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.
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