Super Rookie’s World

Presidente Bush just gave his State of the Union address. I am sure that all of you find it inspiring. I hope that everyone is going to continue to do their part in putting America first! Together, as a nation, we can continue to tell the rest of the world that we mean bizness. However, if any of you don’t give a hoot about the presidente and what he says I suggest that you keep on reading this here entry so you can find out what the stops are for Stupor Bowl IX. The stops are also posted here.

If you look at the mbma.net site you will see that there is a little page dedicated to the big prize of the night “The Yellow Bag.” Naturally, dispencer doesn’t like to admit that I was the first ever courier to win the bag 3 times in a row when I successfully defended the bag in 3 different races. But, he assures me that it will be updated soon. A little birdy also told me that my personal page on the mbma.net website was the 3rd most visited page on the site after the opening page and another page that won’t be disclosed. That is proof that I am America’s favorite Minneapolis Bike Messenger. Don’t even start saying that I am not even a courier anymore! Because the last time I checked I am still the Vice-President of the Minneapolis Bike Messenger Association.

That’s right. Dispencer has finally posted the stops for the upcoming race. I have already perused the list of stops and have started to plan and discuss with Sarah on what my race route will be. Of course it all comes down to the starting point. But, dispencer took the entire ‘intro’ of the race a step further with the intro to the list of stops:

Stupor Bowl IX: Purple Rain

Dearly Beloved.
We are gathered here today to celebrate this thing called, “life.”
Crazy word, “life,” it means “a mighty long time,” but I’m here to tell you;
There’s something else.
The Stupor Bowl.

*Please Note Dispencer is 99% sure these are correct addresses. But, you get the idea.

The Hexagon Bar 2600 27th Ave. S
One on One 117 Washington Ave. N.
Grumpy’s Bar 2200 4th St. NE
The Lake Lake St. & James, or so.
The Hub 301 Cedar Ave.
Spring Street Bar 355 NE Monroe
MaKenzies Bar 918 Hennipen Ave S.
The Artist’s Grind 2399 University Ave. W.
Bryant-Lake Bowl 810 W. Lake St.
Sunrise Inn 4563 34th Ave. S.
Hubert’s 601 Chicago Ave.
Pizza Luce 119 N. 4th St.
Red Dragon Bar 2116 Lyndale Ave S.
The Hub 3024 Minnehaha Ave. S.
Cars-R-Coffins 3346 Lyndale Ave S.
The Phone 255 S. 9th St.
First Ave. 701 N. 1st Ave.
Graffiti Bridge Midtown Greenway
Saver’s 2124 E. Lake St.
The Kid’s House 2711 Lyndale Ave. S.

Pre-Registration is at McKenzie on Friday Night @ 918 S. Hennipen Ave. @ 8PM
Registration is on Saturday @ One on One Bike Studio 117 Washington Ave. N. From 1-2:45PM. Don’t be late. If you are late then you don’t get registered. That is how it works. Don’t be that guy that shows up late and causes the race to start late. Rookie.

Race Starts at 3PM from a Secret Location. There are 4 events during the race this year. I assume that at least two of them are Speed and Drinking.

Just looking at that list of stops gets me excited. I already have a bunch of dilemmas on where I should go! Oh it is going to be fun! But, just a note to all of the out-of-towners that are planning on following me…don’t. I don’t know where I am going.

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I ordered Sarah a new bike today. It is awesome. It is a Jamis Ventura Comp 2005. I got it for the 2005 closeout cost and it was way to good of a deal to pass up! I had to make up to her for all of the help she has given me over the past few months. The bike comes stock with Shimano 105 and will do her just fine for what she will use it for.

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Can’t wait to see everybody back home!

One of the best things of living in Chicago is that you are surrounded by a bunch of different cultural groups. For instance, Sarah and I live right down the street from the largest Polish community outside of Warsaw. So when Poland is playing in the World Cup in July you can bet that we will be meeting up with GopherJ and will be frequenting some Polish bars in Jefferson Park. Back in Minneapolis you really didn’t get the opportunity to really experience different cultures. Although there are some cultural enclaves such as the West Side of St. Paul and Frogtown you don’t get the chance to be completely surrounded by different cultures like you do here in Chicago.

