Back

5:30am in Denver. Cherry Creek Res. in the distance.


Rental Steed. Apparently, the shop we rented from sees a lot of chumps or I simply look like one. I started to leave the shop with the bars turned sideways and no pedals because I brought my Candies and know how to turn bars. The girl behind the desk didn't seem to think that was really the case. Had she ended each of her sentences with, "you dumbass" the conversation would have been exactly the same.


"Is this thing on?"


Pretty. Boring. Pretty Boring.


(Read the following in your best Dr. Suess voice) This is Mike. Mike and his rental bike. Compared to when I met him, Mike is now Mini-Mike. Great job, Mike.


102 degrees. Nearly three hours on the bike. All this water didn't make me feel any better.


Nice camera strap, Dumbass. Love, Ansel Adams.


Other highlights.

A bumper sticker which read, "Who Would Jesus Bomb?"

Discovering a client I was visiting had a office on Pearl Street in Boulder, then having to go there twice.

Chatting with Kris, our guide during our Novice white water rafting run from the front of the boat. Hope you make it to Costa Rica.

Having Kris try to knock me out of the boat because I was always turned around talking to him.

---

Thanks to everyone who contacted me about riding. Unfortunately, I wasn't ever in a situation to really plan a good ride and get ahold of anyone. It was get up at 5:15am or sneak away at a moments notice to get some miles in.

Bandwagonesque

Mr. 24 provided his thoughts. Fat Marc mulled its effects on his soul. Now they have contacted the Snob.

Accelerade has offered the sampler platter to yours truly for a review. I am still mulling it over, but am leaning toward "why not."

Read more on thier product here.

Got specs for the frame today. Concerned a bit about the difference between the top tube and seat tube lengths. 58 and 50 respectively. I like the old school down over the bike style, but I also don't feel like breaking a lot of seatposts. Think I will give the Boys a call and discuss.

More from Denver.

More Mouse

Heading out to Denver tomorrow for SIC. I hope to have a camera with me. We drove last year and are flying this year. I'll take it. Bikes are rented, routes are planned. I think I can sneak in enough mileage to keep things going in the right direction.

"This is a long drive for someone with nothing to think about." - Modest Mouse

Rock the Vote

The Bad Idea Racing boys need your love and voting attention. They entered a Race Face Contest which would allow them to be the first single-speed team to push pedals in the TransRockies.

The Old One - Two

Wisconsin State Single Speed Championship:

1. CreepyFriendly

2. The Darkness

Then everybody else...

"More Clowns on More Bikes More of the Time"

Seven wrote that on my office white board this week. It won't be coming off for quite a while.

It pains me to miss Manawa this weekend, but this should be the last event I have to miss. There's a silver lining there somewhere. And as far as events go, I'm with Paddy.

We had a Segway hoax at the office today. I fell for it with both barrels firing. Rumor was that our CTO had purchased a Segway. This is the same guy who I helped purchase an IF two years ago. When hearing about the Segway over lunch, my initial comment was, "Well, then I am taking his fucking IF." (Pictured) As we drove back from lunch, it dawned on me that Sir Wilhelm had once used a pretty good line to me that applied in this situation.

A few of you may remember a couple of years ago when we were getting together for winter trainer sessions in the basement of D St. At one point that winter, my car wouldn't start and friends of ours offered to let us borrow one of their cars. The drove it over and the car turned out to be a Hummer.

Being a fan of irony, I drove it over to D St. one day and starting rocking the workout, when Tony came flying downstairs. "Whose fucking Hummer is that?" I raised my hand without a word.

"Where's your fucking dick!?!"

There was then a moment of awkward silence as there was probably some question as to whether or not I would be pissed, but it was all good. Tony got filled in on the deal and it became funny.

The Segway also turned out to be nothing. It was made of legos and was only a few inches tall.

Denver on the Company Dime

The work induced road trip has now been prepared to keep the mileage rolling with 9 Mile in mind. It will be road work during the week and I hope to hit it mtb style on Sunday morning. I opted to skip the "teambuilding" atv outing but did sign on for the rafting trip Sunday afternoon.

If someone can explain to me how riding around on atvs can constitute "team-building" and do it with a straight face, I am happy to retort and tell you why you are wrong.

For those of you scoring at home, that's Sunday the 16th if anyone is free out in the Denver area.

Tour Du Tick

Four more hours covered yesterday. Tried to hit a few more hills and ended up hurting a bit on the way back to Wilderness. Over-reaching leading to over and nearly out. After I returned and changed I was walking out to take my favorite punk rock fixed gear riding sitter home, when I managed to go dizzy for a second and slam into the door jam. Whoops.

Did have the usual MG siting in Wilderness the second time through and he was joined by Jesse. No ticks though. Almost disappointing.

Paint has been redialed with IF on the Cross Frame. Speaking of cross, it's taking over my brain and I can't even say I have ran a complete mtb race yet. WTF? Half the time I was riding yesterday, I was thinking of cross. I've got problems.

Corey keeps leaving sidewalk chalk messages on my front step. I am thinking of getting David Lynch to direct the movie if this keeps up. A Gimp handed man leaving messages scralled in sidewalk chalk seems quite "Lynchian" to me.

Running the Tick Gauntlet

Took off for a bit of a pedal pusher after 10am today. Wilderness to gravel grind to Wilderness and home. Tried to keep a nice tempo going but held back a bit in Wilderness to keep it safe. Some sections are grow out enough that visibility can be sketchy. Not to mention that you are running a tick gauntlet. It's not a matter of if you will have some friends with you when you finish but how many (I found three.) Saw MG and Emily out as well. Somehow I missed the little rainshower that dropped. Hope they did too.

Riding the same time again tomorrow. Most likely the same type of route too, whether depending.

Happy Fourth.

Wilderness 102...

As in degrees.

Spent about three hours on the Fascist Killer today, most of it in Wilderness. Empty. Dry. Therapy.

Opened up the legs a bit and, as the Euros like to say, felt good sensations. I like the heat.

Found a green dildo as I rolled through the South parking lot. Free is good, but not in this case.

Pic's of Matt P at the 12hr.

I Smell Tour

Aside from the spring classics, The Tour is when I really dial into road racing. I have a few things I do like clockwork as the Tour approaches.

A. Order Cable. I am too cheap to have digital cable all year. I tried it once by letting a "Tour Subscription" run long, but the value isn't there. I probably watched at total of ten channels and most of them for an hour or less a week. In fact, if I could simply get the Daily Show and the Tour as some sort of bizarre custom package, I would probably be happy. So, cable for 30 days max and done.

B. Talk about setting up and office Tour pool and then not doing it. I don't know what my problem is here. This will seem like a good idea for about ten minutes and then I drop it.

C. Start imitating Phil and Paul during the day. Never fails. Random quotes in a pathetic British accent such as, "This man is on the rivot" and "resplendant in yellow" start jumping out of my yap.

D. Crack on Jan Ulrich. For obvious reasons, though he's my pick this year.

E. Feel for Jan Ulrich. I too am a porker who can't quite get in shape.

F. Eat Brie and Apples. Pathetic but tasty. Usually done on a weekend morning during a key stage. "The Look" occurred with an apple slice sticking out of my mouth.

G. Get bummed on Doping. Wears you down. Bums you out. Pisses you off. And on and on. 22 of 58 potentially? "It's nothing to be proud of Rusty."

Would someone please rock a Dopers Suck jersey on a rest day? Rest days are boring.

I would pay for a full year of cable just to see that.

Thinking 9 Mile

I took a visit to The Scene today and see that Butch, CVO and Corey have decided not to saddle up in Wisconsin and instead rock the 162 the weekend prior. Can't blame them a bit. I plan to join them for the first 40, then turn around and ride back to Lincoln. 80 seems right the weekend before going 24.S.SS.

Corey alluded to coming with to Support. Thanks Dawg. (Next time, you've got to own the Woody Allen.)

