get you some...

slow saturday

Things have settled down this past week but lots of progress has been made. Beth and I found a house we love and put an offer in Thurs morning. We got a counter offer last night and we've countered back. It's exciting to think we may own our first home soon, not to mention have almost twice the space we have now. Beth will have an entire room dedicated to her jewelry business which she needs. I will have an area for my workshop/bike room and we won't be sharing the kitchen with my dirty bikes anymore. We are trying not to get too excited as there are still a few more hurdles to get over before we are the official owners. If we do get this house, there will definitely be a deck party or too... it's in close riding distance from the Yazoo tap room so Thurs night trips could be in order!

Work has been steady but much more manageable this week. I ended up not going back to work on the Gospel project so that is over for now I think. I worked on a couple tracking session with some country artist, Joe Nichols and the Gatlin Bros, and recorded some members of the Fisk Choir for a Phil Vassar song. More tough times at another recording studio in Nashville. The Sound Kitchen, in Cool Springs, has let their studio manager and their only tech go. This is total deja-vu for me based on how Emerald Studio's slowly died before my eyes. It's a changing industry for sure. I hope the studio scene in Nashville can adapt and that the labels continue to trust the producers enough to not cripple them with small budgets. The days of large studios with 5+ recording rooms are almost gone. Now it's working in full blown home studios, and small converted houses where the studios are keeping the lowest overhead possible.

Not much going on on the mountain bike front. I'm still working with Quiring on the geometry of my new bike. Took a few weeks off the bike due to work but got back out this past week. I met up with Chris "Mr. Clean" Cooper and Kelly "old Rebel" Benward and Jeff "Riggs" Scott and headed down to Arnold Air Force base to ride AEDC. I was a bit reluctant to go since my only other AEDC experience wasn't enjoyable and I wasn't sure how my body would respond to 15 miles of SS after 3 weeks of couch surfin'. I couldn't of been happier as we pedaled back in to the parking lot after 14 super fun miles! I had a blast! The trail was in great shape, really actually too dry and dusty. We had a great crew of even matched riders so we kept a good pace the entire ride.

This was my first ride on my new Salsa big sweep bars. The ride was definitely different than with my Mary's. I switched from a 90mm stem to a 110 which maybe a bit long. These Salsa bars are super wide...a full 28". I'd already ridden Hammy with them on a friend's 29er so I started with my grips at about 26.3" but hadn't cut the bars down yet. Even being careful I still clipped 2 or 3 trees but thankfully didn't go down ever. The bars still feel a bit wide but I'm gonna keep experiementing. I've cut them down to 26.3" for now but will hold off to do any more cutting until the new bike arrives.

I'm not sure if it was the new cockpit setup or me just feeling good but I was climbing really well. I had a lot of traction which really helped but I felt I had more power to the pedals with these Salsa bars compared to the Mary bars. I need to do some J5-style measuring to see if my bars are the same height as they were before. Maybe they are lower, who knows... it was working...I know that. I was oversteering some in the turns but I think some of that is the bars being a little wider than I'm used to and I'm used to the bigger sweep of the Mary bars which steer differently than straighter bars.

Some more new parts are coming in for the new build. I bought a King headset from Jeff Scott and talked to Ivory at MOAB about a 29er wheel build using my current hubs. I hope I can time it well and avoid some downtime with no bike to ride and avoid having my Quiring frame but no wheels for it.

It was a SS day at AEDC, minus Old Rebel Squishy whose Vassago SS is still "in route". We tried to ditch him, but he kept up:

My Soma 4one5 and Kelly's Vassago Bandersnatch












Chris "Mr. Clean" Cooper's Vassago Jabberwocky


Jeff Scott's bling bling Lynskey

day off, finally

Today was my first day off in 12 straight days. Not a huge amount, but many hours logged. Not sure about the first week, but in the last five days I logged 62 hours. Thankfully I was able to get sat and sunday off before I start back with some Gaither band tracking on Monday and Joe Nicoles tracking on Tuesday. It will be a nice change of pace to go back to a couple country music sessions before getting back into Gospel music on Wed.

I slept in this morning, after working til 4am, and piddled around the house getting caught up on laundry and billing. Beth had a photography appointment over at her Mom's for some photos with her model for Freshie and Zero. I figured I'd get in a short ride over towards Percy Warner then ride over to her parents and meet up for some swimming. It was hard getting motivated to ride. I've been working so much and wish I could be riding, then when I have had some free time, I've been too tired or unmotivated to get out.