So after the 3rd Stage of the Tour Da Chicago Sarah and I got a phone call from Jeff and Margaret and we decided to join them to Chinatown for the Chinese New Year Parade with our friend Ben. Visiting Chinatown has been on Sarah’s list of things to do for sometime. So we were really stoked to be able to go down to Chinatown and take in the festivities. The place was packed! I couldn’t believe the amount of people that showed up.

After getting off the train we ran into this guy:

He was looking for 24th Street. I thought he looked a little out of place for the Chinese New Years Parade, but I soon found out that this isn’t your normal parade. I asked him if I could take a picture with him, but he was really rushed so I just took a picture of him looking lost. Here is the leader of a completely different group of pipers. I never new the Chinese invented bagpipes!

Here is a picture of Margaret and Jeff. This is a really nice picture that really captures the excitement of the parade. They are going to be married sometime soon and I am already writing my best man speech.

After the pipe bands came marching by I began to notice something a little different about this parade. I never knew Ronald McDonald knew about the Chinese New Year. But, I guess that he figured it out in time to make a giant float in the shape of a shoe! Here is the picture of the backside of the float.

The parade also included a bunch of politicos looking for a bunch of votes. Here is the float of the Republican favorite for the nomination for the office of Governor. It had a bunch of little children from the Chinatown elementary school in the front. But, it was missing the politician! Where is Judy? Trying to get some votes, but was afraid of getting booed by Super Rookie? Does she feel like a hypocrite about publicly opposing free health care for children of low-income residents of the state? Is she worried about her views of stricter immigration laws being out of step with the spectators? Hmmmmm. Many questions and she wasn’t there.

Of course it wouldn’t be a parade without a couple of Lion’s doing the “Lion Dance.” While I don’t totally understand what it all means I do know that it is a lot of fun to watch and really got the crowd hyped.

After the last lion came by the parade was over. So the thousands headed to the ‘el’ station and the various restaurants in Chinatown we decided to go and grab a bite to eat. As we were walking towards a restaurant Jeff and I noticed something in the street gutter! Holy crap. It’s the American flag! How dare this person disgrace our country by putting this flag in the gutter! It kind of reminded Jeff and me of all the ways the flag was improperly displayed after 9-11.

We finally found a restaurant. It was really busy, but we got a table in the back next to this sign. It was kind of weird. But the food was good.

Here is the last picture of the day. Sarah took this one of Ben and me on the train. We weren’t supposed to be the subjects of the picture. We were trying to get a picture of the girl behind us. She had the world’s ugliest coat on. It kind of made her look like a goat.

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The night wasn’t over! Ben had invited us over to his house for some beers before the Lucha Libre show at the Congress Theater. I was so excited when I was told that there was going to be a show! I even called my brother to tell him where we were going! But, he asked if he could call me back when I called. I told him no because I was going to be at the Lucha Libre! Here is a picture of our host for the night:

He kind of looks like the guy just a few photos up. But, Clark Kent kinda looks like Superman but with glasses.

For those of you that don’t know Lucha Libre means Free Fight in Espanol. That roughly translates into MEXICAN WRESTLING! How awesome is that? Here is a picture of the marquee:

Gratis=Free! How awesome is that?

We went to the match with a lot of people including Margaret and Jeff. We all estimated that there were about 1500 people in the building watching the show. We arrived during the second to last match of the night. The crowd was going nuts and we joined right in to the fracas. We had a lot of fun of fun yelling!

Hey Ref! Open your eyes!

Mysterio watch out! He is coming to get you!

This is so rigged!

Respect the mask! Don’t take it off! Oh! The shame!

Wow what an excting day!

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I have started to clean up the site a little bit so I can get a photo page up and running soon! I hope to have it online after the Stupor Bowl. I can’t wait to see everyone back home! I will be at the pre-race party on Friday at MacKenzie in downtown. I will be tooling around the city all day!

Today was the third stage of the Tour Da Chicago. With the registration only being a few blocks from my house I was able to sleep in a little bit longer and I avoided making the terrible mistake of eating breakfast before the start of the race. I arrived at Boulevard Bikes shortly before the start of the stage and paid my $5 and chatted it up with all of my fellow bike racers.