I'll be making one change to the Niner before hand. Switchblade.

If anyone has an overview of the course, I would love to hear about it via email (or post if you get your blog on.) I plan on getting there with enough time to preride, but a good description never hurts. I know Mr. 24 has described it as fast, painfully so.

Still a little paranoid about the fitness side of life. I can't quite settle into the hurt, like you can when your feeling nicely fit. It's coming back though.

Operation Ivy is playing a little too loud for my Mother-In-Law right now. (Yes, that is a shit eating grin on my face.)

Wookin' Pah Nub

Lots of Brothers in the Cycling World are looking for an assist for one reason or another. Consider this an EnduroSnob Public Service Announcement.

Dave Nice. Some of you may remember Dave from TransIowa. He was riding the Great Divide Race, stopped at the side of the road for a sleep and someone five fingers his bike and gear. Scott Taylor from Salvagetti Bicycle Workshop is trying to gather some funds so he can continue. I believe they are setting up a PayPal account or you can email me if you want Scott's phone. I am going to be sending Dave his Epic registration bike. He's in for free.

Harlan Price. Leading the National Ultra-Endurance MTB Series can tap a person's mind, body, soul and wallet. He's sitting solid with IF in his corner, but winning ain't easy. You gotta go West at least once in that series. Harlan's got contact and PayPal info on his blog.

Speaking of the IF Team, Buck is trying to get to Stockholm to defend his XC/Go-Cart ominium victory at last year's SS Worlds. I thought I had read somewhere that Elk was putting on a bake sale to help, which I love. Attendence may be tough but you can always email Buck and Elk has more info posted on his blog (Scroll Down).

I'm beat and my saddle is sore. Snob out.

Committed

I officially entered 9 Mile this weekend. SS and Solo. We will see how it goes. I know when I pit I will potentially see Sam, Butch, Corey, CVO and possibly Cameron depending on timing. I imagine he'll be in and out while I am drinking that beer CVO is going to hand me. "Thank you, Sir. May I have another?"

A few Randoms:

SingleSpeeders, Joe needs our help.

Mr. 24 has been Mr. 12.

DNB - Does Not Blog.

Maybe too heavily referenced but just fucking inspirational.

"When life hands you a lemon say, 'I like lemons, what else have you got?'" - Henry Rollins

You Wasted Life...

Why wouldn't you waste the afterlife?

Had to miss what was dubbed as the fixie ride this morning, but I'll be out later today and am really looking forward to it. Wilderness around 2:30 is lock, stock and two smoking barrels.

IF can't pull off the paint job I want so I was in a creative redirect last night. ('Can't' isn't fair. Apparently what I wanted would stand a better than good chance of peeling off.) The new scheme is sweet and disappointment has turned to excitement once again.

Here's a question: What is the perfect place to start a ride? I am envisioning a combination of a coffee house and bike shop, but am wondering what other people would have in a "perfect scenario."

mmmmm espresso.

Street Walk

Twice a day I pass a place called Community Alternatives. I have never researched its purpose but it seems to be a halfway house of sorts. I am not sure.

Occassionally, I will see someone, who looks like an addict in recovery crossing the street from Community Alternatives to the Casey's gas station or vice versa, but only notice because they tend to cross in the middle of the street as opposed to the cross walk and it's not a point in the road where jaywalking makes a great deal of sense.

As I passed this morning, there were several people in a circle being lead in some stretching by a guy in a shirt which read "parole officer." Most of the people weren't really stretching and even the circle seemed half-hearted at best.

When I went home, there was a different scene. An older lady was shuffling back and forth in the middle of the street with cars backing up all around her. In the direction I was heading a queue of five cars had formed as people apparently sat deciding what to do. As I slid by on the right, a few people started honking at this woman then some guy shouted out of his window for her to "move it." When I got up close to her I put my bike in the grass and jogged out help her. I quietly said, "let's get you out of the road" and lead her across to Community Alternatives parking lot. When we reached the lot, there were at least seven or eight people just sitting outside who had been watching this woman stuggle.

I started back toward my bike and could feel myself getting more and more angry as I went. Some guy in a four door looked at me and said, "What was going on there?"

"You were sitting on your ass while some old woman was waiting to get hit in the middle of the street. That's what was going on."

Maybe I'm the ass, but I really don't understand people sometimes.

------

Okay, I just looked it up. Community Alternatives helps people with Developmental Disabilities.

Inches, Not Gear Inches

And on the Seventh Day...



The Genitorturer Devices.



Checking the Niner setup to provide a comparison. "Yes, it is confirmed. You will be slow either way, Mr. Cronin."



The Interview: "Son, exactly where were you on the night of the 5th?"



What's it gonna be?

Peacock Groove

Johnny emailed me recently and mention a builder he works with at Quality, Erik Noren. Erik is the Fabricator for Peacock Groove. To be fair, I only know what Johnny has told me, but anyone who follow this blog knows I value his opinion much higher than most. Plus, Johnny could always turn into Vinnie the Henchman if needed. Check out the slideshow for some interesting work. I tried to get a picture of his clever use of skulls but his site wouldn't let me.

Snob out.

Tough to Focus

and therefore tough to blog.

I have roughly two pounds of paperwork to fill out tonight and none of it is a fit sheet for a custom frame. The new employer has piled it on. Maybe I should slip a 9 Mile registration in just for a fun break in the pain. If I can get through this stack, 24 hours on a single speed should be cake.

I did find my way to the Black Sheep Cycles site today. The geek in me really likes the way the site was put together. Bravo.

The legs must be coming back at least a little. 34x17 is a complete spinout the whole way to work. I probably should have switched things up last week.

The BareKnuckle Brigade has the best kit I have ever seen.

Straight Up Punk as Fuck.

Happy Father's Day

To all the cats balancing family and the bike, Happy Father's Day. (with a general "What up?" to everyone else.)

The Lumberjack sounds like it hurt some people. Check the Think Tank for stories.

Still not tons of riding happening. Riding to work sums most of it up. Sneaking in some runs at lunch to try to make the most of the time I have.

Bah-land Blogging.

Thinking of heading to the XC race this coming weekend for a pain and a less than solid mid-pack to off the back finish.

Custom Cross Bike - "With the Way You Ride..."

From a needs standpoint for me, I think in many ways this becomes a pretty simple process. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong.

A. Frame Material.

Some of you may remember a previous post regarding Leadville last year where I described how Johnny, Jeff and I were having the proverbial, 'what bike would you build if' conversation when Johnny said, "Well, with the way you ride..." and then went on to, in essence, describe how I beat the shit out of bikes like there is no tomorrow and ride with the grace of a pitbull.

Since then, "with the way you ride" has stuck to me like glue and the description is still just as appropriate. Titanium gets the vote here. In fact, it's durablity has occassionaly been called a drawback of several of my friends. The idea being that you now have a Lifer. No need to buy another bike when you have it. My simple response to that? I can always find a reason to get another bike.

B. Hurry up and Wait Time.

Currently, I have no Cross Bike. I could pony up for something like a Redline to get me through, but that seems a bit unneeded if not pointless. For example, I emailed Sacha from a cafe in Leadville right before the race last year and his wait time was well over a year. His frames are well worth it, but time is important to me so a Vanilla will need to wait.

C. Passion.

If I don't dig it going in, there's no point in going there. In other words, I am leaving a little space in my heart on this choice and not just relying on an abacus and checklist to equate my way to a bike selection. I realize not everyone does things this way.

Here's a weird example. I was having a conversation with a friend at work last week about Grammar. He was talking through the classic confusion of whether to use 'I or me' and discussing the need to get it right. I had heard similar conversations numerous times at Purdue and shared this line I often use with my collegue. "In the end, I don't care, because at the end of the day, I would rather speak like a poet. To me, language is art and not an equation."

