Metro meeting, night riding and fishbowls of beer

Dan at Sportsmans
Originally uploaded by Chewieez

A bunch of mtn bikers came and represented at the Metro Parks Planning meeting last night down in Edwin Warner Park. I was very impressed to see all that Metro has done in the past 5 years. There was a lot of great information shared by Metro and then they opened up the floor to questions and comments. Lots of people had great things to share and Bob Parish of Metro took notes all everyone comments that will be posted online soon.

There were about 25-30 mtn bikers present and many of then shared with concerns and desires with the group. About 15 rc aviators also came and had many concerns. Some trail runners and land owners also voiced their concerns. Overall it was a positive atmosphere and everyone got to share their thoughts. I'm glad I went and also thankful for the people who spoke out for us mtn bikers!

I rode down to the meeting from my house and met up with Dan on the way. It turned out to be closer than I expected and wasn't as cold as I thought it may be. It was a nice easy ride. After the meeting Dan and Thad and I rode back up 100 to Sportsman's Grill and had dinner and brew.... fishbowls of brew. Rode back to Hillsboro and left Dan at Belle Meade Blvd and left Thad at Hillsboro and Harding. Fun night of riding and a great parks meeting.

I'm finishing up packing for snake and figuring out the carpooling situation. Hoping to improve on my performance at the first two races. No real goal but to ride more, walk less and have a lot of fun.

on it's way

We had a great snowy day today. Not much accumulation as usual, but for once it snowed all day, and not just all night. Thankfully I was able to stay off the roads with the crazies and head to work later in the morning. Met with a mastering engineer friend for a while tonight and got some great advice and shared stories. He's helping me take my skillset to the next level and also helping me revamp my engineering sample CD (reel).



Looks like I have a package at the way from who? .... Rivendell.... Let me tell you how great this company is with it's online store. They stock a nice variety of products that most bike shops don't stock, they include personal descriptions of the products infused with a mix of sarcasm and real life reviews. They include great "real" pictures of the products and best of all, they have a great 60 day return policy. I was told there are no stipulations or fine print with their return policy. Use it, abuse it; if you don't like it, return it.... within 60 days. Wow! I was sold and made my purchase. It helped that their price was $30 cheaper than the other site I was considering. (thanks go out to Troy for hipping me to their website)

This is an important week for the Metro Parks Master Plan for Parks and Greenways. They are having meetings each night at a different location to discuss future changes to the plan. Some of the Yazoo crew are riding to the meeting tomorrow night by Edwin Warner Park to help bring some more trails to Nashville and to help make Nashville a more bike friendly city.

Here is the address for the meeting if you are interested and can come out:
Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 6:30 p.m., Warner Parks Nature Center,
7311 Highway 100, Edwin Warner Park, Nashville, TN 37221, Phone: 615-352-6299


I need to get some miles in this week to help out with my Snake performance on Saturday. I haven't taken the time to fit in riding lately and I need to. Tomorrow should involve some good mileage and hopefully I can get another easy ride in before friday night.

mud, bbq and an ass

Last week was a mellow week overall. (minus the Green Hills crime spree) Worked down in Franklin three days on some remastering projects which was a nice change of pace. I hadn't done much of that kind of work since last fall. I helped out a friend on tuesday and filled in for him on a tracking session. I filled in the gaps with a fair share of Google work and a ride with Troy on tuesday.

Went out thurs to the tap room with Beth in tow. There was a good crew there even with a few of the staples preferring to go on Friday night. Beth and I were going to see a show at 12th and Porter later in the night so we hung and followed the crew to Sam's for a beer. Unfortunately Sam's still thinks it's cool to smoke and smoke a lot so we bailed quickly and headed to Jackson's for a bite and more beer. Good times were had by all with a lot of team talk and cellphone web browsin'.

Beth and I headed to 12th and Porter from there and paid our way into a show. Sam and Ruby performed a great show! I was fortunate to meet them over a year ago when they were starting some demos in Nashville. That turned into cutting a record at Oceanway and doing months of overdubs. I helped out with a lot of the overdubs with recording vocals and guitars and some editing. They are a great group with a cool new/old sound and great personalities. I'm glad I was able to make it to the show.