The morning started out really warm at about 48degrees. But, there was a persistent drizzle that started right before we left the bike shop to go to the start of the race. By the time I got to the start at Humboldt Park I was starting to feel the effects of the rain. My rain coat was starting to show its two years of wear and tear and I was starting to get a little wet.

The race left Humboldt Park with a neutralized roll out. We followed the road out of the park that was to be the finish. The first 3 miles were ridden all together so that we could get a feel for the finish. Once we got to Lake St. we waited for about 2minutes for the stragglers to catch up and we were off to the races.

I would estimate that there were about 60 riders in this weeks stage. The course was a ‘tour’ of Chicago Parks. We basically followed the boulevard system to the following parks; Garfield, Douglas, Columbus, and Humboldt Park. These four parks are among the many designed by Frederick Olmsted here in Chicago!

The conditions for today’s race were terrible. It was completely miserable and real hairy on the roads. Within the first two miles Salome had a terrible crash on the road when she got hit by an automobile that felt the need to crowd the intersection. But, she was up right away and continued on to finish the race near the top! After this crash the race began to get more open. We went around the inner circle of Douglas Park that also included a quick cyclo-cross dismount to remain on the course.

As we left Douglas Park we had to head back north towards Washington in order to go west to Columbus Park. As we were turning onto Washington another couple of riders went down that had overshot the turn and slipped on the wet tarmac. At this point I went to the front a little bit to slow down the pack so they would have a chance to catch back up. They seemed to be okay and hooked back on as we were traveling west on Washington.

On the way to Columbus Park I remembered that Mike Morrel (our intrepid organizer) had told us that we would need to get on a bike path in order to circle the park. At some point this bike bath would also turn into a dirt path for a little while before our return to the streets. At this point I reminded Marko and James of this so that we could get ready for the hole shot onto the path. I entered the path in about 10th wheel and left the paved section at about the same place. As I entered into the dirt section I lost a couple of spots because I thought I had a better line than the others. While the line would have been great in the dry weather it completely sucked in the pouring rain!

Now we headed back to Humboldt Park and our pack was completely disintegrated down to about 19 riders. There wasn’t anyone else close to catching up and we could see the remnants of the race on their way to Columbus Park. I felt pretty good with my effort and was gearing up for what would be a great sprint between Marko, Gatto, Morrel, Adam Clark and the two leaders Ansgar and Casey. As we headed north to Humboldt four people got a little off the front including Casey. At which point they missed the turn into the park. At this point we needed to put the hammer down. Sorry Casey! But, no one wanted to do any work right away so I found my way to the front and got a little speed in the front. Shortly, I turned around and saw that I only 6 other riders with me. As we crossed Sacramento back onto Humboldt Drive I could see that it was Ansgar, Marko, Gatto, Adam Clark, Ira and myself. I was yelling for Ansgar to do some pulling because he needed the points more than anybody. But, I soon found myself sitting pretty on his wheel with about 300meters to go. It was perfect position, but Ansgar jumped on me and I couldn’t respond. No one else was able to!

Ansgar finished about 4 lengths in front of Adam Clark and I completed the xXx podium sweep in third place. I barely held onto third as I was a little discouraged by not being able to respond to Ansgar.

Before the last turn I had thought that I might be attack before the finish. I thought that this might be the only way I would be able to beat Ansgar. But, as I rounded the turn to come out from behind I felt the wind and decided to sit on the wheel a little longer. I also thought that maybe Marko would go and I would be able to follow him! But, none of us had the legs.

I must say that I would have really enjoyed seeing a sprint with Casey. But, the tour isn’t close to being over. Casey who started the day tied for second place is still in the running for the overall victory since you get to throw out your lowest score. So watch out for him in a few weeks.

Next week…Stupor Bowl IX

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I am in the process of changing some things around on the site. A photo-esque page is coming and I will have a little right up of the Chinese New-Year Parade we went to today. Tonight, Sarah and I are joining some friends at Luche Libra! Mexican Wrestlers!

Photos soon!

As you may have noticed I have changed back to my custom made logo on my front page of the website. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, you all saw enough of my NASCAR shirt. It will only come out during select times of the year. Second, my brother worked really had on my logo and I think that it should be used. I don’t want him to think that he got ‘benched’ for NASCAR.

