Now is the Time When I Talk About Bike Stuff
Great title, huh? Well, gotta admit that I have no idea where this post is going yet. Maybe in a few sentences, it'll kick in.
Went to the bike shop earlier this week, just to check in and see how the off-season has been treating them. Looks like I'll be back to ordering new parts work there at the end of March, which is good. I've missed the place.
The first few years, I would be grateful for the off-season -- primarily because the mix of people we had working there was pretty caustic and tension/stress were insane. Then last year, we got a new manager and shit's done a 180 since. He came in with the mindset of a disciplinarian, and I had an initial "oh shit" response. However, he's really whipped the place into shape, and of all the people that were there before him, only one salesperson and I are left. And the place is much better for it. The environment is awesome and we work fairly well together.
So yeah. That's where I'm at. I'll be keeping the spending down as much as possible this year -- yes, I'll be finishing the 29'er and adding the track bike, and there's some accessories I need (like a helmet to replace my Giro, which is going on 5 years old). But beyond that, I won't be adding anything more to the fleet or filling up my already-limited storage space.
What are your bike plans for the year?
Oh, the Geekery
Last night, at poker, it was determined that there should be a new hand: the "prime straight." This would be A-2-3-5-7 or 2-3-5-7-A (whomever was smart enough to claim the ace as an 11 would win the apparent tie). There would also be the "prime straight flush", of course.
We also discussed the A11 Offense, a new scheme in football which puts a center and two tight ends in front of two quarterbacks in the shotgun, and six wide receivers. From the website:
The A-11 features up to all eleven players wearing an eligible receiver jersey number, either 1-49 or 80- 99, with two quarterbacks in the shotgun formation at 7 yards, and with nobody under center - thereby meeting the criteria for a scrimmage kick formation. In “base” sets, the A-11 Offense has a center, and a tight end on each side, and three wide receivers to the right, and left respectively. By spreading the potentially eligible receivers across the entire field, it forces the defense to account for every possible receiver on each play. Of course, on any given play, only six of those players can go downfield to catch a pass, and the five “covered” players remain ineligible to catch a downfield pass on that particular play.
Pretty nifty stuff, really. I'm hoping that it'll be a possible addition to the next version of Madden, and I'd love to see some NFL team play some A11 this year or next.
In other geekitude, I'm building a new Wintel machine.
First Surreal Call
Photo courtesy of givepeasachance. Licensed under the Creative Commons.
I got my first surreal phone call of the year at the bike shop this weekend. It was way after hours, and a guy who sounded like he was in his forties and moderately drunk and/or high, called to ask about books covering training for track cycling. I told him that I couldn't think of any track-specific books (and I still can't), but I referred him to Joe Friel's Cyclist's Training Bible
"That's that computer thing, right?" he slurred.
Track Frame Woes
So. I was all geared-up to employee purchase a Felt TK2 frameset to race on the track this year. Unfortunately -- and not just for me -- the shop I work for elected to drop Felt as a product line. I was pretty gung-ho about this frameset -- I've always been impressed with Felts from the first time I encountered them, and had been considering an F1X as a pit bike for 'cross this fall.
Frostbike ‘08 Recap
So Frostbike, QBP's miniature trade show, has come and gone. I hit both weekend days, learned a lot, met a bunch of cool people, and came away with a bunch of free schwag and evil ideas.
Saturday was a pretty good day. I rolled in just before 10am, cruised the expo floor, and then spent the rest of the day learning everything I could about running a bike shop.1 My first stop was a seminar on inventory management where I had my mind absolutely blown by the volume of what I didn't know. Lunch followed, then another swing through the expo floor, where I talked to the guy from Oval Concepts about their aerobar line, chatted with the dude from Crank Bros. about the future of their product line, and then cruised back upstairs for a seminar on the cost of doing business -- a 90-minute session that covered everything from initial start-up capital, to applying GMROI to employees, to the transition from credit-based operations to cash-based operations. At the end of the day, my head was spinning, I was more psyched than ever to get my shop opened, and I had resolved to go out and get myself an MBA.
Minor Items
So minor items of import:
1. Yesterday, the logic board in my G4 Mac Mini decided it was time to shit the bed, and die. So today, my unemployed ass went out and bought a new Core 2 Duo Mac Mini, with an assist from mom, who called it my Xmas present. Thanks, mom! (And fortunately, I was able to recover the start of the novel I began earlier in the week!)
2. We're in the clean-up phase of remodeling the shop I work at, and my lungs are full of dust. It's pretty awesome when it hurts to breathe.
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I'm at Surdyk's Liquor (303 E Hennepin Ave, at University Ave, Minneapolis) w/ 2 others. http://4sq.com/6n6XNM [fontosaurus]
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Checked in at Surdyk's Liquor
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.@nickhobart dude this one is SLAYING me. http://www.dontevenreply.com/view.php?post=84 [fontosaurus]
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Dude. Last hour VERY productive. Spent it trying to get a migrated contact lens out of my eye. Fuck. [fontosaurus]
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I'm at Wells Fargo (425 E Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis). http://4sq.com/6e3CnI [fontosaurus]
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Checked in at Wells Fargo
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I'm at Don Pablo's - Roseville (2700 Lincoln Dr, Roseville). [fontosaurus]
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Checked in at Don Pablo's - Roseville
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I favorited a YouTube video -- Cycles http://youtu.be/-0Xa4bHcJu8?a [fontosaurus]
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have my Friday off, so here's my Follow Thursday: @mightywombat, @veloveggies, @Scoutwell_Cat, @kilgette, @actualmiles, @DoWhatITellYou #ff [fontosaurus]
