Super Rookie's World

I like to think of myself as the sports reporter for the 1970s hockey movie, Slapshot. His name was Dickie Dunn. He was real good at “trying to capture the spirit of the thing.” That is what I am trying to do here.

As mentioned in an earlier post I put my ear to the ground and went around and asked a bunch of the riders I know who was going to win the cat1/2/3 race in Durand. Some have chosen to remain anonymous. Since I am such a good reporter I like to honor my sources requests. I do however applaud those that have enough balls to come out and say what they wish and how they feel about the big season opening race.

For visual reference of the picks I have decided to do a Google Vanity Image Search for the riders names selected. This is when I type their name into google and take one of the first picture that comes up.

The Picks:

(dis)pencer: Doug Swanson(Grandstay)

Skibby: Doug Swanson(Grandstay)

Timmer: Eric Marcotte(Grand Performance)

Dewey Dickey: Eric Marcotte(Grand Performance)

(I wouldn’t be fuckin’ with a military man neither)

Darrin Homme: Jim Flanders(Flanders)

(I heard he has been training real hard in Arizona. Got fresh legs.)

Anonymous Cat1: Aric Hareland(Silver Cycling)

(This dude is a rebel and from what I hear he puts on a very kick ass yoga class. Very solid pick.)

Anonymous Cat1: ‘The Chief’ aka Mike Anderson

(Word on the street is that he dropped a certain few on a Flanders ride last week.)

Anonymous Cat2: Dan Casper(Grandstay)

(While this might not be the REAL Dan Casper it is a firefighter and we all like our firefighters)

Goldmember: Rob Lindstrom(Uptown Cycling Club)

(I didn’t ask Goldmember who he thought would win, but I am sure he would pick this guy)

Anonymous Cat 1: Tim Mulrooney(Silver Cycling)

(The legend. He is fast and can win.)

James Tainter: “I don’t pick who wins these things. None of these guys race the track.” (I forgot who Tainter picked so I am going from memory here.)

Smithers: Mort Anderspanks (Team Urthel) -This guy is very elusive. Still haven’t found a picture of him.

The Donimator: “Not Sickboy(Silver). You can quote me on that.”-Donimator

As you can see there are some very interesting picks for the big race on Saturday. I am a little suprised that there wasn’t more variety in the picks, but I think that for the most part all of the picks are spot on.

Seriously, Marcotte is super strong and I saw him race in Iowa and he looked real good. Hareland is always a beast and if what I heard was true about The Chief and he shows up he will rip the legs off of everyone.

Who do I think is going to win? Well word on the street is that the A&F boys will be limited because Gavic is doing high school prom and I don’t know Stafford all that well. What I do know is that Duane Dickey is going to kick all of their asses and he will then go buy a new Volvo with his new Bontrager Tires.

Super Rookie.dot com’s Gaurenteed pick for the 2007 Durand is Duane Dickey(Mercy):

(Duane Dickey rockin’ the Ax and kickin’ Ass)

… Man I love Google Image Vanity Search. Try it with your own name and see what kind of pictures you get!

I got a bunch of predictions for the upcoming season opening race in Durand, Wisconsin from local racers.

I am pretty stoked about the picks and insight I have received from the big boys from the local scene. Some of the racers want to stay anonymous, their wish has been granted.

I have asked everyone I know that will be racing at Durand. Some haven’t responded. That is their choice.

I will have the full picks up soon!!!!

Think I won’t?

I went in for a bike fit last night. While I was getting dialed in by, Dan Case-of-beer(sp?) I got to meet a bunch of SPBRC members, including DaveB. Only, Jim R waved to me while I was riding the shops stationary trainer. I walked into their club house and lived!

…

The fit was fantastic. I would recommend it to anyone that it having difficulty finding a position that is 1)comfortable, 2)aero, 3)dope. Dan knows all there is to know about the sizing and tendicies of the human anatomy. I ended up getting a shorter stem which will in turn bring me closer to a flatter back and a more comfortable position. I also got a few shims put in the shoes which will even out my stride a little bit on the pedals.

