Fat Tire Times

Saturday was the 7th Annual Fat Tire Festival out at Hamilton Creek: 107 heat indexed sun baked humidity sauna and all. Big thanks to those who volunteered, helped out, donated time and products, and just hung out and had a good time. I know y'all are just here for witty commentary and photos of yourselves, so here you go.

Huge thanks goes out to local business and mtb supporter Swiftwick. Buy some socks already people!

Egads! Look who finally joined SORBA?!! (Pshh, like we'll see him at any workdays)

Newly registered SORBA member 6Mile says "No photos please"

Jeffy's newly made (to match his Mooto X slider) ti Luv handles

pchris out of the house testin' an EWR

"It's got like, what, 26" wheels? Weird."
"Man that just looks wrong."
"Don't worry, it's just a passing fad."

Mini monster Cade out warming up for his race.

Cade the single track shredder.

Cade's competition: Kelly warming up.

The Kanza Killer gets so many phone calls from CyclingNews now. "Look I done already told you, no interview until you acknowledge Dicky at least one time. He's getting old ya know, won't be around forever."

Finally a bike that fits the Mongoose!

Cason shortly before eating his teething tent.

Freeride extraordinare Squish working over the skinny (before it got elevated).

Me on some weird squishy clown bike.

The skills area.

Beat the Mongoose Hill Climb: (magnificent photos captured by SPJ)

Steven Myers rocketing through the hill climb challenge.

Steven cresting the finish line.

Reed (apparently just remembering he left the oven on) racing to the top.

Ride for Reading's infamous Mud Angel, Matthew Portell.

Matthew is so fast, he typically loses clothing from sheer velocity.

Recent inductee into the old club, OlderGreg in the Geritol class.

OlderGreg taking the wheel chair ramp across the finish line.

The Mongoose took quite the beating.

krs1, lone member of Ride for Jeffy

Jeffy

Jeffy showing OlderGreg how the even Older get it done.

"Come on little wheels, don't fail me now!"

6Mile setting the bar high

Big wheels kept on rolling. 25seconds flat for the 6Mile Man!

Reptile Like...

Sorry, no snake sightings Peter, but here's one of the 2 amphibians that live on the patio.

Reed crawled out from under his rock to come hang out at Mom's basement (eh, Peter?) and we had a play date out in the yard. "Hey y'all watch this, here hold my beer"

Rigid and Single "Freeride-lite" Moots.

Special thanks out to the 2 heckling nurses, H. and Hannah, who egged us on, brow beat us, and berated our manhood (or lack there of). Trying stupid stuff in the backyard isn't nearly as much fun as it is when you have girls openly mocking you. No toads, Moots, Carbon forks, or Reeds were injured in the filming of these digital stills.

Sonic Suprise

I stumbled upon a new release (June 6th) from Sonic Youth that I wasn't even aware was due to come out. The Eternal is Sonic Youth's first release on their new label and I must say I'm really impressed. It reminds me of Sister, which has long been my favorite Sonic Youth album.

Speaking of stumbling upon, for my fellow *nix developers out there: I've found fugu, sequel pro, and textwrangler to integrate superbly together with the terminal for ssh tunneling, sftp, file sharing, diff & merge, database management, and editing/debugging duty. I've been a BBEdit user since version 1.2 and hope to upgrade to the latest BBEdit away from the freeware TextWrangler when money allows (has more dev features than TextWrangler), but TW still has plenty of horsepower to it.

Sequel Pro offers a range of tools I use more frequently than most other MySQL admin tools. It's also easy to create an SSH tunnel to a remote server and update/debug/backup/restore MySQL databases.

Combine them with Firefox and Firebug you've got a pretty wicked (and free) development platform. (I know Kevin, but you should at least give them a try Mr. vi and the command line guy).

Lots to do...

Naysayers!! Giving me grief for getting out to ride on Saturday. Pfft! I met my deadline and then some and now I can enjoy a few days of leisurely work days vs 10+ hour sessions. In celebration I got out for a spin this morning with 8Ball. We explored some of the "recovery ride" roads krs-1 and I hit over the winter after one of the Snake races. I'm constantly surprised by the cool roads present in this North Nash country. We got a rolling 35 mile ride in followed by a 1000 meter swim (all before Noon) in preparation for either the XTERRA or the Music City Tri, possibly both, who knows. I need more mornings like this.

Speaking of things to do, the calendar has a lot of activities this coming weekend. Yes, there's H's 30th Birthday this weekend, but there are some lesser events available as well.