But I made it out today. Thankfully the temperature wasn't way high and there was a nice breeze. I didn't think I'd be up for a full, hilly loop at Percy Warner but I rode that direction and figured I'd atleast do a lap or two up and down Belle Meade Blvd. I was wanting a bit more mileage when I rode up to the entrance to the park so I decided to go ahead and do the shorter, 6 mile loop. It was harder than it's been in the recent past, but it felt good to get a sweat on and remind my legs what it felt like to be used and not just sitting in a nice chair all day.

I definitely wasn't prepared for a ride, even a short, easy ride. I wasn't hydrated and haven't had a good diet lately. My sweat was like pure salt running into my mouth, but it still felt good to be back on the bike. I passed a few cycles and walkers and said hi to a guy riding a nice single speed, riser bar road bike before getting back on Belle Meade Blvd and heading to Beth's parents house.

Rolled up and got right in the pool and lounged for the next couple hours. This is how you enjoy a day off I thought! Beth got me a beer and told me I looked like I'd lost some weight and lost my "Yazoo pride". Looks like I need to play some catch up on the next couple tap room trips, or I need to invest in one of these.

The Quiring frame is moving along. I got a couple of my frame drawings this week which I've been keenly studying. Wish I had some more time to ride and less time worrying over top tube lengths in my head. I think once I get a top tube I'm confident about, the rest of the process will move quickly. Pondering signing up for the Swank65. I've been talking about how I'm definitely doing it, but now that it's sign up time, I pause. I think mainly my confidence is shot due to my low amount of riding lately. I guess I could be ready in 2 and a half months. Wonder if I'll have the next bike by then, could be the first big ride for it.

been busy, real busy

yep, I know, it's been forever since I put up a post here... life got busy again and it remaining busy. I haven't even had time to ride my bike but once since my last post about my fit at Harpeth.

Work has been slow this summer. Heck, it's been slow the past 2 years, but it's summer and it's always slow in the summer. This makes this summer slower... fun. I've been trying to make the best of the time I have free from commitments. I think I was doing a pretty good job. I was rdiing a lot, spending a lot of time with Beth, getting things done around the house and helping Beth with Freshie & Zero. When I had some work, I also tried to make the best of it and make sure I was giving 110%. The quirk of freelance work being that each gig can be thought of as a job interview which I think is good. It keeps you honest, and keeps you working hard and hopefully not getting too complacent.

Fast forward through July and to the first week in August and between a couple days of work and a trip to Virginia for a craft show, I had no free time that week. The trip was a lot of fun as my brother lives where the craft show was, the Roanoke/Blacksburg, VA area, so we were able to visit with him and his growing family. My parents took the opportunity to come and visit also so it was a mini Lawrence reunion for the weekend. Sales wise the show could of gone better but we debuted a lot of new displays and booth setup stuff which all worked very well and looks great. We've officially stepped up the Freshie and Zero booth to the next level of professionalizum.

(our new track lighting setup, canvas displays and mesh sidewalls... yea we're big time now!!)

I started right into a session starting on the Monday after we got back from the craft show. I was starting what turned out to be a marathon 3 day session of Gospel music. I was the head engineer on overdubs and editing though which was a lot of fun and more responsibility. It was a lot of work and long days, like 11am-4am, but equally rewards and as it was frustrating. So this session ended very early Thurs morning and I slipped in a small project I needed to take care of later in the morning on Thurs and tried to recover the rest of the day with a nap.

Beth's parents took us all out for a belated birthday dinner celebration for Beth's 30th bday Thurs night and then I started right back into more session work Friday. Three days of assisting on some mix sessions for Blake Shelton and we are now up to date. Tomorrow I start back working with the Gospel clients again for the next three or four days so I'm trying to get my body ready for the late night sessions.

Truly feast or famine. This work couldn't come at a better time though as I could use some extra money to help fund my new bike purchase, and also Beth and I are starting to house hunt so more money for that will always be much appreciated. I'm hoping to have a slightly more relaxed schedule this week and fit in a few rides. Hope to make it out to the tap room since I missed last week. I have a big order of super hero socks to pick up from Sharpie also that I'm super excited about. Finally going to be able to try the olefin material and also the hip no-show cut! I'll report back soon I'm sure so stay tuned. Hope I haven't bored everyone too much lately.... it's life, my life at least. :)

I snapped this shot while at the craft show in Va. Is this bike locked? I don't think so. I couldn't help but find some humor in it. Luckily the guy was in a small town. He didn't even lock his daughters bike up at all.





I helped record a campfire performance out on a farm in Leipers Fork a couple weeks ago. Fun stuff, but HOT with no A/C!











Gotta love a trip to Peter's Sushi in Brentwood. They having opened in their new, larger location (right next door to the old place). YUM!!