
The first day and ride of 2016 was so good I wanted to see if I could top it on the second.
I didn’t.
Things were swell on the second, but it wasn’t like the first. It never is.

The first day and ride of 2016 was so good I wanted to see if I could top it on the second.
I didn’t.
Things were swell on the second, but it wasn’t like the first. It never is.

Some might call it boring, but I call it the best New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day combo I’ve in a long time. Let me share (or not, no one is forcing you to read this dross)…

It’s been a week since the girth of my flabby ass cheeks rubbed up against a bike saddle. During that time I ate and drank a LOT. Ham, beef, potatoes, pizza, whole blocks of cheese, sweets, cookies, beer, and gin fueled cocktails all found their way into the muffin-like stomach that spills over my too tight jeans. I also spent nearly fourteen hours in the car driving to and from Pennsylvania for the Christmas holiday. I slept like shit, ate like shit, and I’ve felt like a fleshy turd mentally and physically over the past week.
Now back into the frigid bosom of Michigan, I was given the choice to either run on the treadmill in the Stankment® or head out into the crisp air and wind for a Better Than The Trainer Ride™ in an attempt to make a dent in all that flab. With Monday calling for freezing rain and sleet, I chose to ride and save the indoor miserableness for Monday.

As the Christmas holiday approaches, riding has slowed down a bit. A drop in temperatures and high winds had me opting out of rides on Friday and Saturday. However Sunday I did get in the woods for a lap at MMCC on the Procaliber.

This December has been pretty sweet as far as weather. We here in Michigan aren’t exactly getting the warm sixty-ish degree temperatures that some of the east coast states are getting, but for these parts in December, forty degrees and no snow is just as good, and in many ways my rides have felt more like those done in late fall and early spring rather than winter. Having said that, I feel the need to add: THE SUN COULD SHINE ANY F*CKING DAY NOW!!!

After Friday’s sweet ride in the woods on the Procaliber, I took Saturday off the bike to go take some pics at a local cross race here in town [you can see the gallery at junkmilesmedia.com]. Unfortunately it pissed down a hard rain all day Sunday, so a ride was out. Then on Monday the piss down continued, but this time it was accompanied by gusting, wrath of God, Old Testament style gusting winds. With that, I needed to be content with lifting heavy things for no reason and running going nowhere in the Stankment™ until today. Huzzah!

Soiled Chamois file photo.
Thursday was a day of nothing but house duties and workish stuff. I could have squeezed a ride in, but that wouldn’t be proper for someone like myself who seemingly strives to be as crap as possible. What I WAS able to do though was catch up with a few friends last night and plan a Friday ride at MMCC with my friend Ryan. I’m sure glad he had the day off and wanted to ride, because on this gray, windy Friday all I wanted to do was climb under the covers with my favorite bulldog and take a day long sad nap.

After Sunday’s foggy ride, I took Monday off the bike but not off from “doing stuff.” I forced myself on the treadmill for 3 miles of sprint intervals and to do my feeble attempts at strength training with the weights which is about as fun as root canal. Tuesday I headed back out onto the dirt roads for a short ride which was again enveloped in a misty fog.

With the first singletrack ride on the Procaliber under my expanding belt on Saturday, I decided to take it out for a short twenty-six mile spin on the dirt roads north of town on Sunday. I was warned that I might not like how the bike rides on dirt roads, mostly due to its gearing, and as it turns out, I didn’t like it–I loved it and found the gearing a non-issue.