1-8-08

Storms

Was able to see the tornado that touched down @ Chestnut & West By Pass from our back deck.

Pictures are the new words

Photo Dump

You Bet!

Edit: Here's the comment I left on the last post in response to Shane.
Oh I admit freely he got the best of me. I'm man enough to admit that. But we (Nate & me) we're both wrong. Instead of getting pissed I should have gone & talked to Pat right then instead I walked out. In my opinion which is the one we're talking about I got shit customer service, end of story.

Its a simple concept in customer service. You Bet! Customer walks in asks for something, answer You bet! Is it in stock, well no, but wait a second & I'll track it down for you. 10 minutes making phone calls will get an ETA that is more accurate than "probably 2 weeks." Hey an accurate ETA will make the customer happy even if it really is 2 weeks. Out of stock at the distributor? Few more phone calls, maybe a little Internet & you track down said item. Maybe pull out some catalogs show the customer that you give a shit about his business by giving him some other options & backing up your knowledge of the item. Guess what 10-20 minutes just got you a customer for life. Simple concept that even helps keep on stock lower. "Special order" is just that "special" not a pain in the ass. I understand that a store can't have everything a customer wants every time they walk in. They can have a desire to help said customer instead of giving him the feeling he needs to get back to shooting the shit with his fellow employees. I will say that I got 10 minutes of face time in an otherwise empty store to get basically left to my own thoughts. Looked up & he was shooting the shit with his fellow employees, this is when I bailed.

I'll take a beating on this one. I don't care I probably deserve a beating for walking on sacred ground & voicing my opinion. I got shit service(in my opinion) & I vented. What I get in return (before I had a chance to go talk to Pat) a smart ass response (I'll say it slowly). Granted it was a good response & I apologized for being ignorant on the tire facts. But because of how it was stated A&B lost a customer because of it. I'm sure A&B doesn't care & I know my business is of little consequence to their overall financial outlook. But a customer is still a customer. One who was probably going to buy many thousands in bikes this year alone. Don't get me wrong I usually have great service from A&B but I've always dealt with the same people. I've just gotten to that point in my life where if you don't value my time then I'm not going to give you my business.

State of the LBS

I try really hard to support my LBS'. Its just they make it so damn hard for me to not go postal. Sometimes I think I would rather get kicked in the nuts than go to the LBS. I quit going to Sunshine when I heard a salesman tell a customer "you don't want a cross bike, cross is a fad." I walked out & have never been back.

Today I needed tubes & tires for my mtb so I went to A&B to use my gift certificate. They didn't have the Conti's I wanted so I grabbed a salesman to ask about the other tires they had. I first inquired about ordering the Conti's. Answer it would take 2 weeks. What the ?? I can get them in 3 days online. That was my mistake & I take credit for being stupid and asking for help. I spent the next 10 minutes trying not to laugh at the guy.

Next he tried to tell me a 2.4 tire weighed less than the exact same tire in a 2.1. I called him out on this to explain his psuedo science on that one. UH, UH they use less material. Really? Less material in a wider tire? What kind of special rubber are they using here? OK I didn't beat him up to bad over that. EDIT I guess I'm an idiot because WTB does make the 2.4 lighter than 2.1. How the hell they do that is beyond me. Sorry to the LBS.

Then he tells me that tire X is great if you have the skills to ride it & then goes on to tell me he has mad skills & they work great for him. That's pretty much where I ended the need for help & started looking on my own. I decided I wasn't going to buy a tire just because it was what they had in stock & left without even getting any tubes. I'll just patch the ones I have. If they would have cashed out my gift certificate I think I would have. Oh well I'll just go back on Saturday when Skip & Stokes are working.

It seems a simple concept. Customer service. Give people what they want not what you think they should have. I've been riding a long damn time & I know what I like. I'm not stupid enough to think my way is the best & am open to suggestions. I just want to have intelligent suggestions given to me.

Good bye 2007 hello 2008

2007 was a so so year for me racing wise. Being hurt & having 2 surgeries didn't help. Don't get me wrong I had some good results, a few wins, & managed to cat up to 2's in CX. I actually did a lot better than I thought I would. That said its time to start thinking about 2008. I'm probably going to race less since I plan on racing on the dirt again. I need to bring my skills back up to what they used to be if I'm going to be competitive as a CX 2. I'm also going to do more TT's this year. More in an attempt to simulate CX & to keep the Dumbass to Scott ratio to a minimum. I'm finally healed & I don't want some idiot with marginal skills to crash me in a parking lot crit. I lost all my upgrade points by not racing last year so I'm stuck being a 3 on the road (unless I can convince Weiss to even out my license on CX results??). So to keep the dumbass to Scott ratio low I'll only be racing those events that have 1/2/3 races. That way I can avoid the sketchy 3/4 races.

Another big change this year is I'm racing unattached. No more OCC. I had to sever ties to race with the Ridley Grassroots team & it got me to thinking I really don't benefit racing with OCC anyway. Team wise they do nothing for me racing. Norton & Curt are the only 3's anyway & they focus on Master's. So in effect I race solo. I guess I'll end up having to go the part time job route @ A&B to keep the discount flowing or try & stay on Skip's good side.

I also plan on running more this year. I really want to get a sub 18 5k back under my belt. I think it should be pretty easy with a little run training. I'm kicking around the idea of doing the Sylamore 50k again. Though I think I'd train more than 15 miles total going into it this time. If I do it then I'll have to really consider doing a solo AR Race this year. I've always wanted to do one so this year might be the year.

Sitting here day one of 2008 its easy to make plans. Reality dictates I'll end up playing everything by ear anyway. My true goal is to stay healthy.

(edits to come as I think of more crap)

2007 Results

MO State TT 35-39 2^nd place (57:25)
Chris Cross CX 35+ 1^st (3^rd Master)
Chris Cross CX 3/4 4^th
Hogan Cross A’s 7^th
Capitol Cup CX 35+ 1^st (1^st Overall Master)
Capitol Cup CX 3/4 3^rd
Boulevard Cup CX 35+ 2^nd (3^rd Master)
Boulevard Cup CX 3/4 4^th
Riverside Cross Day 1 3/4 1^st
Riverside Cross Day 2 ¾ 2^nd
Bubba Cross Columbia DNF
Jingle Cross Day 1 35+ 4^th
Jingle Cross Day 2 35+ 3^rd
Boss Cross CX 1/2/3 6^th
Bubba Cross Hermann A’s 3^rd
Mo State CX 35+ 1^st (1^st Overall Master)
Nationals KCCX 35+ 54th