Road Cycling - Gmail Invitation Challenge (Not really OT.)

How would you like a Gmail account? It will take a little knowledge of cryptography and cycling history/lore. (Hey, who says life is easy?)

1. Decipher "SHNNXJ."
2. What does it mean?
3. To whom is it ascribed? (My word is final on this one.)

...first complete and correct answer wins.

A hint: It's a Caesar cipher.

Either it's not a true Caesar cipher, or the word is not an English word, but some form of initialism...

Either it's not a true Caesar cipher, or the word is not an English word, but some form of initialism...

Most excellent! You know what a Caesar cipher is. But yes, it is indeed a Caesar cipher. I never said it was an English word. Nor did I say it was not an acronym.

HINT #2: A record associated with it has very recently been broken.

Whew! That took some time! I already have a gmail acct, so I wont answer publicly.

Whew! That took some time! I already have a gmail acct, so I wont answer publicly.

Wow! Good job! Given you've solved the puzzle, I don't mind giving it to you. You could pass it along to someone here for exemplary posting or something. And if you like, I've a few more to give away. I'll work with you to have some more fun in the forum. Maybe a post of the week prize? I'm open to ideas.

i tried, but gave up due to the fact i already have gmail :)

Hint #3: one

So how does one get a gmail account?

So how does one get a gmail account?

By solving the puzzle. :)

shoot, I've got 6 gmail invites.. PM me with your current email addy. :)

I've actually been offered a Gmail invite once (a couple of weeks ago), but I turned it down.
I almost never get any email (2-3 per week), so my two Hotmail and two Yahoo accounts, plus my .Mac account are far more than enough.
Besides, Gmail is technically still a beta, so I'd be a bit cautious...

That said, I'm terribly fascinated by ciphers, so I still want to crack it.
I just have a feeling that I need to know a lot of cycling lore to be able to figure it out.

Yellow as in Yellow Jersey. Ascribed to Lance Armstrong in lasted TDF
Lance setting the record for winning the most TDF races

gmail invites are pretty easy to come by these days.

I have some if anyone wants also.

btw, (i+3) mod 26 right? :)

btw, (i+3) mod 26 right? :)

Suetonius* recorded that Caesar specifically used a shift of 3, but the nomenclature is generally applied to the use of any shift between 1 and 25 places.

* Author of Lives of the Caesars LVI, written in the second century A.D.

Yellow as in Yellow Jersey. Ascribed to Lance Armstrong in lasted TDF
Lance setting the record for winning the most TDF races

You have the record-breaking part right.

I have some if anyone wants also.

And I have more than you can count and usually do just give them away, but I thought some folks might like a challenge and to think a bit. (Yea, I know. Thinking is anathema to most cyclists. :)) Sure, you pick one up with little effort, but then you don't get to exercise your brain--and your brain is no different than your quads. Use it, or lose it. As an "old man" who is often 20 years or more older than the "kids" on training rides, I am grateful for a noggin (and the experience it holds) that frequently keeps me competitive, even if I've not been able to put in all the miles.

Old age, deceit and treachery will beat youth, skill and enthusiasm every time...

For example, there was the time one of the younger riders figured out I was actually recovering while taking my pull. The pace was about 25 mph before my turn to pull. When my turn came, I pushed it up to 28 mph and held it there for a while. And yes, that winded me, but I knew better than to pull off after such a pull. So instead, I slowly dropped it back to 25 mph, a speed at which I could recover, and a speed I *thought* no one would really notice since it was the previous pace. I continued pulling at 25 mph until I knew if someone pushed it back up or higher, I would have recovered enough from my hard pull to go with any little attack.

Had I taken that very decent 28 mph pull, but then immediately pulled over only to have the person behind me pick it up to 30 mph, I may not have gotten back on. (To be honest, I surely would not have gotten back on!) After the ride, one of the younger riders came up to me and said he had noticed what I had done, and thought it pretty clever. I admitted that after a 28 mph pull, one could be in a bit of recovery mode at 25 mph. He smiled and thanked me for teaching him something new that day.

