Super Rookie's World

I go back to the Twin Cities for ten days and I once again find myself on the front page of the Star Tribune sports section.

That is me in the blue 352 Racing t-shirt.

It is the holidays.

That means it is time to load up Otis in the Nissan Versa and head off to the Twin Cities to spend some time with our family and friends. It has already been a few days and we have gotten to see quite a few friends. I have gotten to eat at a few of my favorite restaurants, drink at a few of my favorite watering holes and got to accompany Sarah to her 10year High School Reunion.

I totally scored the cream of the crop of St. Louis Park High School Class of 2001.

This coming week will be just as busy with lots of people to see and family to spend time with.

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I got to see the new Lazer Magneto glasses:

I did some training on my Mom’s new bike:

Sarah and I are taking our friend Christian to a hockey game in St. Paul. My mom scored amazing tickets:

A few weeks back the really fast mountain bikers on my team, 352 Racing, won an amazing trophy. I had nothing to do with it, but I did have something to do with getting it prominent coverage in every bar we visited that night:

One of the best things about my new job is getting gifts from my students for the holidays. This is just a portion of my take. I am a pretty darn lucky teacher:

This is perhaps the best answer I have ever gotten on a pop quiz I gave my students. Luckily, none of them noticed my horrible typo a few questions previous:

Happy Holidays from Sarah and I:

If I could do it all over again I think I would have been an urban planner. I know there are a ton of people that have this idea, but I find it so enjoyable to read and learn about the varying aspects of the built environment in the world. I also find it to be a ton of fun to experience some of these places, buildings, and objects first hand.

So, with that said, I guess I am going to go on a little field trip with Sarah to the lovely city of Jacksonville, FL just an hour and a half up the road.

Why? Well, for this:

That little monorail on the side of the interstate is the Jacksonville Skyway. The Skyway is one of only three Downtown People Mover (DPM) systems in the United States. The other two, Detroit and Miami, are far more well known and ridden. The Skyway only gets about 2,000 passengers per day and runs extremely limited hours. All of the DPM projects were funded by the Federal Government in the late 1970s as transportation experiments. Over 38 cities competed for the Federal grants (St. Paul put in a bid, but eventually pulled out after a local referendum failed). When the Reagan Administration came into power they cut the funding on the projects, but allowed for the three projects that had been fully funded to proceed.

If you are a true nerd you can read this article about DPMs from the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal:

Downtown People Movers – History and Future in U.S. Cities by William J. Sproule and William H. Leder.

The Jacksonville Skyway is only 2.5 miles long and the fare is $.50 cents, but the hours of operation are the tricky part as it only runs during the work week from 6am to 6pm. So, make sure you pack your lunch and don’t blink as the entire ride shouldn’t take more than 20minutes (you might need to transfer to get on the other line).

When Sarah and I are done riding the Skyway in Jacksonville we are going to have to plan our trip to Morgantown, West Virginia to catch a ride on the world famous Morgantown PRT.

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Here is some information about St. Paul’s failed attempt to get a DPM in 1979.

Citizen’s League Letter of Support and a map of the proposed stops, which would have worked well with the current LRT plans in the downtown urban center.

Nothing like seeing the legendary West Coast rapper coming through with an amazing video on architecture in his hometown of Los Angeles.

Awesome.

The past few weeks have been a continuation of the fall and winter cyclocross craziness that has been occupying most of my time. The only difference this time around was that my team, 352 Racing, was responsible for promoting Swamp Cross for the second straight year.

It was a ton of work, but once again the team pulled through for what was easily the largest cyclocross race in Florida so far this year. The race got rave reviews from almost all of the participants and the overall race atmosphere was amazing. Last season we found ourselves losing about $500 for our one day event, but with the addition of a second day and a less initial costs we were able to profit around $150.

We then promptly drank all of the profits away at the next team meeting.

Here is a video of the Mens 1/2 35+ race. As you can see the course is pretty awesome with a nice long uphill road section and a fairly large “Florida” field with over 30 guys at the start line:

SWAMP CROSS PRO 1/2 35+ Short Version from Graham Partain on Vimeo.

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This past weekend I traveled down to Melbourne, FL for the 6th race of the Florida Cyclocross Series. I was a little jaded on embarking on the 3hr drive this morning as I was not expecting much in terms of course, or organization.

I was totally wrong and completely blown away by what I found this morning. The course was top notch, heck, they even had an awesome flyover built by the city in the middle of the course. All of the riders got a ton of schwag and the overall atmosphere was great. For a first year event it was a ton of fun and there are only a few improvements that can be made going into year two.

My race went really well. I found myself battling for 2nd and 3rd place with four other racers with about five laps to go. The eventual 2nd place finisher rode away from our group with three laps to go, so it became a race for 3rd. In the end, I made a move for the finish line and came into the 180degree turn immediately (10feet) before the finish line in the lead, but it was too hot and I was unable to close the door so I had to settle for 4th by half a wheel.

Damn!

Yet, in the end, the most important thing is that my team killed it out there today with Christian taking the top step in the cat3s. The rest of the gang rode extremely well with multiple podiums across all categories. The trip was definitely worth it. I hope next year the race becomes a two day event.

Florida Cyclocross is small, but it is slowly turning into something special.