A Day in Defeated Creek

Joe, Hannah, H., JD (aka Monkey), and I headed out to meet up with Jeffy, Wendy, Maria, Steven, Ruthie, and Brian out near Carthage TN at Defeated Creek for an afternoon of mountain biking, grilling, and chilling. Sunny, 76 with a cool breeze, and a Stanley built trail = hell yeah!

The trail rocks. Great climbs, fun switchbacks, 2 mile descents, dips, bumps, and jumps. I love a Stanley trail. There is a full fledged campground, bathrooms, pavilions, playgrounds, marina, and lake along with 9 miles of great singletrack. Definitely a little hidden slice of heaven. I imagine some killer road riding can be had in the area too. It'd make a great low budget, high value weekend getaway spot.

sequence: Ruthie motoring up a switchback on her new GF Superfly 29'er:

Motor powered by Swiftwick?

The Hannah

H. is all smiles with Joe in pursuit

Joe rocking the rigid

Meat Master Steven manned the grill (under Joe's watchful eye)

H. actually got to get out and enjoy a weekend day!

Contractually Obligated Moots Mug Shot.

H. getting in some cuddle time with the Monkey

The Group

Thanks to Wendy and Jeffy, Joe and Hannah, and Steven and Ruthie for bringing all the grub. The only thing missing was some swim time in the lake, but given the coolness of the day, it's probably for the best. Defeated Creek is definitely added to the trail rotation.

One tired Monkey

Dirt Checks And Beers

Swiftwick wool Moots Retro socks and Scrubs, a match made in TN

Friday evening, Yazoo was hosting the big check presentation from the DSG crew to SORBA. The funds were from the race donations and the Moots MootoX frame raffle. I took a ton of photos, but it was with Clay's camera (which is freakin' sweet) and I wasn't allowed to keep it. But be assured, a big check was presented: $3505 on one of those comical oversized checks.

Anyone happen to nab my Moots Flag?

Local filmmaker Rick Kimmel showed one of his recent films of the SORBA Fat Tire Festival out at Hamilton Creek and many of the local riders that don't get out much were able to come out and tie a few on.

Chandler explaining Mathematical theory to that reading guy. "You see, 2 beers is greater than your 1 beer"

The Magic of Amarillo Hops

Your current Middle TN SORBA El Presidente drunk riding the fish. Not really sure what Jeffy is doing, Hannah is hoping the wheels hold up, JD is wanting to chase, H. is laughing at the idiocy, and Jeff not Scott is missing his 650b's... But what is that symbol on Squish's back?

Ah, it's the Kung Fu Panda... Judy Chop!

Recent Moots convert won a new hat. Note the coke cup

Post Tap Room, we headed over to Pizza Perfect for some chow. Sober Driver me took Squish's keys from him and drove his happy arse over for food. Sober Driver H. hauled the pups and the Hann, and Sober Driver Steven drove Ruthie the wrong way on a one way? Those rednecks from Putnum County apparently aren't to be left alone in the big city. Steven kept asking why we painted lines on our gravel roads and what was the point for the red/yellow/green lights ...

Steven, how many times have you been to the city?

Reedles showed up so Jeffy arm punched him.

To which Steven was quick to point out a better method.

Someone (Hannah) dropped the ball and let the squish order beer when he was supposed to be sobering up. So Wendy stepped up and took control (and his beer).


Jeffy, apparently upset he didn't get the beer, bravely (read: foolishly) challenged her to an arm wrestling match, winner take all.

Jeffy feeling the pain

To the victor go the spoils! Wendy saves the day, err... night

Thanks to:

• Steven and Ruthie for skipping the once in a lifetime chance to see their nephew's high school football team win and hanging out with us.
• H for bringing the pups
  
• Jeffy marrying Wendy (cuz we wouldn't hang out with him otherwise)
• Wendy for continually ripping JD from my arms scolding me about scents
• Squish for the running commentary and off key "singing"
• Hannah for damning 2 more of Jeffy's pets, the use of the parking pass, and the pizza
  
• That Reed guy I guess
• Clay and Steve for bringing the DSG love and schwag ( I got a Misfit spacer kit)
  
• Darryl and Sorba
• Rick "Jam Danver" Kimmel for all the films and hard work
• Chander, Jeff not Scott, Joey, Jose, Taylor, Matthew, John, and all the other local mtb riders that came out and for their continued support

All those (Steve, Beth, Brandi, random Yazoo patroness, weird Canardian guy) that were loving on JD and wanting a Catahoula, we got him from Kirk and he has 3 awesome puppies remaining.

4 Stainless Steel Stitches, It Must Be Wednesday...

Started out sublime: early morning sunrise coffee and cheerios with the pups, built an adjustable angle corner jump for the girls, got some work done, ate lunch with H. then headed off with the boys to play in the dirt.

