MIGHTY SHARK MINION NATION “SOFT” OPENING!
REAL OPENING DAY, SATURDAY APRIL 7, 2018!
THIRTY YEARS OF
SATURDAY MORNING RIDES!
SAY WHAT???
SAY WHAT???
COMMEMORATIVE 30TH ANNIVERSARY
JERSEY IN THE WORKS!
IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT!?!
Belo News
March 7, 2018
Santa Fe, NM. - As the mighty Shark
Minion Nation gets set to start the 30th Season of
Saturday morning rides, we find our intrepid hero, the Sharkman, in
Santa Fe attempting to get his sorry dorsal into shape so that he
too, can enjoy his 30th season of Saturday Morning biking!
 |
| Yeti Boy relaxing over a Bottomless! |
Just before leaving for his annual
Spring Training out west, the Sharkman, Yeti Boy and Reb took to the roads in
the unusually warm February temperatures to head over to the Klutch
for some Bottomless Koffee.
The Nation was pretty popular with the
Early Morning Koffee Group, who reminded them that it was February!
However, it was a beautiful morning (of course any morning you can
ride is a beautiful morning!) and they enjoyed the camaraderie!
Though they did not break any speed
records it was just great to be on the bike!
Shortly after Sharkman returned to the
Cove, and after he had cleaned up, there was a knock at the door and
when Sharkman answered the call, he found Mad Dog in all his
motorcycling finery! (see photo!) The day was so beautiful, Mad Dog was out on his
new BMW motorcycle! And as you can see from the photos, Mad Dog cut
quite a figure next to the sleek machine that was quite a beauty!
Mad Dog also wanted to ride and the old
Shark and he decided to ride on the following day, which they did in
a “severe wind advisory” with little trouble. Life was good
again!
Mad Dog was back in the mix!
 |
| Reb toasting the ride! |
With less than a month from Opening
Day, the day that every Shark Minion awaits, Sharkman thought he
would mention that this is the 30th year that he has had a
Saturday morning, organized ride and include a brief history of the
ride.
So, here we go......
How it all began........
In the beginning, our intrepid hero,
the Sharkman, enjoyed two “bike life's” Though his Dad got him
started early, when at the age of 5 they walked to the local Schwinn
Shop on the north side of Chicago and purchased his first Schwinn
bike, that period in his life, was like any kid and a bike.
Sharkman's Dad approached buying bikes like he did cars, and made the
entire process fun for the young Shark. And though he rode bikes
until he was 16 and began driving a car, the Sharkman did not really
consider that period one of his “bike life's”
While in college, the movie “Breaking
Away” (later, his oldest daughter would be on the Little 5 winning team at Indiana University) came out and once again, he was enthralled with the bike.
Being a broke college student, he saved his coin (as we all know, he is famously cheap) and purchased a very
low end Sears Winner 10 Speed (as they were known in those days). Thus
began his “first bike life” in which he got Lava Girl riding and
a couple of other couples friends and they rode tour's, centuries,
commuted to school, actually did a couple of bike vacations, etc. Our hero went through a couple of bikes,
none very spectacular, over the next 10 years or so, before he began
running.
 |
| Cheers! |
With kids, and a young career, it was
much more easy to find time to run than to ride.
Flash forward to 1987 and after running
over 20 marathons, our intrepid hero decided to enter the Hickory
Corners Biathlon. Sharkman dug out his old Azuki 10 speed (see what we mean about "cheap?") and got it
ready to ride.
This unusual event was a 6+ mile run,
followed by a 22+ bike ride. When our intrepid hero asked why those
distances, he was told by Doug Stevenson (former owner of Alfred E.
Bike and eventual good friend of our hero) that it was because that
was where the course ended! The old Shark thought this was pretty
funny at the time.
The big day came and Sharkman can still
remember that he was nervous about the bike part of the race having
not done any real biking in some time and never having raced in
anyway.
The Hickory Corners race in those days,
began out at the cemetery east of town and the run came first.
Sharkman (not known as Sharkman at the time) sprinted out to the
front in the run and was very surprised that he stayed there for the entire 6+
miles and finished in the top 15 or so!
 |
| Let's hope Mad Dog hasn't gone over to the "Dark Side...." |
Naturally, he couldn't believe he was
doing so well and was feeling pretty smug when he got on the bike for
the second and final part of the race.