In all honesty I don’t know much about my position or what it should be, but what I do know is that Dan helped me fix it a little bit. I will still have some of the Mancebo elbows. This is because my elbows are weird. I will show you all some time, but they don’t bend like normal kids elbows. So when you are standing with Strats on the sidelines and you yell “bend your elbows!” I will yell back, “quit making fun of my special needs.” Nobody likes it when you make fun of a special needs bike racer.

If you need a fit go to Grand Performance.

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I also walked away with a sweet Pantani poster. Suckas.

The first Opus Training Crit was Tuesday evening. I went into the 1/2/3 race a little worried. While at work I talked with one of my co-workers whom is a cat1/2 and he gave me some advice, “super rookie, just sit in.” Immediately I thought, “easy for you to say.” I ate a bunch and somehow I was able to stay in the pack. I even finished with the group and never got dropped. It was like a really long points race at the track.

I even suprised myself when I covered an attack from another rider and Jim Cullen from Loon State. I found myself in this group of 3 coming into the final stretch before I got swallowed whole by the pack. None the less it was fun and I felt super comfortable. Today was a HUGE confidence booster for myself and for what our team is going to bring to the table.

Here is a picture (courtesy of Skinny Ski) of me in front of Matt from Birchwood (he better get used to that idea):

Notes on the picture:

1. I need to get some color on my skin.
2. I need to get a bike fit (enter my appointment with the wizards over at GP)
3. Elbows in.
4. The 47 Dean looks great, especially for being done in a dudes living room.

Here is another picture from SkinnySki:

The great thing about the Grumpy’s/LGR kit is that it is easy to spot in a see of ugliness. If you can’t find it than you are looking hard enough for the three pasty dudes in the back. Also note that this might be the only time at all this year that the three of us in one race actually were ‘close’ to one another. Amazing that it was captured on film.

Dave B. is reporting someone on our team didn’t wave to him AND ran a red light at Summit Ave. and Hamline. Hmmmmm. I would like to think that wasn’t the case for our team, but when I look down deep I think that it might have been me. As a team ‘leader’ I will take the fall on this one so let the hating begin.

But, since we run the rankings of local teams and no one else knows the criteria I am happy to tell you all that we are still on the top and SPBRC fell a notch thanks to a local triathlete on top of Hwy 13 not waving to me this evening. So there. We still rule and all the other clubs drool.

Whoo.

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I am sure the formatting is a little messed up on this one, but seriously Hollywood is the shit for pulling this one off. Can’t find him? Look for the pasty white Minnesotan.

The man that made ladies hearts flutter, Don Ho, passed away last night. To learn more about this ‘ladies-man’ read the obituary here. I never really knew who Don Ho was, but now I feel like I am an expert.

This dude sure can impress. Wish I knew more, but I kind of want to get all his albums now.

Two teams; The Wishlist and Elvis Is Dead And I Ain’t Feelin’ So Hot Myself were wise enough to select this star.

…oh snap…

Better get your ass to Grumpy’s NE by 1pm. Ride leaves at 1:15 sharp.

Sunday is the grand-daddy of them all. While we are celebrating the  greatest race of them all with the inaugural Grumpy’s-Roubaix the real heroes of cycling will be attacking the cobbles of Northern France. What follows are my predictions for the top 4 finishers of the race. You will notice that I don’t have any of the easy picks like Boonen and PVP, but honestly I could care less what you think about that.

The truth is that I hate the Yankees. It is easy to pick the Yankees to win the World Series every year. The same goes for Boonen or every Belgian. I ain’t no sucker and I like to go out on a limb to pick my rides, hence Jimmy Casper for Tour of Flanders.

4th Place:  Koen de Kort (Astana)

de Kort (second wheel in the pic) knows the cobbles of Roubaix real well. He is the team leader for Astana and won the U-23 version of “The Hell of the North” in 2005.