JD, junior trail dog in training

The kid is a natural

Exploring while we rest at the dirt jumps

Back at it with the trail boss, Dish

Heading to Old Hickory Lake for a post ride swim

Dish sleeping off the meds

Just as we were heading back to the truck after the swim and a perfect afternoon with the pups, Dish stopped suddenly and started licking his foot. Jeanie pointed it out thinking he had something stuck. Upon investigating I found a huge laceration on his pad and quickly had a pool of blood collecting in my hand. Off to the vet we race, Dish bleeding into one of the Neumeyer's towels.

4 stainless steel stitches and an hour and a half later, Dish is back home recovering from the round of antibiotics, pain med, and sedation. Poor kid only has 2 good feet at the moment. Gotta love the punks who think it's loads of fun to smash bottles around the lake.

Moots, for Spiffy Dogs

For those of you with a bike and a few hours before work on Friday should head over to the Inglewood Public Library. Ride For Reading is loading up donated books to be delivered via bike to Alex Green Elementary School. So come out and help haul books or just come along for the ride and watch the eyes of children light up with delight when they receive their books.

Then after work on Friday, swing by the Yazoo Tap Room for the folks of DSG's presentation of the race donations to SORBA. Check out a movie of the '09 Hamilton Creek Fat Tire Festival by budding local film maker Rick Kimmel. Beer + Bikes, how can you go wrong?

Tuesday's Gift

Work?! But the Sun is coming up. I wanna play...

Tuesday morning started out roughly. Nothing was going according to the plan. Actually, the plan was pretty much out the window from the get go. A few Mooter Scooters and their little friends were on their way to enjoy some prime Chattanoogie singletrack, my car was still at the shop, plans for a local mtb ride were quickly running astray, and I couldn't get the server database to upload to any format other than Swedish. Tuesday was looking to be a long day.


A spur of the moment audible after picking up the car (no charge this time, woot!) and driving both cars back to Springfield for errands found us taking some time to get in a nice walk and swim with the boys. Springfield has a beautiful greenway across the city offering several trails to the river and plenty of shade.

Where's Waldo? JD has Gravelflauge

Another Where's Waldo shot

After his first foray into the murky depths, JD was a little more leery requiring some luring.

JD loves Dish. He mimics pretty much everything Dish does. Dish, on the other hand, pretty much ignores the little bastard and goes about life. That doesn't deter JD one bit, in fact, I think it just encourages him even more.

To the best of my knowledge, aside from a kiddie pool at Kirk's, JD hadn't ever been swimming. (He's only 8.5 weeks old and nearly 15lbs!) So H., Dish, JD, and I headed to a nice quiet spot on the river to cool off and play during the heat of yesterday afternoon. Dish went charging in, as he does love swimming, with his little shadow JD hot on his heels. The bank gradually slips into the water until about 4 feet out to where it drops rapidly. Dish took off swimming not missing a beat, while JD plunged underwater for a second, popped up shocked with his eyes shut tight and made haste back to the shore. Well even if he ends up hating the water, at least he can swim.

JD standing with all feet on my feet

Dish in Anaconda mode.

I'd forgotten just how much I missed river time with the pups. The last time I got to spend with the pups was at Clay's house for the last SORBA workday. Since losing Poey in May I've not gotten to enjoy being out with the pups. I did get a little time in the big river with Dish after the XTERRA and one time with a loner dog (batwing joey) at Hannah's parents house, but those paled to the long lost days spent in the river or camping with Po and Dish.

The boys heading home

So, while none of the original plan plan got to be enjoyed, and others were off having fun on a mountain top in Tennessee, I wouldn't trade Tuesday for any other day. Yep, nothing feels more like summer than a boy and his pups playing in a muddy river.

JD zonked with his favorite chew toy

Monday No Fun Day

What's the minimum minimum?

After picking the car up after it's new thermostat and engine mount replacement Saturday (thanks Jeffy!), H. found a surprise (again not the good kind) when heading out for work, a puddly puddle of coolant under the car. Yay, back to the dealer we go!!

Tiring of the recent repair issues we just decided to get H. a new ride. Dig her sweet new RX-8? Pretty pimp huh? Yeah, not ours. The truth is I was checking it out when she pulled into the Dealer to pick me up hollering something out the window of the truck like "get the hell away from that!" I am a sucker for a sports car, but it'd be a tight fit for 2 people plus 2 catahoulas when car camping. The car is spending the night at the dealer (the coolant leaking issue was a missing hose clamp) so they can see the rough start behavior of the misfire issue. No test drive unfortunately, we had to get JD to his second round of puppy shots and vet check.

tunnel rat

Hey Kirk, JD weighed in a hefty 13.5 lbs, up from last Monday's 8lbs 10 oz!! He was a good boy at the vet and all systems are go. A very happy, healthy, fast growing Catahoula.

JD loves climbing under / through things. This won't last too long, as he's soon to out grow most of his haunts. The dresser, bed, the wash stall drain hole, between the deck steps, etc... He's a great traveler, chilling out in the back seat of the truck or car, mindful of the horses feet, and likes following the bike. I'm also not sure his left eye is going to stay blue, I think they'll both end up being green or gold. Still hard to tell.


Some computer work in the A.M. followed by some bike repairs this evening. Hannah if you're reading this at work, Gracie is all fixed up and ready to go.