Return of Walz Weather

Warmth yet cool

At 5 this morning the outside temperature was 44 degrees. That's near winter temps for us. Highs have been in the upper 60's/lower 70's and wonderful. Dressing for commutes that start off cold then warm up only to start off warm then cool down in these shortened daylight times makes dressing for the ride difficult with 30 degree spreads such as we've been seeing. Rather than bust out the wool only to have to shed it 30 minutes into a ride (or stop to put it on with 20 minutes left) or tote a ton of extra layers around, I opted for my long sleeve Swiftwick tech-t, wicking but warmer than the short sleeved staple one. Which worked for half of the journey.

The problem was that with the high winds and long shadows cast by the hills of the Highland Rim, the temps were on the colder side of cool while the long climbs had me sweating despite the chill. So the descents and open wind areas would chill me to the bone due to evaporative heat loss. Adding my wind vest would only exacerbate the situation.

Since I've been hot headed recently, and knowing we lose most of our body heat through our heads, I opted to stop and put my recently acquired cotton Walz cap on (I've only ever worn the wool ones until recently and the new wicking one is in my near future). Problem solved. The cotton version didn't hold the heat as much as the wool typically does, keeping my sweating from increasing while managing to still keep the heat in and my core temps up for the remainder of the cooling, darkening ride home. No more sniffles! Amazing what a simple cap can do.

So there's the lesson for the day kids. It's getting colder outside, put your caps on.

Never Tasted So Real

Payment* Received for performing some derailleur tune-ups. The Ol Roy of lite swill beer?

I can't get over this weather. We went from a crappy week to really really crappy week to an amazing (dare I say Awesome?) week in the weather department. Last nights ride home was one of the best rides I've had in a while, even with the monster headwind. Call it Kanza training.

I took the carpool in this morning, towing my bike for another perfect weather evening ride home. Parking the car on the 11th floor of the parking monster, I stopped at the window overlook to gaze at the Sun rising over the landscape. There, perched on the glass roughly 110 feet up in the air is a 3" long, bright green grass hopper. I can only wonder if he was just taking in the same view or trying to figure out how the hell he ended up in his current predicament and how he was going to get out of it.

Billy The Great has probably the coolest blog photo ever up on his electronic crack-out (I heard a Wrigley vender use that on NPR today Billy).

* I also received a McSorley's Black Lager too. Perfect for the fall weather. Oh and Joe, did you know it's owned by Pabst? "In early 1990's Stroh Brewery purchased the McSorley's brand and brewed it until being bought by those seminal suds-makers-Pabst Brewing Company." Also makers of the fine Schlitz beer (orig 1960 formula).

Grainy Days

At 5:15am this morning it was 73 degrees outside. As I rode in to work, it felt as if it were getting colder even as the Sun peaked out behind the hills. Sitting outside for second breakfast and coffee with H, whom had just gotten off of work, it was a marvelous 69 degrees outside. The thermometer now reads 67 degrees outside currently. Over night low is predicted to be 47 degrees. Who'd have thunk that the high for the day would have been when I rolled out of bed? Maybe I should have brought more clothing?

The wind was blowing the trees so loudly when I got up that I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't rain that I was hearing. Skies still dark and full of stars when I rolled out for work made the wind seem less some how, though the 15 minutes knocked off of my ride time on the way in makes me wonder of the headwind potential on the way home.

Behold some images of the morning ride thanks to an easily accessible cell phone. I just remembered I need to charge my light for the ride home tonight, which means back into the lab I go. Enjoy the grainy low res.

One of my favorite stretches of the commute, the winding edge where the Highland Rim meets the Nashville basin. Just a few miles of respite before the climbing starts in either direction.

The rural landscape turns industrial after crossing Trinity Lane. This quiet road runs along the Cumberland underneath the interstate through trucking lots and into downtown.

Looking underneath I65 as it crosses the Cumberland River.

