Blog | The Soiled Chamois

Let There Be Routine

By soiledchamois on November 14, 2016 in Random

corn_tire_pen

Looking back, last week is a blur. Mostly because life and riding was all over the place; B-Man off one day, Wifey off another, high winds that made the prospect of riding very unattractive, and spending many an evening with a drink in my hand in front of the TV playing EA Sports FIFA to take my mind off the pending demise of our country at the hand of a bad haired, orange, dictator-like buffoon. But that’s over and done with, time to move on, to let the chips fall where they may, and to get back to a routine that includes riding, time in the woods, working out, and not seeking refuge in a bottle.

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What Happened?

By soiledchamois on November 10, 2016 in Outdoors, Random

trees_deefield

This week has been a blur of riding, hiking, drinking, self-pity, anger, and resentment. I know I rode my bike once (Monday?). I also know that Tuesday was spent at the bike shop getting a crap ton of stuff done to the Boone, and that Wednesday I rolled down the driveway, into the cul-de-sac, said “fuck it,” rolled right back up the driveway into the garage, changed out of my kit and went to find peace and solitude with a walk in the woods.

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The End of The Beginning, First

By soiledchamois on November 8, 2016 in Cycling, Random

leaves-on-road

In my last post I recounted going out for a ~~hike~~ walk in the woods on Thursday with my camera. I was finally starting to rid myself of the cold and flu shit that I had going on, and I was happy to be goofing off in the woods. Still, I longed for a ride. Thankfully after spending my free time on Friday mowing grass (for the last time?), I would finally get to ride on Saturday, Sunday, AND Monday. Thrice as nice!

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A Lumber in The Woods

By soiledchamois on November 4, 2016 in Outdoors

boots-leaves-hike-b

Lumber
verb
lum·ber \ˈləm-bər\
1: to move ponderously [Ponderously, what the hell does that mean?]

Ponderous
adjective
pon·der·ous \ˈpän-d(ə-)rəs\
1: of very great weight [Seems about right]
2: unwieldy or clumsy because of weight and size [Yep, still seems right]
3: oppressively or unpleasantly dull [OK, that seems a bit much, but two out of three wins]

Wednesday night I had one of the best night’s sleep all week. Meaning that I didn’t spend the whole night mouth breathing and dealing with flu-like aches and pains for eight hours. Given that I haven’t done any physical activity since Saturday I knew I needed to do something–anything–outside. I was feeling better, but I also knew that a ride was probably not the best choice just yet, so I found my heavy (but water proof) crap hiking boots, and headed to one of our nearby county parks to lumber around the wet woods for four miles and take some photos.

I didn’t exactly burn four days’ worth of comfort foods and pity alcohol off my Merriam-Webster defined clumsy, oppressive, unpleasantly dull body of great weight and size, but I did get outside, took some photos, and enjoyed the first day of the week that I didn’t just want to sit in a vat of scalding hot chicken soup and pray for the end of days tethered to this planet.

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Gone and Back

By soiledchamois on November 1, 2016 in Random

yuengling-dirt-road

As I mentioned in my last post I was sort of sick, then that turned into balls out sick for a day or so, then by Friday the illness went away, and I was stoked. The snow we got on Wednesday had melted, and I got out for some muddy dirt road rides on Friday and Saturday and felt really good. Then on Sunday we spent the day freezing our asses off in Bay City watching B take part in a one day soccer tournament (they won it, yeah). Then around 3 AM on Monday I woke up with all sorts of sludge in my sinuses, and full on body aches. Oh yeah boy, the illness that had been gone, was now indeed back. There was much mental cussing.

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Fighting It

By soiledchamois on October 27, 2016 in Outdoors

leaves-on-trail

At the end of my last post I mentioned that I was flirting with illness, that a sore throat had developed along with some body aches. Thankfully the sore throat went away, but the aches and joint pain have lingered on, I also bypassed the casual flirting and went right into some Trump-style heavy petting with some coughing and stomach issues. No vomit, and no flappy sphincter, but at times over the past two days I have felt that I was right on the cusp of it, with a taste in my mouth akin to licking the metal handrail of a men’s room handicap stall. As you might imagine, since Monday, there has been no riding.

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Surprised by The Cold

By soiledchamois on October 25, 2016 in Cycling

tractor-rolling-by-farm

After a full weekend of traveling downstate to Monroe, Michigan for a soccer tournament I was anxious to get some riding in, and to eat some food that was in no way made for me, but rather by me. Mondays are usually pretty busy for me, but I managed to get a for quick 22 mile dirt road ride from the house.

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Fall Keeps Falling

By soiledchamois on October 21, 2016 in Cycling

fall-beyond-the-corn

Each day, each week, each ride, fall continues to fall upon central Michigan. More and more fields are now bare; crops harvested and carted off to become Doritos, Big Macs, and corn flavored gasoline, leaving the landscape wide open for crisp winds to travel 3,800 miles from the Witch’s tit (located on a small island in the East Siberian Sea) all the way to rural Michigan to turn the nipples on my sagging pecs into glass cutting diamonds as I lumber along dirt roads on my bike.

Thankfully there are still some crops hanging on, and leaves remaining on the trees to keep all that from happening quite yet, but each day we creep a little closer to death, er, I mean winter.

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Losfer Words (Fall)

By soiledchamois on October 17, 2016 in Cycling

falling-fall

As fall continues falling on Michigan, I continue to try to get as many rides in as I can. I also continue to be lost for words to write. Not sure if any readers would actually think that’s a bad thing given my lack of writing skills, spelling, punctuation, and interesting topics, but it’s a situation that I find odd.

I wouldn’t exactly call it writers block, but in the past I seemed to have no problem writing about crap subjects including the gym locker room, my lunch, bad product reviews, and cheap jeans.

Basically, I think the “problem” is that (for better or worse) I’ve become more interested in photographing things in my life rather than writing about it, and with that I’ve learned to let the pictures do the talking, and save everyone the grief of experiencing my verbal diarrhea.

So let’s look at some pics from three of my rides at the end of last week…

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Three In One

By soiledchamois on October 11, 2016 in Cycling

corn-clouds-sky

Last week featured a series of wet, foggy rides. Since then the sun has returned and the temperatures seem to have become a bit more moderate. Both welcome events.

Since my last post, I’ve been a bit busy, yet still managing to get some rides in. Three so far to be exact, starting with a short one last Saturday. A ride that I really didn’t feel like doing, but after some encouraging words from B-Man, and knowing that Sunday would be filled with driving down to the Detroit suburbs and back for a soccer game, I figured I’d better roll while I could.

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