I just talked to Skip. He had just finished at around 11pm. He got second in the Single Speed catagory. Jeff Bonsall battled bad back pain to get 3rd in the Single Speed catagory. Skip knew that Cameron Chambers won the whole thing and thought that Matt Gersib had gotten 5th overall and that Corey, despite having had 8 flats throughout the race, came in 7th.
That was all that Skip knew. I'm sure he will report in with more information in the morning.
Mrs. Snob
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Dirty Kanza Update- I think.
In what amounted to a maybe 30 second phone call from Skip, I will try to recap what I think he said.
He and Jeff B. were half way done (@1:15pm). Skip had been riding with the lead Single Speed rider but he/they? had taken a few wrong turns and added an additional 10 miles to the route. Skip reported he felt really good and strong.
Corey has had 4 flats.
Skip thought Matt G was still up with the lead group. He didn't know where Butch or Matt W. were.
I know that is not much of an update. I hadn't even expected to hear from him at all.
Mrs. Snob
He and Jeff B. were half way done (@1:15pm). Skip had been riding with the lead Single Speed rider but he/they? had taken a few wrong turns and added an additional 10 miles to the route. Skip reported he felt really good and strong.
Corey has had 4 flats.
Skip thought Matt G was still up with the lead group. He didn't know where Butch or Matt W. were.
I know that is not much of an update. I hadn't even expected to hear from him at all.
Mrs. Snob
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Assorted Snobbery: "I Recognize That!!"
Today while I was on my way to meet Mrs. Snob for lunch, 'Big Take Over' by Bad Brains popped on to the radio unexpectedly. If you know the song at all, then you know it's a track you recognize shortly after it begins and prompts an inevitable reach to the volume knob.
After the song builds, there is a moment where the music breaks and drops you into the meat of the tune. Until today, I hadn't pinned together the fact that it's a moment the Beastie Boys sample in Pass the Mic.
This brought back the memories of sitting in my friend Mike Bulington's pad in Chicago, staying up late, listening to music and picking out samples. It was a period of time when arguments (which soon after turned to litigation) about sampling was common. Were you less of an artist the more you sampled? Was it an art in itself? But while Mike and I would occassionally joust about such things, we really just enjoyed picking them out. Finding samples was finding Easter eggs or cash money under your pillow in place of a tooth. "I've got one!"
There were also the times when you thought you had it, but weren't sure. (Particularly me, I was the undergrad to Mike's masters.) I start rifling through vinyl and cd's to see if I was right. Head phones were often donned in the search for confirmation. "I won't turn this off, but I gotta know. Where's the phones??"
Mike's still in Chicago, playing in a handful of bands, including my favorite of his gigs, Grimble Grumble. If you need a 6'9" drummer, power forward who can't dunk, man to read at your wedding or musical knowledge base, 'Money' is your man.
And now for the catalyst...
After the song builds, there is a moment where the music breaks and drops you into the meat of the tune. Until today, I hadn't pinned together the fact that it's a moment the Beastie Boys sample in Pass the Mic.
This brought back the memories of sitting in my friend Mike Bulington's pad in Chicago, staying up late, listening to music and picking out samples. It was a period of time when arguments (which soon after turned to litigation) about sampling was common. Were you less of an artist the more you sampled? Was it an art in itself? But while Mike and I would occassionally joust about such things, we really just enjoyed picking them out. Finding samples was finding Easter eggs or cash money under your pillow in place of a tooth. "I've got one!"
There were also the times when you thought you had it, but weren't sure. (Particularly me, I was the undergrad to Mike's masters.) I start rifling through vinyl and cd's to see if I was right. Head phones were often donned in the search for confirmation. "I won't turn this off, but I gotta know. Where's the phones??"
Mike's still in Chicago, playing in a handful of bands, including my favorite of his gigs, Grimble Grumble. If you need a 6'9" drummer, power forward who can't dunk, man to read at your wedding or musical knowledge base, 'Money' is your man.
And now for the catalyst...
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Decisions... Decisions...
Team Over-Analysis kicked into high gear (no pun intended) today as I thought through Kanza and my bike setup. Today's sticking point proved to be the number of teeth to throw on the back. Last year, 17t served me well, but I was spun out several times during the race and interestingly enough, it was always just before a checkpoint. I recall deciding then that I would make the change, but a year has rolled by and now I sit looking at the Pink IF and wondering what to do. I'm leaning toward the 16t, but had I made this same decision regarding TI, I would have been wrong to change. Decisions... Decisions... Decisions...