I feel the same way about bikes. I know there are many good builders out there. I think the ones I mentioned, as well as those G-ted and MW added all fit that bill. I could Team Over-Analysis the whole situation, but I think I lose something if I do. There are builders out there I just dig and I know I will lean toward them.

Really narrows the field, eh?

This post was brought to you by pure silence.

Update: I dropped the fucking ball and forgot to mention THIS.

FUGAZI is Dead

Technically, the blade dropped at Midnight plus one minute.

Fugazi is Dead.

Corporate Music lives.

No Press Release. No deal points released. We've become them have become us.

What does it mean to the Snob and his workaday cohorts? Good question.

I have added the following phrases to my quiver:

"That is unknown at this time."
"To be determined."
"Good question."
"Let me get back to you on that."
"Can I have an extra shot in that? I'm gonna need it."

I do dig the flyer though.

Custom Cross Bike - The Mini-Series

I've alluded to this several times already, but the Network has now approved it for its own spot here on the blog. Shouldn't the Discovery Channel be doing something like this? The Great Biker Buildoff for the machines WE love? I think they're missing it, but I digress.

Everytime going Custom has come up for me, the conversation always dances back and forth between my needs and preferred builders, but let's start with the builders.

Here are the folks that go through my head:

Vanilla Bicycles. Damn Sexy Bicycles.

Matt Chester. Custom. Titanium. Single Gear.

Indy Fab. A fave at the shop.

Ira Ryan. Learned under Sacha. TransIowa V1 Champ.

Badger Cycles. Enduro Freak and Bike Builder.

Who pops into your mind?

This just in...

Slaven was robbed in "The Great Calf Off" on Shannon Skerritt's site. I also noticed Shannon correctly predicted Sir Wilhelm's result at Cross Nats. SS and Fixed Represent!!

Lastly, I have been "attacked" by a Two Wheeled Weapon.

Name That Playlist

Another post to file under "assorted snobbery."

The Snob story that goes along with this band is a classic, if only in my own mind. I got a call to see if I would watch over my cousin and a group of his friends at the Warped Tour. "Absolutely." I remember thinking "what a score," then as we were waiting in line to get in, it hit me. I had somehow evolved into the chaparon. The "Cool Uncle." Holy Shit. When did that happen?

Really, I thought. Who cares? I am here for free. The music is good to great. I'm sailing.

Then, the band with the playlist on the right took the stage. It was early in the day, just after Noon. 95 degrees with heat reflecting off the pavement taking it who knows where. The kids want to go see someone else on another stage. "Nope. We stay here guys." Aww. Come on... "Listen, I will bend with you guys all day, but we see this band."

They kids relent and we stay. Three songs in and thier converted. Loving every minute of it. Happy we stayed. Unfortunately, then it got the best of them. They wanted to get into the pit. "I don't know how smart that is guys." Jeez, I realize I really am the chaparon. Not go into the pit? What am I saying? But before I could end the battle with the Angel and Devil on my shoulders though, they were in. Sneaky little three foot tall cake-sniffers slipped away as I looked up to the stage.

All that runs through my mind is explaining how I let a 13 year old take a jack boot to the head and end up in the hospital. Before I can get into the midst of scrum however, the situation polices itself and the kids get spit out the back, smiling but a little freaked out.

Years later I now know that this would be their favorite part of the show, though had you asked them at the time, they would have said Good Charolette.

How do I tie this to bikes? Aside from the BMX show and the guys from Rancid riding around on Freestyle bikes, I can't. But that's okay. What brought all of this up? This band (you can cheat and click the pic.) is how I spent most of my Sunday.

Quick Release(s)

Yes, that's a painful pun. Everything happened in short bursts today.

PC happened by as I was waiting for the air conditioner repair man to show up. He rocked out four hours today. Out to Branched Oak, a few laps and back. Four hours in the saddle. Pleasantly beat. Good work, PC.

I jumped out on the Niner after the AC man left for a couple of hours. Since it was nearing the end of my first week back in the saddle, I kept the gear safe at 34x17. Rode to the shop where I said hello to the crew. I caught TT and Jerod in a lull, but RockD was selling bikes on the floor. Always good to see.

Hit Wilderness after that. I was suprised to see MG leading a crew through going the other way. I already had him mentally pegged for the podium at Poncha, so that sorta threw me. Speaking of Poncha, our Man on the Scene got some visuals.

Sameron is sitting in Fourth right now at Big Bear. The Sologoat sits in Second. Elk's SS and Seventh. Rock Stars.

Blogging Splendor

There are many nice posts online right now.

Elk on proper beer selection for a 24hr. (And actually has three great reads in a row.)

Not so FatMarc's report titled "twelve o' munchy - 12hrs at Deer Park is laced with soul.

G-Ted makes me smile. (And I believe MW too.)

Harlan Price of the IF crew touches on someone of local (kind of) interest in his update of the Mohican 100. Apparently Sir Wilhelm's Cross nemisis Brad Cole hung tough for second place.

As for me, I'm happy to be getting miles in again. Now if I can make the Monkey Wrench ride next week, things will really be kicking.

Slow and Low

that is the tempo.

Day Two of commuting to work again was a bit of an eye-openner. I wasn't fortunate enough to see Butch like I did yesterday, but it just felt good to be cruising in via the Niner today. There was even a section of the bike path closed off which forced people to drop the curb into the street at one point. Commuters may not have the greatest handling skills, but at least they are riding. Some poor guy curbed his rear wheel for a nice pinch flat so I stopped to help him change it. He was panicked he would be late for work, so I pulled an Avey and just dove in and did it so he could be on his way.

Mulling over two distinctly different items:

*Building a mini-pipe for the RadMan in the backyard. (He loved 'Freedom of Space', btw)
*Blogging the process of ordering a Custom Frame.

Got this in an Anonymous email this morning. "You should ride for the IF Grassroots squad. You're attitude sucks just about the right amount for it." Do what to who? Ummm Yeah.

"I'm so happy, 'cause today I found my friends. They're in my head."

Taking A Mulligan

My unofficial "redo" for the season starts up tomorrow. I am going to try to ride base mile style for the next two weeks with an eye toward Swanson on June 24th.

I am going to start up the morning rides again and log a couple of hours before work everyday, then ride at lunch, then ride home. Luckily, now it won't be 20 degrees in the mornings now as compared to the last time I did this.

Looks like I will be in be in Denver in the middle of July as well. Last year, I got stuck watching drag racing as mandated by our CEO. This year, I hope to take the bike. Trail recommendations are welcome.

This post was brought to you as Modest Mouse filled my living room. The picture was brought to you by Magnet Magazine.

No Mas

This weekend will mark the end of my "vacation" away from the bike. It will be a relief to get the miles going again, expel the stress and feel a bit more alive. The Niner should be smiling too.

The bad news from the day is the the 12hrs of Cedar Valley ended before it got started. Time to rethink July (again).

Blue Collar Optimist

I used that phrase at the office today and immediately thought of my last post. What do I mean by it? Simply that I have to work at being optimistic. Today at work, a friend of mine elaborated to me what he thought the worst case scenario was for a situation our company is dealing with. I responded that I saw his point, but that it wasn't the worse case scenario. After I laid my worst case thoughts on the table, my friend responded with, "The Prince would be proud."

Nothing like a Niccolo Machiavelli reference at work.

How's this for a fiesty new schedule?

July 8. Manawa XC.
July 22. 12Hrs of Cedar Valley
July 29. 24Hrs of On Your Left (aka 9 Mile).
August 19th. Swanson NE State Championships
September 2. 24Hrs of Seven Oaks
September 23. Indian Cave Marathon

August seems a bit barren. I wonder what I missed.

Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Well, That Sucked

The Branched Oak 12hr Race Report post had two potential titles. "I Suck" was in the running for quite a while.