However, within just a mile or two,
bikers (real bikers) began to pass him like he was standing still!
Sharkman fought as hard as he could,
but was completely demoralized as riders passed him, particularly on
the hills, and his legs began to feel like mush.
Sharkman finished somewhere in the
middle of the pack (that might be a bit optimistic) and instead of
being discouraged, got motivated to improve his riding!
He had forgotten how much he loved the
bike and immediately began researching what bike to purchase.
Not wanting to give up running (and
that would be a while) and being famously cheap (did we mention his cheapness?), Sharkman did not
want to spend a lot on a bike. He began research and Bicycling
Magazine had just named the Trek 1000 a “Best Buy.”
Sharkman went over to the closest Trek
Dealer at the time and it was none other than Alfred E. Bike, owned
by Doug Stevenson. The bike was around $500, which seemed like an
enormous amount to the young Sharkman, but he was convinced it would
instantly make him a faster rider!
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| Pretty sweet ride, eh?!? |
While at Alfred E. Bike, purchasing the
bike, Bob Tubay, who our hero knew from working at Kellogg, was there and
Bob, later to become Bullet Bob, invited him to ride the very next
Saturday, to which our hero jumped at the chance!
When Saturday morning rolled around,
Bullet Bob arrived at Sharkman's old Cove and the two headed out on
the very road that he now takes to get to the Klutch each Saturday
morning.
At the first hill, up to 44th Street, Bullet Bob took off
up the ascent like a fly on the wall and Sharkman began to wonder if
he had just wasted $500 on a bike that felt like it was slowly
killing his legs!
But again, the old Shark felt
challenged and after the 25-30 mile ride, that nearly killed him,
rather than put the bike away for good, decided he wanted to continue
to ride and get better.
That began in 1988 and Bullet Bob
became his longest riding partner and longest serving Shark Minion,
but not the only Minion.
In the early days, the rides got to be
known as “Tour de Bill's” and riders like Bullet Bob, Carl the
Cannibal, Rodger Dodger, Mark the Hammer, Sailman, Locomotive and
Qman were contacted by first, phone, then email, to determine the
ride start, usually at Sharkman's house. Different riders hosted each ride that
first year and the ride would conclude with breakfast at someone's
house. But after the first season, the rides migrated to launching at
the Sharkman's house for the next number of years.
How Sharkman became
Sharkman.........
In 1989, Sharkman returned to the
Hickory Corners Biathlon and was ready to rock!
The start/finish was moved to the west
side of town, were they had a County Park that better facilitated the
event. He had his new Trek, he'd been riding, he was ready!
Though Sharkman cannot remember how he
did, he does remember how on that day he became known as “The
Sharkman of Hickory Corners.”
The Hickory Corners Biathlon was a
really cool race. They gave away really nice sweatshirts, (Sharkman
still has and wears them) and instead of getting a trophy for
winning, they raffled off gifts from the two sponsors, Gazelle Sports
and Alfred E. Bike.
After the ride, our hero put on a San
Jose Shark Tee shirt that a Board Member at Kellogg and co-owner of
the NHL Team, had given him. Because it was cold, he put his Hickory
Corners sweatshirt on, over the T shirt to stay warm.
As the announcer stood on a picnic
table, reading off lottery winners, he pulled a T shirt out of the
prize box, that had a neon shark on the back with “Kalamazoo”
under the shark. He quickly announced that whoever won the T shirt
would forever be known as “The Sharkman of Hickory Corners!'
The crowd began chanting, as the announcer pulled the name from the box, “Sharkman,
Sharkman, Sharkman......!”
“Bill Duggan from Battle Creek!”
As the now, Sharkman, began to walk to
the picnic table, the crowd continued to chant even louder, “Sharkman,
Sharkman, Sharkman......!'
When our hero stood up on the picnic
table, to accept the coveted T shirt, he pulled up his sweatshirt and
revealed he already had a Shark T shirt on and the crowd went wild!
“Sharkman, Sharkman,
Sharkman........!” And thus the legend began (at least in our
hero's mind.......).
Friends began giving him things with
sharks on it, like socks, T's, etc. His daughters began calling him
Shark Dad and his Saturday morning guys began to call him Sharkman
after he bought his first (of many) Shark Jersey! His daughters even found a bike helmet with a dorsal fin on it!
How the Minion name came to
be................
