Smithers MINNEAPOLIS

Thanks

It’s been swell. I had a good time and I appreciate the comments. And thanks to Smithers for working so hard in France and giving me this opportunity. I hear he’s real sore from his exertions.
Some unfinished business:

• America’s public education system could use some re-jiggering.
• Schumpeter didn’t mean what this guy was about at the FCC: innovation through avaricious oligopoly?
• Does anyone really care about the Tour any longer?
• UCI mtb race at Maplelag in May

I’ll see you in the comments section. Now I have to get back to some pressing family matters.

Posted by scotterob at 10:33 pm in Family | Permalink | No Comments »

My Favorite TC Bike Shops, Part III

One of my first local races and I’m still figuring out the local personalities. I can’t help but notice this particular loud guy, tall, skinny, talk-yelling about this and that. He rolls out his bike, and it’s THE bike, a polished aluminum American in a sea of dull, skinny-tubed steel bikes. I’m jealous, where’d he get it? Who is this guy, all talk? Jay Henderson, of the changing nicknames. Party on.

I saw him at all my road races and sometimes he’d do well. Fairgrounds, OPUS, Northtown, Green Isle, Duluth. We moved up the categories together. Along the way, I started seeing him at mtn bike races, on another polished American. WTF? Same schtick. He occasionally sticks it out long enough to finish. Rad jay.

Eventually, he starts showing up at ‘cross races. He always tries to get the holeshot and goes out like a rabbit. He starts living with my friend Pike and I couldn’t help but get to know him. Jay’s working at Erik’s by this time; he’s Jay Wrench.

Jay worked in a few other shops, stopped riding the Americans when he started riding Cannondales. At some point he became Hollywood. During the years when I was racing both days every weekend, I saw him all the time. Always Jay Wrench to me.
I also saw him as we’d ride around town, critical mass rides, bar rides, Uptown, Downtown, etc.

Then one day he tells me that he’s opening a shop in Bloomington, in the old REI space. “Living the dream.” I’m fully supportive. I stop in, check it out, buy some stuff, wish him well. It’s funny seeing Jay in there. We literally came up together. And he’s got the whole early GP thing going - helping developing riders, leaving crap all over the counter, grabbing rides when he can.

Jay is a master mechanic. Does top notch work on my bikes. Cleans the chains so they shine.

Jay also does a brisk biz fitting folks to bikes, esp tt/tri stuff. Jay’s always been agog over aero bits and developed deep knowledge and quite a following. He set me up with a terrific TT position last year, pro all the way. I actually like riding my TT bike now.

And, when the situation arises, Jay has no problem with me dismantling my bike in the middle of his shop. That doesn’t mean you can, but he’ll take care of you.

Posted by scotterob at 10:31 pm in Local Cycling | Permalink | No Comments »

Anagram Winner

Close call. T3 or Plan B?

T3 with Vulva Enterprises. Let me know where you want the tire.

Posted by scotterob at 8:55 pm in Miscellaneous | Permalink | No Comments »

Who Says I Hate OPUS?

A few of us are intimately familiar with the economics of OPUS races. The promoter doesn’t need me there; it’s a goldmine with the turnout of recent years. And the club deserves the money for hassle of promoting the race, but missing my entry fee isn’t making a big dent.

I don’t try to convince anyone to stay away; I tell riders to have a good time and wish ‘em good luck. But when people ask me if I’m riding, I’m not about to force them to go to OPUS instead of going riding with me.

I don’t hate it, but I’ve moved on. After nearly one hundred races there, all mystery is gone. It’s not fun unless I’m flying fitness-wise, and it’s not very good training when I’m not. And surely there’s enough sketchiness in that huge group without my fat ass. If I have friends who want to go mix it up, I might. That’s it.

And as Snide and I agree, the best thing about OPUS is the ride home, in the dark, with friends.

Posted by scotterob at 8:29 pm in Local Cycling | Permalink | No Comments »

Almost there

Awake for 21 hours but I am now less than 20 minutes from home, pillow and some much needed sleep.

