After Monday’s Memorial Day Singletrack Extravaganza at MMCC, Tuesday was spent catching up on stuff I neglected while away over the tournament weekend and the holiday spent riding.
Archive | May, 2017
Dirt Rode
The past week and holiday weekend was not as conducive for riding as I would have hoped: there was travel to Kalamazoo and back for B’s soccer tournament amongst other time eating activities. With that I found myself rideless since I rode dirt last Wednesday, but after a good night’s sleep on Sunday night, and a lazy Memorial Day morning around the house processing the hundreds of photos I took at the tournament, I finally got out for a ride; another ride on dirt, real dirt… singletrack dirt.
Scratched Itches
In my last post I alluded to the fact that I was starting to get the itch for some actual mountain biking. From the best I could tell (looking back through this shit blog) it’s been roughly 8 months since my tires last rolled on singletrack. A variety of issues contributed to that lack of singletrack, most of which was some ongoing back and hip pain when mountain biking. However I am pretty geeked to say that on Wednesday I finally got out on singletrack, and it was just as fun as I remembered it!
The In Between
It was nearly a full week since I last rode my bike. The break was not planned, nor was it enjoyed. It was five days of rain, high winds, cool November-like temps, a busy travel soccer schedule with B, and a nice bout of “who gives a f*ck?” ennui. However, per usual, just when I thought that I might never actually ride my bike again, I found myself rolling out from the cul-de-sac onto the roads of rural Michigan.
Squeezed & Breezed
I really didn’t expect to get a ride in on Wednesday. There were a ton of things I needed to do that included everything from getting to B’s early morning academic awards ceremony (Honor Roll!), a mid-day school enrollment meeting, and multiple other tasks and errands before finally getting B to his carpool for the TOPSoccer Program gig he’s helping with, and eventually his own team’s practice. Somehow between all that I managed to get a quick Better Than Trainer Ride® in.
Critters & Crap
We got some pretty heavy thunderstorms overnight and into early Tuesday morning, because of that I planned on a 30-ish mile paved ride to avoid any potential quagmires on the dirt roads.
Time and Miles
There has been little time to get any miles in on the bike for a variety of reasons, including a home tournament for B-Man over the weekend that had us at the fields most of the weekend.
Dust Bunnies
After two days of 30+ mile rides, I was tempted to take a day off, and get some actual work done on Thursday, but the blue sky and perfect spring temps lured me out onto the dirt roads like a seductive temptress. At least for a little bit.
No Day at The Beach
Wednesday brought another welcomed chance to ride, and attempt to burn off some of the calories I put on over the past week (and years) of rideless slack. It was also a chance to ride dirt and gravel roads south of town. Some of those roads proved to be no day at the beach, even though they were very much like riding on one.
At Long Last Again
After Sunday’s short, miserable windy ride, I had little desire to do anything but what was required of me as a father, husband, and human being on Monday. I did what I had to do, and got it over with… sort of like me in grades 1 through 12.