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Archive | July, 2018

Insanity, Stats, & A Ride

By on July 31, 2018 in Cycling

I worked at the shop on Monday so of course I came home with a sore back, sore feet and peopled the hell out. As my grandmother always said: “It’s hell getting old.” And as I’ve always said: “I hate people.” I seriously don’t know how full-time shop employees do it without losing their minds and end up never wanting to ride their bike again.

It’s been said that 58.2% of all bike shop customers are insane. 39% of bike shop customers are calling or stopping in shops attempting to buy or obtain free things that have little to nothing at all to do with cycling. And 40% of all customers expect their bike repaired while they wait or by the next day during the busiest time of the year.

I could go into detail about some of the amaze-ball fucked up shit I’ve seen and heard recently, but that really wouldn’t be professional and would violate the Customer/Bike Shop Buffoon Confidentiality Act (C.B.S.B.C.A.) that was passed by a high-ranking, strong-armed, lawyered-up group of dealer/shop officials at Interbike 2007. So I’ll just move on. I will say that bike shops are top-notch weirdo magnets, much respect to those who own or work full-time in shops and have to deal with people every day. People are the worst… except for the good ones.

NOTE: The above statistics were recently cited in the article “What in the fuck made you open a bike shop?” which was published in the May 2018 issue of the National Journal of Bicycle Sales, Service, and Mental Illness1.

On to Tuesday…

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Paradise Part III

By on July 30, 2018 in Outdoors, Photography, Travel

Note: This is a pseudo cycling blog. This post is not about cycling; it is about my recent trip to the U.P. with my family. It’s a long account written—as per usual—more for me than anyone else. The trip will be broken into four parts. The time betweenst each of these posts will be filled with my usual tales of crap rides, short hikes, “needs work” photos and bad writing.

Click HERE for Part I of the series and HERE for Part II.

Thanks,

Management

After two days of hiking in the wet woods battling bloodthirsty mosquitos, we promised B that he could sleep in and chill on Monday morning while Wifey and I went for a 4-mile hike on some trails right outside of town.

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Something New

By on July 29, 2018 in Cycling

I had a good ride on Friday and was happy with the way I felt after a week off the bike. Still, I found myself longing for something different as my attention turned to Saturday’s ride.

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Paradise Part II

By on July 28, 2018 in Outdoors, Photography, Travel

Note: This is a pseudo cycling blog. This post is not about cycling; it is about my recent trip to the U.P. with my family. It’s a long account written—as per usual—more for me than anyone else. The trip will be broken into four parts. The time betweenst each of these posts will be filled with my usual tales of crap rides, short hikes, “needs work” photos and bad writing. 

Click here for Part I of the series.

Thanks,

Management

I rarely sleep well in motels, hotels, by the hour rooms, back alley cardboard boxes, cabins, tents, or car trunks. But for some unknown reason, I slept quite well in The World’s Smallest Two Bedroom Cabin™. It was refreshing to sleep so well, and that made getting up (reasonably) early on Sunday morning for our trip to the upper Tahquamenon Falls that much easier.

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After a Week

By on July 28, 2018 in Cycling

It took a while, a week to be exact, but I finally got back in the saddle. And it felt great.

After a day spent working at the shop on Thursday, I was up early on Friday to make Wifey breakfast before she left for work and to get some writing and photo editing done before I headed out for a ride north of the Cul-De-Sac-Shack.

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Paradise Part I

By on July 27, 2018 in Outdoors, Photography, Travel

Note: This is a pseudo cycling blog. This post is not about cycling; it is about my recent trip to the U.P. with my family. It’s a long account written—as per usual—more for me than anyone else. The trip will be broken into four parts. The time betweenst each of these posts will be filled with my usual tales of crap rides, short hikes, “needs work” photos and bad writing.

Thanks,

Management

We got up Saturday morning and finished the last of our overpacking before heading off into the rain for a three and a half hour drive to Paradise, Michigan in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

We’ve been to the U.P. a couple of times in the past. Twice we’ve gone to Marquette, so I could race the Ore to Shore and do Marquette area stuff, and then on to Copper Harbor to do Copper Harbor stuff like chill on the beach and mountain bike the shit ton of trails there. Honestly, I had never even heard of Paradise, Michigan until Wifey suggested that we go there for a summer getaway after our original plan of a trip to Colorado was shelved.

I had no urge for a cycling vacation but always prefer a trip that is geared towards outdoor activities rather than overpriced, stand in line organized fun that always lets me down. Wifey assured me that there was plenty of hiking to be done, waterfalls to enjoy, low-key beaches to chill on, woodsy beauty to soak up, wild critters see, and plenty of opportunities for me to click some pics. I was in.

The great thing about this trip was that in just a little over three hours of easy driving we were across the bridge and at our destination, ready to get our Yooper on for a few days.

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Half and Half

By on July 18, 2018 in Cycling

I seemingly had a hundred things to do on Tuesday but managed to fit in a 27 mile loop square of dirt roads north of the Cul-De-Sac Shack. I was geeked to have got out, but not entirely geeked with how I felt. Well, for at least half the ride.

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