A week and weekend full

I'm just now getting around to posting about what happened last weekend. That's how full my week has been. We're housesitting for my in-laws so on one hand it's like we're on vacation, with out leaving Nashville. On the other hand it a little bit of a pain a we have to go home to do somethings, then bring clothes over to their house and of course I always forget things in the process.

Last weekend we had some friends over for games and hot tub relaxing and then Sunday I got out and rode some gravel with the boys. Thad, Grant and Parker came out and we rode the old Fly loop. Grant needed a loaner bike so I rode my Quiring single speed for the first time and Grant rode my Crosscheck. The ride was a lot of fun and was a great experience for me on the singlespeed. All the gravel grinders I've done have been on my geared Crosscheck except Dirty Kanza and our trip from Joelton to Monty Bell.

Unfortunately a lot of the old loop has been paved but we did manage to find some new gravel. Thad's hoping to explore and find a few more miles of fresh gravel. I decided to bail out of the loop early and skipped about 8-10 miles. I was feeling good fitness wise but my sit bones were screaming at me. Looks like it's really time for a new mtb saddle. Between our weekend at LBL and my ride at Hammy last week, my saddle was creating some bruised sit bones. In hindsight I should have moved my Selle-Anatomica saddle over to my Quiring since Grant brought his own saddle.

My work week settled down after a lot of "maybe" work and I ended up with all Tuesday off. Then, like magic, Matthew P said he was going to Sewanee for the Woody's Tuesday shop ride and I joined in. I made the smart move of moving my Selle-Anatomica saddle over to the Quiring for this ride. We had a good size group, about 7 riders total. Matthew, Corey C and I came from Nashville and met Brian, Woody and a couple other guys at the shop. I got start the ride right from the shop and learn a few new ways into the trail.

The trail was wet in some sections but was in great condition. The soil is sandy on the mountain so it drains fast and even when wet, it's rarely muddy. We rode at a nice relaxed pace and just enjoying being outside. The temperature was borderline cold but not too bad with a baselayer and a windbreaker. The trail is quite technical in sections. There one part where there is a good size boulder you have to drop down and then of course there's a root placed right where your wheel will land. I saw it, considered it, slowed way down, leaned back and dropped it, then paused, leaned forward and endoed. First endo on the 29er, but it's possible. As happens to be frequently, my right leg managed to get stuck between the top tube and the handlebar that spun completely around. It wasn't a bad looking fall but it hurt enough to know my leg would bruise a little. I was able to ride it out and finish the loop which was at least another 10+ miles.

My leg had a little throbbing that would come and go but overall the pain wasn't that bad. Now that it's 2 days later, the pain is pretty bad. heh My knee is sore to the touch where the handlebar hit it, but it's also sore below my kneecap in my upper shin area. I'm hoping it will heal on it's own and nothing to drastic is wrong. Unfortunately off-the-couch Greg is now back on the couch again. I've been chilling all day today getting work done online and on the phone, while I lounge with a bag if ice cold peas on my knee.

I've got another session to work at Blackbird studios tomorrow, and then it's the weekend again. I don't have much planned and I know I won't be on the bike this time. I'm thinking of making it over to the Yazoo Tap Room one last time before they try make their permanent move to the Gulch area. Also planning to attend the Ride for Reading acoustic benefit concert saturday night.

Edit:
Back to the Sewanee ride. I have to say that my Selle Anatomica saddle was VERY comfortable on that ride. I was quite impressed. It was my first mtn bike ride on that saddle. I'd say it was the perfect saddle except it is hard to get your legs behind the saddle for steep decents, that may possibly lead to an endo. Bummer too because the comfort is amazing. So, I'm in the market for a wider than a Rocket-V saddle to use for mtn biking that is as comfy as the leather saddle, yet is easier to get behind.

That's how you end a day

Yesterday ended on yet another high note. After chilling at home for a few hours and working out vaca plays with Beth, I suited back up and rode the ole crosscheck down to the Yazoo Tap Room, expecting lots of friends I hadn't seen in a while. After enjoying a Fall Fest alone Mike N. and Matt K (from GA) rolled in and filled the table I'd been saving for 'the crowd'. Troy made it out also with Melanie and Jennie rolling in right under last call. The group was small but it was great to catch up with Matt who I hadn't seen since Dirt Sweat & Gears and hear all the fun police stories from Mike.

