Super Rookie’s World

The racing at the velodrome on Thursday night was a ton of fun. I think every single person at the place had a smile on their face during the festivities. I didn’t hear any complaining and even Bob seemed a bit more jovial than normal. In fact, the jokes that Bob was cracking over the loudspeaker were legendary. During all of this fun time the following happened:

• Skibby drove the moto for the Keirin final and deposited the riders at something like 45mph as he pulled away with a BSEG on his face. Hilarious.


• The Grumpy’s/LGR team did a 4:45 team pursuit…only to realize that the officials made us do only 15 laps. We were given a respectable time of 5:02 based on the last lap time. I bet with the right pairing (sub Big Matt for myself) that the team is capable of a 4:49 with some practice.


• Pete Hanna, Doug Regester and Chris Ferris are great break away partners in an 80lap points race. Even pulls and even point distribution throughout the race. I had to beat Richter in the final sprint to take home second place and was able to do it, but wouldn’t have been able to with out a leadout from Joe J, or being put into that position with the rest of the team.


• Pat Lemiux scored something like 60 points in a 40 lap points race in the 4/5s. If you figure 5 points for the leading each sprint and 20 points for each time lapping the field, this would amount to lapping the field twice and winning the 4 sprints. Very Bergman-esque. Big props to Charlie Anderson for sticking with Patty Cakes.


• Dave Grey in the Keirin is always a hoot. If you look closely at Big Dave you really get to see that he is actually made of 3 geometric shapes; (an upside down triangle on top of two rectangles).


• The revamped Grumpy’s/LGR ladies team were trading attacks and making the womens racing a hoot.

Yet, despite all of the previously mentioned awesomeness the best part of the night was the clinic that Peter Schweich and Matt Allen put on in the Cat3 Miss and Out! I am not kidding. The two of them hooked up and combined to take out 10 straight riders in the 13+ person field. The huge HUGE crowd was going nuts with each time the Little Guy would scoot up next to Peter to box out the next rider. It was a ton of fun to watch and the crowd was hootin’ and hollerin’ the entire time.

To bad Peter got relegated for taking Little Guy to the apron

Smithers is running his annual Tour de France Pool. I have had a so so history with this pool finishing in the middle of the pack for the past few years. Because of this I decided to go out on a limb with my picks and produced the following jersey winners for the 2008 TdF:

• 1st Place= Denis Menchov (Rabbobank)


• 2nd Place= Damiano Cunego (Lampre)—Cunego is my new DiLuca! He is awesome and the “Little Prince” will shine brightly.


• 3rd Place= Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto)


• Green Jersey= Erik Zabel (Milram)—How can you not vote for Zabel? He is a legend and with all the hilly finishes he has as good of a chance as any. Plus, this is probably his last TdF.


• Mtn Jersey= Christoph Moreau (Agritubel)—Moreau is the new Virenque plus 5 years, minus 5 polka dot jerseys.


• Team Classification= Euskatel-Euskadi—This pick is way out there, but I have faith.


• Winner on Alp d’Huez= Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval)—Ricco has called his shot and he will deliver.

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Two bicycle related stories hit the newsline in the past 24hours. Amazingly, they both don’t have to do with riders running stop signs or any other type of bicycle vs. car scenario. My guess is that the newsrooms across the city are seeing the amount of bicyclists on the road and are starting to no longer take a back seat. Here are the two stories provided for our enjoyment today:

Bike Bridge Provides Electric Shock -This one comes to us from KARE 11 and is a story about a bicycle bridge from the land of the Little Guy (Maple Grove) that was improperly grounded, and therefore provides an electrical shock when riders cross the bridge. I guess they never tested the bridge, but they are in Maple Grove and only families go for rides on the weekend.