Beth and I stayed in friday night and chilled out. I was up early saturday to meet Dan and Thad and head down to the DSG course in Fayetteville. Rode down with Dish and Poey which was a treat. Dan got to snuggle with Dish in the back while Poey rode in my lap the entire way with his jacket on. We arrived at the Cotton Mill Preserve without incident and visited for a bit before we got organized and split out into the trail. Our group was on drainage and trail arming duty. All the rain this week helped us know where the trouble spots were and where to nick and tuck to help the trail drain better. I had never been to this trail so I was hoping for a ride, as we all were, but it was way too muddy.

After a few hours of work, we were all treated to some great bbq, beer, chips and cookies from Clay. We all relaxed and caught up with each other. It seems I haven't ridden with most of the people there in months so it was nice to chat. SORBA/NMB and the DSG crew (Grant) held a raffle giveaway for some great swag. I scored a pair of DSG Swiftwick socks and some tire levers. Thad got a special prize.... a Donkey Alarm Clock, which we heard many times on the way home.

Next up was "Thad rides a Donkey" which had everyone's attention. We all huddled around with cameras ready to document the carnage. Sadly it was a clean ride, probably a full 60 seconds. After everyone settled down from the excitement of miniature horse riding, we loaded up and headed back to town.... bummed we missed riding but accomplished that we got some great trail work done.You can view a view of Thad riding an ass here...

www.flickr.com Chewieez's Cottonmill Workday 2/23/08 photoset

crimes up, temperature is down

We were victimized by another low life, bored somebody who thought they'd like to have Beth's stereo out of her explorer. Apparently she needs to get a less attractive car with a lame stereo that no one wants. Since this exact same thing happened last July, she has an alarm installed now which went off. It seems the burglar(s) were scared off by the alarm and failed to steal anything. The only good news this morning. We called the police and they sent a cop out who was very nice and talked to us for a while. He mentioned that Green Hills was his 'area' and that he hadn't even heard mention of break-ins in Georgetown. Well, he's definitely aware now, after getting the low down from Beth while he surveyed the scene. He found some prints on the car door that he dusted and taped. Hopefully they aren't prints from Beth or I and are of the burglar, and hopefully he has priors...yada yada.

I called the Georgetown office and left a voicemail about the break-in. They are quite hands off, so we aren't expecting any response. Beth is working up a community communication avenue and some fliers to post up around the complex. She has started a blog in hopes that other residents will use it to post up about other crime, or grievances and get the lines of communication open.

Here is the new blog -- The Community Blog of Georgetown Condominiums, Nashville, TN

Criminals suck!

moonlit country roads

Went out for a night time road ride with T.roy through some of the wonderful country roads of southwest Nashville tonight. T.roy started from his house and we planned to meet up in Belle Meade on the way to Percy Warner. I rode from my house over to Belle Meade and after going a few turns too far, backtracked and found Troy. We rolled on to Percy Warner and started into the park. The moon was out and almost full so we thought we'd try no-lights for as long as we could. We made it all the way through the park with just the moonlight. The park was empty and very calm. Thankfully the roads were clear of debris, though we still took the downhills slower with no lights. Probably not the smartest thing ever, but we made it through unscathed and it was a fun experience. I don't even remember hearing any animals in the park, it was eerily calm.

Troy lead us out of the park onto Old Hickory (I think) and then onto some great country roads over to Brentwood. We continued to keep our lights off when we were alone on the roads, and only turn them on when cars were present. These roads would be great for some spring time rides in the daylight or some mild summer night rides. It was nice tonight, though my toes were rock hard with the temperature dipping below 32.

We rode over to Granny White Pike and started back into town. My legs started to get a bit tired, but we were keeping a good pace and there weren't many bad hills. When I first left the house and rode to meet Troy, my legs felt dead and very tired from the 70 mile ride on Sat. I was worried I wouldn't have any energy to do a substantial ride. I got into the groove though once we got into Percy Warner park and felt good for most of the rest of the ride, sans frigid toes.

Troy and I went our separate ways at the corner of Lone Oak and Granny White. I rolled back into Green Hills without incident and was happy to get back in a climate controlled condo. It was a great ride and was nice to shake the funk out of the legs. Oh and I decided 100% that I don't like the Selle Italia Flite Ti .... so there. :) NEXT!

longest ride....ever

I jumped in on a long haul trucker gravel grinder this weekend. Thad is known to plan these and I always hear about how much fun was had but hadn't participated. I wasn't ready physically for this ride, having not had a decent ride since the Snake. My bike wasn't really ready considering I was using a test saddle that I'd never ridden on before. What better way to test out a saddle.... a 73 mile ride! A good group came out to play, we had Thad, gRant, Mike N, PTJim, (mean)Adam, and Scott M.

