After thirty-six to forty-eight hours of thunderstorms and torrential piss downs, Ma Nature finally relinquished her soggy grip on central Michigan and permitted folks as myself to venture out-of-doors without fear of being washed away into a river ripe with E. Coli.
Any riding that I planned to do on Thursday morning was washed out, as Ma Nature unleashed storms and torrential downpours on Michiganderburgh all day and night. As I type this on late Friday afternoon things remain dark, dank, dreary and soggy and I have no desire to leave the house for anything other than beer and pickle juice (I’ll explain that in the near future).
This morning I sat at the computer drinking coffee and mapping out a ride that I hoped would come close to yesterday’s mileage and have me in the 40 to 45 mile range. Then I walked upstairs.
After two days off the bike for various reason (laziness + shit to do) I was back on the bike for some miles today. With my time at the shop on hold for the foreseeable future, my thesis in limbo (that’s a joke of course) and B-Man back in school, I can now start to set my sights on trying to get some longer (for me) rides in and try to burn as much man fat as I can in between my husbandly duties (don’t judge!). Because before you know it, the snow will be flying and I’ll be reduced to twenty mile fat bike rides on ice packed dirt roads while freezing my tits off.
Sometimes you get up and go for a bike ride. Sometimes you don’t. Today I did not, but I did stick to my almost daily plan of doing something outside and doing something creative by going for a quick three-mile hike in the woods in between bits of real life.
After getting up this morning, I set about drinking coffee, watching football and writing a crap blog post about yesterday’s ride. I finished the post by contemplating a fat bike ramble or a Better Than The Trainer Ride™. In the end I opted for the 26.5 mile B.T.T.T.R™ that was 98% pavement.
This week I found myself doing more road riding than in I have in a while. Well, not real skinny tire, hi-viz kit wearing, cafe stopping, kilometer talking, take your pull and follow the unwritten rules road riding, but rides in which I spent a higher percentage of time on paved roads (or what passes for paved in Michigan) than on dirt and gravel. Case in point: yesterday’s forty-six mile roll through the mythical rural landscapes of Mighiganderburgh atop the Boone.
My ride today sort of got foiled, but for good reasons. Well, not GOOD reasons, but reason. I’ve been struggling to find some parts for a sliding shelf that broke in our pantry for a week. After exhausting the big box hardware stores in the area I finally took the time to stop in a local kitchen and cabinet place see if they knew what the part was even called, if they had any, and if so, where could I find said part. Well, they didn’t know what to actually call the part, but they dug around in an old parts bin and found me two parts that were ALMOST what I needed and gave them to me nuthin’.
In any event, the parts were close enough to what I needed and all I had to do was put add a little 1/8 shim (actually taken from the two broke parts) for it to work. The fix is pretty ghetto right now, but the drawer is back in pantry and it slides; for now that will do. At least I’m on the trail of what the part actually IS and should be able to order some soon to make a more permanent ghetto fix.
I’m not one to complain about weather (that’s a lie, I love to bitch about it), but the goddamn sun could shine again any day now! Today is the fourth day in a row that dark gray skies and dank, unusually chilly August temperatures draped over mid-Michigan like an octogenarian hobo’s scrotal sack. The lack of sun is normal back in my old state, but from my experiences with Michigan the past five summers, this is pretty unusual. Of course in two months I’ll be bitching about the fact that I got snowed on during my ride or crashed on ice. A goddamn meteorological malcontent is what I am (amongst other things).
Busch Light on dirt.
My Monday morning was spent in my doctor’s office for a six month check up on my blood thinners and to get some blood work done. After that I drove all over Mount Pleasant looking for (and failing to find) some replacement parts for sliding drawers in the panty. I probably could have squeezed a ride in there somewhere, but to tell you the truth the low, dark clouds that hung over central Michigan, gusting winds, and temps in the high fifties just made me want to drink coffee and curse the reality of being a home owner. HOUSE GODS, WHY DO YOU MOCK ME??
