Note to self...

When loading up with 40-50lbs of extra gear, knock one tooth off the back, it'll be less of a grunt.

Iceball, Old Man Jeff, and I headed out under cloudy gray, humid skies just after the bottom stopped falling out Friday. Loaded down with our camping gear, bike tools/tubes, food, and change of clothes, we struggled to keep the pedals cranking up the first gut check climb, Sycamore Creek/Seed Tick road. Despite 8ball's "go back, it's not worth it" calls, we crawled our way to the top of the brutal bitch and began our journey North East to the Kentucky side of Dale Hollow Lake. New towns and roads to explore with only a short 15 minute map check/route plan before heading off. No wrong turns, even with a "on the fly" route change. Jeff earned "Bad Ass of the Day" by riding it after working a 12 hour night shift!

Lots and lots of sustained climbs, back to back, with bookends of killer hills on either side of the 115 mile slog. Some really cool towns (Hermitage Springs, Moss, Celina), some really littered with roadside trash roads (Hwy 76 N into New Deal), Funny sightings (Barky Beaver, what was he doing to that tree?), Most Fireworks debris and empty beer bottles/cans Award goes hands down to Hall Rd. We logged 230 for the weekend with a whole day devoted to playing in the lake swimming, tube rolling, surfing the slide, and lounging with a few frosty cold ones.

We cheated a little and sent our camping gear back with the Sexpot in the car. High of 91 degrees and sunny was the forecast and we were already sweating at 7am. Having shed the weight, we made much better time getting home, despite the headwind the entire way and the baking sun. The headwind was a least a cool dry wind, the high humidity having burned off in the torrential rains late Friday night.

My camera is with the Sexpot, so I'll update with photos when I get my stuff back. Just got back in from a trail ride with Crow and the girls. I'm tuckered and I've got to make sure the pizza doesn't burn this time.

Epically Designed Packing

I swapped saddles last night, as my old Selle Italia Octavia saddle is just too worn out for all day comfort. Put on my old XC Selle Italia and it rode much better on the way into work today. Mucho happier butto! I also got a head start on my packing for tomorrow's trek up to Kentucky and over to Dale Hollow Lake. I finally get to use my Epic Designs frame bag for it's ultimate design purpose: toting my tent poles, gear, and extra water bladder. This bag never ceases to amaze me. Not only does it hold the stakes and poles perfectly up, it does so without having to sacrifice valuable storage space or comfort. As an added bonus, it fits the Litespeed (it was built around the Surly measurements) perfectly. I tested the ride around the farm with the pups happily chasing me, seems like it's going to ride very nicely. Ka-chow!


Unruly tent poles:


Orderly, compact, and out of the way tent poles:


Cut out the maps needed for the journey:


All packed up. Tent, poles, gear, clothes:


Happy Independence Day Weekend everyone. Be safe.

Dad's Gonna Flip

I got a new camera last night. A sweet Nikon CoolpixS210. It's credit card sized and works similarly to my trusty Nikon 995 I've had for the last 6-7 years. I wish I would have found out about it in time for TransIowa and Kanza, but everything I looked at online was over $200. This one comes in at $170. Not too shabby.Iceball and I (and maybe old man Jeff if he doesn't let logic and reason give him cold feet) are riding out to Dale Hollow Lake up in Kentucky this weekend. Riding the Kanza SS setups and hauling the gear (Sexpot will be toting the warhead of Porter and the food for us; I know, real men would tote the warhead, but I want it to be ice cold when we get there). We'll ride 100+ miles Friday, camp and chill, spend Saturday exploring some trails, jet skiiing, and swimming in the lake, then ride back Sunday. Should be a 200+ mile adventure and I'm armed with a camera this time to capture the cool scenes to be had along the back country roads of TN and KY.

I got another su-prise (the best kind of prize) yesterday too, H. got my car detailed. Any of you who have ridden in my car know how bad it was. Chain grease on the ceiling, dog hair coating everything, several layers of dust, years of camping, mountain biking, and dusty gravel roads. Those of you that knew me back when I had a house and garage know it used to always be clean. Life has changed that, but now it's cleaner than clean. Even the grease is gone. So, to all of you who've had to suffer through the mess, tough. It's clean now so wipe yer feet! Papa Ted, hold on to your hat:

Pizza Trees?

We've really been lucky here in Middle TN the past week. Gorgeous blue skies, hot in the sun, but not too humid, and cool 60 degree nights. This weekend was no exception. After 80 miles of road commuting this week, I was itchin' to get on some dirt. With a work engagement later in the afternoon, I wouldn't be able to head out to the Ocho until early evening, so I made plans with the Iceman to hit up Hammy. It's been since last fall since I've gotten to go play in the rocks, and it shows. My new bash guard is now lighter weight and shinier in parts along with a nice scrape across my right shoulder. The shoulder was a "well I made it up the rock but there's a tree here and well Mike just stopped in my bail out spot and I can't unclip my left foot" fall from about 4' above the trail. Good times.


Post Hammy, Ice's better half made us some lunch and we washed it down with some cold brew and then wasted some time on the couch staring at the pretty flashing light emanating from the talking box. I'm so glad I don't have one of those, I almost fell asleep on the couch and wasted a perfectly good afternoon! What kind of a douchebag sits and stares at the talking box for 6 hour marathons all day? (probably one too busy to update his piddly blog) ;-)

H. got home from work shortly after 4PM and we headed to the barn to feed the horses and turn them out for the evening. Then cleaned up and headed off to the collar's house. We were met with a vat of home brew offerings from t.roy, homemade spinach dip, pita chips, flatbread chips, salsa, alongside mounds of fresh fruit and veggies. I think it's safe to say that everybody there ate way too much, almost to the point of pain. THEN the 10 flavors of homemade icecream (based off of the wiki list at work of everyone's favorite flavors) came out. I don't know who's maple pecan graces the wiki (the work wiki, not THE wiki) but it was by far my favorite out of all the killer flavors present. (I sampled several). Real East Coast Maple syrup in the ice cream. Delish. Getting home around 11:30PM after a short stop by the moving Mannondale's, I was ready to pass out and a 5.5 hour drive to the Ocho wasn't in the cards. We really need to fight for 3 day weekends. 4 12 hour days would cut down on gas bills for commuting and give us time to fit everything into a weekend. Who do I speak to about changing this?


Sunday has been a lazy day so far. Cleaned the living room, scrubbed the kitchen/hallway floor, and performed some much needed love on the Litespeed. Took the worn down ring and well worn out chain off and replaced it with the slightly used TransIowa/Dirty Kanza chain and chain ring. Add a fresh coat of the best lube around, and I should get another 2 years out of them for commuting, gravel grinding, and cross racing. Hoping it resolves the recently annoying popping and clicking going on when climbing with the severly worn out chain slipping off of worn down teeth.


Heading out this evening for a trail ride on horseback to investigate the back property. Promises of creek crossings, steep hills, earthen dams, and shade trees have me anxious to get out and play. Dreams of fixing up a play trail for me and the pups to play on after work have been occupying my time lately. Some log rides, planks, and rock elements to give me a secret training ground to help up my skillz, as right now they don't pay the billz but rather make payments on them... August is fast approaching and I need to sharpen my battle axe.

Speaking of battle axes, check out Derf's new 650b sled:


You can see more of it here or by visiting Harpeth Bicycles (click the link, help me win 25% off a tube). Titanium wonder bikes rule.

Oh, and if you get a chance, check out WALL-E, too. Pixar rules. If only I had a pizza tree...

Back on the horse... er ti

With schedules starting to settle and life returning to some sort of semblance of normalcy, I have been able to ride in the last few days. It's been good for the mind and soul. Since things aren't in a an exact state of normalcy, I've not made the round trips yet, but the rides in have been refreshing. I've been a bit of a curmudgeon lately and I'd forgotten how happy riding my Litespeed commuter makes me (like a kid in a toy store with grandpa), although I still think I need to be sedated during the drive portion. I'm like a dog panicked by car travel. Tomorrow I'll get to ride in to work then ride to the Tap Room to meet up for the ride back to the house.