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Since it is Saturday afternoon Sarah and I are going to run some errands. The weather is really poor so we are going to take transit. The biggest thing on the schedule today is going to O’Hare to rent a car for the coming weekend. We are going to get a full-size sedan and leave on Thursday evening after a rollergirl meeting for Sarah.

We should be pulling into town on early Friday morning. It sounds like the Friday night party is going to be at MacKenzie downtown. I really miss that bar! Especially the kick ass pizza during the day while watching to Tour on the projection screen. George, the owner, is a really nice guy and takes care of the couriers.

The other big errand for the day is watching Purple Rain. I have to do my training for Stupor Bowl IX. I might set up the trainer while I watch this awesome flick.
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I am really enjoying working at the shop. It is a lot of fun. I have finally found a place here in Chicago that I am excited to go into for work. I never wanted to do any of the other jobs. The only other jobs I have ever had like this are working in downtown Minneapolis as a messenger and as a caddie in 7th grade.

My schedule at the bike shop is: M,T,Th,F 11am-7pm.

*I did have fun at the United Center 50% of the time when the Hawks were playing. But, now I can go and watch the games with Sarah!
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After I got off of work last night I biked over to Wrigleyville to meet Sarah, GopherJ and Mr. Neska to take in the Golden Gopher hockey game against the Wisconsin Badgers. The last time we got together to watch a Minnesota hockey game we saw the Gophers get swept at home by the Badgers. But, last night the Gophers got out to a 5-1 league by the end of the 2nd period. Thankfully, the Gophers were able to hold on to the victory with a 5-4 win.

The night was also a little less exciting because GopherJ didn’t get wasted on Jameson. The last time we watched the game we found ourselves talking to a bunch of new friends that GopherJ had ‘picked up’ at the bar. That same night we also made a new Golden Gopher home in Chicago to watch our games. Originally we were going to Redmond’s, the official Gopher bar, in Wrigleyville. But, they didn’t even have FoxSportsNorth so we couldn’t watch basketball or hockey. So, we found a bar down the street that is an Iowa State bar. But, who cares about Iowa State?

The Gophers entered the game as the #4 team in the nation. The Badgers were ranked #2. Tonight the Gophers go for the sweep in Madison. If they pull it off the Gophers will be a remarkable 11-1-1 since they got swept in November. There isn’t a better team in College Hockey in that time frame.

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Whats the Klemp up to? Is he going to show up at SB IX?

Last known picture of the Klemp near a bicycle race:

I doubt he will race. He will work a stop. If he is smart.

Thankfully Sarah is okay! She got hit by a car today on her way home from work. A lady cut her off and gunned it hard right into her right side. I was at work, but got a text message that shook me up. Naturally, the lady that was driving the car didn’t stop nor seemed to notice that she caused my lady to hit the turf.

Sarah was to shaken up to get the bitches license plate. This is why I hate cars in this city. They don’t care about other people. It is always about “me.” You get this same kind of attitude in Minneapolis. Perhaps if more people rode bikes they would understand how to drive responsibly.

The lady in the car is lucky that I wasn’t riding with Sarah or that El Torino wasn’t around with his kick ass chopper! If I was in a car that just hit a bike this is the last thing I would want to see coming in my mirror!

El torino means buisness. If ya mess wiff his cru he will fuq ya up. he rolls thick an’ leaves nahh prisoners. what ‘chew trippin foo’ my man hez got shortys and still represents fo’ da Appleton cru.

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The xXx team meeting on Wednesday night was very successful. At one point we had over 17 people at the Beerstube. While the beers were a little on the expensive side I think that team bonding nights like this should be a regular occurrence. After all we are going to be spending a lot of time with the same people over the coming year. We better start getting used to each other now before it is to late!

It was a real pleasure to finally meet a bunch of my new teammates. The best part is that there are even more teammates out there that weren’t able to come for the festivities. While talking with some of my new teammates that I had met briefly before I was taken aback by how much of a diverse group of riders we have on the team! Between the mountain bikers, roadies and trackies we are going to have a great group of riders on the road in 2006!

