Post Category → Cycling

Playing The Percentages

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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.

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Friday Forty-Six

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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.

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Hanging Low & Blowing Up

BaselineInTheDank

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).

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Blood, Clouds & Cows

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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??

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The MJU II Project No. 3 & 4

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This post has even less to do with cycling than most of my posts do these days. The closest you’ll get to cycling here is that nearly all of the photos in the post (except for the one above) were taken while riding my bike. The following has to do with my continuing forays into shooting photos with old point and shoot film cameras. Instead of rehashing all the reasons why I tracked down an Olympus MJU II (also known as the Stylus Epic) camera several months ago, I will just refer you to the posts The MJU Project No. 1, The MJU Project No. 2.

Now on with this post…

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Squeezed

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When I woke up this morning I had no REAL intention of riding. I figured that I would sit around, watch a ton of soccer football all day (BPL, Bundesliga and maybe even the lackluster MLS), drink some adult beverages, eat some white trash Mexican food, then head to bed, where I would sleep like shit for eight hours before starting another cursed week on this shit hole of a planet on Monday.

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Hardtail Rambling

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I had to spend two days off the bike as I took care of a variety of house issues that included HVAC repairmen and appliance delivery drivers. Oh well, life happens. With that said, I was anxious to get out for a ride on Friday, but I was also geeked to spend some time snapping some pics with my DSLR. This would normally call for one of my fat bike rambles in which I roll at a slug’s pace around Michiganderburgh snapping pics of rural dirt road life as I see it. However, I just wasn’t craving a slug’s pace, so I brought my 2010 Salsa Ti El Mariachi out of retirement, put my Porcelain Rocket DSLR Slinger on it, and headed out for a ride.

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Making Hay, Etc…

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I took advantage of this morning’s cloud cover to avoid the blazing sun and get out for a ride before the “fit but fat” thwarting Michiganderburgh heat and humidity had a chance to do any sort of thwarting to a fat man such as myself. To paraphrase/fuck up an old adage– I was making hay while the sun DIDN’T shine. Or at least riding slowly by hay while the sun didn’t shine.

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