VERY poor taste (sign at race)

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Date: 22 Feb 2007 20:58:56
From: Mike Jacoubowsky
Subject: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

Maybe I'm reading it wrong? Near the top of Sierra Road (the nastiest grade
on the Tour of California), somebody had a sign they were displaying to
riders that said-

"TURN DOWN THE SUCK KNOB"

You can view it at the top of this page-
www.ChainReaction.com/sierra_road.htm

Am I missing something here, or is this about as low as you can go? I raced
for six years, and there were a few times where I might have been thinking
such sentiments to myself, but I wouldn't have been too happy if someone
were putting a sign like that in my face.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

Date: 10 Mar 2007 21:37:10
From: Keven
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

On Feb 22, 12:58 pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky" <M...@ChainReaction.com >
wrote:
> Maybe I'm reading it wrong? Near the top of Sierra Road (the nastiest grade
> on the Tour of California), somebody had a sign they were displaying to
> riders that said-
>
> "TURNDOWNTHE SUCK KNOB"
>
> You can view it at the top of this page-www.ChainReaction.com/sierra_road.htm
>
> Am I missing something here, or is this about as low as you can go? I raced
> for six years, and there were a few times where I might have been thinking
> such sentiments to myself, but I wouldn't have been too happy if someone
> were putting a sign like that in my face.
>
> --Mike Jacoubowsky
> Chain Reaction Bicycleswww.ChainReaction.com
> Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

Dude with the suck knob identified:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=/photos/2007/diaries/rais/rais0701/amgen_stage3_1

Date: 23 Feb 2007 00:52:41
From: bjw@mambo.ucolick.org
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

On Feb 22, 3:00 pm, p...@bobkestrut.com wrote:
> On Feb 22, 4:58 pm, "rick-pau...@uiowa.edu" <rick-pau...@uiowa.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > > A Binghamton connection?
> > > Dan
>
> > Maybe some can identify the jersey the posterholder is wearing.
> > California or NY?
>
> The guy holding the sign sure looks like Barry Wicks.
>
> Pietro

That's totally Barry. Kona jersey, etc.
http://www.chainreaction.com/sierra_road.htm
http://www.raceface.com/team/wicks.htm

A good guy (from one or two encounters) and I think
anybody dropped on a climb like that both knows he's
having an off day, and probably doesn't have enough
oxygen flowing to the brain to process road signs as
insults and get mad therefrom. I've probably heard
worse at cyclocross races; I might have said worse
at cyclocross races. If you can't count on your
friends to insult you in a moment of weakness, who
can you count on?

Ben
This suck knob goes to 11.

Date: 23 Feb 2007 07:53:49
From: Davey Crockett
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

"Mike Jacoubowsky" <MikeJ@ChainReaction.com > writes:

> Maybe I'm reading it wrong? Near the top of Sierra Road (the nastiest grade
> on the Tour of California), somebody had a sign they were displaying to
> riders that said-
>
> "TURN DOWN THE SUCK KNOB"
>
> You can view it at the top of this page-
> www.ChainReaction.com/sierra_road.htm
>
> Am I missing something here, or is this about as low as you can go? I raced
> for six years, and there were a few times where I might have been thinking
> such sentiments to myself, but I wouldn't have been too happy if someone
> were putting a sign like that in my face.
>

Stupid Wanker

Somebody should have told him Armstrong retired last year

--
Le vent à Dos
Davey Crockett [No 4Q to reply]

Date: 23 Feb 2007 08:44:54
From: Curtis L. Russell
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:53:49 +0100, Davey Crockett
<daveycrockett4Q@azurservers.com > wrote:

>Stupid Wanker
>
>Somebody should have told him Armstrong retired last year

I thought it was Armstrong, amusing himself with a bit of his hoard of
cash. I understand he has a sign ready for Basso, "Your sister looks
like my mother."

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Date: 22 Feb 2007 18:05:31
From: KC
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
> Maybe I'm reading it wrong? Near the top of Sierra Road (the nastiest grade
> on the Tour of California), somebody had a sign they were displaying to
> riders that said-
>
> "TURN DOWN THE SUCK KNOB"
>
> You can view it at the top of this page-
> www.ChainReaction.com/sierra_road.htm
>
> Am I missing something here, or is this about as low as you can go? I raced
> for six years, and there were a few times where I might have been thinking
> such sentiments to myself, but I wouldn't have been too happy if someone
> were putting a sign like that in my face.
>
> --Mike Jacoubowsky
> Chain Reaction Bicycles
> www.ChainReaction.com
> Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA
>
>

I dunno about the sign...

But your graph of Sierra hill shows that it's a VERY constant slope...
only the one nasty bump near the end. This can serve as a very good way
to estimate your max sustained power output, if you don't have a power
meter on your cycloputer.

Weigh yourself, your bike, and all things you carry with you up the
hill. Then do a time trial up the hill... start your clock and odometer
when you hit the slope, stop it when you get to the top.

Assume:
zero friction in your bike bearings (this will cause an underestimation
of your power, but not by too much)
zero aero drag (you'll be going slowly enough)

Given the time to make the trip, the distance traveled, the average
slope, your total weight (bike, you, gear), and some basic trigonometry,
you should be able to calculate Watts = (force * distance)/time.

Some friends of mine and I used to use Geysers Road in Sonoma County the
same way.