Coming into Nashville and the end of the quiet roads.

Tis Drab Season

It's coming. Caramel, multitudes of drab take over the green soaked hills and bright flowers, cool misty morning rides into work, the return of wool to the wardrobe, and caramel. Did I mention caramel? I love the fall.

Nothing exciting happened this weekend, though I did get a banana malt and a fantabulous home cooked meal at the Evil Mother In Laws house and watched a cool documentary about the Kensington Rune Stone, Robert the Bruce, the Knights Templar, Southern Illinois, the Holy Grail, the hooked X, and Nova Scotia on the History Channel.

Other than that it was a lot of digging (thanks H. and HMM) some barn duties, EMIL time, and lots of puppy time and rain. The much anticipated trail work day got canceled and my bikes didn't leave the house, but biking as a competitive past time should resume this coming weekend. Until then be mesmerized by the power of the pup.

Yeah, he pretty much just oozes cuteness.

Lepper Print Panties

A mystery packaged greeted me upon my arrival to the hippie home. Hmm... wrapped in plastic to contain the contaminants. My spider-sense is tingling. Must be product of Canardia.

A Chief just like SlumJoe Millionaire

Being Chief Colon Inspector (CCI), naturally I opened the package from the bottom.



What wonderful gifts were contained in the contaminated corrugated crate of Canardian contempt-ment? Hopefully they would be more pleasant than the racid odor emanating from the newly emancipated encasement.

Faux signed faux Begy coaster of death - pretty cool.

Misfit Police (MP) Cap of Doom - trendy

Two Misfit Police Caps of Dooms - I feel so fixie

oh, wait... make that I feel so one less fixie

This needs to be embroidered on a Walz cap - damn snappy!

Wait...

What's this???

Low and behold...

I said low and behold! On your knees peasants, we're in the presence of The Mark Lepper.
Uber.
(For the Southern crowd, that's: Uber Y'alls. For Dicky: Uber Yinz)
Alleluia, A-lle--luia!

And my long lost, dearly coveted, one of a kind, never seen before, impossible to get a hold of, I can't believe it's not butter, 16t Misfit Cod Cog!! Oh how I've longed for thee!

One word:

VICTORY!!!!

For those about to Lepper, We salute you!

Thank You Sir, May I Have Another

I owe all my middle tn riding friends an apology for the weather. See, I was supposed to be out in Colorado to race worlds this past week but life, as it tends to do, decided to intercept the fun ball and take it home. Since my mood controls the weather, the rain we've had all week has been my fault. Case in point, I was happy earlier when riding and the weather was dry and partly sunny. Now that I'm sad the weekend is ending and the work week is about to start, it's raining again. So be nice Peter or I'll make it snow up there.


Knowing the local trails would be saturated and still waiting on a full paycheck to fill the coffers, a road ride close to home was the best available plan for the weekend. I'd taken Mon-Fri off of the bike not wanting to run my immune system down after all the immunization rounds forced upon me for work. So, eager to get in some good miles, I put out a notice on the local board of the ride and as is usually the case, no takers responded. So I unplugged and hung out with the pups expecting a solo adventure early Saturday morning. Luckily the Great Fondoadie with his multi-pronged communications got word to me that he was interested in joining in if it wasn't raining too badly. Sweet.

We rolled out under high humidity and dark skies that threatened to open up on us, but they never did. Instead the sun peaked out from time to time just to keep the humidity just this side of horribly muggy. The Great Fondoadie is coming off a strong season and is still in beastly shape, but luckily I played our route to my strengths and saved the longer climbs for the end of the ride.

A repeat for Sunday, though this time I had about 5 others interested, only to loose them as the departure time approached due to myriad reasons. Just as I was about to give up having company on the ride the Great Fondoadie showed up ready to ride, though this time he brought his big guns out, his super beast Bianchi race bike. No prisoners was his creed today.