I arrived reasonably early but most of the prime spots were taken so I ended up right by an industrial size trash can. Maybe that was a sign? I pulled most of my gear out of the van, set the crew free to play around the lake, said a quick hello to Mr. 24 and slowly got my act together. I was able to get able from the trash can at some point, and was in a nice spot to pit so I felt okay.

During the rider meeting, they announced that there would be a solo SS category and I will admit that my ego was excited. Despite the three weeks off, I thought I could do pretty well.

We took off on a Lemans style start which was more an exercise in not twisting an ankle. We we got to the bikes, the first thing I tried to do was grab Zach's Niner. For those of you who aren't local, the course starts by following the lake through a secton of the park that's never ridden. The only traffic is probably people walking down to the water's edge. Simply put, it's rough as fuck. Going rigid on it was an exercise in running a jackhammer. Once we hit the actual trail, two things quickly became apparent. No one had cut back the limbs and brush. I was in too big of a gear.

There were a few highlights to my crappy four laps. I was passed by several people who were buzzing right along looking strong, RF, Schlake and Mr. 24 come to mind. Bonsall gave me the best moment though. He pulled up behind me in jackhammer land and said, "Is that one of them singlespeed 29ers?" I started to say "Yes..." when I turned and saw it was Jeff running his 29er Kona SS and smiling. I hope that cat did well.

On my fourth lap, I was walking way too much and said, "Fuck it." I pulled out, sat down in a camping chair and stewed for a long while. The thinking went pretty much as follows. I worked hard over the winter and early spring to really bring up the level of my fitness. Mission accomplished. TI gets rained out. I end up off of the bike for three weeks so basically all of that effort has basically been wasted. Frankly, that's basically how I still feel this morning.

At some point though, I will stop being such a self-centered prick, make some more espresso and go mow my yard. This is the wrong weekend for me to obscess over how poorly I ride a bike.

Snob out.

Small Slice of Normal

Spent some time last night with Corey, Jeff and Sam last night cleaning up the Niner. Sam stayed for the beer and hangout. Brillant!!

The office closed early today so I hung at the shop for a while, threw a new chain on Godzilla and then, I was enjoying myself so much I worked on the build of KKS' Niner.

Looks like the 12hr is the place to be this weekend. Lots of Local Love. Team Crack-N-Fail in the house. As everyone seems to say, Good Times.

Anyone else going Solo?


The RadMan and I will see you sucka's tonight. I wonder where my old Vision Skateboards sweatshirt is?

20 Questions

In no particular order, these are things that are floating around my cranium. I wonder if I will actually have 20.

- Gear Selection for the 12Hr?

- Ti or Steel?

- Could I do well SS style at this?

- Should I go to the Iron Cross even if the above is true and I miss out on points?

- If I put a yurt up on some land, where should I put it?

-Who's gonna challenge "Sameron Rosenhaus" in the team competition?

-Will I ever remember to bring the Guinness in my office home?

Okay, Seven.

Memorial Day Experiment

What are the odds someone would have success in a 12hr race after being forced off of the bike for 3 weeks? I plan to find out this weekend so stay tuned.

More good Kanza reports from:

Dave and Paul. Plus, Paul's got Pics.

Plus, Matt's worried I am going to get him into trouble.

Paint By Numbers

I have been spending a lot of my time lately doing a bit of online shopping for a cross frame. I have spent most of my time looking at Indy Fab and Ira Ryan's site. Part of me is tempted to create something obscene (cost wise) and the other part of me knows that my history is to destroy my bikes so maybe extravagence isn't my bag.

Kanza write ups are starting to go up, with more to come. My favorite thus far is Joe's.

Props to everyone who started and even more to everyone who finished.

Say this in your best Fletch voice, "Paging Dr. Rosenhaus."

Corey Godfrey with the Kung-Fu Grip

I was explaining to Mrs. Snob that our boy Big Skinny, reigning 12Hrs of Branched Oak Solo Champion, had broken his wrist and that, in setting the cast, the medical staff had formed the cast so he could still ride.

She commented, "like an action figure?"

"Yes, he is Corey Godfrey with the Kung-Fu Grip."

Man on and of the Scene CVO had the photo op, along with the happenings at Lewis and Clark on Folks from Lincoln.

The Dirty Kanza also kicked it this weekend. Paddy represented strongly with a third place despite an extra 32 miles put in. How do I know already? G-Ted came strong with the AudioBlogging this weekend. Great stuff.

This World and then the Fireworks

I've been flying a black flag in front of my house since last Tuesday. No one's said much about it until tonight. I was sitting on my front porch, drinking a little decaf espresso, letting the sunset. We live on a side street, but it's a street that leads right to the Rock Island trail so tonight there was plenty of traffic. Normally, I people watch. Bad bikes, bad running form. Kids having fun and making their parents both panic and smile. My cup is nearly empty and some yuppie father in his finest adidas says something to me that I don't quite catch. I sit up and grin. Most people are friendly and being polite's no huge chore. "I'm sorry?"

"Why in the hell are you flying that flag?"

"Because it's illegal for me to walk up and bash your fucking teeth in." Deadpan delivery. I'm just drinking coffee.

Now polite is out, so we play the waiting game to see who bails out and what stupid thing they'll say to save face when they do it. I just sit in my chair. He glares between me and the flag. It's been too long. He's not coming up my driveway yet so I know he's not going to go anywhere but away. I sit back, see a toy light saber sitting in my yard. What if I hit this idiot with a toy lightsaber? I smile and he sees it.

"What the fuck are you smiling about?"

"Hitting you with a light saber."

Now Adidas doesn't know what to do, which of course I love. He starts walking away.

"You should take that down."

I didn't say anything in return. I probably should have said some clever Star Wars line or at least raise my coffee cup to him in the finest Pulp Fiction style, but I just watched him walk off.

I know that doesn't have anything to do with bikes or single speeds, so humor me and file that under assorted snobbery.

Daydream Nation

It appears all the cool kids are decending upon Branched Oak for the 12hr, including Mr. 24 himself.

RockD called last night to offer some assistance in getting a brother racing. The man is Class.

I was checking out the Lumberjack 100 last night. I have ridden the Big M once on vacation and really enjoyed the terrain and ferns seemingly everywhere. I also had one of my more memorable near misses there. About 3/4 of the way through the place, there was a long downhill which I pedaled into like a madman, not realizing that it went on much farther than it seemed like it should have. I managed to hit some dips in just the right way to have the tail of my bike come flying up trying to give me a saddle enema into slow motion nose wheelie that lasted for three days as tree after tree managed to just duck out of my way. Then, rode it out and considered that fact that it was the middle of the day, in the middle of nowhere and I was screwed if I went down badly. So I climbed back up and did it right on the way down.

Maybe this makes sense for next year?

Too Many Buckets

Has anyone read the new rules regarding race licenses and cross? I had a mild panic attack at first thinking I would be forced to race beginner because I couldn't race last year, but I guess I am okay.

The Niner will be getting some bearings from Father Phil soon. Originals were scorched in less than three months. Not very impressive.

I've now been off the bike for a week. My body is rebelling in odds ways.

Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame.

The Good Stuff

The closest I got to the good stuff this weekend was seeing Cam Chambers GF Subaru drive by heading to Wilderness Perk while I sat in Juice Stop with my crew prior to Seven's dance rehearsal.

CVO's got your Visuals from the Platte Marathon. Looks like Cam took it, which can't be too shocking. Maybe it was the goodness of the perk that pushed him to the top. Who's got the goods on MW? First SS?

Mr. 24 showed he's also a force at 12. Carl podiumed at 3rd. Nice work fellas.

Basso's kicking ass today in the Giro.

Looks like my next race with have to wait until here: 12hrs of Cedar Valley.

On the Record

The Lincoln Journal Star ran an article about the company I work for in their business section today. (The same company that created the technology behind the Endurosnob Epic Registration Store.)