We split up over dinner plans and Mike, Jennie, Matt and I hit up the usual Pizza Perfect. The dual-income Mike and Jennie treated Matt and I do some yummy pizza and a couple more Yazoo brews! Thanks guys!

I still wanted to go and check out the Live on the Green concert to I rolled back downtown and followed the music to the show. I'd planned on using Walk/Bike Nashville's free bike parking but I found many bike stands open on the way so I just locked up and headed into the crown. A couple friends of mine were already there so the trick was finding them in the sea of people who came out to enjoy the free show, and drink a ton of cheap beer.


Citizen Cope was good. He played a lot of newer stuff which I didn't know but after a few songs they all tend to sound the same. I still love his vibe and the band just gets you in the relaxed Reggae feel. Also love the absence of whiney or screaming vocals. We all decided to head out around 10:15pm. I knew I had at least a 40 minute ride home and it seems like a smart idea to head out before EVERYONE was heading out. By this time there was a nice breeze and it was a pleasant 70 degrees. Perfect night riding weather. I rode through downtown pecking my way over to Demonbreun and seeing lots of other cyclists who'd also be at the show. I met up with a couple riding home just before the single's bar strip on Demonbreun. We ended up riding all the way to their place off 12th South and then I continued on to Kirkwood and through Berry Hill. It was nice to have some company on the ride home and they seemed like real cool people. He moved here a year ago from Austin, TX and said he thinks Nashville is just getting more and more hip to biking. He said he's seen a big surge in riders just in the past year. It was nice to hear a more outsiders perspective of our town...especially a positive one.

Got in just after 11, showered up and hit the sack. Slept like a rock too! A good day on the bike with around 35-40 miles and my truck never left the driveway. Nice.

It was nice while it lasted

RIP Bike room Nov 2008-April 2009




One more step towards adulthood, we are now owners of a nice dining room table.
Adulthood=1 Bikes=0

We've been getting a lot of work done around the house and yard in preparation for a housewarming party. Not much worth taking pictures of just yet. We're hoping for great weather for the partay and I'm sure there will be many photos snapped. Our place may never look this good again so we'll have to document it!

I haven't been getting the camera out on any rides lately either. I've been getting in some fun, hard rides. The boys all got their Moots and we all hit up Monty Bell for shakedown rides, heckling and supporting SORBA MidTN.

Last night was Yazoo tap room night. I've been working so hard on the house that I haven't been able to get out on the bike this week. Tap room night was my only excursion so I wanted to make the best of it. Of course I had to fix a flat right as I'm airing up my tires, so I'm off a bit late trying to get to Hillsboro Village before a friend leaves work to pick up some Flight of the Concords tickets.... wooo! "What?" "What?" 16 minutes flat for the 5 mile commute with the help of some well timed green lights. I headed down to the tap room after that to meet up with the crew. Saw lots of bikes, some locked up outside and the usual pile inside. Spring is here...good to see people taking advantage of it. Beth even came out and joined us which was a treat. We headed to McGuinness for some food with Thad on his new stiffMoots and Hannah on the bluefish. No crazy sidewalk riding this time and we all arrived in one peice, with the Moots getting it's first taste of a padlock on a fence.


oh and I just discovered the One Day As A Lion EP a couple weeks ago.... man, I'm really digging it! Wonder if/when they'll come out with a full length album. You should all check it out, even Beth says it's "Not Bad." and "Not as mean as the Rage Against The Machine"

All this talk of 8mm wrenches, 5/16th socket drivers and fiddly bolts is going too far. This all I need, it's fully adjustable and has a full range of torque specs:






This is just for you Thad....

riding again

Tuesday was the Sorba Full Moon Fandango night ride at Lock4. We had a huge turnout of over 30 riders who all donned lights and hit the trail after a short raffle by Sorba/Darryl. For the first time ever, I won something at a raffle! I won a polar insulated water bottle... score!

Everyone got settled in with their group and rode the trail at their own pace. It was fun being

out there with that many other riders. I'm used to only night riding with about 3-4 other people so 30 was awesome. It was neat to see the lights dance around the woods and hear everyone having fun. Thankfully no one jumped out to scare me, though I heard some other riders weren't so lucky. We did have a stealth cop pop up all over the place shooting video and taking pictures. You can view them HERE.

