Now, where was I?
I finished off a lackluster week of lumbering with 26.48 miles in my feetz, missing out on my goal of 30. Having said that, I also did a short 6-mile mountain bike ride, so I DID end up with over 30 miles of doing stuff. So, I guess that’s something to be semi-happy about.
Sometimes a week can be OK, even if it really hasn’t gone well.
The week started off well enough; Monday and Tuesday’s lumbers were good, and my stitches are healing nicely, with my skin being more irritated and painful from the bandages that were on than the actual incision. So, I was relatively blindsided by how much Wednesday and part of Thursday sucked.
First, Wednesday’s hike sucked. It was dark and gloomy all day, cold, windy, the critters were lying low, and just a few miles in, I felt the morning’s coffee start to gurgle in my belly, so I said fuck it and headed home with a few miles, a couple of subpar bird photos, and the want to poop in my own bathroom instead of porto.
After warming up and breakfast, I bundled up and mowed the lawn. So, at least I got another couple of miles in my legs, and the lawn looks fresh.
Come Thursday morning, I once again headed out of a lumber, this time in some warmer temps and sunshine. Yes, sunshine!!
I was hopeful for a better hike and better photos, but alas, I just had no mojo. Or at least no mojo for hiking. So, just after hitting mile 4, I bailed and headed to the car. I figured if I left then, I could still salvage something from the morning, even if it wasn’t a lumber with my camera.
Backtracking for context.
Every spring since roughly 2020, I go through a phase where I convince myself that I need to work on my bikes, or take them to Terry’s for service and upgrades, just in case I want to start riding again. Then, most often, I drop a couple of hundred bucks on parts, put the bikes in the garage, and ride them 0 to 1 times. As I did last July when I went on ONE 27-mile ride in 85˚ temps, bonked from not eating before I left, put my bike back in the garage, and didn’t ride again for the rest of the year. Fuck it.
Fast forward to this year.
A few weeks ago, I did my annual bike clean up and took care of Mr. Burgundy (my gravel bike), The Rambler (my rigid Trek Stache mountain bike in full photo-takin’ mode with bar bag). Sadly, Mr. Burgundy’s contaminated brake pads need to be replaced, and I still haven’t made the long 20-minute drive to Alma to pick them up.
However, the Rambler is just fine, and all I needed to do was put a few ounces of fresh Stan’s goo that I had on hand in the wheels, and I was good to go. But I never went.
So, as I drove home from the trail today, I decided that I would make breakfast, then dig out my bike gear and see what happens.
What happened was that I stuffed myself into one of the few bits of kit I have that actually fit (I don’t think I could get a jersey from my race days over my belly button these days!), and headed back to Deerfield with The Rambler to do a quick 6-mile loop.
In theory, I would have gotten more creative mojo by going out on the dirt roads from home, but since I haven’t ridden in 10.5 months, I figured I would ease my hulking body, legs, and taint back into some riding with a loop in the woods on Deerfields relatively calm trails, rather than trying to push myself to do one of my old gravel loops, risk bonking again, and ruin any chance of more riding.
And it worked!
I did my normal 6.5-mile lumbering loop on the bike, and it felt REALLY good. Even the climbs were OK, and there was no panting or vomit after such an extended break.
Had I not already hiked 4.5 miles and wasted a lot of my morning, I would have done two loops. But by 10 AM, the “normal” folks were arriving at the trails, and I like to get on the trails early to avoid people. So, I was content with 6.5 miles on the bike, and the hope of EASING my way back into some riding rather than bighting off more I can chew, and quitting because it’s not 2009, I no longer weigh under 200 pounds, and I surely couldn’t complete a 100-mile race again, let alone 4 of them in one season!
Not sure when the next ride will happen, but I’m glad I got out. I find that I need to do it every so often to remind myself of why I loved cycling so much. Like a freshly squeezed turd thrown against a wall, maybe this time it will stick.
Later.
After Friday morning’s surgery, I skipped lumbering for the rest of the weekend to let my stitches do their thing. So, come Monday, I was pretty eager to get back in the woods, and the woods did not disappoint.
After a subpar week of lumbering last week, I was glad to get back to some normal mileage and picture taking. At least until I couldn’t today.
Tuesday’s 5.79-mile lumber was OK, but nothing to write about1. There was little to no visible critter activity, and I had to rely on some nature nubbin macro shots to scratch my itch.
In fact, it was so lacking that I chose to bail early and missed my 6-mile target by a nugget hair. Oh well.
It’s no secret that my love (er, acceptance) of routine, no matter how good or bad it is for me, is borderline autistic. So, when I get out of a near-daily routine like writing about my mundane day hikes and attempts at nature photography, it can be hard to get back in.
However, as you can see, I’m back. For this, you have my apologies. But, so as not to get too up in your grill with a new post, I will just post some pics and say the lumbering and picture-takin’ was subpar last week, but this week has started off swell with a 6-mile lumber in some “not too bad” temps.
When I let Lola (the dog) out into the early morning darkness to do her business on Wednesday, I was greeted by brisk temps and the sound of more rain falling.
After a lumberless weekend spent watching too much football, which included seeing Spurs finally win a league match this calendar year, but remain in the drop zone, I was back in the woods on Monday morning for a lumber.
The lumber was OK, but aside from a trailside Tufted Titmouse being titty, there wasn’t much action. The lack of critter activity might have had something to do with the high winds that were gusting like a freight train all day. I’m pretty sure if I were a bird, I would not be flying in conditions like that!
As “weeks” of lumbering go, this one was pretty good, coming in at 30.60 miles in 5 days, and sitting at just under 95 miles over 16 hikes the month so far.
Good stuff, but of course, it’s just a weak stream of piss in an ocean of aging adipose tissue and worldly apathy. Still, it beats not doing it. I mean, who would take photos of the forest critters if I didn’t??? Don’t answer that.
The week of lumbering has started off pretty OK.
Monday’s lumber was a slap in the face with a very un-spring-like 27˚ at hike-time. I was less than thrilled to be wearing a winter jacket, gloves, and a bobble hat in freaking late April, but it happens every year, and will surely happen again in the coming weeks.