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Comedy of Air
With the decision to make the 12hr a "no-go," I slotted Saturday and Sunday as Jaimaca North spin-fests. While yesterday went as planned, today became a small comedy of flats.
I headed South toward Beatrice "enjoying" a head and crosswind most of the way. After sliding back onto gravel after the limestone ended near Courtland, I had gotten a few miles from Beatrice when I could feel the too familar bounce of a sinking rear tire. Pulling off to the side for a pit, I found three goat head thorns in the rear tire. After throwing in the spare, I found I had another thorn in the front. I pulled the patch kit out and fixed this as well, but had to use my last patch to do it.
I spun it North and headed toward home and hoping that would be the end of the flats. A few miles later I stopped at a road crossing and looked down to see thorn number five waving hello to me from my front wheel. Lovely.
I called Mrs. Snob to inform her I might end up more than a little late, but got voice mail. It reminded me of a ride in Michigan when I flatted out two hours in, essentially at my turnaround point, and ended up running back to my car in a futile effort to make a family event that afternoon. In Michigan, I had no service. At least this time I left a message and there was no extended family involved.
As luck would have it, the tire held most of the way back to Lincoln. Perhaps that will take care of my flats for the month and no flint will take me down in Kanza. Last year I had two flats. I wouldn't mind pitching a shutout on that front this year.
Cruising South before the fun began.
I headed South toward Beatrice "enjoying" a head and crosswind most of the way. After sliding back onto gravel after the limestone ended near Courtland, I had gotten a few miles from Beatrice when I could feel the too familar bounce of a sinking rear tire. Pulling off to the side for a pit, I found three goat head thorns in the rear tire. After throwing in the spare, I found I had another thorn in the front. I pulled the patch kit out and fixed this as well, but had to use my last patch to do it.
I spun it North and headed toward home and hoping that would be the end of the flats. A few miles later I stopped at a road crossing and looked down to see thorn number five waving hello to me from my front wheel. Lovely.
I called Mrs. Snob to inform her I might end up more than a little late, but got voice mail. It reminded me of a ride in Michigan when I flatted out two hours in, essentially at my turnaround point, and ended up running back to my car in a futile effort to make a family event that afternoon. In Michigan, I had no service. At least this time I left a message and there was no extended family involved.
As luck would have it, the tire held most of the way back to Lincoln. Perhaps that will take care of my flats for the month and no flint will take me down in Kanza. Last year I had two flats. I wouldn't mind pitching a shutout on that front this year.
Cruising South before the fun began.Thursday, May 22, 2008
New Caps in the Snappy Caps Store
Snappy Caps now has 10 ready-to-wear caps in the online store. Go check them out!
Considering getting a custom cap, check out Guitar Ted's review of his custom cap.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Sexy Half Assed 3rd Place Duo
I pulled 3rd overall in duo even though we took long breaks, drank
whisky and generally hung out as opposed to letting it all hang out.
That said, we did turn them over hard when we were out on course.
Speaking, of the course, tight twisting with flow, teeter-totter,
power climbs including a long lose rocky climb that I never even tried
to clean.
"Here's to low expectations and low turnouts." - Johnny
Friday, May 16, 2008
12:40 - No Idea How We Are Doing
is...
12hrs of Sexy Night Support
ride, just animal instinct.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Assorted Snobbery: "Who's H.L. Mencken?"
I alluded to this story once and Butch actually commented he'd like to hear it, so now he's ruined a perfectly good day of browsing for all of you.
Several years ago, I got a "real job." I stopped working at BGI and entered the world of start-up companies at what was then known as IIRC, International Internet Recruiting Consultants. In pretty short order, I was working with companies like Dell, Kinkos and Coors, managing their accounts and generally making a successful nuisance of myself. Fast-forward a year and I made the mistake of taking a role in the sales department, thinking I could repeat the success I'd seen in my old position.
Yeah... not so much.
I struggled, didn't get any direction and, despite working my ass off, got nowhere. So, as I tend to do, I got pissed. Not at anyone in particular, just angry I was failing and, seeking a bit of inspiration, put the following quote from H.L. Mencken on my machine as a screensaver just before I left for some time off:
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.
In my mind, I'd come back to work and, in simple terms, start kicking ass. Why I believed that, I have no idea, but that was my thought process.
As you can guess, my arrival back wasn't quite what I expected. I noticed the screensaver was gone, my desk was a bit cleaner than usual, and that feeling of "someone has been jacking with my things" was in the air.
However, no one said a word to me. Nothing. I finally asked my friend Scott, who had also come from BGI, if he knew what the story was. His response went a little something like this.
