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.
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.
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.
As I rapidly age and discover, and rediscover, other interests like eating and drinking to excess, worrying about the dog urine spots on my lawn, and taking photos, there are days that I just don’t feel like stuffing myself into a Superman outfit and riding. Somedays I’m content to satisfy my urge to be outside with a walk down the road to the local park and traipse around the woods for a bit with my camera and then do some yard work. Don’t judge. OK, go ahead judge, I probably need it.
Photo: © Michal Cerveny
Jolanda Neff made here first UCI World Cup appearance this past weekend in La Bresse, France, and it was worth the wait. After being forced to start a few rows back, the big haired blonde soon found her way to the front, kicked ass on the climbs, and was amazing to watch on the downhills. Even after crashing hard, flatting once, and losing her place at the front, she battled back for the win.
Everyone’s My favorite XCO racer–Jolanda Neff–has branched out onto the road this season. I’m no huge fan of road racing, but I’m glad to see Jolanda’s “Neffness” branching out onto the paved roads of the European women’s pro peloton.
I had two different, yet similar, plans for doing stuff Wednesday:
A. Drive north a bit and ride some trails that the Godfather informed me might be swell for fat biking. Take some pics.
B. Drive north a bit and snowshoe some trails that the Godfather informed me might be swell for fat biking–or might not be–depending on the snowfall and recent grooming efforts. Take some pics.
After three days in a row of decent riding, we here in Michigan were treated to two days and nights of rain, gray skies and gusting 30+ mile per hour winds. Needless to say there was no way I riding in that crap, but since I had to go out to run a series of errands late Friday afternoon, I took my camera and did some stomping around one of the county parks close by.
When I woke up this morning at 6:05 and checked the weather while drinking my pre-dump cup of coffee, weatherdotfuckingcom said “35, rain, snow, wind.” Yeah, that sounds pretty crap to me. So I took a last gulp of java, headed upstairs, shat out that coffee fueled dump and sat upon the throne thinking of how to get my ass outside. It was obvious to me that a ride was NOT going to happen (’cause it would surely be anything but fun), so, I was gonna have to put one foot in front of the other and do a hike around Deerfield Park. Cuss everything all to hell! You can call it a hike, but it’s walking!! WALKING!! Ug!! What’s next, Shake Weights??
A month or so ago I took delivery of a used Fuji X100S camera that I bought off of eBay for less than half the cost of a new one. I had read a ton of good stuff about Fuji X Series and the X100S. So far, to me, it’s lived up to the hype. I love the size and styling of the camera, the ease of operation and of course the image quality. It’s smaller than my entry-level DSLR and for the most part allows me to produce better photos.