73 miles.... wow! Can't say I would of said that I could do a ride like this if you'd asked me last week. The plan was a 50-70 mile gravel grinder. I signed up and secretly hoped it would be closer to 50, which would only be about 10 miles out of my comfort zone. Well, I'd say about 50 miles of the 73 were out of my comfort zone. Thad had his trusty, crusty map hidden in the protective zip lock case. He lead us all over the country side starting from Leipers Fork. A friend from NMB asked me where we rode. I was about to give a quick answer and then thought, hmmm I don't really know where we were and where we rode. I just know we started in Leipers Fork and ended in Leipers Fork. We rode past some amazing country side. I was able to glance around a few times and really just soak it in. I'd think: wow, I've been riding my bike for hours, this scenery is amazing, I'm cruising.... it all would hit me at one time. This type of riding is just awesome. So rewarding, friendly competition, personal challenges, great camaraderie, the sense that you are away from it all yet still connecting with people.

Thankfully Grant manned up and brought his camera and volunteered to carry it on the journey. He got some great shots that really bring back the ride in my memory. All the pics included here are from Grant, minus the beer shot post ride. We headed back to downtown Franklin to hit up 2 for 1s at McCreary's but they were just too busy for us. By the time we would of gotten a table happy hour would of been over. The decision was made to head down to Mellow Mushroom instead. We enjoyed a couple pitchers of pale ale and some great pizza. Everyone was just feeding their faces. Grant and Mike suffered from the food sweats, maybe they need to up their eating training.

On the saddle front the Selle Italia Flite did ok. I didn't have the same degree of numbness as I had using the Rocket V ti, but there was still some there. I tried my best all day to stand up a lot and move around frequently so to not be sitting more than I needed. Not sure if this helped more than the saddle change. Overall, I'd say I'm not fond of the Flite saddle. I feel it is a bit to narrow for my anatomy. I realize you should put more miles in on a saddle before making the final judgment but I don't think I can with this one. I may exchange it for one other Selle Italia model, but I have a saddle in mind now that may just be the answer for me. I'm really close to buying a Selle An-Atomica saddle. I've been reading all about them and the research they've done and is sounding like it's worth the price of admission. Unfortunately it has a stout price tag of around $160 but the Flite Ti that I just demoed sells for $150. Can you really put a price on comfort? The An-Atomica is supposed to be very similar is style to a Brooks, with a slightly different shape, different leather (with less break-in time) and a cut-out down the middle. (I know, cut-outs are marketing hype and don't work..... blah blah blah) The marketing hype for this saddle has me interested and I'm gonna try it out.

You can read some other great write-ups on our gravel grinder on the following links:

J5's blog
Grant's NMB post #1
Grant's NMB post #2
Pumptrack Jim's NMB Post

We'll end with a beer shot....

My first test saddle from Harpeth Bike

My test saddle from Harpeth Bike
Originally uploaded by Chewieez

I'm in need of a new, more fitting, saddle for the crosscheck so I went down to Harpeth Bikes this week to see what Fred could offer. They are a test center for Selle Italia so I got hooked up with a test saddle, a Flite Ti.

I meant to take it for a medium length ride this week to check it out but I had too much work to fit it in. Tomorrow is a long, gravel grinder ride with a group; not the best time to be testing a new saddle. We'll see how it goes. I spun around the neighborhood a little tonight trying to get the tilt and position worked out. First impressions are that it may be a little too narrow for me. I hope that isn't the case.

I've only liked WTB saddles for my mountain bikes but admittedly I'm not that picky. It also doesn't make a big difference with mountain biking since I'm always moving around and standing up. This Flite has less overall padding than I'm used to so I'm hoping that it's initial discomfort will be mainly due to that.

I hope to be able to pick a great saddle quickly but I do not want to rush the decision. We'll see how this saddle works. If it's terrible I'll go back and try another. I'm sure Fred can get my hooked up with some choices. I would also like to try a decent length ride with a WTB Devo if I can manage to find a demo.

