A Final Salute to 2005

My Goodness, My Guinness

Visiting Patrick Humenny's blog today, I found that aside from sharing an enjoyment of a bit of suffering. His post race beer of choice seems to be Guinness.

Because I know Sam enjoys the same fine beverage, I felt pretty comfortable offering up a post race pint.

As a few folks are aware, when my focus was more on the adventure racing front, we began a tradition of drinking Guinness after a win which qualified us for the USARA National Championship. Race for 24hrs, then pour a pint. No better celebration to be had.

Which begs the question, what's your post race beverage of choice?

Two Weeks is a Long Time

There's been a lot of this going around at Snob central lately:

Wake up. Make espresso. Wonder why my machine seems to be pushing out my medicine slower and slower each day. Spend time with the family. Ride. Gravel. Roads. Hills. Good conversation. Return home. Make some food. More time with family. Relax, Rewind, Repeat.

With the riding come some highlights:

Riding with a great group of people Saturday morning who, except for RockD, I have never really gone on a ride with before. Thanks everyone.

Finding a couple of 'B' roads which will provide great tire testing areas for the final decision between the Nano and JonesXR.

Scraping mud off of my tires with a stick so that I could continue the climb up one of the previously mentioned 'B' roads. (And wishing I had brought my camera.)

Wandering into a "luxery" housing development where homes of ridiculous sizes sat perched on hills overlooking the cookie-cutter sprawl of Lincoln's southside. The best part was that a tree house in the development was nicer than my current house. (And again, wishing I had brought my camera.)

Side note: If I ever have that kind of money, I am not going to show it to you and, if I did, it wouldn't be like that. (I might have a couple of sweet bikes though.)

Cool Art, Cool Cause

Rudi Nadler is racing the Great Divide Race in 06 and, as opposed to just looking for handouts, is selling a very cool print in exchange for your support. I'd also recommend looking at Rudi's portfolio when you visit, plenty of pieces worthy of your wall space. Don't have the cash? Get your roommates, take something out of petty cash at the shop, pool your resources and help a brother out.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Finally, There is More on the Kansas Race

This comes straight from Guitar Ted's Blog. Make this man a regular visit. He's always got something good to say:

"This is the event "spawned" by Trans Iowa. It's going to be in Kansas. It's going to be a 200 mile loop through the Flint Hills region of that state. It's going to be SUPER TOUGH!! It's tentative name is The Flint Hills 200. The name may change, so do not bank on that yet. When? Keep May 20th open on your calendars and look for more details soon! I'll post here, or check mtbr.com. "

Time to start thinking about doing the "double."

Now we need the "EnduroSnob 400" for the triple crown of Midwest Sufferfests.

Notes From Dejay

croppedgear
Originally uploaded by Endurosnob.

"Finally proof that geared bikes go to hell. It's to bad that the singlespeeders have the closest seats by the fire.

"Just a month to go to experience the singlespeed!! I just can't ride this trail enough. On saterday a group of us took it for a spin. Starting at 6.30am, it was 24 degrees, but 2 miles into the ride i was all warm. Threw out the ride i was able to take a few photos. I attached a goodie, this is singletrack!, but for the rest go to singleswizzle.com.

"The games following the event are coming together nicely. B.I.C.A.S. the local non-profit bike shop are donating some 12"-16" bikes for the mini short track.
now go for a ride, but first forward this to all that are worthy.
D---- "

"Notes from Dejay" are musings, info and general good vibes from Subaru/GaryFisher's Dejay Birtch.

JonesXR

JonesXR
Originally uploaded by Endurosnob.

What tire would you run for TransIowa? Here's my choice. Thanks for the photo, Sam.

December Heaven

47 degrees, Sunny, No Wind. Can I get an Amen? Off to ride.

Apparently, I Really Am a Snob

When Sam and I were riding yesterday, we discussed his rule to not post on forums. He said he may follow the TransIowa thread though as he wants to do well and pick up what value is there. After visiting today, I think Sam maybe on to something with his rule... jeez.

I have several very good pics that Sam and Dejay Birtch sent my way, but I couldn't get them to upload. I will try to get it sorted as all are of interest and worth a post in-and-of themselves.

In case you haven't looked at the comments in the last post:
Christmas Eve Ride. Snob's Place (bar name?) at 7am. Riding until ~10am. Gravel Grinder heading South. We'll finish on time. No angering the family during the holidays.

I wonder what would happen if I got on the forum and asked if I should "run" chops?

That confirms it, I guess I am a Snob.

**This just in. I checked some other blogs I like and apparently I am also a bandwagon jumper. Crap.

The Draw of Endurance Events

The FolksFromLincoln blog, which is a local portal of sorts for the Lincoln, NE cycling community has an interesting post about bringing more Marathon length races to our area. As most of the readers from this blog are from out of the area, if you have input on how marathons and endurance races have grown in your area, please visit and give your two cents.