There is nothing better than standing at the starting line of a race and having a few teammates with you! You don’t even need to have a racing plan at the start, but knowing that you are not the only one in the race flying your colors is a big help. If we continue to have these types of meetings we will be able to get on the same page for the season. Plus, it will be a lot of fun having some inside jokes that only your teammates know when you are in the pack of a road race!

Here is a picture courtesy of SteakTaco.com:

Note the fake paneling on the walls! Straight out of NorthEast Minneapolis!

The night according to Steak Taco…he was wasted.

Some more of the crew.

Canadians can drink. Eh!

This is the picture of the ‘Not Soft Teammates’ note the missing members…

Parker won the big prize on the night for having the worst crashes in 2005. He also just turned 30 on Christmas Eve. That means his racing age is 31. That deserves an award just right there.

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I sold my first bike today at the shop. It was a Giant mountain bike. I can’t wait to collect my commission on that bad boy. The gentleman that bought it had a huge truck. Straight up Monster Style! It was a Ford so it could have been Bigfoot XIII.

Stupor Bowl IX Just Got A Whole Lot Better!

I just received an email from a loyal reader. Former Chicagoan and Minneapolis resident Kiecker just notified me that Prince is making his first appearance in over 20 years on Saturday Night Live. What day is this historical show? How about February 4th!

You can bet that the televisions at the ending party will be tuned into KARE 11 at about 10:30PM on that magical night to watch the man himself perform! For a while the idea of a Prince Cover-Band was talked about, but since messengers are broke we couldn’t even afford to approach a band to come and play. However, the Purple one will be gracing our party live via Satellite!

You are not going to want to miss this!

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The Conservatives won the election in Canada and will be forming a minority government in Ottawa. The Liberal Party lost for the first time in over 13 years. The New Democratic Party won 29 seats in the House of Commons while the Bloc won 50 seats, but failed to win over 50% of the vote in Quebec. This means that a sovereignty referendum is off the table for a couple of more years.

The Conservatives are talking about pulling out of the Kyoto Accord due to the United States not participating, readdressing a bill to outlaw gay marriages, continue to push for the privatization of health care and provide for more provincial rights in negotiating trade accords with countries. All of these issues have their own pros and con’s, but it might seem like a step backward for my images of an idealistic northern neighbor.

A bright side, in my opinion, is that the New Democratic Party was able to gain a higher percentage of the popular vote and will be able to use it’s 29 seats to play the role of “king maker.” This will require the conservatives to give up some issues in order to have a mandate to pass legislation. This means that for now the privatization of health care and the outlawing gay marriage are off of the docket…we hope.

Oh well. I live in the US. You may beat us in Curling, but we got more guns.

Eh!

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Tonight is the first get together of the category 4/5s of xXx racing. We are gathering up at Resi’s Beer Stueb. This place is awesome. I was introduced to it by GopherJ. When you walk through the doors it is as if you are walking back into 1965 with a German twist. This place is a favorite among the crew that watches Gopher football games over at Redmond’s during the fall.

We are getting together in an effort to bond with teammates as we enter the new season. For many of us this new season will provide many challenges that we will all need to rely on each other to get through. Many of us have individual goals that are only doable through teamwork and persistence. For instance, I really want to get to cat3 on the road. I won’t be able to do this unless I can get a couple of podium finishes. I can’t do it by myself I will need some teammates to help me out. In return I will help them out in their key races by stringing out the pack or putting the hammer down for a break.

This season is going to be a lot of fun. I can only hope that is going to be as much fun as will be had tonight over at the Beer Stueb.

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My new bike shop is Amlings Cycle in Niles, Illinois. It is a family shop that specializes in recumbents. Don’t worry I won’t be sporting any long chains around my wrists any time soon. But, you really should try a recumbent out sometime. They are a lot of fun and easy to ride. Come on in and ask for me and I will tell you all about them!

How about that for a sales pitch? Critique that! The shop is an authorized dealer of Burley, KHS, Giant and Jamis. I know that there are some more brands, but I can’t name them all off the top of my head right now.

I am really excited to have Jamis in the shop. They make a really nice bike that is affordable and realistic to the everyday racer/cyclist. Amling’s is the perfect destination for the entire family to come on in and buy bikes for everybody.