"Yeah, someone read that on your machine and it freaked them out. They were acting like they thought you might come in and go postal on everyone. It was pathetic. I tried to say that they had no idea what it meant and that they were acting ridiculous, but they didn't listen. Then they deleted it. I can't believe they haven't said anything to you."
A couple of my other coworkers relayed basically the same line, which just left me a little dumbfounded. "So, people are afraid I'm the guy that will snap but don't have the balls to say anything to me about it? Nice."
Near the end of the day, I asked one of our C-level execs about it, because I still couldn't believe no one had addressed it with me. As a former, HR executive, I guess his answer shouldn't have surprised me.
"It made some people uncomfortable, so we felt it best to erase it."
"And that's it?"
"That's it. By the way, who's H.L. Mencken?"
It was so anticlimatic that I felt a little lost. Not once did any coworker who expressed concern over the quote talk to me about it, which is what really pissed me off about the whole thing. I turned the other cheek for a while, let my disdain show a little more and began the search for other work not long after.
I've also learned more from reading H.L. Mencken than I ever did at that job.
Several years ago, I got a "real job." I stopped working at BGI and entered the world of start-up companies at what was then known as IIRC, International Internet Recruiting Consultants. In pretty short order, I was working with companies like Dell, Kinkos and Coors, managing their accounts and generally making a successful nuisance of myself. Fast-forward a year and I made the mistake of taking a role in the sales department, thinking I could repeat the success I'd seen in my old position.
Yeah... not so much.
I struggled, didn't get any direction and, despite working my ass off, got nowhere. So, as I tend to do, I got pissed. Not at anyone in particular, just angry I was failing and, seeking a bit of inspiration, put the following quote from H.L. Mencken on my machine as a screensaver just before I left for some time off:
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.
In my mind, I'd come back to work and, in simple terms, start kicking ass. Why I believed that, I have no idea, but that was my thought process.
As you can guess, my arrival back wasn't quite what I expected. I noticed the screensaver was gone, my desk was a bit cleaner than usual, and that feeling of "someone has been jacking with my things" was in the air.
However, no one said a word to me. Nothing. I finally asked my friend Scott, who had also come from BGI, if he knew what the story was. His response went a little something like this.
"Yeah, someone read that on your machine and it freaked them out. They were acting like they thought you might come in and go postal on everyone. It was pathetic. I tried to say that they had no idea what it meant and that they were acting ridiculous, but they didn't listen. Then they deleted it. I can't believe they haven't said anything to you."
A couple of my other coworkers relayed basically the same line, which just left me a little dumbfounded. "So, people are afraid I'm the guy that will snap but don't have the balls to say anything to me about it? Nice."
Near the end of the day, I asked one of our C-level execs about it, because I still couldn't believe no one had addressed it with me. As a former, HR executive, I guess his answer shouldn't have surprised me.
"It made some people uncomfortable, so we felt it best to erase it."
"And that's it?"
"That's it. By the way, who's H.L. Mencken?"
It was so anticlimatic that I felt a little lost. Not once did any coworker who expressed concern over the quote talk to me about it, which is what really pissed me off about the whole thing. I turned the other cheek for a while, let my disdain show a little more and began the search for other work not long after.
I've also learned more from reading H.L. Mencken than I ever did at that job.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Happy Monday
Snappy Caps Note:
Some new caps were listed over the weekend. Please check them out.
And, don't forget, custom caps are always an option and come almost as fast as a ready-made one.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Down In A Hole
Sometimes, there's just not much to report from a ride, particularly a solo effort. Today was one of those days. I got buzzed by some hispanics kids early, had to push it home hard to make sure I didn't miss Seven's volleyball game and it between it was head winds, an achy knee and a lot of random mental flow that lead nowhere but served to keep utter boredom away.
There is a lot to look forward to this month. First and foremost, Team "Enduring the Screw" is set to take on the 12hrs of Sexy Night this coming weekend. Johnny listed our sponsors as War Axe and Maker's Mark. Slow lap drinks? Every lap drinks is more likely.
There is a lot to look forward to this month. First and foremost, Team "Enduring the Screw" is set to take on the 12hrs of Sexy Night this coming weekend. Johnny listed our sponsors as War Axe and Maker's Mark. Slow lap drinks? Every lap drinks is more likely.
You can barely make out the white stripe on his face, but this badger had been doing some work today. Fresh digs after a fresh dig. If only I had carried my real camera today as the iPhone wasn't getting it done and this guy was camera shy.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Finding Escape Routes
Lunchtime escapes are often key to my mental discipline in the office, but today I found my gravel escapades just got a bit more complicated. Soon, I suspect a few more miles of pavement will be required to get where I need to go.