We had 5 Yazoo riders there with Biteme, J5, I'mJ5'sWife and Hennessee. It was great to see J5 and his new wife again since I had to miss their nuptials, even better to see H on the bike.

photos courtesy of TVA448

Last night was tap room night at Yazoo, but the rain kept us all off our bikes. I was really hoping to ride in as I'm in bike withdraw. The rain just kept coming down all day and never let up for more than 1/2 hr or so. We still had a great time at Yazoo and then headed over to Las Palmas for some grub. I hadn't been there in a long time so that was a treat and it was fun to meet some new friends and get to know them better.

Beth and I are heading to a show in Alabama today. Should be great weather and we are hoping for another great show! We could use the money now that we are home owners! heh You all just wait.... shin digs are in the works for the coming months. Now that we will have enough room to both breathe at the same time, we'll have people over more.

I found out that a friend of mine was in a bad motorcycle accident this week. Hodge, who's a hell of a guy, rider and shop owner in Georgia. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers as he goes into surgery and starts the road to recovery.

Pile o bikes at Yazoo

Big turnout last night at the Yazoo Tap Room. Fall is coming fast and everyone was itching to be outside and on their bikes. We had a nice pile of 9 or 10 bikes in the small quaint tap room. Thankfully Yazoo likes us cyclists and doesn't worry too much about tripping hazards.

I got off work too late to meet up with Beth and her family for dinner but just in time to quickly get on the bike nd head to the tap room. I saw Dunn riding onto Belmont Blvd and we rode in the rest of the way. This is one thing I really like about riding my bike around town. It never fails that you see someone you know on almost ever ride and get to catch up and ride together.

After a few yummy pints and some great conversation we took the party over to the "East Siadeeea" to 3Crow bar. The TN rep for New Belgium Brewery had met Dan at East Side Cycles and invited him to 3Crow so we all tagged along. Turns out John, from New Belgium is quite a nice guy and even bought us all a round of Fat Tire! He enjoyed learning about our bike crew and our weekly pub crawl/rides. John and I ended up talking about all kinds of stuff from where to buy a house in Nashville to when Sunshine Wheat will hit stores here. I hope to see and hang with John again soon and repay him for the beer....real stand up guy.

After scarfing down my wraparita-del-steak-o (seriously), I called it a night and rode home solo. I'm always curious if I truly ride home faster from these gatherings due to riding solo and being a little inebriated, or if I just feel like I'm going faster and trying harder, due to the same reasons. Either way, it was again a great night to be out on the bike, enjoying great beers and friends and meeting new people.

We just found out some exciting news on our house buying adventure. Hopefully more details to come very soon, and hopefully no more negative details to come.

Big night at the tap room

Last night was a completely different tap room experience compared to last Thurs. Just about everyone made it out, save for Neumy who's out in CO about to race. Even Fred made it out and rode in on his new bling Serotta Timax 650b. One of the newer members of the team, Jeff Scott, made it out for his first visit to the Yazoo brewery and left with a smile and a growler of porter. It was Sharpie's bday as well as Brandy's bday who works at the tap room. A generous woman made some scrumptious rum cake and shared it will all the late stayers at the bar.

After closing out Yazoo, we all headed to Las Palmas by bike and/or by car. This sounded like a great idea at the time, during my ride back home afterwards I was cursing myself for eating so much. We stuffed our faces with chips and salsa and couldn't wait for the substantial food to arrive. The ride home was rough on a full stomach of taco-notso-salad and chips. It kept my speed in check which was probably good. When I ride alone, even around town, I tend to just ride all out all the time and always show up everywhere super sweaty. Maybe one day I'll learn pacing.



Since this week has been another slow work week I was able to head to Lock4 for a ride Tuesday afternoon. The trail was in amazing shape considering the amount of rain and storms we've had the past couple weeks. There was a big group of us but we managed to keep a good pace without too many stops and got in two full laps. I rode a few miles on a friend's Ellsworth Evolve 29er to see if I liked his White Brothers Fluid 110 fork. Nope, no thanks.... I don't think I could convert it to 80mm anyhow, but even if I could, I wasn't a fan. It was not very plush in the plush setting and not all that great of a platform in the platform setting. Not to mention the control has like 1,000 turns to it, how you are supposed to keep track of where it's set, I don't know. It's always fun to tool around on someone else's bike but seldom do I find one that is setup to my comfort. It's interesting to see what everyone likes to ride and how we are all different. Narrow bars, wide bars, high stems, no stems, saddle to bars drop or no drop.... everyone's bike is different.