Why not just ride to the house? Case of you can't get there from here's... Well, you could if your life insurance is paid up and you enjoy shoulder rubs by semi's and large trucks at 60+ mph on narrow, twisty country highway roads. For now, I'll take what I can get and the 20ish mile ride to work is enjoyable. I found a safe-ish route today and think I'll stick with it. I emailed it to several friends for the "where's Thad" panics or cases of "come get me a bull bent my wheel".

It works out well that I can hitch a ride with one of the two nurses to Vanderbilt, then ride to Franklin from downtown. Since they have 12 hour shifts, it works out that by the time I get back into town after work, they are just getting off of work, then we share the 15 mile drive to the homestead. It's a nice change and I actually get a few blocks of a bike lane. Now that I'm a Davidson County resident, I hope to get more use out of these hard to get to bike lanes.

I'm also taking suggestions on decent commuter lights. My second Cateye 500 (and equivalent) crapped out on me. I need something before the days shorten. Preferably something bomb proof, easily swapped between bikes, doesn't take 18 hours to charge, lasts for at least 6 hours, and doesn't cost as much as two tanks of diesel in the truck (aka $280).

early am edit: My mood today on the ride in was one part Lightnin' McQueen "serpentine, serpentine" and one part childhood joy. Grab your things I've come to take you home.... Enjoy being outside today.

5% Faster (and 12" taller)

"I expected a lot more out of you than third"

That's what Iceman (aka Mike, Mooch, Fixie 8-ball, and yes in that blond spiky haired fly boy movie way) said to me as we walked to the awards ceremony. Well, what do you expect against two Cannondale sponsored pro riders (with full squish and gears) and geared, squish riders... We were about 7 minutes out of second and had been as close as 4, but we gave a good fight and had fun doing it.


I don't really have time for a lengthy recap, but suffice to say my first ever duo 12 hour race was a blast! I'm never one to just pin it and this format allowed us both to go from the gun. Look for a more race related recap on the Yazoo team site later tonight.

Saving grace of the day award goes to Sharpie and his Swiftwick socks. He supplied me with a prototype pair of ole 12's to tear apart during the race. I'd started the race with my wool 12s, and was happy, or at least so I thought. The compression of the new ole 12's cradled my arch like a caring mother (or 2 hot nurses). Thinking the added arch support was the main difference, I headed out for my laps only to find a surprise awaiting in my new threads. The cooling factor of the ole 12's is insane. It was a blazing hot sunny day and my legs felt like I had fans hooked to them. A cooling breeze sensation rocked my legs as I spun, hitting me like air conditioned socks. At one point I had goosebumps. They never slipped, bunched, rubbed, or pinched, all race day comfort (and post race party comfort too, not to mention high style).

Swiftwick Ole 12s, cooler than ice(man):

I think Lucy likes the way the socks look:

Hunter demonstrating the proper race face:

Chillin' after Jut helped fix my brakes (they broke lap 3, replaced after lap 4):Yazoo pre-load, carbo-load, and recovery drink mixes (aka Pale Ale, ESB, and Porter):
"Holy hell, how did you boys find the Crow's Nest?!" Yes Jut, we will be back to live the Rut life.

5% Faster (with fjear on my phone)

Got home around 10 PM. Long day. Time to get the gear packed, bike prepped, and all ready to go tomorrow morning. I'm still tracking down where gear has disappeared to after the recent move. Little things like shorts, light battery charger, shoes... I still need to get some sort of race food and drinks too. I'm so behind my normal race packing schedule, I won't even have time to re-pack!!!

However, I did manage to pick up 3 Yazoo War heads (pale, porter, esb) for the Cowbell 12 hour and have them chillin' on ice. Sharpie came through with the goods: Ole 12's for the race. Rolling banner on the top tube. Get'cha some speed (available at fine bike shops and online).


Or... swing by the Swiftwick booth at the Cowbell and see, feel, test, buy the socks for yourself. Bring a pint glass (or water bottle) and taste some Yazoo golden nectar.

Mooch and I will be racing the duo class. It'll either be a calamity in motion or we'll rock the house. Could go either way. We both are notorious for broken bikes and parts. Normally though, we're racing each other, now we'll be racing together... no good can possibly come from this.