It's interesting to see how someone who spends a morning in your office ends up talking about your company. While the article is factual, I wouldn't say it really conveyed what our deal is (our at least my vision of it).

If you are local and have the actual paper, there is a lovely cliche picture of most of us standing by the sign out in front of the office. I am pretty easy to spot in the Laramie Enduro shirt. I had been walking around in socks but threw the Sidi's on to walk outside.

On the positive side, when I first started working there, I sat in a meeting and said, "So, you're Minor Threat wanting to become Fugazi." A couple people actually knew what I meant which turned out to be a great sign.

I enjoy being a Freak in a Freak Kingdom.

On a blogging note, I have noticed that several people have linked over to this little dysfunctional corner of the web. Thanks to all. I will work to return the favor soon.

Also, The Darkness sent me some shirts recently. (Thanks man.) He's rocking one in the pic (which was lifted from his site.) Maybe that should be my work attire tomorrow. I just don't know if I have the face paint.

News You Can't Use

Gwadzilla has the goods that Eric Roman not only is rocking it for Fisher now, but was rocking it geared. What? Huh? What? Do we need to rename the IF pink now?

The BKB is faster than you (me too), but not faster than Eric Tonkin (but not many are.)

Another sign-up for the Epic today. I have started hyperlinking blogs/sites as appropriate.

I miss Platte already.

MENSA Prospect

So, as I am cleaning the One last night, I look at ye old front ring and see, plainly printed along the outer edge "34." I have thought it was a 32 ever since I built the bike. Genius.

I'm a little bummed about the lack of registrations for the Epic, but November is a long way away, so I am hoping racers just keep trickling in. Thanks to those who have jumped in already.

Platte Marathon coming up this weekend. I am still trying to find a way to race but it's not looking good. Word on the Omaha St says Cameron will be rocking the house again. I wonder what other big guns might show for a shot at $300?

How about a camping trip for the NEW 24?

Sa-Fuckin-Low

Registrations are trickling in for the Epic. Tempted? Sign up here. At least my registration looks a hell of a lot better than an Active.com page. I will post the initial racer list on the Epic site tomorrow.

Time to redesign the schedule for 06. Stay Tuned.

The Niner is in pieces in the basement at the moment. I may break the Fascist Killer back out for a few days as I get the One back in order.

Here's to polishing the brass on the Titanic.

The Devil is Chasing Me

and I am about to stop short.

It looks like the Platte Marathon and Kanza are out for the Snob. The 12HR remains possible.

Things are golden compared to CreepyFriendly though, so I am not bitching.

Well, maybe just a little.

Trust No One...

... then let a few people prove you wrong. Sound Philosophy.

The webstore for the Epic is nearly complete. Final phases of my smart ass, but to the point disclaimer are about all that remains. Details available shortly on the race blog.

Midwest Mileage Shortage

If you felt shortchanged by the weather at TI,
Saturday is the Signup for the Epic. I can't promise continuous rainfall. If it makes anyone feel any better though, it could snow.

Sologoat answers the CyclingNews quiz. "Worlds" Champ this year?

Good reads on CN's MTB RoundUp too.

This blog kills fascists.

TransIowa Recap Part Four: Always Another Race

Sam and I waited at the Cenex in Paulina for four hours after we shut it down. I think we stopped shivering after the first two. The highlight of our stay was Sam falling asleep and leaving a nice little drool puddle on the table.

Once Team RamRodd (two D's) arrived, we went to Algona to get our gear. Luckily Paddy was there with Guinness and, in the finest tradition, Sam went to the local liquor store to get more. Apparently the clerk said, "It's about time someone bought some good beer today." Damn Right.

It was nice to actually talk with familar names in person. Thanks again to Jeff and Mark for making it happen.

In short order, we have the Platte Marathon, Kanza and the 12hr all back to back to back. No reason to cry over the rain, plenty coming up.

TransIowa Recap Part Three: Sauna in My Pants

Race morning came as painlessly as a 2:30am alarm clock can. I got up and found Team RamRod (Butch and Dave) firing up breakfast with our hosts. (Dave has a nice shot of this on his site. The site from which the photo of the Sam-and-I warrior was also unceremoniously stolen.) Omlettes and coffee were a great start to the day.

We rode to the start, gear bags in hand and ready to rock. G-Ted had the back of his van loaded with gear (including his new On-One and several Monkeytrons) ready to lead the way to the course. There was a small group of riders gathered and when Mark moved the van into starting position, I rode right up behind him. Sam came up next to me and we chatted with Mark for a bit. Great guy, great attitude. He remembered that someone was hoping to not have Cindy Lauper stuck in their head and I beamed, "That's YOU!!" to Sam. Luckily for us both, Mark didn't sing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," instead he just smiled and laughed.

Right before we took off I keep trying to find MW but couldn't. Sam wasn't too worried which mellowed me out. We had a pretty simple plan in mind. When the van pulled off we would ride put it down. Not XC style, but at a pretty good clip and stick with it for as long as made sense. As the van rolled out, Sam and I stuck right behind it. In hindsight, I probably should have felt a little chilly at this point but didn't. We cruised at a bit under 15mph and that three miles of paved riding was probably about as fast as it got all day.

When the van pulled aside I flew out front with Sam and Matt Maxwell right there. After not too long, MW pulled up right in front of me and had me grinning from ear to ear as he was spinning it out like a madman. Sweet!! After about five miles, I started to feel a little sick, even though my heart rate was pretty low.

I had a sauna in my pants.

I started to drop back a bit, taste a little of the morning's breakfast while I wondered what in the fuck the deal was. At about that time, Paddy smoothly slid by on my right, then CreepyFriendly snaked his way through some traffic on my left. The Darkness came next and I was just getting pissed that I didn't feel right. "That's the fucking group," came out of my mouth to no one in particular. That group was about ten strong at that point and I would guess that was the heart of the eight that lead most of the race.

I floated back to Sam, who was wearing the same lower body setup I was and he said, "You wanna loose the pants??" Hell yes, was the answer. It was way to early in the race to stop but we had to do it. Taking those damn things off was like holding your breath for as long as you can and then gasping for air. We were instantly feeling better and Sam said it best: "Feeling better equals faster."

Thoughts of bridging up passed through my mind as we passed a couple of riders. We guessed we were floating around 15th place. Could have been more, could have been less. It's hard to say.

It was about this time we also realized that a quick check of the abacus showed we weren't going to make it to Algona in time.

The B roads are getting a ton of discussion and rightfully so. Had I not ridden last year, I would have been through a bit. The first B section came near the top of a climb so you couldn't really see it coming, particularly with the rain and slight headwind in your face.

"I'd like an order of grease soup, please." I just headed straight for the ditch, but it wasn't as if there was a clear definition between B road mud and corn field mud. Unable to ride, I broke into a "late for class" walk. Sam and I were moving pretty well and passed a guy or two. At one point, I looked back and Sam was fairly far back. The next thing I knew, he was behind me telling me my wheel had stopped moving. "You've got to clean it off and carry it, man." Great advice. I took a piece of a corn stalk, scraped my tires and drivetrain and picked the Niner up, resting the saddle on my shoulder. For us, I think that first B road was the worst, maybe not by condition, but because we didn't just go cross style and shoulder our bikes. There was a couple of times I jogged a bit, but then felt stupid because it's wasn't as if it mattered.

As we neared the first pass-through town, we saw a rider in full bright-yellow rain gear on a paved road pulling out and heading in. It occurred to me that while we may have been at the front of the race early, we could now be at the back simply due to people pulling out. It was a brutal kind of day.

Sam-and-I pushed on through the city and as we popped back on to gravel, saw Team RamRod in the back of the EuroVan, which is when Dave snapped the above picture. The cat behind us in the pick was rocking a geared Surly with tassles hanging from the top tube. He looked in very good order as he went by.