I took him out on a newer to me route that doesn't have the long steep climbs typical of the Highland Rim but rather 6% or less gradual rising climbs and punchy power rollers. As anticipated, the route played to his strengths and he had me dangling off the back in the pain cave for much of the ride. As the grades steepened and lengthened I was able to take a few hill tops and an occasional mailbox sprint to keep from coming home empty handed, but my arse was still handed to me. It was just the beat down I've been needing. I came home having left everything out on the course and the tank drained. Thanks for coming out Jeremy!

In other news...


JD has long been a huge admirer of Dish. Pretty much since he first met him. Dish on the other hand took a while to warm up to the idea of another dog in the house after getting used to being the only kid for a while. I'd estimate that JD probably loves Dish more than he does me or H. It's been interesting to watch them as JD matures. When Po was a puppy she didn't have other dogs to really learn from and was more human natured than canine natured. JD follows Dish around and copies whatever he does. He follows him around the fields, watched him get up on the couch then tried to get up it himself, watched him get in and out of the truck, and swim in the river.

Having Dish around to help teach the urchin has been great and a completely foreign experience for me. He's like a big brother and it's interesting to watch the interaction between the two. For instance:

Dish is now playing with JD and tug-o-war is the coveted game outside of chase.

Then there's the chilling out in front of the barn

And how to nap on the couch.

And how to sleep on the bed.

The girls also got a ceiling and front wall installed in the tack room the weekend I worked. That led to interior decorating and painting the walls. I came home from work to find them less than 1/2 way through the first coat painting. They'd been painting for hours and I expected them to be further along. That was before I realized they were painting the cinder blocks, yeah like trying to paint a sponge.

Vogue: When painting, it is best to match and be aesthetically pleasing to the motif

Luckily I was able to spend the Slumlords' money and got a Wagner power sprayer. Hell yeah, power tools!! 45 minutes later and the first coat was done. Pizza, beer, and football followed (Joe has me in training) with the Slumlords. 19 coats (or so it seems) later and the tack room is coming along nicely in it's JD inspired brown, cream, and beige color scheme.

More rain and work are on the schedule for next week. Hopefully I'll be able to ride in more as it sucks driving in when it's raining as it's more sitting still in traffic than actual driving. Though the schedule at work seems to be settling down some and I'm hopeful for some regular hours to kick in for a while. Oh, and flu shots start tomorrow too, whoot!

Sweet Home, Chicago...

If only we all could get along. Nice work Chicago.

Teenage Phlebotomy

Sign of the Dick-vil

Apparently I must have gotten Dicky's ticket today at work. Since it's well known that Dicky mixes with Canardians (h1n1-p?) that meant a bevy (not Begy) of vaccinations. 4 needles and a phlebotification later and my arm is stiffer than an oversized continuous diameter chainstay.

I'm a Teenage Phlebotomy

It wasn't a vacation day I was promised after working the weekend, it was a vaccination day... I hear h1n1 vacs start in November. You've know idea how hard this is for a germaphobic worrier. I read all the side effects (including the odds of getting each side effect) and questioned them on what happens when all of these shots are popped into my arm inches apart from one another. They told me if I get sick, don't come to work. Then injected me. Sweet. Working is Fun-da-mental.

A Blue Ribbon Day

PBR me ASAP

What to do when the weekend is all taken up by work? You ride to and from work to ensure ride time doesn't vanish like the rest of the weekend time. Double coolness points for riding home after 7pm on a Saturday night to enjoy the hookers and johns milling about 1st Street and Oldham, drunk rednecks on the back country roads, and the harassing shouts from the liquor store parking lot vagrants.

Just remember to finish up the ride home with a ride on your favorite bike while hydrating with whatever you can find out in the barn beer fridge.

