I saw more than a couple chubby kids under the age of ten out jogging the paved trail on my way back to the parking lot the other day.

WTMFF?!?

It’s a pretty bad sign when you have kids out for a run to stay in shape.

Maybe they should try South Beach or Atkins? Or Weight Watchers? Or a Gold’s Gym membership?

Or maybe their lazyass parents should turn off the TV and XBox and take them outside to play.

How sad…

Saturday afternoon of the Ballyhoo I was lamenting the fact that my worse nightmare about the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo was coming true. There were less than 100 people there.

Back when Guitar Ted first came up with the idea of a 29er event, we were planning on having Salsa and Gary Fisher down to Decorah, get together 50 people and have a good time. From there it grew rapidly into a “real” event with eight bike companies represented. One of whom (Niner Bikes) drove in from Los Angeles. So the pressure was on to get more people there but by this time it was March and neither of us had any idea how to successfully market an event of this size.

My Saturday afternoon stresses was coming from the fear that the exhibitors were gonna be pissed by the turnout. I was assuming most would be far from interested in returning for Ballyhoo #2 and the legend of our 29er event would die quickly.

At this point I sucked it up, got up from my post and started walking the line and talking to the folks from the different companies that had showed up. Surprisingly, they were all pretty happy with the turnout. Apparently Guitar Ted and I were the only ones expecting much more than 100 people. What also worked in our favor was the fact that everyone showed up specifically to try out new bikes. So while there weren’t a lot of bodies there, every one of the exhibitors moved a lot of demos out.

So back to my original question… What makes an event successful?

If all the attendees had a great time (they did) and the exhibitors were happy (they were) then that’s a successful event.

For the record, Big Wheeled Ballyhoo part 2 is definitely on for next year. All the same exhibitors will be out for it and plenty more. Rock on!

I’ve found the perfect combination for staying awake while driving.

I mentioned earlier that my standby flights were getting jacked up and I may have to drive. That came true.

On Tuesday there were 25 seats open out of 190 for me to get from Atlanta to Chicago. Two hours before my connecting flight to Atlanta left I checked again and there were -9 seats left. So I transferred my car rental to Lynchburg and started driving at 5pm EST. Seventeen and a half hours later I arrived in Decorah.

I hate to drive. I grew up with the silver spoon of having a mom that works for Delta so we flew everywhere. The idea of sitting in a car for 18 hours was not only annoying but a bit frightening. So I created the perfect combination for staying awake while driving.

Double shots of espresso, sunflower seeds and a video iPod.

Caffeine is the obvious startpoint for staying awake and the espressos do a great job, however that alone is not enough to keep me from nodding off.

Eating is also a well known way of staying awake, however you get full quickly by eating snacks or chips. This is where sunflower seeds shine. You can eat them constantly for hours without getting full and you also have to “work” at getting the food so it’s more engaging.

Lastly, the video iPod. All through college and my working life I’ve listened to music while I work. Which means I’ve trained myself to ignore music so it does nothing to help me stay awake. However, watching TV and/or movies does the trick. I have several different movies and TV shows on my iPod. I’ve seen most of them several times so I can “watch” them while I drive since the dialog is all I need to keep up with the story. Again, this is much more engaging then merely listening to music.

Mix together caffeine, chewing, listening and mentally following a plot line and you have a great combination for staying awake on an 18 hour drive.

So I’m here in Decorah safe and sound for the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo. Stay tuned for more info on that one.

I wonder if the snakes of my local trails fear and worship me.

A lot of religious worship and rituals seem to rise from a misunderstanding of something. The Aztecs practiced human sacrifice to help the sun rise. And, assuming the shows Hercules and Xena Warrior Princess were historically accurate, the Greeks had all kinds of curious reasons for the gods they worshiped.

When I encounter a snake on the trail, not only do I physically punish them twice in quick succession, but they must also recognize the great squeal and incantations that boom from above as the great god notices what’s underneath him.

There is also the ritualistic pumping of the legs that leads up to the encounter and then, the almost frantic jerking of the legs as if he’s trying to get his mighty feet away but can’t remember how to disengage them.

So when I consider the snake’s point of view, I can only assume they’ve made a tiny snake alter of my likeness back at the homestead. Poppa snake makes the baby snakes do their nightly prayers to the great two wheeled god so he may spare them.

It’s nice to know Hercules and I have something in common.

Me and a buddy (who’s a much better programmer than me) are building a new bike related web application. I can’t say what it is yet but I’m trying to name it.

I bought the www.knackin.com domain because I was looking at this roadie slang dictionary and liked the word “knackered” but it’s hard to spell.

I’m saying it like packing but packin’

But if I told you “Check out knackin.com” how would you spell it?

nackin?

nakin?

naken?

knaken?

etc, etc.

So I’m still trying to think of a good name for it. It needs to be a basically pointless name (i.e. you don’t need to know what the web app does to name it) but I like the idea of it being bicycle related and easily heard then spelled.

Any ideas?

Leave a comment or send an email to tim@crookedcog.com. If I decide to use it and am able to buy the URL before someone else does, I’ll make it worth your while. (wink, nudge)