I had just stopped and put on a pair of snowboarding mittens to keep out the damp as my Nike mtb gloves were completely soaked through and my hands were getting cold. Of course, they weren't exactly made for 50 degrees and it wasn't long before I had little pools of sweat tickling the end of my finger tips.

At this point, the cue sheets were really not needed unless you were at a pass-through town. You could always make out tire tracks in the gravel and muck so I never bothered turning my cue sheets most of the time.

Sam-and-I were just riding and talking for a good deal of the time. Some of the time there really wasn't much to say, either. We just rode, continued to be wet and pressed on.

At some point, I got a "Hello," on my left and was surprised to see Joe Partridge pulling up beside me. Joe and I chatted for a bit and he said he was already in a mode to just make it to Algona. I told him we thought the same and we worked together for a while. Joe was strong enough though that he needed to pressed on so he politely moved ahead.

A few minutes after that, I just started at my cyclometer and evaluated things. I was soaked through up to my shoulders. My core was warm, but it wouldn't be too long before that wasn't the case and that time would be far before Algona. Sam had a look on his face that said he'd about had enough, so we just talked about what we thought was prudent.

Neither of us wanted to push an unwinable situation, get sick and miss races further down the road, so we decided to pull the plug. We got another B road section under our belt as the rain came down a bit harder, then we road to a gas store in Pauleena and shut it down.

There were quite a few people already there and I was feeling like a grumpy old snob. We grabbed some coffee, sat and listened to the locals and waited for Team RamRod to arrive.

As a Charter Member of Team OverAnalysis, I then sat and continually brought up bits and pieces about the race. I wish I had done this... Remember when this happened...

A sauna in your pants isn't as cool as it sounds...

No waiting until next year... Bring on Kanza.

TransIowa Recap Part Two: Riders at the Ranch

The only negative about the Rider's Meeting at the Pizza Ranch was the lack of hangout time due to the early morning start. We walked in just behind Marko and Jesse (who MW now refers to as the Darkness Twins) and found a table after ordering some food.

Jeff and Mark called out rider's names and we'd step forward and grab our number plates and drop bag for the race. Afterword, I chatted briefly with Paul, Matt, Paddy and Dallas, and would have loved to chat more, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking about having to get up to be ready to race at 4am.

We bolted after the meeting and went straight to the grocery, Feista Foods. "I have a Feista in my pants," was said as we pulled in the lot.

Inside, I grabbed some sinus meds and poptarts, Sam grabbed some water jugs. As we walked through, I heard a "Snob" from aisle three and CreepyFriendly and the Darkness were doing a little pre-race grocery trip as well. (I think I saw a jar of grape jelly.) Unfortunately, it was a quick hello and on with the countdown.

We returned to our host house and started working out the details on our bikes. It was here I made two choices I would love to have back. One, I went with a CamelBak instead of just bottles for the first section of the race. Two, I decided to wear rain paints over my shorts and knee warmers. Sam also saved one of my wheels from a potentially horrible fate. Thanks again, Dawg.

I set an alarm for 2:30am and we cashed in for the night.

Back to the basement. The Niner is still jacked.

TransIowa Recap Part One: Road Trip

My mind is saturated with thoughts about this weekend, so in faux-journalistic fashion, I am going to post in parts over the day and recap in sections.

Friday started off on a high note. About a half hour before Sam picked me up, I was walking to Leon's to pick up a bottle of wine for the folks who were bunking us up for the night, when I saw Butch walking to Leon's from the other direction. Smiles, laughter and a bottle of 40lb Rooster Wine later, I walked back to the house, walked Seven to school and Sam arrived as I was walking back.

The drive was fun in the truest sense of the Hangout Factor. Good conversation, underlined with excitement and concern for the weather. We stopped in at the Trek Store, chatted with MOD about bikes and snowflake displays in April and headed out again.

At some point after leaving Omaha, Dave turned into the Spider Monkey photographer and was snapping shots at all angles around the van, a few of which are up on MomBok. The drive remained pretty faceless until we hit Route 12 in Iowa. Scenic Byway doesn't do it justice. River on your left, Bluffs on the right and greenery all around. Sam commented several times it would be a sweet road ride. Absolutely right.

When we arrived in Hawarden, we drove about for a bit and then found our host families house, where Tom Kane was waiting for us with a big smile and "how-can-we-help-you" attitude. I have been very lucky to stay with them the last two years. Tom and Elaine also had several bikes hanging in their garage. Word.

After we settled things in, Butch, Dave and MW took a spin around the town, while Sam and I went downstair, tilted back a couple of recliners and napped. Consider the had to get up at 2:30am to get ready, I was pretty stoked to have fallen asleep. Unfortunately, the chairs also reminded me of the Chandler and Joey chair setup from friends.

From there, we headed to the Pizza Ranch for the pre-race meeting. Too be continued.

Time to head downstair and continue cleaning my bike. My chain is rust-red. My clothes smell like a drowning pool.

Rain In, Mobile Blogging Out

Due to the forecast of rain for pretty much the entire race, I doubt that I will be able to do any mobile blogging as I had planned.

The TI site plans to try to do some audio posts throughout the race, but, of course, they will not be focused specifically on the Snob, Lincolnites and our friends, when clearly we should be the focus of the race. : )

DANG, SNAP, CRUD.

IM is a Useful Tool- The EnduroSnob Interview

regina says:
so have you started to pack for this thing
Snob says:
I have a lot of stuff laid out
Snob says:
it will take about ten minutes to pack
regina says:
what is the oddest thing you are taking, are you taking wheels, is Matt really taking wheels, am I far to freaked out about the thought that you are carrying stuff like that with you?
Snob says:
(are you working me over interview style?)
regina says:
because me baraging you with these kind of questions is odd?
Snob says:
maybe
Snob says:
I am not taking anything odd with me
regina says:
i do not think this kind of questioning from me is odd
Snob says:
matt's taking tires
Snob says:
not wheels
regina says:
ok, then what is the heaviest thing that is not liquid that you are taking
Snob says:
my fat ass
Snob says:
on the ride itself?
regina says:
excluding that too, and yes
Snob says:
I suppose my multitool actually weighs the most
regina says:
interesting,
Snob says:
and yes, you are too freaked out
regina says:
so what are you going to eat, I am actually eating two whopper juniors with extra pickle that I removed half the bun and made into a double, out of sympathy of course, did you think of the word you trying to think of
Snob says:
I am eating lots of Hammer Perpetuem and a couple of Tuna salad sandwiches
Snob says:
I am sure I will suck down some Hammer Heed and the occassional gel as well
regina says:
ok I do not know what those Hammer products are, some kind of endurance circle food stuff?
Snob says:
yes
Snob says:
they used to sponsor my team for adventure racing so I know their stuff works well for me
regina says:
well that is handy,
regina says:
oh and what the heck is up with hulk or thing, like they are the only two
regina says:
what about ice man?
Snob says:
name an x-men less powerful than Ice Man
Snob says:
the idea is that they are similar
Snob says:
so of the marvel comics strongmen
regina says:
hmmmmm
Snob says:
who would you pick
Snob says:
plus
Snob says:
there are thing and hulk gloves you can buy
Snob says:
WAIT
Snob says:
that is the strangest thing I am taking
Snob says:
thing gloves
Snob says:
the thing gloves say "It's Clobberin' Time"
Snob says:
Again, more cool than Big Green.

Bring the Pink - The Matt Wills Interview

With less than a week to go, what's running through your melon regarding TransIowa?
The weather and all the shit i have to get together for the event. Making sure i've thought of everything i'll need. Should i pack a camera?
What would you say is your biggest concern regarding the race?
I'm mostly worried about the overnight portion. I've done plenty of nightriding but anything longer than 12hrs in the saddle will be uncharted territory as far as exhaustion and mental soundness.
Hulk or Thing?
Thing. he seems pretty chill all in all.
What's the bike and how's it setup?
Custom rigid Soulcraft SS 29er diskbrakes. 180mm cranks. 36x17 with1.8bontis. salsa flat bar, WTB pure-v saddle. Endurenz light.
Post race beverage of choice?
Coca-Cola.
Acid is not a banned substance for this race. Should you consider listening to Butch's advice?
Never done acid. Probably can live without doing it either.
Any last words?
Hope we can keep the homies togther for most of the event. Some companions for the voyage will certainly make the suffering more bareable. And maybe remembering everything a bit easier.

