Super Rookie’s World

I am going to start doing a roundup on Mondays for the track scene here in Minnesota. It might not be as exciting as Bike Porn Mondays over at Masiguy, but I promise to have some goodies for you. I also plan to take Strats! idea and have power rankings on every Monday for the entire season. The Power Rankings will take into account TROY standings and other off-track drama. It is going to be sick.

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If you have any leads make sure you send ‘em to me through the ‘contact me’ button on the right.

As you know it is early in the season so not much going on at the moment. This doesn’t mean that things aren’t moving at full speed up in Blaine. For instance, Bob and Mark Stewart are currently building a concession stand located out of turn 4. That means you can come up on Thursday nights with the kids and buy some popcorn, redbulls and soda pop etc…The proceeds from the concession stand are going to go straight to the racing program. This means an increased prize list and longer sustainability for the ‘drome.

Racing starts on May 17th. However, this year we have added the ‘Hello Velo’ event to kick off the season. ‘Hello Velo’ starts at 5pm on Saturday May 19th. It is sponsored by Chili’s and Summit! That means BEER AT THE VELODROME. There is also going to be a DJay and other cool events. Plan ahead and show up. A large crowd will help bring in more sponsors, such as Chili’s and Summit who are running test event. There isn’t any reason the stands shouldn’t be full on that night.

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Word has it that the National Champ is throwing down at training sessions with 85% efforts. Big Dave says that he “ain’t doing just 85%, more like 110%” I also heard that Brain Crosby is on top form. He just got second at Conference Finals on the road. No word on if he cut his hair…

Early in the season also means track class! Here are some spyshots from the first one of the year:

As you can see in this photo Bob is his usual bundle of joy! (ed-this photo was before class).

Hey! It’s Hotpinkevil. She seems really stoked for the class to start. I am so proud of her for taking the class. I think she is a sprinter. You should see her throw down when she is mad. I am talking sub-12 anger.

The Killer Slays All.

My favorite bike racer dedicated his victory at Liege to me.

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Ken Woods was a fun race. In a nutshell here is how my day went.

I woke up.

Homme picked me up.

I registered.

I lined up and raced.

I got dropped the first time up the climb.

I got chased back into the pack with Shannon from GP and a huge dude from Silver that could probably eat me for breakfast.

The official stopped us because the Masters 35+ were right behind us. This was for safety reasons.
We waited for a while.

A douchebag started swearing at the official for stopping us and looked like a real idiot.

I told him to be quiet.

We got back on our bikes.

I got dropped on the second time up the climb.

This time I didn’t catch back up and a group of 10-15 riders stayed clear.

I managed to create a good chase group with Lalla and Alec.

We brought back a bunch of others, including the Little Guy.

After the finish I bummed $5.00 off of Dave LaPorte and ate some good home cooked food.

While sitting at the table I saw a guy from Flanders ride his bike through the graveyard.

The rest of the team finished and stopped by and said hi.

I saw Doug beat Timmer and Doig took third in the 1/2s.
Good for them.

Homme gave me a ride home.

I drank beer on the porch with some friends.

I went to bed.

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Hotpinkevil! is making her debut on the track this afternoon.

h/t to Gilby.

Minneapolis,MN — Local bicycle racer Tim Mulrooney, known as Timmer, declared himself the soon-to-be winner of the upcoming Ken Woods Memorial Road Race. In a shocking statement that was tied to a historical anecdote about the races namesake Ken Woods, Timmer had this to say, “I’ll win one for you on Saturday Ken.” While some are taking this statement out of the context, some are saying that Timmer really means it.

At the time of typing his comment Timmer was probably thinking, “I am going to kick all of your asses because one of the biggest legends of local cycling taught me almost everything I know. People don’t know about Ken Woods so the best way for me to teach the world about him is to win. Which I plan on doing.” Many in the local scene are blowing this out of proportion including local blogger Smithers, who typed “Timmer Calls Shot” in a recent post on the subject.

Local cycling tabloid writer Super Rookie even went as far to write, “If Timmer were a squirell this would be a picture of him.” Many people were planning on entering a ‘u-pick-em’ of the Ken Woods Road Race, but the organizer has decided to end the contest because everyone is to affraid of picking a rider other than Timmer.

Local racer Darrin Homme may have even thought, “Crap. I am on his team and now I am going to have to do everything possible to make sure he wins. Stupid bloggers ruining all of the fun. It is a shame. Blogs are fucking stupid. Now they have put me in this situation of helping Timmer win. I am going to quite blogging.”

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Many people are expected down to Canon Falls on Saturday to witness the big race. No word yet from other teams in the area, but many feel that this is totally being blown out of proportion. One local racer was even thought to have been thinking, “Timmer? Ha. How old is he again?”

While many have thoughts about this big non-event, you can count everyone watching for the results of the big race a few days after it is finished when they are released.

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If Timmer were a squirell this would be him:

Timmer took no prisoners today when he flat out told the world that he was planning on winning the Ken Woods Memorial Road Race. All of the local racers better take notice and come up with a response because this huge. Never before has someone gone so confident into such a big race.

Because of Timmers balls I am canceling the U-Pick-Em for the Ken Woods Road Race. There isn’t any reason to pick a rider to win since Timmer has already declared himself the winner. I expect everyone to just be racing for second place.

Huge props to Timmer for sticking it to all the cat1/2s out there. You heard it here first. He owns you.

Or is this just a smokescreen ala Peter McNeeley vs. Mike Tyson? Time will tell.

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All the Way Ray has a good write up on Roadies pre-race. Check it out here. Oh, Ray the guy from Hollywood that “wants to say something” is Timmer. He is trying to tell you that he is going to win Ken Woods on Saturday.

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Check the kick ass new graphic from my teammate Nick on my splash page @ super-rookie.com word.

Never again in my life will I have to go to a Math class. I thought that was the case after graduating high school, but I was fooled. No longer is that the case. After fighting a head cold all day yesterday I arrived nice and early to the classroom for my Math final. I didn’t even need to show up since I was “that guy” that caused the curve to be super high. Ha. For once I was the kid that set the curve.

I feel super good about it too. Why? Mostly because I hated almost everyone in my class. There were a couple of cool kids, but most of the jokers were ‘phoneys’ like Holden Caufield would say. I am sooooo stoked to be done with class. I only have to finish a paper for my Womens History class by tomorrow and I will be all set for the year.

My timing for class has been fantastic this year. I have now completed 12 credits at Metro State and I only have 7 more classes to go before I graduate. That is roughly a year of full-time, but if I keep my current pace I will be graduating next summer with a degree. Holy crap. Hell is getting a bit colder.

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Jessica Fletcher and Ben Matlock should have teamed up for a 2 hour special. The first half could have been set in Cabot Cove where Jessica would figure out the crime and pin the blame on the son of a rich southern oil baron. Naturally, Sheriff Mort Metzger would be a little reluctant to accept the help of Jessica, but after about 10min he would see the light. However, the circumstances surrounding the arrest of the souther gentleman who just happens to be from Atlanta. This of course would lead us into the last hour in which Ben Matlock would take over.

Matlock of course believed that his client was innocent. So he has Conrad go and check on the scene in Cabot Cove and he finds all types of contradictory evidence like a piece of duct tape. At the end of the show we realize that both Jessica and Ben were correct and that it was the TWIN of the southern dude that did the murder. That would be an awesome episode of American television.

Don’t mess with an old lady from Cabot Cove.

I dig the suit.

Little Guy, (dis) and myself rode out to the World Championship Crit course earlier than last week. On the way we met up with our other cat3, Fil. Who was looking mighty sharp hugging the light pole at the major intersection awaiting our arrival. We wanted to get out there to catch some of our teammates in the other races. Sadly, we missed the cat5 race, but we did get to see the Women and Cat4 race prior to our event.

The 1/2/3 race seemed relatively fast once again. I tried an attack at the bell and it got caught on the finishing hill just like last week. Except this time I was only with one other guy from GP. I don’t know exactly what happened, or who it was, but they didn’t pull through which was more of a tactical call on their part I am sure. Perhaps giving me a little bit to much credit Or, maybe they are so on top of their game that they knew I wouldn’t be able to do it on my own.

I have a different plan for next week to get the points for the team.

The team is getting better at riding near each other. I rode next to the Little Guy for the majority of the race and Fil when he was in the pack was right near us for 80% of the race which was nice. Before we know it (dis) we be there with us and we will be looking good. I am getting stoked for the crits this season. I honestly think we are going to be a force out there in the cat3 field.

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The Excelsior Crit has been postponed. I think that blows and is terrible. It sounds like the community is behind it, but just some of the pieces didn’t fall together. Since I went to the promoters clinic and have been working hard on getting the Campus Crit and NSC Velocross together I know some of the difficulties promoters go through.

It sucks when races fall through. Hotpinkevil! has been working hard to make her Crit debut at Excelsior and now it is gone. That just blows. With the recent “postponement/cancellation/miscommunication” of Hutchinson we are fast losing the crits that made up the heart of the MCF Calendar.

What can be done? I don’t know. My team is trying to bring back a crit that was lost last year do to construction. The fact of the matter is that people don’t like bike racing all that much. It is gets in the way. Why? Because we are idiots that go over the yellow line, pee in public, or just look a little out of place.

Here is to the promoters that have put on events already this year and are working hard to getting events running for later in the season. I applaud you for not making me drive to Wisconsin every weekend to race my bicycle.

One of the things I miss most about Chicago is my job at the recumbent shop. How could I possibly miss talking about recumbents to dudes with beards? I actually don’t. But, what I miss was the 12mile commute up there and the 12mile commute back. It was probably the only place in Chicago that was somewhat safe to ride your bike to, but it was fun.

The different neighborhoods that I rode through, the same UPS man and the 5 funeral homes, 4 dollar stores, 3 Walgreens, 2 car x’s and 1 Super Dog were a lot of fun to go by everyday. Can’t say I miss the job, the city or the Chicago ‘attitude,’ but part of me misses the 12mile ride.

Now I have a 2 mile commute in ‘nice’ looking clothes that I just picked up at the dry cleaner the other day. Can’t say I would have thought I was going to be working inside an office 3 years ago. The amazing thing is that the work isn’t all that bad and the day goes by fast and best of all the co-workers are a fun group to be around. I normally don’t talk about work on here, but that isn’t because it is ‘bad.’ It is almost because I don’t want to let the rest of the world onto the secret of it being ‘decent.’ Is that so bad?

Sarah and I (mostly me) racked up a bunch of debt on our 11month vacation to The Windy City. I am doing all I can to get out of it. Hell, today is ‘Taco Tuesday’ and I am not even going to splurge for a soft-shell taco. Something about it messing up the ‘well oiled machine’ of Taco production on Tuesdays, but none-the-less it is cheap. We are also doing other things to save money. For instance, I am going to do Opus tonight and win all the prize money. I am then going to take that money and light my cigar with it. Scratch that last idea. I have to actually win Opus to get in that position.

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Ray, I have your hat and it will be there tonight.

Sparky, Your long awaited package will be in the mail tomorrow. Is it illegal to ship bugs, fruit and/or firearms to Spain?

Courteous Fellow, Do you know where I can get the 5th episode of the 3rd season of ALF? You know the one where he tries to eat the family cat?

Tainter, I doubt that you will actually make it to Opus tonight.

Skibby, Where are the results?

Sarah, Taco Tuesday. My treat:)

It sure is nice being able to relax on a Sunday after a Saturday Road Race. I took the opportunity to go on a ride with Hotpinkevil!. We went to Mendota and then she went up Ohio St. for the first time ever. She did a great job and even managed through a crank arm falling off! It was pretty “epic.”

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I ended up getting 21st at Durand. The Little Guy got a 12th place. I feel that I maybe could have done a little more for him when I was still in the pack. But, while I was in the pack all I was thinking about was ’sitting in.’ Why would I think this? I am a cat3 that isn’t seeking out points to upgrade just yet, why would I want to ’sit in’ for a 8th place at best finish when I can maybe try to get a chase together? I tried to chase, but it didn’t work.

Argh. Next time I will dedicate myself even more and realize that it isn’t always that important how I do rather than the Grumpy’s team.

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(dis) has a nice write up on Rock & Republic. You should check it out, but maybe I should go buy some of them designer jeans! Hell, if I am assured that they ain’t using sweatshops and they give benefits to their riders. HEALTH BENEFITS!  That is amazing.

He also asks the question, “What is up with the red and black helmets on Kelly Benefits?”

I am betting that it has something do with one of their sponsors, but either way they are pretty ugly.

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I watched Spike Lee’s ‘Inside Man’ last night. It is a good flick and it really impresses me how Spike Lee is able to take a situation like a bank robbery and make it into a very politically charged film. I highly recommend this movie and I can see why it made its way on to many ‘Top 10 Movies of 2006″ lists.

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1. The Gopher Wheelman have some nice dudes on their team. They even cleaned up their kits a little bit to be nicer on the eyes. Which is FANtastic.
2. IS Corp showed up and did real well. Even in my race they put two guys in the break.
3. Birchwood executed very well yesterday in placing 2 guys in the break of 8 and disrupting any chase at all.
4. It is a very very very long season and I am stoked at my progress at this point. Better yet, there is that much more time for the Dewey to give ‘em all a taste of the Dew and win a race.
5. Grumpy’s/LGR is going to have a great first season.
6. Racing is about having fun and when the people around you are smiling you should be as well.
7. Little Guy should totally buy that car that is pictured above.
8. The Cat3/4 race at Durand was the hardest, fastest race I have ever done. I would have dropped out if it wasn’t for Todd Nesvold. Todd is one of the coolest guys around.
9. Joe Hamlin has lost a bunch of weight and is looking his 2005 self. WATCH FOR HIM on the track. No Joke.
10. See you at Ken Woods.

It hurt real bad. I stayed with the main pack for 3 of the 4 laps and then the wind got me.

I rode with Todd Nesvold for the remainder. 8 broke away prior to my departure. 15 were left in the pack after I got spat out.

Probably got 25th out of 70. Not to bad.

More later.

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The team did aight.

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Dewey didn’t win. But, he did me proud. Word.