Minneapolis Cops Cracking Down On Bike Parking -Our good friends at KSTP 5 provide us a story about the inept police department west of the river. I tend to agree that more bikes need to be taken by the police, god knows how difficult it is to find a parking spot over on campus, and I always get pissed off when I see idiots park to handicap signs or hand railings. My problem lies with the refusal of the city to enforce bicycle parking requirements for building owners. Have you ever looked for a spot on Nicollet Mall?
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Here are the new Garmin/Chipotle uniforms:

Not bad. I like the black sides, but argyle is a bit off kilter and the Gamin addition seems so last minute.

I don’t know where I first stumbled across this picture:

It is of the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea. The hotel construction started in 1987 and was designed to be 105 stories tall. Amazingly, the building was never completed and the empty concrete shell of a building still stands and dominates the skyline of Pyongyang. As you can imagine the government of North Korea isn’t very proud of this scar on the landscape and they have been known to photoshop out the hotel in official photographs of Pyongyang.

The building is not structurally sound as it has been exposed to the elements for sometime. Perhaps the most interesting part of the entire structure is the crane that still rests at the top. How would you like to be the person that has to take it down?

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Rumor has it that Doug Swanson is a huge fan of colonial houses and is planning on purchasing this classic in Minnetonka:

Swanson likes living in Minnetonka because it is quiet, but he especially enjoys houses that have symetrical windows and the classic 5 and 4 pattern that populate these homes. To bad, that Swanson doesn’t want to live in something even more exciting like a Victorian with two toned paint jobs and round turrets on the second floor.
Oh well, that is enough for this Architecture post.

It only took a few years for the genius developers of the Penfield Condos in downtown St. Paul to pull the plug on their project. The Penfield was supposed to be the St. Paul version of the Carlyle (in downtown Minneapolis). The condos were priced from $200,000 to 1million, naturally the $200,000 condos were about 700 sq. feet, but the developers thought that the market was out there for the million dollar units.

I can’t believe it has taken this long for developers to realize that there isn’t a market for these projects, unless they include semi-affordable units. I know that when Sarah and I were looking for a place to live (before our move back my mommy’s house) that the ones we looked at didn’t have a ridiculous sq. foot rate. Oh well. At least they didn’t break ground on this project like they have at various other condos in the cities.

The Reserve is an example of this in downtown Minneapolis.

Pioneer Press Article

Star Tribune Article

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Frye pointed out in my last post that I think a lot of things are “lame.” He is spot on and I would like to reiterate, that whichever race I decide to attend when there are two to choose from, the one in which I don’t attend is, in fact, lame. It is the way it works.

I drove down to Mankato with Little Guy, Margaret and Cheddawurst on Sunday for a mountain bike race. TC and the gang met up with us down there and we set up camp at the base of the ski hill and then it was go time! The race was a ton of fun and TC was killing it, but Margaret showed us all who was boss with a phenomenal time and then we stuck around for the Comp race for Chedda and Little Guy. They did great as well.

The crazy thing about mountain biking is how good I felt on the climbs and how I was able to pass people and continually move up on people when the trail pointed up. However, once the downhills came and the trees got in the way all types of people passed me! I ended up finishing in 55th place in the Sport category, which I am more than proud of considering this was my first mountain bike race in 3 years. My lap times kept getting faster and faster and I know for a fact that I can take a good 3-4 minutes off of my time and be in the top 20 the next time around…I just need to practice.

People need to mountain bike more. Driving to St. Cloud for a criterium around a high school seems awfully lame to me compared to this! Plus, the way I figure it, Mankato is almost interchangeable with St. Cloud.

I also hear that since the mtb course was 100% singletrack it was “awesome.”

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Margaret is going to be one of the top racers in the area if she sticks with it. This mountain bike thing seems to be her forte.

Bored?

Unlike other team websites that haven’t been updated since 2006 we somewhat update littleguyracing.com.

In fact, we teamed up with world renowed photographer Total Coverage Worley for a photo shoot in the profile section.

Here is a good one:

If TC can make Big Matt look okay than our wedding won’t be a problem at all!