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Dear Sarah,

I don’t plan on spending all of my money on new bike stuff. I have self control. I just need the following things:

Mountain Bike
Recumbent
Road Bike
Back-up Road Bike
Cross Bike
Wheels
Wheels For Wheel Pit
Road Bike For Trainer
Single-Speed Mountain Bike

Love,
Super Rookie

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That is all for now. I have to go and clean the bathroom.

I have always been shocked at how many people come to visit this site everyday. The idea for this site came to me after one of my many hours of bullshitting with Dispencer and Little Guy in downtown last year. I just thought it would be kind of funny to create a website dedicated to myself. I thought that I would maintain it for a little while and get tired of it. But, I actually enjoying being able to post little notes on here and almost act as a conduit of information for those in the biking world in both Minneapolis/Shelbyville and here in Chicago.

As you may know it has been a little difficult here in Chicago for both Sarah and me. But, Sarah and I have persevered and it seems like things are finally sorting themselves out. Originally I had this grand plan of being a messenger down here, but I realized that I was soft and didn’t want to do that type of work anymore. Then I started grabbing every job imaginable in order to pay my share of the bills.

It was around October that the sushi place decided to hire me. I was amped and ready to go, but due to the city and some other variables the restaurant is about 3 months behind schedule. So for the meantime I have been working at the United Center. While that is a decent job I knew that I would be able to make better money elsewhere.

So I also began applying to a bunch of industry jobs; SRAM, Ochsner, Lake Shoes etc… But, these applications seemed to go nowhere. Although, I did get an interview at SRAM I felt that I might have gotten the job if I had a little more bike shop experience under me. That is why a few weeks back I talked to a friend of mine that is a manager at a shop up in Niles. He called me a couple of weeks ago and I went in and met the owner and I started my first day yesterday.

Finally, a shop is willing to take a chance on me. Although I don’t have all of the bike knowledge in the world I feel that I will be able to sell and wrench bikes. When I went in the other day the owner informed me of what he thought I could do at the shop. I originally wanted to get into a shop to get some experience. I figured maybe 10-15 hours a week, but I will soon be working almost full-time.

This of course is a change of plans from what I had thought my schedule was going to be, but today I met with the owners of the sushi place and told them of the change. They seemed very understanding and offered me a schedule that I pick. They have always looked out for me because of the time it has taken to open. Because of this I have a certain degree of loyalty towards them. So as for now I will be working at the sushi place on Wednesday, Saturday and Sundays. This might change in the summer when the bike shop opens up on Wednesdays but I think that I will be able to pull off the work on the weekends at the sushi place.

The bike shop is located about 10 miles northwest of where Sarah and I are. But, it is a decent commute on some nice wide streets. It will be a good workout to get up there, but I need to get some training in all of the time! This also means in the long run that I will be able to get some income flowing into our house. I can get back on track with all of my projects and still get home early enough to spend time with Sarah and Roscoe.
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I apologize for the website difficulties of earlier today. It seems as if my server was down from 11AM to 2PM. I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Check back soon for some picture galleries! I am thinking about setting them up just on a basic blank web page with brief descriptions for each picture. This will allow people to click on the set that they want to view.

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Stupor Bowl IX is coming.

I haven’t blogged in the past two days because I have wanted all of you (my fans) to really appreciate the new NASCAR shirt. You can expect to see that shirt at USCF racing across the Midwest this coming summer. Heck, I might even heed one my loyal reader’s advice and smoke a nice heater while wearing it during warm-ups.

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This past Sunday was the 2nd stage of the Tour Da Chicago. The title of the stage was “Ménage a-Time-Trial.” Basically it was a timed effort where every racer was started in 20second intervals. The race started near the corner of Division and Clyborn on the cities near northwest side roughly located two blocks southeast of Yojimbo’s Garage. The stage consisted of 3 ‘legs.’ The legs were the following:

1. Division and Clybourn to Buckingham Fountain(the big fountain from the television show “Married With Children.”

2. Buckingham Fountain to 54th Street South(Hyde Park).

3. Hyde Park to Division and Clybourn.

The entire course mapped out to roughly about 20 miles.

My first leg went off pretty well. I originally had a route that winded its way through downtown. This route would of brought me right into the loop which would of made me start to take lots of turns to avoid all of the lights. But, with the freezing tempatures and all of the water on the roads I decided to try at the last minute a route that Ansgar hooked me up with. His route proved to be the fastest. It took me onto Lower Michigan and Wacker Drive. I came out of Lower Wacker at Columbus which brought me right to the finish line at the Fountain.