A few years later, with the Sharkman's
Saturday ride group calling him Sharkman for some time, he went to a
Friday Night Kalamazoo Bike Club ride in Galesburg. As he was getting
his bike ready, CycoCross pulled in and got out of his car and
immediately began regaling our hero....”All hail the mighty
Sharkman! We are all his Minions!” and thus began the name Minions
for those who rode with our hero.
How the ride moved to the
Klutch.........
The Saturday rides continued and riders
moved away, or stopped riding, but there was always a group that
Sharkman had riding on Saturday mornings. One of his longest running
Minions was Qman, who lived in Galesburg and would drive to Sharkman's
house to start the ride. In those day's the ride usually covered what
is now known as “the Southern Route.”
Qman and Sharkman discussed that there
was a new Cafe opening up in Galesburg and as bikers, they loved coffee and saw photos in Velo News where riders, training in Spain, would stop for coffee.
They decided that once the new cafe opened, they would move the start
of the ride to Galesburg so they could enjoy a coffee after the ride
and add the miles to get to the cafe to their weekly mileage.
When Luanne opened the Koffee Klutch (we think, around 2007) the Minion's were her first Saturday morning customers. Because the ride had moved closer to Kalamazoo, some of Qman's buddies from church joined the ride. Guys like Sooner, Peugeot Guy, Arrow, Hawkeye and soon the ride began to grow as other riders found the group like Wolf King, Boffo the Clown, Dirt Dog, Cycocross with many, many more to follow. Legendary names like Gazelle Girl, Zyckmann (or whatever his name is this week) Bissell Boy, Stryker Guy, Yeti Boy, Skipper,.....the names go on and on!
The ride really began to take off in
2008, when Belo News began. Prior to Belo News, communications went
out by email. However, Belo News circulation slowly began to rise and
presently there are 134 Minions on the distribution. Many of those
riders have moved away, but have stayed on the distribution to read
about the exploits of the mighty Shark Minion Nation.
The ride followed the same route as the
Friday night Kalamazoo Bike Club ride and took on the name, the Koffee Klutch Tour de Gull, but the difference has been
the “leave no Minion behind” rule. The riders can sprint for
bragging rights at all the Stop Ahead signs, however, the Nation tries
very hard not to leave any Minion behind by waiting at the stop sign for
all to catch on. Though there have been times when the Nation has
lost a Minion, it has worked hard to make sure the ride is fun for all.
If a rider wants a stronger workout, they can sprint for all the Stop
Ahead signs, then ride back to meet the group.
Two years ago, a “B” Group began
for those recovering from injury (as Sharkman came back from surgery), or trying to get back into shape
after a lay off. The Nation is still working on both the “A” and
“B” group concept to insure it works well, but now that ride attendance
often goes over 40 riders on a Saturday, it is even more important to break down
the groups for safety reasons.
And that is the story of the mighty
Shark Minion Nation and our intrepid hero, the Sharkman!
Sharkman feels truly blessed by having his mighty Minion Nation in his life and for 30 fantastic years of cycling fun and friendships!
30th ANNIVERSARY SHARK MINION JERSEY
ANNOUNCED!
Belo News
March 7, 2018
Santa Fe, NM. - In recognition of this
being the 30th year, our Vice President of Minion Moral, Gazelle
Girl, along with Director of Laughs, Zyckkmann, are working on the
possibility of a 30th Anniversary commemorative Shark
Minion Jersey. Plans are that this jersey would have ALL the Minions
Names on it if they can be fit into one jersey.
To insure that you have your name on the
jersey, please send Sharkman an email with your real and your Shark
Minion name. (The old Shark has a hard time remembering each Minions
real name.)
When Sharkman, Gazelle Girl and Zyckman
tried to remember all the names, they were able to come up with
around 80 without even looking at the distribution. But if you want
your name on the jersey, you need to email Sharkman
(sharkman444@gmail.com)
ASAP.
If there is a good response, jersey's will be made and orders
will be taken.
So don't delay! Get your name and
Minion name to Sharkman ASAP!
OPENING DAY, APRIL 7, 2018!
Belo News
March 7, 2018
Galesburg, MI. -
And don't forget to mark your calendars! Opening Day is Saturday,
April 7, 2018. The time will be determined the week before, depending
on weather. So watch your email with start time!
You won't want to miss the first day of the 30th
season of the mighty Shark Minion Nations!
Be there!
