MOUTH FULL OF DIRT : Super D's Blog: No Brainer

We came home after our trip to find my parents had installed our kitchen cabinet doors. That was a nice surprise. We got them painted before we left, but they needed to be hung and have handles attached. My parents have been helping us a lot lately with various home-improvement tasks.

It was hot and dry while we were gone, but the cool air followed us home. We had several chilly days our first week back in Tennessee with some rain. I don't think it rained much while we were gone. Our garden looked like it was on its last leg, but we were able to save it. It recovered nicely and I was able to get two more big sales of peppers before the season was over. I sold enough peppers to buy all of our winter seeds and supplies. That was nice. I have still given away much more than I have sold, which is something I want to continue doing. A lot of the members of my family have made fun of me for trying to get this farm thing going. Suddenly they are thinking this isn't such a bad idea now that I've started selling 10+ pounds of peppers at a time. Patients at work, on the other hand, have been very supportive. One guy gave me some really good advice on different farming techniques as he used to raise several acres of ghost peppers. I see some ghosts in my future.

Planting garlic for the winter season

I have caught a lot of slack about my pictures from the trip. I thought we got some really great pictures. With the scenery we encountered, it was almost impossible not to take a great picture. Some of the people that have seen them thought they were a little too good. I got accused of lying about the photos. Some people didn't think they were real photos. Some people said I didn't take them and others said I didn't even really go to those places. I'll take that as a compliment! Aside from a little adjusting of the contrast on the pictures from the GoPro, those pictures were untouched. Most of that criticism came from Facebook. I really dislike social media. There's too much negativity posted on those sites for my liking. People are so quick to criticize every single word you post, taking everything out of context. Reading text has no emotion from the writer connected with it. I try to keep my posts to pictures to avoid people adding meaning to my words that I didn't intend on being portrayed, but even just a single picture can get some people fired up. I hope that when you read this blog you read it with a grain of salt, knowing I am sarcastic and want it to be fun to read. If I mean something negative with my writing I will just come out and say so there will be nothing left to the imagination. With that being said, I have stopped adding people I don't know to my list of friends on Facebook. Please don't be offended if you randomly send me a friends request and I don't accept it. Shoot me a personal message if I don't know you personally and let me know who you are. I will accept it...so long as you don't become a troll. We have plenty of those on the internet already.

My gloomy week back was spent getting back into the rhythm of work. It was right back to it for both of my normal jobs. We nearly found ourselves in a bad situation during a school cookie dough delivery. Sycamore Middle School in Pleasant View had a child bring a loaded weapons] to school the day before we did our delivery. Sadly, shootings have become a regular thing in our society. People still like to think it won't happen to them or in their town, but they can, and nearly did, right where I went to middle school. The child went to the guidance counselor and told her he was going to kill teachers and other adults in the building. He said he didn't really want to do it, so he came to her because he knew she would talk him out of it. Thankfully, she did and he handed over the guns and ammo he had in a backpack. He was obviously a troubled young man, but at least he did listen to that small voice inside telling him not to do it. Our delivery was the following day, but it could have easily been the day he decided to go through with his plan and fire on adults. It was scary to know we were that close to being part of a tragedy. It's a humbling moment that makes you appreciate the many blessings you have in your life.

Back before our tip I wrote about the logging that had started on the land where most of our backyard trail is located. It is a mess now. We have lost the majority of our trail. The logging is a complete disaster, as you can see by some of the pictures below. If you ever think about logging some property of your own, just realize it is messy and your place will never be the same. Not only do you lose the big trees that are being cut out, but when they fall they cause much destruction to the smaller trees around them. The land owner says it should only take a few weeks, so I hope to be back in there clearing trails and rerouting sections soon, with a loop established by winter. For now we have a 1.9-mile loop that my family cleaned up while we were in Utah. It's a fast, fun loop, but I miss the longer lap times. Doing 8-10 laps a day gets old quick.

Logging destruction in the woods. There's a trail in there somewhere.

Again, there was a trail here.

My shock decided to lose its Brain after the trip. I got it off the rack and could tell right away that something was wrong. It had no stable-platform at all. Just riding around the driveway feels like being on a pogo-stick, so it had to go back to the shop. The shock has been sent back to Specialized to see if they can figure out what happened. MOAB is such a great shop that they gave me a loner shock until Specialized sends mine back, so at least I won't miss any trail time.

My race schedule is falling apart here at the end of the season. Not only did I miss the postponed Snowbird Ultra Hill Climb in Utah, but I came home to find out my next planned race was cancelled. Dirt, Guts & Donuts was to be resurrected this year, but it was cancelled due to the new promoter's fear of lack of interest. I can't imagine that it would have had a low turnout. That race was a big event in middle Tennessee. It is unique and a lot of fun! I sure was sad to hear it was not going to happen again this year. I am ready to race!

The lack of racing gave me time to address some body issues. Both of my gastrocs were tight and sore after the past few weeks of riding. They started to bother me right before Gateway Cup, but really haven't gotten worse. I am not ignoring them this year. I spent the last two winters recovering from pain with exercise and I am not about to do that again. I've also been looking at getting another mountain bike, something I can play on with more travel and the ability to race enduros. I really want 29" wheels so that limits my choices as many manufacturers are putting 27.5" wheels on those types of bikes. I was really motivated to get one after riding my Epic out west on trails that I really could have had more fun on if I'd had a bigger bike, but I just haven't seen anything I really like. The prices of good bikes are getting ridiculous so it's going to have to be the right bike for me to lay down that much cash for it. Hopefully this search won't take as long as it did for me to find the right XC bike.

We also scored some free tickets to see a college football game just a few days after we got home. My favorite team, the Florida Gators, came to Nashville to face off with the Vanderbilt Commodores. It wasn't a pretty game, but Florida got the win over a Vandy team that is really playing good defense right now. We had fun at the game and enjoyed seeing the Vandy stands with more orange and blue in them than black and gold.