First up, SORBA's 7th Annual Hamilton Creek Fat Tire Festival is this Saturday June 20th. All proceeds go directly back to bettering Hamilton Creek. Due to the economy, budget shortfalls, etc... the contract with the trail company and Metro Parks has been terminated, but whatever money we raise at the Fat Tire Fest, we get to spend on the updates and enhancements. So come one, come all, and bring some friends. It'll be a day full of group rides, games and fun for riders of all skill levels and ages. All the details at: http://www.hcfattirefest.net/ and the blog.
Benefits: Hamilton Creek MTB Trail

Following on the tail of the Fat Tire Fest, is the 5th Annual Music City DuRunRun on Sunday. The 2Mile Run, 10 Mile Bike, 2 Mile Run duatholon gives 50% of the proceeds to Metro Parks and Recreation. Register here.
Benefits: Metro Parks and Recreation (greenways, local parks, hamcreek, etc)


Saturday June 20th also presents the Wilma Rudolf 4th annual 5k/10k road race up in Clarkvegas featuring a scenic course containing rolling hills through farmland and neighborhoods on and around Sango road. Sign up here.
Benefits: The Fort Campbell Fisher House. The Fisher House provides a comfortable, nurturing and secure environment for soldiers and their families while they receive medical care at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH).


With sadness, Saturday hosts a festival I'll not get to attend this year (used to ride the bike there when I lived in the 'boro) the Bell Buckle RC & Moonpie festival. The day starts off with a 10 mile run, followed by bluegrass, games, cloggers, bar-BQ, and culminating in the cutting of the worlds largest Moon Pie (free desert for all). Getcha some.

Benefits: Bell Buckle, TN

For KRS-1:

Not lucky, just on top of laundry priorities

Also, there are a few truths in life and one of them is to never fall out of favor with The Joe.

Poor Zappa, sentenced to 4 months of Marvella

Nice Day for a Back Country Drive

Nothing clears the mind like a nice drive meandering the shade filled winding back roads of Tennessee. The recent rain storms allowed the humidity levels to drop off and the overcast 82 degree day offered a breeze that was a nice accoutrement to the open sunroof and windows as I wound Southwestward seeking clarity to quiet my mind.

Ok, so I wasn't just meandering nonchalantly where ever the road would happen to lead, krs-1 had twisted my arm and guilted me into a mid-morning bike ride out at Monkey Bell.

How the guilt trip/arm twisting went down:

krs-1: "You wanna ride tomorrow?"
me: "Man I'd love to but I've got a lot of work to do. What time?"

DON'T JUDGE ME! :-) I can still get in a full 10 hour work day today.


It began to look like another typical TN day was going to take place, pop up thunderstorms ruining the plans, but as I got closer to MB, the clouds parted and the sky was filled with Moots Blue. Has to be a sign I was supposed to be out riding, eh?

The parking lot had several cars in it when I arrived and slowly more were filling in. Jeff B-Side Barber rolled over to say hey and I noticed he was rocking a new ride: A Soma B-Side.


650B wheels, the "tweener" wheel size nestled between the old standard 26" and the 29" clown wheels. I like the way the 650's roll, but stuck with the 26" due to the lack of rim and tire choices (at the time) for 650b. They don't give all the benefits of the bigger 29" wheels (momentum and rollover) but they don't have all the things I dislike about the big wheels either. A decent compromise and a fun platform for a bike. The Harpeth boys seem to enjoy theirs.

It's always great to see someone enjoying a new ride. As usual, his build budget grew a bit as the parts came in but it's one sweet ride. I'd not seen the quasi-Moto tires before, just the neo-motos. They look like a much faster rolling and better mud shedding design than the neo.


Closer inspection of the front showed a Kenda Nevegal, I didn't even know Kenda was producing a 650b tire. Most 29'er riders I know roll the Nevegals or at least the Nevegal up front matched to a sb8 or a crossmark in the rear, so it's good to see the addition of a popular tire to the 650b lineup.


Last, but not least, "B-side" had the final piece to any bike build, a Swiftwick C2 (compression cuff). Icing. Now to truly "B" the envy of all, dump that other cog and load up on a set of Cod Cogs. Black is the new black after all.


Great ride today Jeff "Buzzsaw* B-side", Bob "King of MB", and Chris. Thanks for letting krs-1 and I roll along with your group while Misty pulled a Jeffy (too good to ride with us). Bob, the signs look fantastic and the shingles grip well on the bridges. Thanks for all your hard work maintaining and bettering the Bell. When I have more time I'll make it out post ride for the Mexican and beer social.

*Buzzsaw - like our Jeffy, Jeff runs a loud a**ed Hope hub and drowning out all the other buzzing buzz hubs.