Savior in Waiting - The Butch Interview

What are your general thoughts in heading to Iowa with the 'Lincoln Three?'
I am excited. I am glad that i jumped on the wagon to go. I hang out with Willz a bit, but don't get to see Sam or Skip enough so a lot of car time with buddies will be fun. I am excited to see how you all react to the race and how weird you are after your body is depleted of all its energy (or at least most of it). I told Willz he should ride the race on acid, but he just told me that i was a bad influence. Is acid against the rules?
What's your favorite car game and will you use it to pass the time?
I usually masterbate a lot in the car.(if you would consider that a game) Unfortunately, i don't think that will be my main form of entertainment. I might go with scrabble, but not on a bumpy road.
Hulk or Thing?
Thing is 10 billion times cooler than the Hulk.
1.) He can function in a team like environment.
2.) Green is only a color for plants and bicycles.
3.) The Hulk is too passive aggressive.
How can riders collect Butch points while riding across Iowa?
I have set-up a list of ways, but will not reveal it until we step into the van to start the trip. Most of them include doing stupid things on your bike while i drive by taking pictures. The biggest award point though I will reveal now so that fellow trip company can think about the issue. The biggest amount of points will go to whomever keeps Sam from picking up truckers at truck stops. We just can't afford to wait outside truck stops with a time schedule like we have.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how strong do you expect that smack talk in the van to be?
I am way better at emailing smack than talking smack in a van. On my bike, i would say i am above average and in a tank i would say that i am excellent.
That being said, i expect Sam to slide open the door and start swinging shit right away. I mean 8-9-10 rate material. He probably is sitting at home right now talking shit with Jenny just to practice. Plus, he has been driving to OMaha everyday. With an hour to spend just thinking up shit you gotta have some good ones thought up. I would say that that will continue until about 1 hour before the race. During the race i would say about 3 rate material because i want to take it easy on everyone. The ride home? Who knows. Sam and/or anyone else might be out of their mind enough to say just about anything. I am hoping that a banter will continue with 10 rate material, but i just think everyone will be too tired or delirious to really say much at all. That way i can run my mouth as much as I want. Well...Until i get smacked down with the Thing Glove.

Pre TransIowa Interview - Sam Rosenau

SamClimb
Originally uploaded by Endurosnob.

How about a short interview for the blog?
-Sure, why not.

How do you feel now with TI so close?
-Excited, nervous and ready to throw down in a very relaxing 30 hour style.

What bike are you riding?
-I'll be riding a Gary Fisher Rig, looks like around a 34x16-18, or a 20 if the wind is angry.

Have any tactics or strategies for the race?
-Hopefully I can ride with someone the whole way, other than that, eat a lot, drink more and keep moving.

Song you'd least like to get stuck in your head?
-Any Cindy Lauper.

Times you plan to stop?
-Once every hour or two to piddle. As little as possible until Algona, maybe more to find pizza between there and Decorah.

Number of Beers consumed after you finish?
-At least 12, no time frame though.

Hulk or Thing?
-Hulk.

The Fuzzy Science

Before David Letterman became famous, he was a weatherman in Muncie, Indiana and was famous for saying there was hail the size of canned hams dropping on the city. Compared to other meteorologists, he was really just as accurate, which is why reading this doesn't bother me in the least.

The forecast across the state reads in two words: Scattered Showers.

My two word response: Bring It.

When Not on the Bike...

Found on BobDob.com

OK Commuter

I work with some willing cats. Recently, I found out that yet another person in our office is making the effort to commute occassionaly by bike.

My loose theory is that people need to see it's possible. Incubation then takes place. Most will always think it's crazy, but some will keep the idea in some safe corner of their mind. "Maybe on nice days, I'll pay less for gas, it will help me get in shape... " At some point, a few will give it a go. If that happens, anything is possible.

A once is a while cyclist is better than an all the time driver.

Latest tale of the tape:

Two Indy Fabs purchased.
One Kona purchased.
Four Tour Registrations (maybe more).
Seven sometime commuters (Out of 47 people).

Spring is here. Time for number 8.

Pat the Bunny

Okay, Now I understand.

Understand what? I believe MW would call it, "9erness."

The Niner and I went out to Wilderness for just under three hours of single track solitude. The goal was to keep the pace pretty high the whole time. Mission Accomplished. Apparently, Easter and some of the locals heading to Manawa meant empty trails for me.

While there is the sense of riding slower, a few measurements seemed to prove that I am pushing pedals faster than ever before and the bike is certainly to blame for some of this. Plus, my marginal technical skills now have a nice crutch with this bike. I am looking forward to getting out to Platte.

Your team kit doesn't look this good... BareKnuckleBrigade.

"Why do you wear that Stupid Bunny Suit?"

14 days... "six hours... 42 minutes... 12 seconds. That... is when the world... will end. "

Bike maintence today, yes. In fact, as I type this Mrs. Snob is struggling to put some new Michelin Jets on her Jamis Nova. Getting the last of that bead in... almost always a pain.

All which is loose must become tight again. Such the state of the Niner.

Easter morning with the family. Easter afternoon is gravelicious. No Manawa for me, just local lines.

"Why do you wear that stupid man suit?"

Office Closed

That's a wrap!!

No, I am not pulling a Paddy. The world outside beckons a little too loudly today. 85 degrees and Sunny. A little bit of a wind, but that's what hiding in the trees is for. Wilderness for a few hours, home by the time I would normally return from work. Heaven.

Fade to black.

And Then There Were Three

Well, for a variety of reasons, the Lincoln Mafia is now down to Three riders taking on TransIowa.

The Sam-R-I Warrior.
Matt Wills.
Da Snob.

The details are all coming together nicely. Butch and Dave Story are our support crew. We have excellent hosts in Hawarden. Now there is just that little matter of riding across the State of Iowa.

I just set up AudioBlogging a few minutes ago. Will I have the color that our local man on the scene brings? No way.

Here's to 340 Miles Cominatcha.

"Lies and Betrayals...

"Fruit covered nails... Electricity and LUST..."

Photo from IFbikes. Click the Pic and See.

Michigan's North Country Trail

Nearly every year, my family and I take a week's vacation in Onekema, MI. It's a very small town along the central Lake Shore just North of Manistee. One of the great things about the vacation is that it's near a trail head for the North Country Trail. So, every year, I slip away for a few hours most days and rock out some single track.

A little research shows that the North Country Trail runs the length of the state. I know some of it isn't open to bikes, but do we have a sleeping Giant of Endurance Events? Is there some sort of record for running the length of the trail? Pipe dreams all? Maybe, but I will most likely be back in Michigan in early July with nothing better to do than explore.

Give a guy a shot if you've got the goods.

Have Headwind, Will Mash

What kind of cat finishes TransIowa? How about a guy who pulls inventory duty all night, then rocks it for a few hours of gravel on the bike, putting up with a jackass who has decided to ride into the headwind. The Sam-R-I warrior in full effect.

Actually, the wind put a damper on the conversation as I hadn't been able to catch up with one of my favorite smart asses for quite a while. Great day. Nice Ride. Lots of TI talk. Sam hasn't chosen a bike yet and is even mulling the One Gear. Yield to the darkside, I say. It is your Destiny.

Combing the prairies for Oreo Cows.



No Sleep? No Problem. Sam training sleep deprivation style.



Two quick notes on Roubaix:

Good call, KW.

Snap a steer tube? WTF?

