Caniculares Dies (Days of the Dogs)

Po the prin, soaking up some vitamin D

Tuesday greeted us with another perfect spring day, complete with windy winds and evening rain. Sunshine throughout the day and my fourth day in a row enjoying the outdoors on a bike. This time the menu had an evening roadie ride. Since it was an unknown route and group to me I decided, after Monday's old bike parts with minimal maintenance laden issues ride, that I should get the old tattered road bike as up to snuff as possible within a lunch hour.


Mid maintenance, I enjoyed quick euro lunch sans baguette (it was roadie day) on the back patio with H. before getting back to work and her heading off for a horse lesson.


The road ride was fun. I've not done an organized road group ride in a long time. The typical "we start out pretty neutral then by mile X there's a hill that sorts out the group" disclaimers were made as we hit it out into the brunt headwind at an 22ish mph. Easy warm up my arse. The pace upped from there, then upped again. It was good to get out and get pushed.

Paul had done a great job of sticking close to me and calling out directions when I traded pulls (I like to be out front vs sitting in for safety and for the workout), but around mile 20ish of the 29 mile loop, I got popped off at a confusing intersection. I thought we followed the road around to the right, which made an S but the route followed around left. The S curve intersection had me worried I'd turn into another rider or cause a wreck so I sat up and pulled to the side until we got through the intersection.

DtheP, Paul, and Lawrence got a gap on me as I corrected my path. Into the headwind I went chasing. It was fun to chase. 3 to 1 is never good odds, but I was maintaining and hopeful I could close the gap. They were able to cross a highway intersection without pause and I got stopped waiting on a truck. Still, they were within sight. The road t'd into another then hit some rollers, there was also a left turn with rollers, I saw no one. I kept straight for a while, then decided it would be wise to head back to the intersection and wait for directions.

krs-1 and Doug showed up and confirmed the route did turn and we worked together trying to bring the gap back. It was fun chasing and working together in the wind. It reminded me of the last Trans Iowa where 6 of us on singlespeeds worked hard chasing the slipping time into the 35mph sustained winds with gusts up to 50mph.

Yeah, it was that kind of fun. The wind making up for lack of big climbs in the Clarksville area. Tonight is another group ride I'm hoping to hit up. Mean "Hammer" Joe will be in the mix tonight. He, krs-1 and I are riding over from krs's crib for some extra miles. The rain has finally passed and the sun is peaking back out. Spring time allergies have my throat and nose battling one another like a pPeter vs fDicky pissing match, which should provide some good snot rocket loogie action in the group tonight.

House Repairs

As some of you know, I've been battling with a car repair issue since Dec 27th. Driving home from the Evil Mother-In-Law's (EMIL) house, the car overheated. I was able to add some coolant and get it back to her house where a repair center is conveniently located a block away. They found the top hose portion of my radiator (the Mazda has a plastic hose component that sits atop the main radiator unit) had some corrosion and leaked out fluid. They also replaced the coil over cylinder 4 which was having some misfiring issues.

Car repaired. Or so we thought. The car's check engine light came on with a notice about coolant temp not being within proper range. It was recommended to replace the thermostat, as it could have been damaged in the initial overheating. Thermostat replaced, car repaired. Or so we thought.


My luck with car troubles is essentially a House MD episode. Some benign symptoms flair up that don't really make a lot of sense and I'm sent to a specialist. They start a round of steroids or antibiotics to try to fix the problem. The steroids or antibiotics unleash all hell by displaying symptoms hidden by the body's immune system. A new diagnosis is made (head gasket, water pump, another thermostat, computer sensor), treatment started, all should be fixed. Then the kidney's go out, the patient crashes, or blood oozes from orifices. Not good. This doesn't make sense with the initial issue? Patient may not live.

Then by some luck (or possibly a second full body scan), someone will say something in a conversation completely unrelated to the issue at hand and the doc realizes what the issue is and finally a treatment that resolves the issue(s) is(are) found and the patient goes home healthy and happy, albeit horribly in debt due to the needless operations, treatments, and additional hospital stays required to resolve the issue.

So my beloved car is back home in the driveway with a new radiator. The tech was driving it around (3 days of 40+ miles and they don't replenish my gas?) and it did it's random overheating thing it liked to do to send my blood pressure through the roof, and the scanner picked up that it was the radiator. Some "foreign contaminant" as Mo from Wall-E would say, had gotten into the radiator (probably from the initial overheating) and would cause a blockage to occur temporarily and the engine temperature would spike.

I wonder what next week's episode will bring?

Dug the head, can you make me a t that says: Simple's Overrated.

D to the P

Meanjoe arrived at the farm with news of a potential Lock4 trump card: Dustin the Pro had the day off and was going to be riding his trail and we had an invite. DtheP lives about 16 miles from me, aside from my back yard his is the closest trail to me. Did I want to go? Hell yeah!


I've heard nothing but stories about how tough DtheP's trail is. Stories of pro riders quitting after a single lap. Other locals swearing they'll never return. Did I mention it's only 16 miles away?


The trail is a blast. It will work you over though, but it's a fun beating. There are also a lot of downhill/super-d style runs, a pump track of sorts, and more log rides and skinnies than you can shake a disapproving finger at. We spent a few hours riding, playing, and bouncing off the ground (and a few trees) enjoying Dustin's playground. I'm planning a shake down ride there for the Moots when it arrives.

Snoop Dog chillin' in the lizzles

"Hey Y'all Watch This" D over the Adam filled Sinkhole gap jump

I have a ton more photos and some sick vids of the boys riding the trail features, but my old laptop isn't up to snuff to compress/edit the video. I'll try to get them uploaded for your edification sometime, somewhere. Thanks for letting us come out and play D.

Monkey's at the Bell

Show of Force: Beach Cruiser Cop Tude

Twice this week H. and I have taken the truck out to help friends move. I told a friend I should start "One Guy and a Truck" (there's a local moving company here in Nashville called "two guys and a truck") and H. quickly pointed out it should be "One Guy and his Wife's Truck".

"I've got a couch here, it's for a cop"

After a greasy burger from Red Robin (which stuck with me all afternoon), all of us got out to enjoy the beautiful spring day out at Montgomery Bell. It was a mostly female ensemble, (4 chicks and 2 pricks?) but we still maintained a faster average speed and covered more ground than Weds 4 hour sandwich ride down at Sewanee.


H. finally got to test out the Misfit Psycles FU bar out on the trail. No shoulder/arm pain and she loved the handling on the descents. I might toss the FU2 bar on there to open the cockpit up a tad for her after she gets a few more rides in on the FU bar, just for comparison. They are more accommodating for brake levers and shifters than the Titec H bar.

F Me? F U. Everything accessible and cozy

Sunday several of us met up early for a brisk ride back at the Bell. I christened it the nomentum ride after the inch worm effect common for a train of riders in twisty, hilly singletrack. Where the pace is good but the terrain and the differing skill levels cause the middle and back pack riders to traffic jam (slow and go) their way around the trails. No sandwiches were harmed in the making of the ride. krs-1 even spared a 12" ham and bread sub from the cruel fate of a condiment tainted knife blade.

Tomorrow morning has me at the Lock with Meanjoe. Three days in a row on dirt, life has been good to me this weekend.

Wicks Great, Less Filling

Swiftwick socks, good enough to eat!

Rode in with H. on her way to work then cycled my way from Vandy through downtown and over to the Tap Room to meet up with the crew. Spring days, bikes, beer, and exploring downtown by bike = Good times. Come out and play sometime.

The Marathon Village, home of the Yazoo Brewery

You can tell the weather was Springy

After the Tap Room, we all rolled over to the East side (crossing the river). Blinky lights, camera flashes, and crisp Spring air made the ride extra merry.

Crossing the Cumberland, Batman building to the right

Bryan the Photog on a bike and the other side of the lens for a change

Hells Yeah! Sharpie in da' house. The crew at Red Door East.

With friends like these, who needs a proctologist? Or are they saying they're a proctologist?

Dug the Head and the Eastside Duo

Bryan the photog double fistin'

Better call NASA

Hey Dad, check the above picture. Can you tell T.roy had a hand in helping Slumlord Joe brew this batch? The Jet Propulsion Lab has been notified. After giving settling time, the malty goodness was well worth the wait.

The Mootsupial Ships Today

Past New Black

In a lame TeamDicky.com-esque post (not as in lame attempt at but as in a lame post like TeamDicky's bike room photo essay posts) I had planned to show my Monday which would have been entitled "My Day With A Big Truck" - but then life started getting a little more exciting.

walz caps for every occasion

A SORBA Board Meeting (with food and beers) on Saint Patty's Day.


Then a day spent in the greatest Mountain nearest to Nashie riding in the woods, along cliff edges, over rocks, off rocks, around rocks, etc...


Then I get home and see this (then scrolled down and noticed this which made that make more sense, not that making sense is ever a requirement or possible for Peter ) and things start buzzing: my head, my ears, my parts. Did I just read that right? Steel? Misfit? Whuh? Who needs interbikies with news like this.

The world waits.

Speaking of steel, I'm sad I left my camera in the Squishy's big gay box (Honda Element) and wasn't able to snap a photo of an old school Moots hanging on the wall at Woody's. Steel Moots road bike. Old school steel is real Moots days. Like over 25 years ago old, kinda where Peter's Flux capacitor has him with his latest "steel" technology (Careful don't let Peter know about titanium and carbon fiber or the future(present) could be ruined with flying trains and banana peel powered sports cars). The past is the new black.

He is very MISFITPSY.

So, Mr. Owl:

Will the world see a steel Misfit DiSSent?
Will the world see Thad on a 29'er?
Will the world see Thad with a 29'er DiSSent running 26" wheels?
Will Canandana attack?
Whatever happened to SCTV?
Why doesn't Misfit Psycles have it's own cable access propaganda show?