Congrats to Jeffy, Meanjoe, KRS-1, and DtheP for their killer results at the 12 hours of Canal this past weekend. Jeffy won the SS class aboard his Moots MootoX slider with 10 laps, KRS-1 podiumed in the So Pro class aboard his MootoX Ybb slider, and DtheP won the So Pro class (but he doesn't ride a Moots so it doesn't really count as a win for Racer-X boy) and Meanjoe and his MootoX slider got 9 laps in before redecorating the woods with tasty treats for woodland creatures. Nice work fellas!

Suprise Su-Prizes

H. sent this to me at work of The Rigor modeling my new packrack setup.

Having to work both days of the weekend, I was su-prised with getting cut loose a few hours early on Friday. Straight home to pick up the H. and the pups and off to spend some time romping in the river. JD is getting bigger by the day and is turning into a solid swimmer. Dish absolutely enjoyed getting out and swimming, all the while chasing rocks and barking. Then it was home where I took a nap on the couch with the pups. Naps are a rarity for me as they normally make me feel worse or like I wasted time, but I was in sleep deprivation from the past week's schedule and I awoke feeling like a million ducks. Then H. su-prised me with dinner at Papa Chens, my favorite local $9.99 all you can eat sushi bar (there's tons of other food there too, but I go for the sushi and ice cream with macaroons).

Up early Saturday to try to squeeze as much day in before work as possible before running to town for some errands. I have been wanting to pick up a Niterider MiNewt mini plus for commuting due to it's faster recharge time and ability to charge from a usb port on a computer. Since I have $390.91 burning a whole in my pocket and a few hours free, I was finally able to get out and make such a purchase. So H. and I headed over to REI to pick it up. While there H. asked about some panniers hanging on the wall, I mentioned a bag that went with the rack she got me a birthday or two ago. REI ended up having one in stock and it had fold out panniers. Sweet, note that as a gift idea for x-mas, nope, H. picked it up for me. In fact, she got my light, the bag, a saddle lock, and 3 tubes for me. Stocking me up with one ultimately uber pimp commuter rig.

stylin' (of sorts), only missing some curb catchers

Due to a helmet left in the car snafu, I hung around after work and waited while H. made her way in to start her night shift. She brought the new bag along with the rack I'd left at the house and I quickly swapped the gear out of my messenger bag and into the new rack pack. Tubes, tools, pump, and phone live in the Epic Designs frame bag. Allowing me to enjoy the ride home without any weight on my shoulders or back. Awesome.


Before I headed out, H. and I enjoyed a brief dinner outside in the courtyard. Seems we're always heading out as the other is heading in, but at least we were able to corral some time together and make it feel as though we had a weekend despite all the working.

mmm veggie patties on flatbread

The commute home at 7pm on a Saturday night was actually quite relaxed and I knocked 15 minutes off the ride time. The new light kicks major arse with a solid bright beam of light and having the rack pack kept the aches at bay climbing back up to the top of the ridge. I see why Hennessey is such a fan of the panniers over a messenger pack.

Looking forward to the ride in and home tomorrow! Thanks H.!

Bag of Worms

The commuter waiting while the sun rises

Another week of work down. After 10 months, I must say it is an adjustment getting back into the flow of things and adjusting to schedules. One downside that is slowly beginning to get rectified has been no lunch break, which makes for a long day and a cranky me. This week the scheduling allowed for a few moments for me to sneak outside for 10 minutes and enjoy some vitamin D.

I found a nice shade tree to lounge under and watch the world go by. Being an avid people watcher I'm never at a loss for subjects in the courtyard. In fact, lil' P made a brief appearance though apparently short on time, as he didn't bother to stop and insult me and my lack of riding. I thought perhaps it was just the Canardia sized mountain of a hill he was working too hard to get up.

"Hey, Lil' P! Why the hurry?"

But apparently he's just pissed off new Misfit wrangler Craig "Donut" Barlow by ebaying his fancy skinsuit. Unfortunately I had to get back inside and didn't get to witness the beatdown.