I came across this but couldn't see what work was being done...
... and further down the road, I found there was only half a bridge.
I came across this but couldn't see what work was being done...
... and further down the road, I found there was only half a bridge.Monday, May 05, 2008
Show Off
What started as an off-handed comment is now a living cottage business. Snappy Caps is live and selling online. Mrs. Snob launched with six caps in her store this morning and is now down to five. (Blame Mr. Beck for one less choice.) She's also gotten a custom request from another TI finisher and now MOD will be diving in to help her with a Snappy web design. (The current version's functional but Susan's already on the road to better things.)
It's a good thing War Axe forks will be hitting the trail soon, Mrs. Snob's making us look bad.
It's a good thing War Axe forks will be hitting the trail soon, Mrs. Snob's making us look bad.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Swanson XC #2: "Brandon, Is that You?"
I'm still no cross-country racer, but I am two for two in the good times department at XC events this year. Fourth today at Swanson and three cats flying War Axe colors in the top five.
After clowning around in the front row waiting for the race to start, the start actually caught a few of us off-guard as we rolled through some of the cyclocross cross to string things out prior to the single track. This time I was sitting around sixth heading into the trails and, considering this was only the second time I had ridden Swanson, I just decided to keep the diesel chugging away.
It was only moments before I realized Brandon Minks and I were together, repeating where we found ourselves during the Musket Loader last month. Throughout the race, I would say, "Brandon, is that still you?" and it always was.
Unfortunately for Brandon, he couldn't keep his bottles on his bike. He lost one on the second climb of the day, then another later on. We kept seeing the first on the climb, but it wasn't really a great place to stop, so B just kept at it.
The course itself was a lot of fun. Roots. Sweeping turns to burn. Power climbs. All the stuff you love. The one portion of the course that did give me problems was the curving lefthand turn across a small creek bed. The far side was a root strewn power up, which I couldn't seem to clean. The last time up, I had to hop off, forcing B to do the same. As we remounted, a rider tried to pass us, giving me an "on your left" when he was nearly beside me. With only a ribbon of trail below us and a tree on my right, I had nowhere to go. I braced myself and unfortunately, the rider clipped me and went down. I hadn't realized he'd gone down though and started talking to the rider behind me, but again it was Brandon so the kept on pushing.
Brandon also got to experience a little bit of the edge that I carry during events. As we powered through the first climb on our last lap, I hit a tree rather hard. Luckily, the thing bent pretty far and I pulled a pseudo track stand to keep riding. Brandon asked me if I was okay and for some reason I responded, "Fuck that tree!!" in a not so friendly tone (as if it was the trees fault). B tried to calm me down a little (thanks, B) but we soon hit the dip mentioned above and that took care of it.
In short, Brandon and I just rolled it start to finish. Apparently though, we need to work on our podium protocol, since we stood in the wrong spots.
Added to the good times was a post-race Mexican seista with Nate, MOD, Anne, AlterNate and Sam. We've also got a new flavor of Tiger Gatorade freshly mixed if anyone is interested.
Single Speed Podium
Saturday, May 03, 2008
70 Miles and Clouds of Dust
Corey and I decided a little taste of TI was in order today and I spent 70 miles yo-yoing off the back of big skinny, exploring gravel north of town and stopping in Valpo. to refuel. Not the best way to be ready for Swanson, but I'm looking for a payoff further down the line.
Corey meets his nemisis; the dreaded navigational decision.
Corey meets his nemisis; the dreaded navigational decision.Friday, May 02, 2008
Someone Is "Out of Control"
Going into TransIowa, I was convinced I'd couldn't go with my "Go Light, Freeze at Night" theory of V3, so I started mulling over how to approach carrying a bit more clothing and food during the race. After a few failed attempts to roll clothing tightly enough to fit into my pockets, Mrs. Snob entered the game. After mentioning I thought my messengers were all too big, Mrs. Snob grab a sketch pad and started asking a few questions. A few days later she was sequestered in her sewing space, stitching in secret and telling me to stay away until it was completed. Before I knew it, another masterpiece had arrived. Sam was hanging out at the unveil and his comment to Susan was, "you're out of control." Completely. And I keep reaping the rewards.
Snappy Caps will soon be launched. She's beating the hipsters at their own game.
Front
Side w/ pocket
Inside w/ dual pockets. (The one on the outside right is iPhone specific.)
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