Time to finish my Yuengling and my prep for tomorrow.

First snow in Nashville

First snow in Nashville
Originally uploaded by Chewieez

Woke up this morning to a nice coating of snow. It was still snowing hard when I went to scrape my truck and warm it up. Thankfully I tore my dashboard apart and moved my temperature control to heat recently. Dan knows all about that.

Beth and I took her little sister out to Carraba's last night and hung over at the in-laws for a while. We had to pry the doors of Beth's Explorer open when we left as it had started sleeting and the temps were dropping fast.

Wish the snow would of lasted a bit longer. Thankfully I didn't see any wrecks on the way to work and everyone was driving quite responsibly.

a little self boasting

I just found out that three of the albums I worked on in the past year and a half were nominated for Grammy's and two of the three won!!

Unfortunately, I don't think assistant engineers receive anything as I was low man on the totem pole on all of the projects. I know I worked on them though and it's also fun to see engineer friends of mine win as well.

I will refrain from passing judgement on some of the albums and songs that won. One man's treasure is another man's trash.




The albums I worked on are:

Vince Gill : These Days
(Won Best Country Album)

The Clark Sisters : Live One Last Time
(Won, Best Gospel Performance and Best Gospel Song)

Smokie Norful : Life Changing
(Nominated for Best Traditional Gospel Album)


Congrats to all the people involved in all the albums and songs that won! Keep working hard and hopefully we'll survive!!

another unfriendly cycling city

We just returned from a quick trip to Atlanta. Beth is going to sell her jewelry in the Beehive CoOp there, so she wanted to go down again and setup her display and get all the inventory sorted through. She wanted me to accompany her and stay overnight this time as Atlanta is just a bit far for a day trip and she knew she would be working at the Beehive for at least 3 hours.

We headed down friday afternoon and had a great dinner with her old friend who lives in Atlanta. We headed back to the hotel after stuffing ourselves at the Cali Pizza Kitchen. Beth and I wanted to walk from our hotel to a bar for drinks so we headed out to Ru San's because it was close. I enjoyed two yummy Sweetwater IPAs and we got an interesting fried banana and ice cream desert. We can now add to list of life experiences; eating ice cream with chopsticks. And I must say we were quite good at it!

We got up leisurely this morning and headed to IHOP for breakfast! oh yea!! I'd talked about it enough that Beth finally said we could go and I got my favorite, chocolate chip pancakes! All this because our hotel didn't provide any complimentary breakfast items, or many items at all actually....(see rant below). We headed straight for the Beehive after brunch and Beth got to work. I decided to bring my Crosscheck with me for the trip so I suited up in my riding gear, mainly just shoes and chrome bag with some books, and got directions to the local park. The directions sounded very easy, basically just head down Peachtree Rd and swing a left on any street between 14th and 10th. I was psyched and ready for an adventure. I had a quick discussion about how bike friendly Atlanta was and wasn't with another vendor at the Beehive, then I was off to find out what riding in Atlanta was like.

I got all my stuff together and passed off the car keys to Beth and said ado. I quickly got in the saddle and onto Peachtree Rd and immediately found that it would be an adventure. Peachtree Rd is a major thoroughfare, basically like riding down West End in midtown Nashville, just with 3-4 times as many cars and trucks, much narrower lanes and no shoulder. Add to this constant construction zones, one after the other for the entire 2 mile stretch I needed to ride. No complains here as I was actually enjoying myself. I just owned my little section of road and tried to maintain the fastest speed I could to keep up. The crosscheck handled the many potholes and chewed up pavement very well. I didn't hear anyone yelling at me and no cars put my life in danger. I was surprised that I didn't see any other cyclists riding. I met a lady while waiting at a light that asked me how easy it was to ride in Atlanta. I said I was from out of town so I didn't really know yet. She said that she noticed there weren't many bike lanes and that Atlanta wasn't a very bike friendly city. The few miles I rode today proved her to be correct.

I made it to the park in one piece and still happy to be riding. I rode a couple laps and explored the park some and then found a nice comfy tree to hang and read. After a couple hours I packed back up and rode back to meet Beth. I'm going to have to try to bring my bike more on our little Freshie and Zero outings. It was great to zip around Atlanta and have something to do while Beth was working.