Nice ride today with Sam, Mark and Jeff. Good weather, good people, I wish I could have ridden longer. Sam and I were tentatively talking about doing an early morning Christmas Eve ride. If you are interested, give a yell.

Defining "SingleSpeed"

The TransIowa discussion on MTBR has now turned to the matter of what is, or is not, a single-speed. I thought I would bring the discussion to the Snob as well since I think the same dialogue applies to other races and events.

Here's my two cents. Give me yours.

Single is one, which for me begins and ends the discussion. As soon as you start flip-flopping, wrenching or being clever in order to change your gear ratio, you've just shifted. It's no longer a SS. As you'll see from the thread, people have a lot of valid reasons why they might want to change things at some point in the race. The course does this and that, etc. Which is simply another way of saying, "I might decide at some point that I need to shift."

As I was typing this, Mr. 24 just posted the following to the thread: "For all singlespeed and fixie...Show up to the start line with a gear. Run it all the way to Decorah. Simple as that."

I couldn't agree more. What about you? I'm not afraid to admit I am wrong, but you'll have your work cut out for you on this one.

Step On

Weird day today. I think I will chalk it up to the start of a two week vacation.

Rode for only a couple of hours today. 20 degrees. Fairly windy but really pretty comfortable. Planning something similar tomorrow with Sam-I-Am.

Nice crew out at Yia Yia's tonight. I think we were all a little tired from the weekend. Thanks for joining me fellas.

MW is ready to plan it all out and go to Iowa tomorrow. I love his enthusiasm.

Two decisions I have made regarding TI.
1. Go out with the lead group until it stops making sense. (Last year I purposely started in the back.)
2. Not make any stops until Algona. (The halfway point.)

Two Weeks of Heaven

Tomorrow, which happens to be my birthday, also happens to kick off two workless weeks here in Snob-land. I probably could not work for a cooler company. The decision was made that we should spend the holidays with our families, so there you have it. Two weeks of base, no stress and family.

During the two weeks, I'll be trying out a new helmet which was given to me at X-Maxx. (Seen in the picture.)

Corey and I made it about a third of the way to Branched Oak for the Cross race today, but at one point Corey thought his junk was about to freeze off and we called it good.

Lots of TransIowa talk occurring now that Registration is close and Lincoln is representing. If you have interest in cookie dough or over excited mashocisists, visit MTBR.

Riding tomorrow at 1pm. Jeff Avey, I am looking at you.

Yia Yia's at 7pm.

My War at 24

"This one goes out to Johnny."




Inspiration.



Genius at Work.


Happy Birthday, John. Much Love.

Hey Iowa!! Bring It!!

Lincoln will be strongly represented in the TransIowa.

Here's the breakdown:

Geared Hammerheads:
Sam
Jeff Avey
Corey Godfrey
Emily B. (One of Two Ladies)

Single Speeders:
Matt Wills
The Snob

I'm really pumped so many of us got in.

Names of note who are also racing: Mike Curiak, Matt Chester, Nick Martin, and I assume Mr. 24 himself.

GET ON IT!!!

If you want to get into TransIowa, GO REGISTER NOW!!! Thanks Matt for sending me the email. I would have been white hot angry had I missed out because registration opened early. Also, my baby sitter (who by the way rides a fixed gear) said our phone was ringing off the hook while I was at my company X-Mas party. If you guys were trying to give me the heads up, I sincerely appreciate it. I know Sam and Jeff both called and there were other numbers I didn't recognize. Much love fellas.

Let me know if you made it in.

Note: Corey, I got you registered. Merry Christmas.

This is Getting Old

"We Jam Econo"

Good night last night hanging out with Keith Schieron, who works from my company, and also happens to be the guy who produced We Jam Econo: the Story of the Minutemen. What started as a polite work-related affair, which included JK "I have a sweet IF but never ride it" Purtzer, moved one step over to a fun-filled evening of banter. Johnny then joined us to take it up a notch, particularly when we began to point out the homo-eroticism in all of JK's stories about his days as a councelor at a Winona's Boys Camp.

We did also go through the seasonal "You Ride when it's this Cold out?" chit-chat as well. I am sure all who visit the Snob know what I am saying, except for maybe those of you down South. Usually, I find myself giving an explaination along the lines of, "well, with good clothing, yada, yada, yada." Once in a while though, I do want to simply say, "Do people ski when it's this cold? Then Shut Up."

Oh well, the mini-rant is over.

Great weekend on tap: Cross, TransIowa Registration, X-Maxx and Johnny's Birthday.

Not too shabby.

What Would Dejay Do?

MW and I have discussed this a bit in a couple of posts and now it's available for discussion on MTBR; if you are riding a bike Single Speed across Iowa, what gear are you going to run? Thoughts? Opinions? Could the proper gear choice earn you Endurance Cyclist of Year?

What Would Dejay Do?

By the way, predictions from Mr. 24 are that the race fills up in an hour. If you are racing Cross and want to make sure you get registered, let me know. Sam, I am looking at you.