Oh, how can one not wonder about this one:

James Tainter (Silver), Derrick Lewis (Cat6), Joe Johnson (Grumpy’s/LGR) and Tim Mulrooney (Synergy) did a 4min 43sec team pursuit at the Velodrome last night. It was one hell of a display that they put on and the Speedfix team also put on a great performance to come in just about 5 seconds shy of the Tainter led team. It was one of the best team pursuits I have ever seen and what a blast it was!

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Sadly, the result was a little overshadowed when a member of the Speedfix team protested the result because James Tainter (4? time National Champion) was using an illegal helmet.

Tainter=Criminal

The Tainter team got to keep the win after the official’s dealt with the protest in a very rational way. Tainter is paying a $20 fine to the track development fund and everyone else got one hell of a laugh that a challenge was made about a helmet!

Velodrama has returned…and I had nothing to do with it!

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In other track news, quick release skewers are still illegal for track racing.
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My experience was a blast as 11 Grumpy’s riders showed up tonight to ride or officiate!

How awesome is that?

I took 5th in the Reverse Win and Out (thanks to the gift from Richter) and I didn’t qualify for the Chariot final. I held Joe Johnson for the start of the Team Pursuit and did the lap cards for them. It was quite the showdown, but by the end of the race his team pulled away. The 80lap points race went extremely well with Joe getting a 4th and I was able to swoop in for a 7th place as I stayed even on laps and even got some points on the last sprint.

We also have a new teammate in the women’s field. Welcome to Megan.

On several occasions Sarah and I have hung out with our good friends Dan and Jenny at the bar, or at other cool social events (like our porch or their basement). It is a ton of fun. On pretty much every evening we do this we end up deciding to order a pizza at around 10pm, and it takes us over an hour to decide what to get. It is a major pain in the ass. Here is the break down:

1. Where do we order from? 15min


2. How are we going to order it? 15min


3. What are we going to get? 15min


4. Trying to convince Dan to place the order 30min

The last time we were over there I really wanted to order from Domino’s because they have this online feature called “pizza tracker.” Basically, your screen updates when the pizza moves from freezer to oven to oven bag to delivery car. It is really bad ass to watch, but totally gimmicky. You should try it sometime. Nothing like supporting the birth of American Catholicism’s give to god (a new city!).

Pizza Tracker is awesome. The pizza tastes like crap, but it is a ton of fun to watch (I am easily amused).

(tonight we ordered Pizza Hut because I couldn’t figure out the online thing. We need Dan’s help.)

Check out this photograph and the caption attached to this:

Matt Allen of St. Paul put some power behind his drive at Acorn Park disc golf park. The construction worker played 18 holes during his lunch break last week. “It’s good exercise. It’s competitive. It’s usually in city parks. And you can play it any time you want to.”

Here is the complete article about frisbee golf in Roseville. I used to play at this course back in the day…might have to try it again, especially if the Little Guy is playing. Are you surprised that the Little Guy plays frisbee golf? Or, more surprised that he has gained some weight?

We are about 80% moved from the Northeast apartment to the new digs in Shelbyville. As I was getting ready to move out some of the bicycles yesterday I rediscovered my old mountain bike and pumped up the tires and cleaned it up. There is still a little bit of work to be done, but it will be making a stop at Behind-Bars so I can have it in time to race it this Sunday down in Mankato!

What? I am skipping a criterium for a mountain bike race? Yep, it will be my first mountain bike race in over 2 years and it will have to be on an old converted single speed. It sounds like a ton more fun than driving to St. Cloud for a 40min crit in which I have the distinct opportunity of being pulled out of (the last two St. Cloud criteriums have ended this way). If I am already going to be riding in a race alone I might as well be mountain biking.

Has anyone done the Mt. Kato course? What gearing should I run?

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The St. Cloud Criterium is a fun race and this year it seems to be held in conjunction with the town festival Stearns County Freak Show Day Granite City Days. There will be a ton of nice faces at it including Taylor Olson who has promised to race in the Category 5 Mens race. All of the races up in that neck of the woods are on great courses and I still have another 3 days of driving up there this season (Granite Country SR and State Road Race).

