff is a bit under the weather and MW and Sam road to Platte. Saw Kevin, PC and a couple of other cats heading through the park as well at one point. All in all, not to bad of a day.

Anyone else remember that t-shirt? I kept meaning to buy it and never did.

Four Hours with the Rodeo Clown

MW, KW and I spent a nice the morning out of the worst of the wind riding Wilderness for 4 hours today. The 1/4 inch of snow proved a bit slick (at least for me) and I did my best rodeo clown impersonations for Matt and Kevin throughout the morning, including a sterling slip to baseball slide in which sent me slipping along the trail with the greatest of ease.

Great ride though. Jim W. met us about half way through and joined us until near the end. I also had my first experience in poaching a few of the other trials around Wilderness.

More fun tomorrow. Thanks for the ride fellas.

Exhaust Huffer

During the commute this morning, I was getting ready to cross O st, when some cat in a beater Chrysler K car used the right hand turn lane to pass me on my right. Aside from nearly clipping me, he then punched it and a cloud of filth came pouring out of his car just as I inhaled deeply to shout an obsenity at him. The result? A good morning hurl over my right shoulder. Luckily, I had a light breakfast.

Dirty Kanza information is released to the world. Dead Sexy!! I may need to do this and then suffer out the 12hr. Or, maybe we can get some Canadians to hang out for the week and put together 4 of the Rogue Seven for a SS team. (Actually, I think that's a great idea but probably a logistical nightmare for the Peggers.)

Who needs a great ambassador for the sport? Give this guy some love.

Bits and Pieces

That nicely summarizes the current state of things.

Niner. Parts and waiting for parts.

Epic. Planned yet details t.b.d. (including registration, eh?)

Riding for the weekend. Lots of saddle time but not sure of exactly when or where.

Race schedule. Land of Conflicts.

This post. Pathetic.

"I Am a Deeply Superficial Person" - Andy Warhol

Credit, Thanks and Much Respect to Creepy Friendly.

Quit Giving Me the Evil Eye

FascistKiller
Originally uploaded by Endurosnob.

Well, it's only a matter of time before the Fascist Killer gets let up for air and the Niner gets tagged to take a beating. Parts are ordered or decided upon, but awaiting the proper paperwork. (It would have helped if I hadn't lost my debit card.)

Don't worry though, the FK will still be seen in out and about. I plan on putting a huge gear on it, just so my mind can tell me I can while my legs tell me I'm an idiot.

The Fascist Killer, a Mohawk Industries finest. I can't imagine another bike which can prompt my daughter Seven to ask, "Daddy, what's a Fascist Killer?"

The fact that her response to my definition was, "You mean like an evil dictator?" only proves I am already outwitted.

Single Speed Powers: Activate!!

Notes from Dejay

Dejay through this up as a Comment to my last post, but considering it's a novel, mostly written by Rudi Nadler, and a good read, I thought it best to move it to a full post. Word.

yes S.I.R. is in order, after climbing 7000+ft and ripping down hill single-t, the niner is rockin. The ridged fork shocked me at first but then started fllexing a bit, maybe do to the way i slammed it into a rock when i fell during a hike-a-bike, which bent my rotor and busted my knee, here is the full report from Rudi:Where is my mind" The Pixies

Sometimes going over the top really means going over the top. The AFD Society test out a new twist. Not as many miles as last weekends 130 plus mile ride, but equally as long in time with the added twist of miles of Holy Grace Mother of What Have I Gotten Myself Into downhill singletrack. Ride like this make for lounging about on Sunday quite the reality. Mark C, Dejay B. and yours truely met at six am at local Coffee Exchange. David B. tried but had forgotten his shoes, and had to race back home to get them. He'd planned on this ride and was not going to miss out on the foolish fun factor. So three of us left heading down Grant Rd. At Country Club we added another happy member to the days pleasures Matt A. Surprizingly Matt had decided to ride today with just two water bottles and pocket of food. A bit scare, but then after last weeks ride which we covered many more miles the cool temps kept the need of H2O to a minimum. But then it was warm this morning, even for Tucson in the winter. Basically an almost balmy 45 degrees. Last week was a touch cooler 25 at start time.

Hitting Mt. Lemon we had about 30 miles of climbing. No cheating today we were going as far as the road goes. Up to the Steward Observatory. I made the mistake of riding in to tall a gear, and pretty much suffered all the way up. I was happy that Dejay was not on his best so I didn't feel like I was the anchor quite yet. Mark flew off having a great day of finding rhythm after last weeks bonk. A coupl of turns and he was out of sight. Matt was in party mode and just road bunnyrabbit style up down round and round Dejay and I. He was making the climbing look way to easy. About three miles up David showed up. His partner Denise had kindly brought him to us. He really wanted in on the fun. Now the five of us, all on singlespeed continued our way up and up and up. I'll have to admit I seem to need more food on these rides than before. I feel like every five minutes The Hunger comes knocking at my door so I was happy with a stop at Windy Point where the views of Tucson was majestic and mmmmmm mmmmm the cliff bars are tasty. It's funny how I tend to think of Windy Point as the end of the climbing but the miles after always remind me that the next 14 miles can be rather draining. We made a brief stop at the Iron Door Cafe for a regoup and watering and then finished off our last few miles of climb, some of the hardest, to the summit.