The shirt says Police

Other things that bite:

Starting a new job you typically have to wait 90 days before you can take advantage of such benefits as vacation days and that's where I've found myself. I'd mentioned plans for SSWC when going through the job offer/acceptance faze and I was promised an attempt to finagle the system. Sign up for a few weekends of work and I can bag a day off. Sweet!


Well, not so sweet. I got the weekends of work, but not the day off. So no SSWC for me nor any kind of time in Colorado this year, which along with missing out on the greatest racing event in the world, pretty much caps off the suckfest of life events kicked off since May for me. And it was extra special getting a call from Tifosi winning celeb Sir Dick rubbing it all in last night. At least he promised to bring me back a crummy t-shirt.

No where to go now but up (Canardia is up) now. Cross season is about to kick off here in middle tn and there's a new 8 hour race Dave "Bling Bling" Holmes is putting on out at Panther Creek in October, so I'll have some opportunities to get competitive, but for the lack of mountain time I'm looking forward to some short weekend jaunts to the real mountains.

Good Will Parking

The parking situation at work is crazy, I had to hunt for a spot passing several fully stocked racks. If only this scenario were more common place perhaps Nashville would have better alternative transportation options. But for now I'll just be pleased to see that my bike is still there when I come out from work.


I got to ride in to the Tap Room after work last night for a "I got a paycheck last week" celebration. I shared a table with an older gentleman named Al who was full of interesting and funny stories dating back to 1912 in Nashville while I waited for the group to arrive. He was going to have to cook dinner and eat by himself (wife has passed on) so I invited him to join us for dinner, but when one of his sons showed up, he respectfully declined and left our slowly growing group.

By the time he was leaving, I was surrounded by 3 loverly ladies at the table and he stopped by to tell me that my numbers were improving and perhaps he should rethink the dinner invitation. Gotta love old people. He's an OG beer and bike guy, dating all the way back to the end of the Korean War.

Oh, and no Petre, the blog doesn't die, it remains regularly irregular, just as my work schedule is shaping up to be. Besides, I lose a lot of home computer time supplying (shilling) parts to unsuspecting Fixie Frank and Hipster Harry's on campus to feed the next generation Empiricals. Can't have them growing old living off the land like Dick.

Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive

60 degrees and foggy at sunrise, about 20 minutes into my commute

Made the stay alives today. Amazing. Not being familiar with many of the few roads available on my newest stay alive, I was kind of leary/slightly dreading portions of it. Mostly due to the very limited options to get across the Cumberland. Busy roads, sketchy areas, and deadly intersections cover the more widely used routes.

I stumbled upon a potentially different route that appeared might work out but the roads were completely foreign to me. A few emails back and forth with the EastSide Curmudgeonly Commuter (thanks D!) and a route was locked in. 23.4 miles is what Google Maps tells me. About 6 miles longer than I had wanted (to keep it at about an hour commute), but I must say this is the best route in to work I've ever had, even when I had a measly 12 mile one. The roads are quiet, wide shouldered, and scenic. There is about a block of sketch (which I refer to as Nocturne Alley) and the rest is smile inducing roll.

Plenty of climbs to wake the legs up on the start, in fact the first 12 miles is along some of my favorite local roads to ride, then the remaining miles feel short as the most I'm on any single road from there on is 3.8 miles, making it feel quicker. One hour and 30 minutes on the commutes. If I could drop about 3-4 miles I could probably dial it closer to an hour, but I'll take the longer time over super busy death roads any day.

Ri'Chard's on the left corner. The one light town of Whites Creek sleeps in as I roll through.

All in all it was a great day, the commutes and the job. Happy Days. Especially when you come home and get greeted by the hyper exuberant Monkey.

JD, growing like Monkey Grass

Misfit Cod Cog, the other black cog

I upped the gearing from my normal 42x18 to 42x17, putting the COD into Commuter. Which I hear is good at keeping ShortHillBillys at bay. Va-room!