So again, by offering the challenge and a meager reward, I merely thought others might like to keep their brains as supple as their legs. It's nice to see some here do feel that way. I'll be keeping a sharp eye on them should we ever ride together. ;)

(Yea, I know. Thinking is anathema to most cyclists. :)) Sure, you pick one up with little effort, but then you don't get to exercise your brain--and your brain is no different than your quads. Use it, or lose it.

i think school is currently taking care of that for me :D

i think school is currently taking care of that for me :D

Depends on the school. :D

Depends on the school. :D

what are you trying to say? ;)

what are you trying to say? ;)

I just noticed your Aggie sig. That's an excellent school. I have friends that teach there. I once [briefly] considered a business school faculty position they offered. Unfortunately, the salary they offered wasn't equal to the university's quality. I chose to join the faculty at Vanderbilt instead. Another factor was A&M's size. I didn't want to teach classes of 200-300 students. At Vandy, the largest class might have 35 students, that's all.

I also couldn't see living in College Station. What in the dickens do people do there? I joke sometimes and say they had to first clear the cows off the runway for the plane to land. And, I couldn't even find a decent restaurant. I actually cut my visit short and told them there was no way I could live in College Station, regardless of the school's superb quality--and two people on their faculty with whom I would have loved to work.

And finally, I felt too far removed from great college basketball. I grew up in ACC country, and went to Duke for undergrad and grad studies. How could I possibly move that far away from Duke basketball? Yep, it's hard to be humble when you're a Blue Devil. :D

(But I was amazed by the sea of tens of thousand of students during class changes at A&M. Wow!)

Something else. A&M was also competing against one school that had me fly in early. I wasn't certain why. It became clear when I walked into my hotel room and found a bike waiting for me. The school had rented it for me to ride over the weekend before my official visit began on Monday. Someone on the faculty had remembered I was a cyclist. It came down to a choice between that school and Vandy. Looking back, I should have taken the bike. (Sometimes we forget the important things in life.)

I just noticed your Aggie sig. That's an excellent school. I have friends that teach there. I once [briefly] considered a business school faculty position they offered. Unfortunately, the salary they offered wasn't equal to the university's quality. I chose to join the faculty at Vanderbilt instead. Another factor was A&M's size. I didn't want to teach classes of 200-300 students. At Vandy, the largest class might have 35 students, that's all.

I also couldn't see living in College Station. What in the dickens do people do there? I joke sometimes and say they had to first clear the cows off the runway for the plane to land. And, I couldn't even find a decent restaurant. I actually cut my visit short and told them there was no way I could live in College Station, regardless of the school's superb quality--and two people on their faculty with whom I would have loved to work.

And finally, I felt too far removed from great college basketball. I grew up in ACC country, and went to Duke for undergrad and grad studies. How could I possibly move that far away from Duke basketball? Yep, it's hard to be humble when you're a Blue Devil. :D

(But I was amazed by the sea of tens of thousand of students during class changes at A&M. Wow!)

For starters...my girlfriend is a student at Vanderbilt (sophmore), what a small world, heh. Anyways, yes, the classes here are pretty huge. (There's only like 47,000 students) I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, but I really don't mind at all. I can see how that might be more of a problem from a professor's viewpoint. The town can be pretty boring at times unless you enjoy drinking and clubbing. I don't mind the town too much, but I certainly wouldn't want to live here after graduating school either. The cow and farmer jokes, yeah, I've heard them all :). The food options here are so-so. There are a few good places, but there could certainly be more. Lastly, the A&M basketball team...what a joke. On the whole, I really enjoy the school as much as I can when I'm not studying for engineering :( and I'm really glad I chose to go here. :D

I joke sometimes and say they had to first clear the cows off the runway for the plane to land.

Q: Why is Texas A&M's football field artificial turf?
A: Keeps the homecoming queen from grazing.

OK, OK, that's mean, I know. Old habits die hard. I'm an Arkansas Razorback and am fully prepared for any inbreeding/bestiality flames you want to throw. ;)

har har...too bad it's real grass :D

It's a pretty old joke (much like its teller).

It's a pretty old joke (much like its teller).

heh

Q: Why is Texas A&M's football field artificial turf?
A: Keeps the homecoming queen from grazing.

OK, OK, that's mean, I know. Old habits die hard. I'm an Arkansas Razorback and am fully prepared for any inbreeding/bestiality flames you want to throw. ;)

Looks like Arkansas' only loss in football (SO FAR) came from us, huh? ;)

hook'em horns!

Yes, our quarterback says to tell you, "You're welcome."

As we used to say in the hills, "I liked to died."

Looks like Arkansas' only loss in football (SO FAR) came from us, huh? ;)

hook'em horns!

you should thank our football team too :p