Beth is back now from her long trip in Atlanta which has been great! The house was quite quiet with her gone. You can read about her adventure's here. Suffice to say she learned a LOT and have a ton of new ideas for Freshie and Zero.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Another weekend full of riding

Monday morning came early after this weekend, but thankfully I'm working from home so I can avoid actually having to be a truly functioning member of society just yet. blog time....



Saturday morning the alarm went off early again. This time an hour later than my departure for bike to work day but still early at 5:15am. Thad and Scott M were on their way to my house by bike to meet up and continue on riding to Titan stadium for the annual Tour De Nash. After a brief stop at Troy's, we downed some coffee, tried to get his Eno freewheel removed and then headed on towards downtown. The day was shaping up to be beautiful and already warming up quickly. There were already a ton of people at the start/finish area and the DJ was spinning the tunes. We socialized for a while and tried to figure out the plan for leading the rides. Team Yazoo was set to lead the 50, 27 and 12 mile routes so we needed que sheets and instructions. I was in charge of the 27 and Thad the 12 and John E the 50.

They announced where each ride would line up and people were getting organized. It was apparent this was a HUGE ride and a ton of people came out! (estimated 1800) I snapped some quick photos of everyone lined up. Eddie George gave a great pep talk and told the riders to think about possible bike routes they could take to work while riding the Tour. With gas prices so high he was the only one to tie in the ride with a more continual commitment to bike riding and less driving. They sent the 50 milers off after the speeches and sent each lower mileage group right after the other.


After about 500 yards it was clear that I wasn't leading anything and didn't really serve much of the purpose I thought I would. I was riding a decent, steady pace but was still slowly overtaking some of the riders at the back of the 50 mile group and some of the 27 milers were riding by me wanting to go faster. All the riders intermingled immediately and I just settled in and enjoyed the ride. I kept an eye out for riders with flats or mechanicals and tried to help them. I had to stop and direct traffic for a bit right before the route went into the greenway system. There was one last left turn that was marked on the pavement, but was easy to miss. I almost missed it and many riders in front of me missed it and had to double back so I just decided to hang at the turn and show the way.

After riding alone through most of the greenway, Thad called to say they were done with the ride and would wait for me before heading to see Sharpie at the rest stop he was sponsoring. They had passed me when I was directing traffic and I never caught back up. I met up with a friend from NMB pulling his son and riding with his wife whom I hadn't talked to in ages. I ended up riding the rest of the way back to the stadium with them. It was a lot of fun and there was some great scenery on the route. After rejoining with Thad, Scott and Troy, we rode to Metro Center to visit Sharpie. He had all his Swiftwick gear out and was sponsoring a rest stop on the 50 mile route. He had a smörgåsbords (gotta love spell check) of food and drinks and was passing on the good word about his magic socks.


After hanging for a while we decided to ride back to Green Hills to get Scott home in time to visit his family and Troy wanted to go pick up some garage sale specials he'd purchased during the tour. Yea, Troy's lucky! He spotted three 5 gallon brewing kettles (carboys) during the ride and immediately veered off and purchased them for $5 each. When he drove back to the east side to pick them up, he spotted two panniers for sale for $5 also and snatched them up too! I still don't know how he saw this garage sale while riding. I rode right by it... clearly I wasn't paying much attention.

We hit the brewery store and also got some great Greek food and then headed back to Troy's place to get back on our bikes. We had plans to ride to the Yazoo tap room but it didn't open until 2pm so we had to run errands and kill a few hours first. Now it was after 2pm so we suited back up and rode back downtown. The usual tap room experience was had until Troy said he was going to try to get on the brewery tour that was about to start. I quickly jumped in also and Thad and Dan followed suit. This was one of the highlights of the day. We learned all about how they make beer, saw how small of a room they make all the Yazoo in, realized how hot it gets in there and enjoyed free 1/2 pints of Pale, Dos Peros and Hef. It was grand! Troy was googley-eyed the whole tour, soaking it all in and getting tips on making better home brew.

After the tour we all really wanted some Yazoo ESB. Brian at Yazoo accidentally teased us into thinking they were putting it on tap again but we misunderstood him. We thought about what places in town might have it on tap and decided the Brewhouse on 21st probably had it. We were on a mission now so we set off in search of ESB. Got to the Brewhouse and all ordered it and heard the bad news from our waitress...no Yazoo ESB. hmmm well 2 Sierra Nevada ESBs, and a Redhook ESB were ordered as well as dinner..... hot wings, hot red beans and rice and two big piles of tortilla, chicken, cheese and more liquid cheese on top. We were all pretty buzzed at this point so laughs abounded and tears flowed. Troy and Thad learned they eat 'too hard' and had to get new forks and I killed everyone with Mojo wings.

Somehow we managed to stay out til 7:30pm before we started to ride back to Troy's. I didn't have front lights and had actually turned them down from Troy before we left his place for the brewery thinking "There's no way we'll be out past dark, it's 2:30pm". Well Thad and I rolled through the back roads of Green Hills at dusk and I pulled into Georgetown condos right as it was really getting dark. Thad had a lonely ride back to the farm but made it in record time... sorry buddy! At least you were well hydrated!

All in all it was a fantastic day outside, riding bikes, hanging with friends and meeting new folks. Props to everyone who helped organize the Tour De Nash. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Props to Sharpie for sponsoring a slamming rest stop and killing everyone with his witty humor. Props to the Yazoo boys who helped lead rides and who rode with us all day, and to Scott M (sorry for your long ride home!)

Here are some more pics for your enjoyment. I know some peeps don't like to read and just look at the colorful images. (All of my photos can be viewed here: Tour De Nash/Yazoo photos











My buddy Ron on the Greenway, pulling his son













There are hidden growlers at the Brewery












Someone forgot their Walz cap, and someone is happy about it.













The fleet of bikes of people drinking responsibly













The Therminator.... not sure what it does, but Wort goes in and Water comes out..... hmmmm

A Thurs afternoon, best spent at the tap room

A Thurs afternoon, best spent at the tap room
Originally uploaded by Chewieez

Yesterday was another great day filled with riding. I had lunch plans with a few old co-workers from the studio. We met up on Music Row so I decided to ride in the 5 miles instead of drive. I through on the flat pedals so I could ride in street shoes and rolled out. I haven't ridden on flat pedals in forever. I've used them on a couple urban rides with my Ventana, but I'm generally useless with them. I've definitely been spoiled with clipless and have little skills with flat pedals. But on the crosscheck I was actually enjoying the carefree feeing of not being clipped in. Sure, I immediately noticed my saddle was now too high, since my pedals and shows were thinner... but I didn't care and didn't feel like stopping to make any adjustments. I wasn't in a race so I didn't care about how fast I was going or how efficient my pedaling was.

After lunch I hung out with a friend in the studio for an hour or so then hit the road. I went over to Cumberland Transit to see Dan for a bit before he left for T.I.4. He was restless to get out of town, which is understandable since J5 and T.roy had already left, and they were carrying his gear since he had to work late and catch a flight. After chatting for about 30 minutes I was thinking of heading on my way, possible to ride through Centennial and just enjoy the weather, with out idea of where to go. Marv, at Cumberland, mentioned: "You should go to the brewery." the earth stopped turning for a second and this nugget hit me. I should go to the brewery.... that was a GREAT idea. Well, I called Beth and she was in for meeting me there and then I spent the next 10 minutes trying to convince Dan that he too, needed a beer before he headed for the little 345 mile spin. He finally got fed up with me and shooed me on my way and declined the offer.

As I was riding to the tap room, I thought of people I could call to meet up for a beer. Right as I think to call Manondale, it all sinks in. duh, it's Thurs. It's team night at Yazoo. I'm just an hour early than normal. Sweet! Unfortunately Manondale is opting to come friday night, so I roll in and snag the last seat at the bar and order up an ESB. Texts go out to the team and start coming back full of declines. Everyone mentions Sharpie's coming... sweet. I talk to Thad for a bit and get an update on their trek to Iowa. Turns out I rode past them on my way into town for lunch, small world.

Beth showed up around 6 and Sharp, Dunsy and Dan D showed up shortly after. As usual, we all drink and be merry for a few hours and decide to hit 12 South Tap Room or Mafiosos for dinner and more brew. Back on the bike we go and head over. Both places were totally bumping but it looks like Mafiosos has more available seating so the decision is made. Pizza, spicy pasta and brews abound as everyone enjoys a night off.

I still wanted to ride home even though Beth had the car there so she headed back and I left with the boys, at least to Belmont Blvd, then we parted. It was a nice ride back to Green Hills. Weather was still mild and the roads were empty.

Good day......