Procrastination post naccc's

It's been more than a few months since we went to chicago for NACCC's and I finally have pictures up so an article can now follow.


Erin, Bobby, Mariana, Kyle and I loaded all of the bikes and gear up into the van and got on our way to Chicago. On the way up we saw this awesome picture inside a Pilot truckstop above the beverage coolers of some arctic track bike pilot jersey wearing rider with a future helmet.




After many hours we reached our destination and proceeded to fill our faces with Chicago's fine food, this didn't stop for the remainder of our stay. Bloody Mary's, Pizza, Open Faced Deli Sandwiches, Way too spicy Burritos, lots of good stuff. Sadly we didn't get to try this awesome cake that looked like a hamburger

Registration was held at possibly the worlds weirdest sports bar downtownish. And we soon recieved our registration numbers, this year printed on cordura type fabric so as to last longer and look better pinned to a messenger bag. This was my bag/number.

We passed out that night after beers all around town on the bike and then back at our abode. We woke up early for quallifiers. Bobby and Kyle didn't know quite what was in store but I had given them some idea. I believe Kyle and I started on the same heat and Bobby on the one after so we were all out on the course at some point together.

This was my third Naccc's so I had tried to inform my "teammates" with as much of the previous knowledge I had gleaned from the previous events so that they wouldn't be stuck wondering what to do in the middle of the course once they were handed their manifests. The intricacies of the manifest, being able to drop in any order but having to pick up in order, no going backwards, being polite so as to get through checkpoints quicker(not something everyone learns their first lap around the course), stops having both a name and a number(such as a business having both an address and a business name), carrying those fed ex tubes in your mouth if it comes down to it, being ready for any type of ridiculous situation at checkpoints, and all of the other usual little quirks that the NACCC's entail.

The first deviation from my past experience was that this was in reality a cyclocross course. Calling it anything else really doesn't do it justice. This is not a negative thing, but just a fact. Sure there were paved sections, but there were also wood chips, bariers, dismounting, grass, gravel, roots, drop offs, and sand. The two flats I had that day were both a result of wood chips going straight through my tire. So while wishing we had brought some knobbies with us we set off. Kyle and I racing on the second or third heat of ten riders, and Bobby racing in the next behind us.

The "Team"

The second change was one we encountered half way through the race. In years previous you were judged on your best of two shots at a qualifying manifest. Ex. complete manifest one. Rest. Decide if you wish to better your time. And then potentially go again. Half way through the first manifest(which I and many others assumed to be my last) I heard wispers that we were going to have to do two in a row to qualify. This was unbelieveable to me in my state of exhaustion, but in fact turned out to be true. This double manifest situation was the result in Bobby looking like this.

Exhausted Bobby.

Which isn't to say that I wasn't exhausted.

I ended up having alot of fun on the course. Despite it's physical and temporal challenges I accomplished what I had set out to do as my personal pass fail requirements by qualifying under everyone from Atlanta but not qualifying. In this our party was lucky as we were spared the pain of having to get up the next day and race again, and we all took the opportunity to see the amazing sights of Chicago on our last day during the main race.

Erin and I cute and touristy!

They had alot of cool parks and they are making a bid for the olympics. I hope they make it , and I hope we can make it back.

Just so I don't loose this.

1 ounce silver rum
1 ounce dark rum
1.5 ounces pineapple juice
.5 ounces lime juice
.25grenadine
.25 of orange curacao
1 cup crushed ice
1 fruit stick for garnish
1 sprig mint for garnish

combine all except garnish and pulse blend for a few seconds.
Happy birthday while we're out Calu, and I think I figured out my favorite tiki drink.

NACCC's

Leaving friday morning. Chicago here we come.

Perhaps

I went a bit too hard. But to the reserves coming in behind shoes as big as BoBo's you had better hit it hard or move back in with your mom.

Been out of the game

For some time now. Been working as a wrench at a scooter shop on top of the usual wrenching for the bikeshop. Pedaling into work learning to enjoy riding for ridings sake again. Not looking at the bike as a paycheck. I can still come out and drop some packages on Mondays, however the week is usually so busy that I've got little left in me to make it worth even coming out. Plus it's summer so it's not even really worth coming out. And then you realize there is a few nipples that need tweaking(lame joke) and I don't make it out. Well I'm going to try and make it out tommorow, it'll be good for me and good for these fucking rookies to catch some shit. By the time I get annoyed at them and I don't even have to see them, then you know they need to get yelled at or something.
Speaking of rookies, now I am one in another field. While self evaluation always leads to self flattery. I would hope that I don't profess to be the scooter wrenching master after only a short while dealing with the horribly designed beasts for only a short time. Would I open up a scooter shop knowing only having a shallow understanding of the industry. Now then why would two rookies both with less than a year of experience want to start a courier collective? Doesn't that seem a bit cocky. Well thats what is happening, and to top it off the least experienced of the two has snaked work out from under Justin who has worked out there ten times as long as this particular rookie.
Well maybe bad ideas have a way of sorting themselves out and I should stop caring about it, it's not my business(pun) anymore.

heaven forbid

that you specialize in something and do it well. you want walmart you drive down the highway and get it. you have a need for a specific niche then you go to a specialty shop. when the shop isn't walmart you get mad? makes no sense to me. we do what we do well because it is what we know and love. we never professed to be sources of anything else, and when you ask for knowledge and services outside of our mission and even our very namesake... how could you be surprised when we tell you thats not our department?

I've been

Reading about a lot of people bitching on internet forums lately. About how much it sucks when a bike shop charges them for anything, and that the people who own or run the shops are bad people for charging.
As far as products go, I know for a fact you are much more likely to get a deal if you have something in return to exchange, such as beer, or tattoo's or food. But otherwise there is little reason we should devalue our goods on account that you feel like cool enough of a dude to get a discount. So when expecting for some crazy reason a free or discounted tube or something ask yourself if you have given these people anything free from your small business lately? Or hooked them up with goods from your place of employment? Or do I race for their team? If you have had to ask yourself these questions then the answer is likely no, because if the answer was yes, the percentage would all ready be taken out of your receipt. Oh and the only thing more awkward than asking for a discount you don't deserve is someone having to tell you you don't deserve it to your face.
There are also a few tricks that don't work so go ahead and stop using them. The I can get tubes cheaper somewhere else trick. You know what if you can then you wouldn't be coming to my shop to buy tubes so thats a lie. And if you really can get cheap tubes elsewhere then that must mean you have to get a tube right now because you are flat and at my shop, so there is little reason for me to give in and charge you "the 2$ that the other place charges you,"because you don't really want to walk the six miles to the other shop.
As far as labor goes. Hey my sink is broken you wanna come over and fix it for free, no you don't, it's not going to happen. Everywhere I go people charge me for drinks, food, tattoo's, gasoline, or doing my taxes. It's shitty I'm the first one to admit but we live in a capitalist society, and I don't know where inside my store it says that I am running it for charity, if you can point that sign out I've been meaning to take it down for some time now. So I am going to charge you to do pretty much anything to your bike. And I'm not going to let you borrow a specialized tools. I bought them by working and you feel entitled to them by your own folly.Next time you walk in and somebody charges you for doing something to your bike that you don't have the knowledge, tools or both to do, you shouldn't be any more surprised than to see a bill at the end of a dinner at olive garden. It's true that somebody a long time ago lied to cyclists and told them that bikes were cheap. This has never been the case. I am sorry you and I were both lied to.