Small rant about hotels. It's so annoying that as you pay more for a hotel, they offer less. Ok for $75-100 you get a Holiday Inn level hotel, with free wifi, continental breakfast, free parking, maybe a water bottle and hopefully a mini fridge. When you move up to a 'nice' hotel in the $150-200 price range, you get a suite with a couch, (eh big deal, though the extra room is nice), a nice mattress, no free wifi ($10 per day in the Double Tree in Buckhead), no breakfast (on site generic restaurant), $4 bottles of water as a tease, and $16 per day parking in an off-site garage. Thank God for Priceline.com, but it seems the priorities need a check. Clearly the people who can afford to actually pay $180 for a hotel, can pay $10 more for internet and $16 for parking. Like Starbucks doesn't need to have free wifi to entice their customers, because they actually don't want them to stick around and hangout, but the independent coffee shops use free wifi as a selling point to bring in customers. oh well... such is life.

The power of a phone call

A well timed phone call this Thursday landed me with a great editing project. My task was to clean up the band tracks and get them ready for mixing and then clean, edit and tune the vocals for a neat band. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet any of the band members, or anyone at all actually, while working. I can say it wasn't country music and they've played Bonaroo. It was a treat listening to the music and was a fun project to work on. I'm hoping to stay in better contact with the engineer on the project and hopefully help him with more work in the near future.

I snapped a few quick shots of my work surroundings while I took some breaks. The band has been setup in a quaint house with guitars and pianos and keyboards everywhere. It was a little strange working two 10 hour days and not seeing anyone except when I met Beth for lunch. I do like it when work changes each day and this was another example of that. It's also a great example of the changes in the music business. A signed band doing all their overdubs in a house, not a studio. At least they were using an engineer and one that knows me and books me. Times are still changing and studios are probably getting hurt the most.

Thad got the bug to get some beers after getting over his bug to run to the bathroom. We met up at the tap room for some friday night beers, instead of the usual thurs. Neither of us were able to make it out Thurs so we were itching for some Yazoo. Good conversation was had and then two of my friends showed up unannounced! It was their first time at the tap room so they ordered the sampler and then picked a growler of Hop Project #5, a great choice! New studies out show that Hop Project #5 gives you strange dreams and possibly bad hangovers. It's good, but I like #4 better. Thad mentioned greasy dinner at Rotier's and it was on.... burgers and shakes, a great way to end a friday night!

A trip to Atlanta is planned for the rest of the weekend so Beth and get her jewelry setup in the Beehive CoOp. She is still working hard for Freshie & Zero and having amazing success!

riding to bike meetings

There is something ironic about riding your bike to a meeting about riding bikes. Ironic in a good way, like the more you think about it the more it makes complete sense. Rode the crosscheck down to the Vandy Panera for the monthly SORBA meeting. No, I'm not in SORBA yet, though they allow me to come and crash their meetings and check out what they are up to. I don't have a great reason not to be in SORBA, gotta few personal reasons but in the big picture they aren't that meaningful.

It was a cold night and Beth tried to convince me I should drive to avoid becoming more sick. It was great advice, that I didn't heed. I got to Panera quicker than expected but people were already there for the meeting. The meeting lasted longer than I expected and after a little chatting, the idea of going to get a pint at South Street was uttered. Everyone walked over and I rode alongside. Two pints of Dos Peros and some baked beans later, we paid up and split ways. The ride back was brisk but went by fast. It was a dead night on the town so the ride was a bit surreal and very peaceful. Surprisingly after the cold ride, I feel better than before I left. More of my voice is back and my cough feels better.

Rolled in and unpacked and showered up, now it's time to watch some Planet Earth and fall asleep. good day.... hope to feel better tomorrow. I already feel a bit better, though that could be the couple drinks at dinner talking.

playing catch up

Sooo.... Snake Creek Gap Time Trial - Part Deux was this past weekend. I was starting to feel a bit of a sore throat last week and of course upon returning from Dalton, I've lost my voice and have a nagging cough. I'm fighting it with everything I have, or want to spend money on....meaning vitamins, cough drops, herbal tea and lots of water. I still feel drained and just overly unmotivated. I say this because this will not be a very detailed or long account of the race or the last week.