-KC

Date: 22 Feb 2007 23:59:14
From: Mike Jacoubowsky
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

> But your graph of Sierra hill shows that it's a VERY constant slope...
> only the one nasty bump near the end. This can serve as a very good way
> to estimate your max sustained power output, if you don't have a power
> meter on your cycloputer.

The graph is, well, wrong. Well, not exactly wrong, but it hardly tells the
story. That graph was from a Ciclomaster HAC-4; I'll post the graph from my
Garmin 305 shortly and check the differences. The grade varies quite a bit
and makes it one of the more interesting climbs in the area.

My regular ride up King's Mtn would probably be better for such purposes, as
its grade is much more consistent. However, being considerably less steep,
you have to take into account wind resistance to a greater degree.

Do I really *want* to know my power output? It would be interesting to
compare it to what it was when I raced... I began at 133lbs (at 6'), and now
sit at around 173. Could be that the actual wattage is fairly similar. If
I'm in shape, I climb about 20% slower than I could back in the day, while
my weight is 23% greater. Interesting. Closer than I thought they'd be.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

Date: 22 Feb 2007 17:58:32
From: MagillaGorilla
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

Date: 23 Feb 2007 08:47:17
From: Donald Munro
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

MagillaGorilla wrote:
> I'm sure the riders will think about this sign for the rest of their
> lives and most of them will never recover from the trauma.

Only if you translate it into Italian or French. I'm sure google or
babelfish will come up with something suitably obscure.

Date: 23 Feb 2007 00:01:26
From: Mike Jacoubowsky
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

> Yeah, this is really offensive. It's the kind of message that makes me
> cry myself to sleep. Maybe you can arrange to meet him at the cafe in
> Sausalito and fight him.
>
> I'm sure the riders will think about this sign for the rest of their lives
> and most of them will never recover from the trauma.

Of course, always being with the leaders, I wouldn't expect you to know
about such things.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

Date: 22 Feb 2007 14:00:42
From:
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

On Feb 22, 4:58 pm, "rick-pau...@uiowa.edu" <rick-pau...@uiowa.edu >
wrote:
> > A Binghamton connection?
> > Dan
>
> Maybe some can identify the jersey the posterholder is wearing.
> California or NY?

The guy holding the sign sure looks like Barry Wicks.

Pietro

Date: 23 Feb 2007 08:23:49
From: Mike Jacoubowsky
Subject: Maybe an in-joke?

>> Maybe some can identify the jersey the posterholder is wearing.
>> California or NY?
>
> The guy holding the sign sure looks like Barry Wicks.
>
> Pietro

Someone else mentioned that as well. If it is, then perhaps the joke's on
me; if he's so well-known that the riders would know him, then it's probably
all in fun. An inside joke.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

Date: 22 Feb 2007 13:58:10
From: rick-paulos@uiowa.edu
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

> A Binghamton connection?
> Dan

Maybe some can identify the jersey the posterholder is wearing.
California or NY?

Date: 22 Feb 2007 13:07:30
From: Dan Connelly
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

Date: 22 Feb 2007 16:53:37
From: Andy B.
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

"Dan Connelly" <d_j_c_o_n_n_e_l@y_a_h_o_o_._c_o_m > wrote in message
news:lCnDh.129$MV7.70@newssvr23.news.prodigy.net...
> Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
>> Maybe I'm reading it wrong? Near the top of Sierra Road (the nastiest
>> grade on the Tour of California), somebody had a sign they were
>> displaying to riders that said-
>>
>> "TURN DOWN THE SUCK KNOB"
>>
>> You can view it at the top of this page-
>> www.ChainReaction.com/sierra_road.htm
>>
>
> When in doubt, Google....
> http://whrwalumni.org/audio.php?detail=575
>
> A Binghamton connection?
>
> Dan

Even better - the Binghamton spot is an allusion to a far side comic (google
"far side suck knob").

-Andy B.

Date: 22 Feb 2007 18:07:16
From: KC
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

Andy B. wrote:
> "Dan Connelly" <d_j_c_o_n_n_e_l@y_a_h_o_o_._c_o_m> wrote in message
> news:lCnDh.129$MV7.70@newssvr23.news.prodigy.net...
>> Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
>>> Maybe I'm reading it wrong? Near the top of Sierra Road (the nastiest
>>> grade on the Tour of California), somebody had a sign they were
>>> displaying to riders that said-
>>>
>>> "TURN DOWN THE SUCK KNOB"
>>>
>>> You can view it at the top of this page-
>>> www.ChainReaction.com/sierra_road.htm
>>>
>> When in doubt, Google....
>> http://whrwalumni.org/audio.php?detail=575
>>
>> A Binghamton connection?
>>
>> Dan
>
> Even better - the Binghamton spot is an allusion to a far side comic (google
> "far side suck knob").
>
> -Andy B.
>
>

http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/l/jldkb/raymond.htm

-KC

Date: 22 Feb 2007 21:20:52
From: Mike Jacoubowsky
Subject: Re: VERY poor taste (sign at race)

>> "TURN DOWN THE SUCK KNOB"
>>
>> You can view it at the top of this page-
>> www.ChainReaction.com/sierra_road.htm
>>
>
> When in doubt, Google....
> http://whrwalumni.org/audio.php?detail=575
>
> A Binghamton connection?

When I raced by in the 70s, we heard rumors that radio might come someday,
but nobody would have dreamed riders would have 'net connected computers and
be able to google during the race!

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA