Well Hello There!

Hi. Do you remember me? Sorry I've been away for a while, it's been one busy week. It's nice to finally get a chance to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee while reflecting on the past week's activities. Where shall I start? The beginning? Nah, that's too predictable. Let's start further back (How can that be!?).

The unveiling.

There's been this little shop called MOAB that's been brewing in Franklin for a while now. There have been many adversities to overcome and as we all know time stands still for no one, except for giant watch wearing Peter, whom I've been told has gotten it to sit on occasion.

Last night we had a little sneak peak shindig for the shop in conjunction with Swiftwick's Shamrock Ride. Many a late night was spent preparing the store for entertaining. Lots of elbow grease was used to make it all go as smoothly as Cancellara's bearings. Time well spent.

Cruiser.

Swiftwicks for sale.

MOOTS and MOAB by Swiftwick.

Thanks to everyone who helped get everything ready for Thursday's unveiling. It was a great crowd, fun ride, and the party went on late, late into the night (technically early morning for some of us). It's been a long time since I've seen and hung out with many of you who came out to show your support and grab some free food.  It was great to see you all again. Thanks for coming out.

In other news, I did a little event called the Death March up in the grand state of Indiana over the past weekend. I headed up with a few friends from the Buffalo Valley area.

The goal was to reach the 5 mandatory check-points and get back as fast as you could while scraping up as many time bonus check-points as possible. You chose the route. Options included pavement, gravel, and singletrack and you pretty much would hit a little bit of it all. Problem was we only had a map and not much first hand experience with the area. I had a little bit of foggy memories from 2 years ago when I did the Gravel Grovel, but racing a marked course and navigating gravel roads and singletrack in foreign lands are two completely different beasts. Especially when all contenders scattered at the gun like cockroaches in the kitchen when the lights go on.

Not quite grampa bob: His last name might not be Koerber, but you can't spell Willow without it.

Fortunately I had this guy on my team. Meet Mr. Stanley Wills. I've written tales about this giant of a man many times before. He's a legend in his own time and a hero of mine. This is the first time I've gotten to race with Stanley. Normally I'm racing against Stanley and the first time we faced off back in 2006, he beat me by 5 minutes.

The final check-point.

Stanley didn't pack his reading glasses so navigation was up to me. Others had local knowledge and insight. Some (ahem, Steven) had pre-programmed GPS contraptions. I had a map and a pin-on compass. Luckily the compass was only needed twice as once properly calibrated, Stanley was a cycling human compass. We'd turn left on a trail and Stanley would state "We're heading North." Then ask, "are we supposed to be?" To which I'd check the map and be able to quickly ascertain that although we'd not technically gone the wrong way, we had indeed gone the long way. All of which culminated in us acquiring all 10 check points in a time of 2:07.02, good enough for 22nd place out of 95 teams.

Not too shabby for a couple of old guys. Thanks Stanley.

Who's your huckleberry? Inigo Montoya?

And leaping ahead to the current rendition of the present, I finally had time to clean up the scruff and sculpt my masterface for the latest update for MarchMustacheMadness supporting Vandy's Trauma Survivors Network. If you can spare a buck, please remember to vote. Thanks.

S80

Back at the barn after a full day of adventures. 

Crunched for time, but a write up for the Sub9 Death March is in the works. In the meantime, I wanted to share a photo that I love taken with my new Nikon S80. Even at a reduced image quality it's drastically better than my previous point and shoot. Although JD is rather striking, I think it's the detail of the texture and colors captured in the barn wood that captivates me with this photo. Not bad for a snap shot.

Stretching the legs out on the gravel path.

Sunday after the DM, I enjoyed a recovery gravel ride with H. and JD after an amazing hippie commune brunch, then a bit of play time in the river, and a few laps around the trail on the horses. It was a full days fun. Welcome back CDT.

In flight.

Mid-leap.

CLEAR!

My Olympic ring. 

Warning: Before you read this post please be sure to have your defibrillators at the ready. Find a comfortable seat before reading and if you're reading this while driving, please pull over.

Well, it happened. I took a big ol' giant step into the 20th Century today. One small leap for Thad-kind, one giant I told you so from the innerwebxperts. No worries though, I'm still fully one century of technology behind the curve, but I'm slowly catching up.

See what changed my mind is that there is this old fellow named Stanley who loves to ride his bike. Stanley is a country boy and as such doesn't have much wants or needs. He told me the only thing he asked Santa Claus for this past Christmas was a set of tubeless wheels for his friend Thad. Christmas came and went without his wish being granted.

Well, Santa finally showed up today and delivered me the missing pieces. And as payment, he took 4.5 lbs off my bike!  Look out Stanley, bodock thorns be damned!!

The 5th Horseman

More fun with the camera. Above is Dish with the selective color setting on blue as you can see by the pen cap in the background. His one blue eye is a little too pale blue to get fully picked up by the filter, but it's still a good shot of the ol' curmudgeon.

JD and is new chew tug toy. The yellow filter bringing out his eyes and new collar highlights.

Dos Perros looking resplendent in blue. 

Moots Red. 

With the Sub9 Death March coming up this Saturday, I needed to get the Rigormootis into tip top shape, install a new chain, and decide upon a cog that will work for gravel, trail, and pavement. So while it hung in the stand, I couldn't help but play with the camera settings some more. The above is with the macro lens enabled, the close-up scene selected, and red color filter applied.

Pink, an ever present reminder of Jan. 

Shiny happy people filter. Is that you in the corner?

Makes you feel kinda dirty, doesn't it?

The last few rides have found my drive side bb cup coming loose enough to start creaking on me. I thought I'd fixed it, but it wiggled loose again on my last ride so I borrowed a more torquier wrench and an 8mm 3/8" drive allen for my torque wrench and pulled the torque specs from the web-o-knowlo-sphere. Hopefully things will stay snug and quiet this weekend.

Finally taking a few moments between playing with the camera, wrenching on the bike, and searching online tech pdf's to actually look at the map and course info for the Sub9 Death March has me really wishing I had a more crossier rig.  Then again, I'm really jonesing over the new RSL. That'd be the ultimate do it all bike. But with Pressfit BB30, 44mm headtube capable of running all the latest fads in fork steerers, curved down tube for better fork crown clearance, 29" wheels (egads!) that can run mtb/road/cross tires, naturally I'd have to run tubeless on such a rig as well as, gasp, hydraulic brakes. I think I'll have to do my best to hold off until 2012 because, as you all know, that's when the world ends. Surely me owning such a beast would certainly have to be a sign of the apocalypse.

So until the world ends relax in the comfort of my obstinacy and belief of the 26" wheel.

Blue

H. and Clairebear being test subjects during hippie commune breakfast. 

I finally got a new camera to replace my dead from the dirt point and shoot. The plan was just to go for the same one as it's been good, but the telescoping lens has killed the 2 I've gone through. Something (humidity, dirt, H. dropping it) happens to the opening or closing of the lens and a retarded "lens error" message comes up and the camera is useless. Otherwise it was pretty durable, took a heck of a beating, and did what I needed it to do all at a cost of $70 bucks. Not too bad.

This time we found a similar camera but without the external telescoping lens. It's still a Nikon, does everything plus a lot more than the old camera did, but cost much more. I got the "no questions asked" replacement warranty for $29.99. I should come out ahead on that one as I'll either go through 3 cameras in the warranty lifetime or having spent the money will prevent the camera from ever breaking just to spite me. Either way I'm winning.

Selective color.

Luckily I had a good test subject to try out the new tricks of the camera on this morning at our house breakfast. Who doesn't love baby photos?

Selective color on portrait setting.

Yup, road bikes on gravel. 

I should also take a moment to apologize to my mid-TN friends for calling out Canardia last time. Seems they huffed, puffed, and blew their cold-arsed Northern winds down upon us and took our 60 degree days away. Today's 36 degree and cloudy day was a slap in the face, but once out the door it wasn't too bad. The exception being the incredibly cold and strong headwind near the river, the freezing hands after stopping to put in toe warmers along the river, and the final few miles atop the ridge into the wind. Other than those moments, it was a great long day in the saddle. Exactly what I was needing.

Rapha boy and his euro styled vredesteins. 

The route was a mix of twisty ridge roads, winding valley roads, leg burning climbs, gravel, and some exploration. Parker was along for the adventure which made it even better. He's pretty chilled, laid back, and doesn't seem to turn back when I press on towards non-road bike behaviors. Such as river wading, steep loose gravel, rocky singletrack, and comments such as "this isn't on the map, but it might hook back up" while heading off into uncharted territory.

I asked Park to step into this photo to illustrate the size of the water fall (steps) but even this doesn't do justice to it.

Or when 36 miles turn into 60. Or when 2.5 hours become 4. Plus he's always there when you're short cash to pick up that emergency Snickers to help get you back home.

Testing the timing of the camera. Turns out it's pretty spot on. Only one take.

Beginning of the good gravel.

It was on this ride that I realized I do want a cross bike. The ability to ride road bike speeds with fatter tires to better commuting and gravel/dirt exploring is something lacking in my current 2 bike setup. I don't really want to add another bike to the mix, but I think a cross bike would allow me to keep doing club rides, solo training rides, and fun exporatory gravel rides all on a single bike setup.

One of the switchback turns.

So the question becomes a Psychlo-X with sliding drops or go Comooter (now available as a frameset) frame which already has sliding drops, is built for flat bars, has a stylish curved top tube, and can handle a 38c tire and fenders? Not a monster crosser, but a monster roader. That is what I'm after. For everything requiring larger than 38c tires my mountain bike will be more than capable, and probably a whole lot more fun.

The bill says it all. 

Not the way we came, but helpful none-the-less.

Youth taking the sprint.

As we made our way back towards home, we hit a stretch of greenway. After crossing the bridge above, we came upon a family out enjoying the day. Their daughter was on a bike and they encouraged her to race. She took off. We followed. Her smile and sheer joy were contagious. And as such, she won.

Making an Entrance

 Cutting the new entrance. 

I was fortunate enough to be able to take full advantage of my day off. Breakfast out with the wife and pups while running a few errands. Then some time in the woods both working and riding with the pups while she went off to horse around with Lil' Red.

A new line forming across the creek. 

It's a critical time for trail work. Spring is knocking on the door and the plants, privet, and weeds are all staking their claims out on the trail. Last year I got behind and had a lot of extra work to do to clear the trail. This year I'm hoping to stay ahead of the curve. Since it always seems easier to find time to ride rather than for performing the back-breaking trail maintenance work, I made myself a promise to at least rake the trail before I could ride it. The raking went so well, I took extra time to cut a new line to bypass a fall line that is getting bad and open up a better entrance/exit to the trail.

Two tracks diverge from the new entrance.  

The original horse trail went straight down and it's really starting to show it's age. Plus it was getting pretty slick even for the horses, so I opened up a more environmentally friendly entrance complete with a couple of grade reversals to hopefully curb some of the runoff entering the creek. It also afforded me an better way to begin the new loop on the west side of the creek.

Hopefully I can stay ahead of the shrubbery and get the full trail opened up in time for Spring. As the temps and humidity rise with the approaching summer, JD will be unable to go out on the long trail rides due to high risk of overheating. Having a longer trail at home will allow me to keep his fitness up, his anxiety low, and never be too far away from a lake where a quick dip will cool him down. It's also a damn nice luxury to be able to get a singletrack ride in before and after work. The longer the better.

Oh, and for all of those still battling the snow, it was my 3rd ride this week in just shorts and a jersey. Take that, Canardia!

Where the Sidewalk Ends

 

"To(o) cool in the peppermint wind."  Two friends out exploring.

The week feels as though it's flown by, and yet, dragged on longer than it should. I sacrificed some off time to help unburden a friend who's overloaded. It wasn't all work, we made sure there was some play time. Time spent on road bikes in the rain until the sun came out. It was needed. Then it was back to work. Long days, but fun. I surely wouldn't trade them for standard work days.

Last Friday H., JD, and I went out exploring. I'm hoping for a repeat of that on my off day of Friday. A re-centering of sorts. Then back at it. I'll hopefully have a replacement camera to aid in my creative outlet requirements and some news about an upcoming event and some special plans made along the way.

In the meantime, the stache is coming along.