I am happy that the organizer has listened to the people and given the Womens 1/2/3 race their own field. It was a shame to think that a ROY event would combine 50+ Men (Scott Flanders, Pramann, etc) with the top ladies. My only fear is that there might be a light turnout as plans have already been made. Promoters should not let this be the bellweather on whether or not to offer a womens only field. Regardless of the size it is important to offer this option especially if the event is to be a ROY listed event.
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I was looking at the calendars of racing in other states and we have it pretty well off with the amount of road races in the area. For instance, Illinois only has 2 road races in the state. We have (including Durand) about 9! I know a ton of people that jealous of this fact.

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This saturday is the Square Lake Road Race. I originally was going to do this when I was informed that the schedule was being readjusted for my own selfish needs, but since the Category 3s are in the afternoon and I have a wedding to attend I will not be making the trip out to north of Stillwater to throw the hammer down. This is a shame because this could be Lalla’s last race as a Category 3 and it was the site of his infamous, “does anyone have a 5mm allen wrench?”

Good times.

I went to the bar on Saturday night and was there till about 1:30am. I then got up real early this morning to move. As you can imagine it was a ton of fun (moving, not the bar). Rumor has it that I was going downhill pretty fast and when 1:15 rolled around and the 3rd ass to buy me a Tequila shot showed up…it was time to get the show on the road.

Before going to the bar I did a bicycle race near St. Cloud. I finished in 13th place and I am happy with that. The finish wasn’t really something that suited me, but all in all I made it to the end and I am stoked. Cheddawurst took home a 7th place for the team and (dis) and Little Guy each had double flats…it was amazing.

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Super-Rookie Dot Com’s favorite new domestic-pro cyclist Roman Kilun of Health-Net took home his first ever NRC win the other day. Roman is a real nice guy and I was lucky to interview him at the NVGP (to be posted on bikethrow when I unpack the recorder) and he is rather funny.

Thanks to cour10ay for the picture.

This just came across the blotter from Lunatic Biker.

Cops Are Idiots

Seriously. About 85% of my interaction with members of the MPD has left me with the feeling that they only hire idiots.

I would like to give a big shout out to Svein Tuft for making the Canadian National Olympic team. Svein is a beast and got his start in bicycle racing through a round-about way. To make a long story short: Svein became a hobo. He had a bicycle. He rode the bicycle to his job as a mechanic. He entered a race. He won the race. He jumped on trains for a while. He brought his bicycle with him and he kept winning races in various towns. Now he is going to the Olympics

Svein is also an avid anti-doper and very vociferous about the need to clean up the peleton.

Crazy props to Tuft!

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This is a funny story about finding a hotel in Duluth over Grandma’s weekend. To get straight to the hilarity there are hotels in Canal Park that are charging over $500 a night and a mandated two night stay. The article mentions that this is more than what it would cost to stay in Times Square, NYC.

Yeah, except it is Duluth.

One of my favorite soccer players is Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA. He also plays for the US National team and will surely be a fixture on the national team for the next few years and the 2010 World Cup. When I have watched him play I have always figured he was from Omaha and listened to Bright Eyes:

Turns out he is from California, oh well.
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Some of you have probably read the post from Strats about women and racing categories. I think her opinion is very valid, and it brings up a great point about bicycle racing. I encourage all that care about bike racing to take a read here. Strats brings up a bunch of facts about the difficulties of being a woman racer, but the point that I think should really be brought up at this time is the fact that the MASTERS 3/4 CATEGORY IS STUPID.

I have long been a proponent of taking this category out of racing. Part of me understands the need for a Masters 35+ Open or a 50+ category, but it is the Masters 3/4 that really irks me. It makes no sense, these individuals should be racing in their regular categories, dividing racers by age is idiotic. These riders need to step up and race with the rest of the Cat3s and Cat4s. Just think if the Duluth Classic had a regular Cat3 race and Cat4 race only! That would have been the best racing of the year, instead it was just another opportunity for Andy Frye to get a second place

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I got my tattoo touched up today so I am cranky.