I decided to join Thad and the boys to camp this go around to save some dough. We arrived almost in time to get our tents up in the daylight. Quickly changed into appropriate cold weather attire and enjoyed beers by the campfire. Stories were told, people were introduced and then pizza arrived courtesy of Thad. I called it a night around 12:30am and settled into what would be a restless night.

Cold cold morning with frost on the bikes, tent and cars. Everyone got up early and meandered around getting things done at a leisurely pace. I enjoyed having more time on site to get prepared than last trip when we were in the hotel. Got the bikes loaded up and piled in Jeanie's orange box (Honda Element) to have a safe journey to the starting line.

I felt pretty good at the start and was just anxious to get going and hopefully beat my time from Jan. Once I started into the singletrack though I immediately lost all my steam and started to feel my right hamstring tighten up. This scared me into walking more than I wanted. I didn't want to start the cramp drama this early on. I let a bunch of riders pass and rode a bit with Grant. He stopped and helped Jeffrey with a flat and I just mustered on, trying to get in a groove. I feel like I tend to get overly aware of how my body is feeling, so I was trying to just space out and pedal. I turned my ipod on and tried my best to just ride. I played leap frog with a few riders up until the gravel downhill. Took this as fast as I could and started to get some confidence back.

I drudged along up to the halfway point, through all the mud and thick clay. Overall the trail wasn't as terribly muddy as it could of been. I didn't know what to except and there were some real nasty spots, but they were far apart and were really only in the first 17 miles. I stopped at the halfway point and got refueled by the Yazoo crew. Thad aired my tire up for me while Grant offered up a myriad of energy supplements and Jeanie refilled my water. I wanted to get going and just press on. I still wasn't sure if I could make the entire 34. I'd already about given up 3 times or so in the first 17, just feeling crappy and non-energetic. I stopped just long enough to get cold so the climb starting the second 17 was rough and I walked a lot of it.

I started cramping back on the gravel road climb to the 8mile check point. I stopped there for a bit and got some more gels and HEED and some of those electrolite strips. I was happy to see Jason Glover roll up to the check point. He was feeling rough as well, but I knew he could finish. I didn't want to wait here too long and get cold again so I started on. After about 2-3 miles Jason and Matt caught up to me. We walked together for a while and I tried to pedal on. They caught up again and then Jason and I pretty much rode the rest together. Matt was with us for some and then pushed up ahead as he was feeling stronger than we were. It was fun to go through the tough 3 mile section with someone who'd never ridden it. You are so tired at this point that it's great to have someone to suffer with and to complain to or just talk to. Keeps your mind from getting too frustrated with your struggle for forward momentum. We finally saw the tower and got out and headed down the mtn to the finish.

I ended up 5 minutes slower than my January time. I'm disappointed that I didn't feel better and wasn't able to push it harder. Given the trail conditions, how I felt at the start and the length of the race, I'm still happy I finished and didn't quit, and also 5 min really isn't a big deal in a race like this. Granted I would of loved to of been even 5 minutes faster than my Jan time. Oh well. There is one more to do this year and I need to put my efforts towards that goal.

Looking at the next Snake, I'd like to be able to ride more of it before I have to get off and walk. I know there will be sections that I'll have to walk, but I know I have a lot of cardio improvement that I can do to allow me to be able to pedal farther before my heart rate pegs and I wanna walk.

Sunday, Beth and I just rested and hung at home until it was Super Bowl time. We watched the game at her parent's house and enjoyed some awesome 9 layer dip and burgers. It was a good game and fun to watch. It was literally the one football game I've watched all year. Beth was getting into it which was really making me smile. She is such a non-sports lover (at least on TV) and to see her get excited with a big Giants play or bummed when they screwed up was fun.

This week might end up being a wash. I have a mental list of things I want to do but I feel like grud and it's hard to be productive. I'm planning on riding to the SORBA meeting tomorrow night, and hopefully riding to the tap room thurs night. If I can get my voice back soon, I'd like to make some phone calls to try to drum up some engineering work. There is talk of a couple training rides before the next Snake. I'm hoping to get my saddle issues worked out soon so I can not worry about putting long miles on my crosscheck and on my butt.

Ok, so this turned into a long post with lots of details...oh well. That's what happens when you write a blog in bed, sick with no one else home.

(you can view my Flickr set of the race weekend HERE. )