Yard Art and Oreo Cows

Rock D and I wandered some gravel for a few hours this morning and came across this beauty sitting out by the road.

On the other side of the road were Oreo Cows. Black cows who all had a white stripe around thier torso. Genetic manipulation began long ago. We'll have to go back again for a photo of the cows.

As fate would have it, as I was passing D St on the way home, CVO was pulling up to pick up Corey for their Crowder journey. I am looking forward to hearing how things went.

Fun with MS Publisher

Naproxen Sodium

Also know as Aleve. My legs are tired, have been tired, and are slightly sore. Time to add some teeth to the back cog.

Recon for the Epic has been bagged for this weekend. The weather looks mediocre at best and the race isn't until November, so I'm pretty sure well find a better weekend.

The Niner saw this first single track in Wilderness yesterday, but only a teasing tasteful. I see good things in my riding future.

Listen... You can smell Iowa coming.

The Execution of All Things

The Not-So-Secret Machine.



A little tweak...



And we're off...



Thanks JB for the assist.

Singing in the Rain

No race for the Lincolnites this weekend thanks to Mother Nature's Revolt, but RF brought Kansas soil back to Omaha. I like the foul weather so it's a bit of a mixed bag to me. In the end, I think CVO's call was the right one.

I did however manage to ride twice today. Maybe I should have just raced. If you are going to get soaked, it might as well "mean" something.

The plus side is that I did get a lot done for the Epic. The webstore is ready to rock. Rock D and I have outlined a recon trip for this weekend, mainly to ride what will be the unsupported section of the race.

The new look may be short lived. I tried for a bit to make the background pink instead of red but can't seem to pull it off. The comment section also works in a very funky way and I have yet to be able to straight that out either. If you really want to read the comments and see who they are from, you have to click on "post a comment." Otherwise, you don't get to know who said what and sometimes not all of them show.

Webmaster, I am not.

G-Ted has some nice photos of how the gravel currently looks in parts of Iowa. Maybe I should look into fenders.

RED RUM... RED RUM

What do you mean? I don't notice anything different.

I've added a few addtional changes aside from the look. Adventure Racing has been dropped from the scene to be replace by Fear of the One Gear. AR is dead. And probably should have been dead with me a year or two ago.

Adam has been added in the Think Tank. Also something that should have been some time ago.

Plus, I just dig the little guy on the bottom left. I need a sticker of him to put on the Niner over the verbage on the Top Tube. "Pedal Damn It" is nice. But, let's face it. If I start cursing myself in a race, I will be saying things far worse than Damn It.

Any Time Now

That is, TI can get here anytime. In some ways, my last two posts are just a confirmation of plans I really made some time ago. I am ready to gather our Coalition of the Willful and go. Now.

First race of the year Sunday, which means my levels of anxiousness will begin rising shortly. It will be fun to see what happens. I think.

Maybe I'll just assume lotus position and sing Elk's Fight Song to myself. That should get me "centered."

Two Humped Camel

I have traded in my Abacus for a Ruler this evening.

The latest thoughts on TransIowa is currently how to handle Algona. As opposed to last year when we could actually have a support crew, this year you get a drop bag from our friends at Wingnut Gear. The bag is 10"x 20". I will be putting a ready to rock and roll Camelbak Hawg. Roll in, switch Camelbaks and roll out. At the start, I will be going light with an old school Rogue. Thin on the back. Makes your jersey pockets accessible. Light. Fast. Efficient.

MW and I may end up running nearly an identical gear and the same tires. JINX!!

I am completely bored with the look of the blog at the moment. Be patient if changes start occuring. We won't be under construction. We'll be under demolition.

Have Abacus, Will Travel

And so it begins...

My season of racing not to finish last takes off Sunday. Marathon in KS. 3Hrs of racing. Not much longer than a XC race really, but I am really looking forward to it regardless. Lantern Rouge, here I come.

The louder you say, "On your left," the faster I will get over.

G-Ted has Paddy on the record. Canadian Class.

Speaking of internet content and mal-content. Two new links are added. TwoWheeledLocust and Gwadzilla.

The TransIowa discussion on MTBR has turned to gear choice by the SS crew (as well and winds and gas stations.) This made me break out my less than stellar math skills and refer to the SurlyBlog for a little mental assistance in SPEW.

Having just bumped up my wheels to Niner sizing, I thought I would work out what in the hell the measurable difference was in the work my tiny legs are doing. I just stuck with Gear Inches because I wasn't about to jump into the deep end of the pool and calculate Gain Ratio.

My floaties and I are just fine in the shallow end.

What I found was that I am content to be running something slightly smaller than the folks that listed their selections on the thread. Basically, Joe and I seem to be on the same page. I am with Dallas though, in that I will bring what I need to make a last minute switch if needed. Flexible plans have always worked best for me.

Now I remember why I took Logic to get out of any math in college.

How Do I Really Feel?

Place Your Bets

Which picture best represents what conditions will be like during the TransIowa?

Muddy Mess


Christmas Remembered


The Snob will be going into seclusion over the weekend. Ride Hard. Check you Monday.

Single Speed Hell Train

How's this for a Single Speed team for 24-9?

CreepyFriendly. Eric Roman. Marko Darko. Travis Brown.

That's a lot of laps for me listening to the words, "on your left."

Tweaker Rides and Slush

The Niner is now fully functional. I spent the vast majority of Saturday morning and early afternoon in and out of the both my basement and the shop, finishing the build. Saturday afternoon and early evening was then spent riding, stopping, tweaking, riding, stopping, tweaking, etc.

Props and thanks to all the folks who helped this clueless wrench get things in working order. I think at some point nearly everyone at the shop gave me a helping hand. Zach, who really saved my ass on Saturday afternoon, also finished his Niner, which is a nice looking TwoWheeledWeapon as well.

While I was dinking around with the One, MW, CVO and Big Skinny rocked a six hour in KS Lincoln style. RF and Captain Cowbell showed strongly for Omaha as well. (I still don't know who the Captain actually is though.)

CVO, embrace the pink helmet. The best pink helmet still goes to Sam for rocking the pink flamed helmet. Whatever happened to that thing?

Wind and slushy snow yesterday and riding was less than joyful. I bailed after a short one.

What a baby.

myinherentawesomeness.blogspot.com

Recently more dust got kicked into the air in the "debate" over 29ers vs. 26ers. Cyclingnews went to print, G-Ted posted, Dave Harris commented, then our own KW killed it with this well-written wonder. It deserves more eyes I threw it up here.

"I did my own tests. You might have read about them on my blog, myinherentawesomeness.blogspot.com. In these highly personal studies I used two separate tests to see which of my bikes I could ride faster. After each lap of the course, I’d excitedly high five myself. Based on the color of my palm, I concluded that my bike with the Time pedals generated a much more enthusiastic hand slap than my bike with Shimano pedals, and thus a much more red (redder?) palm. Not scientific enough, you say? Well you should also consider that I used a color wheel that I bought on sale from the art supply store, and my observations were based on its near-perfect range of magenta.

On another day, on the same course, I strategically placed logs and medium-sized boulders so as to aggravate other trail users. I’d then hide in the trees and when one of them rode by, I’d jump out and yell, “Enough about me … what do YOU think about me?” and watch as they collided with my well-laid obstacles. As they chased me down—many times bleeding and nursing bent wrists and/or collar bones—I’d start my stopwatch and measure how long it took them to catch me on my bike that had the chain lubed with WD-40 as opposed to the one that had the chain obsessively coated with a perfectly nerdy layer of beeswax. I’m sure these findings will bring a ton of naysayer commentary down on my head, and that’s exactly the point. The point is me. In both tests, I was faster. No doubt about it. Forget wheel size, forget blogs, forget your knee centered over your pedal spindle, and the optimum power output of eggs in China.

If we all just focused a bit more on me, this world would be a much better place to live.

You’re welcome,

—kw"