At this point I really began to feel the pain. I had gone to the race at about 60%. I wasn’t feeling to good. I think it was a combination between some Thai food, Breakfast and a slight cold. I was hoping that my health was more nerves than an actual sickness/illness. But, within about 20seconds of arriving at Buckingham fountain I was keeled over trying to gain my composure. I felt like I was going to toss my cookies. I realized that today was really not going to be my day. At this point I was just hoping to keep a steady tempo all the way to the finish. I even contemplated calling it a day and going home since I had to go to work later in the evening. But, Marcus convinced me to keep going and get some points.

The second leg of the stage went a lot better for me. A lot of people had been talking about taking the Lakefront Path, but with the icy conditions only a brave few took that route. I learned from another experienced racer that it is always faster to take the busy streets in an alleycat. Don’t take the sideroads because in the long run it is faster to take the main roads. With this in mind I had decided to take Indiana towards Martin Luther King Blvd. From MLK I would find my way to Cottage Grove and Drexel Blvd. This would take me roughly just a few blocks from the end of the leg. My route saved me a lot of time against my competitors. But, with the fastest people starting behind me(you started in reverse order of standings) I was caught relatively quick. I used this as an incentive to go as fast as I could. I was able to keep with in a good distance and finished with a big pack of about 15 riders that came in together from all different directions! At this point I was happy to see a bunch of people helping Mike out with the results. Everything was sorted out and we all got the dimes that we roughly deserved.

The third leg was one of the most difficult times I have ever had on my bicycle. I don’t consider myself even roughly close to a time trialist. Although one of my favorite events at the track is the Kilometer I don’t like riding my bike by myself for long periods of time. Because of this I hate Time Trials. About a 1/3 of the way through the last leg of the stage I completely and utterly(Paul Sherwin!) popped. It was one of the first times I completely self-destructed on the bike. I have been off the back before(quite a bit), but I have never felt this way. I started to see some of those little purple spots in my eyes when I blinked, I could barely breath. I continued to feel this way for about 30 seconds and I was able to continue on with a nice tempo. I was able to minimalize the damage.

I finished the stage in 10th place. Overall I was am now placed in 7th place. I am pretty happy with where I am in the standings. I know that I could of done better today and gotten about 5th place. But, it just wasn’t in the cards today. At first I was really disappointed with my performance on the day. But, I was reminded by a former half-teammate that it is only January. He was right I have a lot bigger goals on my palate for the upcoming season. I hope to finish the Tour in the top 10. I think that this will be doable. I also hope to have a good showing up at Stupor Bowl IX.

This season is going to be a long one. I hope to get a lot of racing in and fulfill my three goals I have set out for myself.

-Category 2 Track
-Category 3 Road
-Sub 1:13.5 Kilo

Here is photo of me at the end. I got it from Marko over at DIY. You can see what I looked like after the race. Note: I am not as happy without my NASCAR shirt.

It looks like I got to go to the bathroom.

This is what I do when you take my picture with out talking to my agent first! Thanks to Marko for this insightful look into my painful day.

I once saw one of those guys on the sidewalk dressed up like a robot flick off the camera because some tourist didn’t pay him to take his picture. Maybe I could do that to make some money this summer!

…

I received this notice from Girl Carl of Category 6 Racing Squad. I am posting this notice for two reasons. It is a worthwile event that is promoted by a really nice guy, and a guy I know from Chicago is involved in the event. The other reason is that I am hoping that Dispencer and Carlos get off of their collective lazy asses and get “East Lake Story” Starring Me into this festival.

SIXTH ANNUAL BICYCLE FILM FESTIVAL Call for Entries

———–
The Bicycle Film Festival is seeking submissions for its sixth annual
Festival. The event will feature dozens of different films on a
variety of bicycle styles – from BMX to urban bike culture, cycling
to commuting. The 2005 Bike Film Fest was attended by 15,000 people
with many sold out showings. This year’s festival is larger then ever
before and will include 10 cities throughout the world including last
years cities New York, Los Angles, San Francisco, Tokyo, and London!
It is bound to be a lot of fun again in 2006!