3rd place: Fillipo Pozzato (Liquigas)

This is my favorite photograph from last year. Note Boonen celebrating his teammates win at Milan-San Remo. Another interesting part of this photo is the fact that Pozzatto will kick Boonen’s ass this year…of course for the best team ever, Liquigas.

2nd Place: Leif Hoste (Predictor-Lotto)

Naturally that is Hoste in on the second step of the podium. A spot he knows all to well. He will once again fail and will be destined to replace Raymond Poulidor as the ‘eternal bridesmaid’ of pro cycling.

1st Place: Vladimir Gusev (Discovery)

If it wasn’t for that fucking train we would have seen this…

…at last years Paris-Roubaix.

Commence hating now.

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Grumpy’s Roubaix is going to be 30x better than the real thing any way. We got free Sparks!

As you know this Sunday is the big Grumpy’s-Roubaix ride. We plan on riding over the best cobbles the Twin Cities has to offer. The problem with this is that I only know of a few sections and since the Godfather Bill O’Reilly can’t make the event the route is a little up in the air.

This is why on Wednesday I went to bed a little bit stressed out. Where was I going to route the ride? Than a stroke past midnight it hit me. I had a brilliant idea. As you can imagine this happens all of the time. That problem was no more. I had a solution!

What was this idea? Oh, I don’t know, how about calling the City of St. Paul Surveyor’s Office. That’s right I called ‘em up and I got on the phone with Larry. Larry knows his streets. Larry directed me to a ton of cobbles, bricks and sheer awesomness in St. Paul. The ride route is complete and fantastic.

Larry also informed me that there are a ton of other brick streets for future years and he awaits a full report on the condition of his ‘pavers’ on some of the older streets. In short, Larry and the City of St. Paul Surveyor care about your experience on Sunday. On top of all that since the City Taxpayer paid for Larry’s time we can say that the Citizen’s of St. Paul care about your ride on Sunday.

Expect a full briefing of the ride and more at the Sunday meet up at the NE Grumpy’s at 1PM.

Right on.

A big shout out to Larry and all the surveyors out there!

As many of you know there were a ton of crashes during Wednesdays Ghent-Weadlkjfadanaham.

As many of you also know we have a very important ride on Sunday called Grumpy’s-Roubaix.

I can promise you that the ride is going to be a ton of fun, but check this email from the #20!

From: #20
Date: Apr 12, 2007 4:27 PM
Subject: hell yea
To: Super Rookie

If we don’t have an injury list like this on Sunday, I’ll be disappointed..Here’s an official list of injuries from the two major pile-ups released by race officials:

* Matt Wilson escaped with only a sprained wrist.
* Tyler Farrar (Cofidis): fractured left patella, bruised right
elbow – out for at least four weeks
* Marco Velo (Milram): fractured collarbone, knee and two ribs. According to perhaps over-imaginative witness reports, he flipped over his handlebars and landed in a nearby tree; officials initially spotted a bike but couldn’t find a rider to go with it
* Andy Capalle (Landbouwkrediet): fractured elbow and partial fracture to shoulder
* James Vanlandschoot (Landbouwkrediet): fractured thumb, elbow and wrist
* Wim de Vocht (Predictor-Lotto): fractured thumb
* Jimmy Casper (Unibet.com): fractured cheekbone and sprained wrist in horrible face-plant on the cobbles
* Wilfried Cretskins (Quickstep-Innergetic): deep cuts and road rash to elbow and arms, which required skin grafs from thigh area to cover open wounds ground through muscle tissue to the bone
* Matthew Wilson (Unibet.com): sprained wrist
* Matthew Hayman (Rabobank): fractured elbow
* Luke Roberts (CSC): knocked unconscious, according to Jeremy Hunt, Roberts woke up and asked, “Where am I?”
* Aart Vierhouten (Skil-Shimano), Servais Knaven (T-Mobile), Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner) and Fabio Sacchi (Milram): Various cuts, scrapes and abrasions

Signed,

The #20

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I can’t wait for the big ride!