I woke up Thursday morning to the sounds of more rain pelting mid-Michigan, and resounded myself to another day of walking in the woods. I was less than thrilled. But then things changed.
After Wifey and B left for their days, I went back for a few minutes of what I refer to as “Second Sleep.” Second Sleep is my time between 7:30 AM and 8:30 AM in which I lay around, think about what I need to get done, somedays prepare for work at the shop, or, if need be, fondle myself (JOKING!). Anyway, I fondled (OK, not joking) and slept for my allotted hour and then woke in need of doing something outside in the woods. On my bike!
I forced air into the sticky valves of my long overdue for a change tubeless wheels, threw the PrOcal in the back of the car and headed for the trails at MMCC for my first ride on singletrack in months.
Knowing that this ride would be very short, and pretty low key, I shunned my normal Lycra chubby Superman kit and rolled in some comfortable crap flannel and ball caressing bibs hidden by my favorite shorts in the world: Twin Six’s 2/4 shorts.
I was shocked at how dressing like I wasn’t trying to race (and knowing I’m way too fat now to do it anyway) actually made my ride much better. The velo-hipsters might have been right all along. Of course, I was doing this same thing, sans bibs, back when I was nearly 300 pounds and could only ride about a mile. What comes around…
As soon as rubber hit the dirt, I was reminded of why I love mountain biking and also mentally clobbered myself in the head for choosing more photo opportunistic dirt road rides instead of dirt in the woods.
There was a LOT of windfall from all the recent storms we’ve had, and I almost (literally) lost my head once or twice (see above photo), but the trails were actually in better condition from all the rain; deep sand was now packed tight, and the soil and rock of MMCC shed water and left only a few slippy spots.
I rode and took pics for about 9 miles when I remembered that I MIGHT have an appointment with my Mind Bender in the early afternoon. So I headed back to the car, texted and found that I did. Shit! With that, I packed up and got home quick to eat a stove top burger and get to my appointment.
For the most part, I was super happy with the ride. I could have used a little more air in my rear tire and need to realize that my days of running sub-30 PSI are over, and actually checking the PSI in my shock would have been nice, but it’s all good.
I will say that riding the PrOcal is completely lost on me right now and I would have just a good a time riding a 30 pound steel Surly. A 200-somethin’-somethin’ dude does NOT need at 23-pound race bike. If I could find someone interested in a Procaliber frame/SID fork/wheels, I would swap that out for a Stache frame no problem!
Dirt II
I didn’t know what Friday would have in store; the forecast was for rain, but I had such a good time I wanted to get out on dirt again.
Looking at the morning radar showed rain coming and I thought that I would get poured on if I took the time to drive up to MMCC, so headed out to Deerfield Park.
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I don’t ride Deerfield Park much due to the number of walkers and double track, but I was in the mood to bee on my bike in the woods and a 10 minute drive was easier than a 25-minute drive.
I need to finish this up, as Wifey is home from work and is itching to go out for a beverage. Who am I to refuse such a request??
Later.