Here's when the fun really kicks in. If you have a freewheel. For me it was the land of sphinter tightening forearm busting terror. I'll start right now by apologizing to the trail and mountain for what I was doing on the way down. The earth was so dry and the traction was so minimal that I was surfing more than riding. No good for trails. The boys dropped me as they rolled down and I face steep water bars and switch backs that left me in fixed gear fear. Riding the front wheel after going over steep water bar drops can be done, but I would not call this type of riding graceful by any means. They where kind to me and often waited not far ahead, calling out to me as I struggle bounced and walked this trail which brought us back to the Iron Door where a fit of eating insued. After this was the Red Ridge trail. Last time I rode Red Ridge was at least for years ago and now I remember why. Funny, I had a freewheel last time and and the trial was not bone dry dust and rock. I even thought it was fun. Well, except for the hike-a-bike to Charleau road. If I thought is I was surfing before now it was really true as I again beg the pardon of MTB's everwhere. With my legs locked and my brake on I faced the lack of any traction by shredding trail with skid that was beyond embarassing. Then even walking would have been skidding. Between the fires and the drough the trail was full of downed trees that impeded and impaled ( Dejay) forward momentum. At one point I even found a large boulder to test my thigh muscles. I'll be nursing this bruise for at lest a week.

After the the what seemed like 15 miles of Holy Shit riding we the descending became less tretoruous. The trail offer a new gift. One David aptly named "Hate Bushes." This is the point where the blood and dust began to really mingle. The mauling that took place was unequal to anything I'd experience in the past. Our legs began to glow as the nerve endings in our skin became exposed through the tearing action of the thorns we pedaled through. And it was here that the trail would disappear and reappear with random frequency. Mostly frequency. The 1.5 miles left to Charleau Gap dirt road was a long march. It was here that Dejay, albeit not riding his bike, fell down a pile of rock and bashed his knee and brand new bike up. Well, the bike had to be tested. His pain passed and soon we arrived at Charleau Road. Charleau Gap road is a at times steep, loose, yet more ridable than I fear. Still this three mile climb left us shaking and hungery again at the top. We took a few minutes to consume as only a cyclist can. Food, more food. Water, yes please. Gummy Bears. I must admit Gummys have a sweet place in my heart. Then down Charleau toward Cherry Creek and Catalina. Matt and I found our spirit animal for the ride going down Charleau's loose and steep turns. May the spirit of the Skunk be with you. Today the skunk let us pass without a wiff, just the beauty of his black and white determine body as he too descended the Gap. After one false start, I found the correct turn off to Cherry Creek and led the boys to the singletrack. Sweetest of the ride. While they flew off, was happy to be riding not sliding on this wonderful long and fun descent. Everytime I caught up with them the glow of Nirvana was in their eyes. Nothing better than a couple of hours of singletrack that is challenging and in comparison health to make the suffering on Red Ridge seem like a thing of the past.

By this point we were pretty much all out of liquid, and instead of the heading into Catalina State park we opted to go straight out to Golder road and the convienience store. Did lemonade ever tasts so good. We were at about 5 pm at this point. And we quickly got on Oracle road for a final touch of road riding. Spun out fixie and spinning out singlespeeding down to Ina where I left the boys and headed with my tired, brusied, and bloody body to my parents house for a dinner party.

Postscript: After arriving at my parents, I showered up, and had a glass of wine while waiting for dinner. Thing were going fine till I had my glass filled again. Somewhere around the time of having half of that second glass and getting up for food the alchol and my metabolism kicked in to high gear. While standing in line wait for one of my cousins to put salad in her plate one leaf at a time the world began to spin. I turned vivid shade of green, the darkness swirled in on my eyes. I'm not really sure how I got back to my chair, but when I got there I realized the whole party was staring at me. Well after some water and a large place pasta, meat balls and eggplant, I had quickly recovered. Well except form my thigh. That'll take a few days. Well, see you all at the 24 HOP course.

MmMm, cow Rrose Selavy (Eros, C'est la vie)

Rudi

Wilderness Saves

I spent most of my ride time on Saturday somewhat bored and unmotivated. For whatever reason, the juju just wasn't kicking. Sunday started out the same way but the sunny weather and riding Wilderness seemed to put things right. Empty trails, Sun, brisk but tolerable wind. By the end there was a smile on my face.

In other news, Marko and company kicked ass at the Stuporbowl and I ordered nearly all of the remaining parts for the Niner (credit to Dicky for the call.)

Nothing new to report on the Epic. I will probably throw it up on Ride424 this week, but am not going to jump into spreading the word too hard yet. A little simmering should bring out the flavor.

Mr. 24 and G-Ted took a recon trip for TI this weekend. Should be fun to see their reports.

I wonder how Popshuvit liked the new ride?

Special Delivery

MMMMMMMMMM


AHHHHHHHHHHH


OHHHHHHHHHHH


"A certain degree of neurosis is of inestimable value as a drive.... " - Sigmund Freud.

Art for Art's Sake

Remember in school when teachers would say, "Do what you love" as instruction toward higher education and job-fulfillment? Well, I jumped into that thought process with both feet, ended up with a few Liberal Arts degrees, none of which directly apply to my job.

However, I wouldn't change it. It helps me appreciate it when I find my way via the bike related to links like the following:

Visit the IF Grassroots Racing site, then you can end up at Thom Parsons site and some sweet "SwarthyArt."

Steve Smith, aka the mayor of Drunkingham, has a site I visit frequently from CRC.

Rudi has some really nice work, to be seen via Da Swizzle. (And he clearly enjoys a nice long sufferfest.)

Jesse and Marko also have some sweet visuals in effect. For example, I really like the piece on Marko's site where the girl is holding the boy's heart in her hands.

I am sure there is more out there. Let me know if there is good stuff I am missing.

See you tomorrow. "We'll be talking about Freud and why he did enough cocaine to kill a small horse."