(sent wireless via Treo 650)

Posted by Smithers at 8:26 pm in Mobile Post | Permalink | No Comments »

My Favorite TC Bike Shops, Part II

I worked next to Medicine Lake and the commute was crushing me. I rode the bus or my bike from Mac-Groveland. The bus offered a two hour haul in each direction. I liked great bike ride, but it took forever and my employer had no kind of accommodation for cleaning up. I had to move to Minneapolis.

The Somec and I took up residence in Loring Park, and I immediately made my way to the Alternative Bike and Board. I’d raced a couple of local mtb events sponsored by the Alt and figured they had a club/team/whatever. I asked the guy at the counter about the club; he looked at me for awhile, smirked, then turned around and yelled “Gene!” into a hallway covered in random photos, magazine cutouts, product recall notices and found objects.

This guy, pigeon-toed with crazy dark hair and wearing a rocker tee, shuffled out and I repeated myself. I recognized him, couldn’t put my finger on it. A long rambling conversation ensued, the point of which I couldn’t divine. It occurred to me that speaking directly of the topic was taboo, which intrigued me. At long last Gene asked me to fill out a member sheet for Maximum Velocity, the difficulty of locating this indicated that my request was unusual.

I stopped by a few times, bought some stuff, couldn’t figure out when we were going to ride. I did notice that part of the hallway collage was a pic of Gene, loosely cropped around his pedaling form, with a Sex Pistols-inspired letter collage caption: Loco Hero

The Alt thing was losing it’s intrigue and my appetite for bike stuff was ballooning faster than my income, so I went a bit further from home and applied to work PT at Kenwood Cyclery near Lake of the Isles. I was soon immersed in the Minneapolis racing scene; one of my first experiences at the shop was working the Kenwood Criterium.

I saw Gene there, with a crew of Alt guys. They had a weird little fairing-clad bike with an aero trailer containing beer (you can see it at one/one today). That’s when I remembered: I’d met him years before watching the Subaru Classic one fall day when I rode over from school in St. Paul. The bike was the same, apparently the super-fan special. They handed me a beer and we laughed about Nelson Vails pulling out after 5 laps.

The close-knit world of Minneapolis shop rats brought me into contact with all the Alt guys, Gene included. Gene and Ken Ring introduced alot of us to cyclocross back when they were hosting district champs. I once rolled Gene out of bed to clear 2′ of snow from a winter cyclocross course, air temp 5 degrees. Pursuits on beater bikes through the warehouse district. And we had lots of rides to scope out prime cross courses when I decided we wanted to step local ‘cross up a bit.

Fast forward, I heard from Baba that Gene and Jennifer quit Q and were building a cafe/bike shop in Gene’s space on Washington. I mulled that over, and the changes afoot downtown, and I thought, “That just might work.” And there are at least two items in the shop that were at Kenwood Cyclery back in the day. I like it there; Gene’s a real pack-rat and it reminds me of great races and parties without any maudlin precious sap.

Posted by scotterob at 1:44 pm in Local Cycling | Permalink | No Comments »

Crap

Crap

Originally uploaded by smithersmpls.

Any guess which flight I am on?

(sent wireless via Treo 650)

Posted by Smithers at 4:06 am in Mobile Post | Permalink | No Comments »

Big trouble in a little bed

Beware of the Campanile hotel near Aeroport Charles de Gaulle in Paris. They have the narrowest beds I have ever seen in a rented room.

This kind of thing would not normally be a huge problem for me, despite my proclivity to toss and turn at night. But last night, due to my recent shoulder injury, was another story.

At one point at around 4am I turned to roll over, ran out of bed, made a sudden move to correct myself, and once again pulled my left arm out of the shoulder joint (Chalk another correct prediction up for Tuffy).

I was not totally awake prior to that but the shock, pain and nausea of having a joint dislocated woke me up better than if I had stuck my finger in a wall socket.

I think it’s high time to see a doctor about this problem. I appreciate sleep far too much to now have to worry about grevious injury occuring while I slumber.

(sent wireless via Treo 650)

Posted by Smithers at 1:59 am in Mobile Post | Permalink | No Comments »