We encourage YOU to submit films with these guidelines to enter: All
lengths. Short is great and easier to program. All genres: BMX,
animation, narratives, docs, experimental, Hollywood, cycling, and so
on. The festival is more than films, it also features music, parties,
fun bicycle parade, and art exhibitions.

For info:
http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com target=_blank
brendt@bicyclefilmfestival.com

The deadline for submissions is February 17, 2006.

Thanks
Brendt Barbur

…

If you ever have an event that you want posted on here just send it to me. Naturally, it should fit the following criteria:

1. Cool as super-rookie.com.
2. Remotely pertains to super-rookie.com.
3. Super-rookie.com gets something out of this, such as, a new umbrella.

Email me at thesuperrookie.com

…

Check back later today for the big news here in Chicago. Some will be happy for me. Some will cry. But, most will be indifferent.

As you may have read in the previous post Sarah and I were just downtown. Sarah really wanted to get out of the house so she could experience this great city during the day. I have been hoping for this day for a long, long time. Ever since the last time I was downtown with Sarah she has been bringing up Tiffany’s.

Finally, today I had the opportunity to go to Tiffany’s with her and look at all of the rings, bracelets and watches. I was a little nervous at first but the lady with nicely manicured hands calmed us down and happily showed us a beautiful ring. It is the ring that Sarah has wanted for sometime. It also came with a nice wedding band. Sarah tried it on and was happy as can be. It looked really nice on her and although the ring was a little small, they assured us that they can always resize it!

15seconds later we left Tiffany’s and went to the NASCAR store!

This is where I have wanted to go for the longest time. I had been by the store a few months ago, but it was closed. Upon entering Sarah was a little nervous. After all, we had just been in the biggest ‘grown-up’ candy store. But, the workers were thrilled that some normal looking people with well groomed hair had walked into their store.

Within a few seconds I was asked who my favorite driver was. Naturally, I didn’t know his name. I just wanted the most ridiculous looking shirt imaginable. But, I vaguely remember a driver with #19. This was my messenger and favorite number so I was hoping to see something that caught my eye before the worker realized I didn’t know what I was talking about.

I quickly turned to my right and saw it. THE GREATEST THING I HAVE EVER BOUGHT. Check it out:

Watch out for #19 Jeremy Mayfield coming to a race track near you.

The #19 Car is sponsored by Dodge and the UAW!

Don’t mess with #19 on the race track. Bicycles or Cars.

Just look at the shirt! Look at the detail. There was a sticker on the shirt at the store that stated “Due to an individual printing process no two shirts are a like.” I think I picked out the best one. If you look closely Jeremy Mayfield gives two distinct facial expressions as well as the pit crew in the background. On the front it says “Raising The Bar.” The back side says “Above The Rest.” I am so stoked to have this shirt in my wardrobe.

I can’t wait for Sundays this coming year when I can sit on the couch eating pork rinds and drinking Busch Lite while yelling at Sarah to go and get me a pack of Winston’s at the corner store.

Another great thing about this shirt is that I got the smallest size, Medium. The shirt is huge on me and is fitted for overweight Southern Gentleman. But, it highlights my chest hair!

Sarah and I have decided to get out of the house today. I am currently at the Apple store on North Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago. The place is really busy and I am currently in a corner of the store using a new Powerbook G4. It is really nice. I am really enjoying it. I like how easy it is to type and like the interface alot.

Well. I should get off of this computer now.

But, some things I have noticed today:

The snow from last night has mostly melted.

People can’t walk in a straight line. It is as if being downtown makes people stupid. Walk in a straighline people. If you need to tie your shoe move to the left please.

Don’t wear a bunch of fur on Michigan Ave. You look like a lady from James Bond. Plus, it kind of makes me want to go and get a bucket of Red Paint. Not because I am all political mostly because it will make that ugly ass coat look better!

A photo gallery will be coming shortly. I really need to start taking photos for this website. It will be off the hook when I do!

I have an alleycat tommorow. I have a top secret plan that will work.

That is all……for now….muahahaha….Sarah is still shopping. To bad she didn’t get the memo that we don’t have any money for IPOD accessories. Little does she know what I have been saving up for. Stay tuned!