I knew after Thursday’s 45 mile ride that the following days–especially the balls of the weekend– would feature less miles due to family commitments and forecasted rain. However that is not to say that the weekend sucked.
Friday was a busy day featuring a lot of errand running and a trip to beautiful downtown Alma to fetch my El Mariachi from Terry’s. Having said that I still managed to squeeze in a 25 mile dirt road ramble on the Farley Friday morning before the onslaught of errands.
The goal of the ride was less to do with miles or fitness and more to do with trying out the DSLR Slinger that was delivered from Porcelain Rocket on Thursday. The Slinger [seen above] is essentially a slightly padded, feedbag on steroids that allows goofs like me to haul their DSLR camera with them on rides.
I have to say I was super stoked with the fit and performance of the bag. I was slightly concerned that there would be some issues with my knee hitting the bag when standing, but as long as I remembered it was there, and slightly adjusted my position there was no issue at all.
My purchase of the slinger was geared towards the exact sort of ride that I did on Friday; a ride where I just wanted to putz around taking photos while rolling some miles. Rides that I like to refer to as a “ramble.”
While I love piling up miles on the Boone and shooting pics on the fly with my old Canon s95 as I roll along, there is something pretty satisfying about slowing things down and getting some quality shots with my Nikon D3200.
The roads were a little damp from Thursday night’s thunderstorms, but nothing too bad. There was also some on and off again misty rain as I plowed over the humid, Michigan country side. Because of this I made sure to take a large Ziploc freezer bag with me to help keep my camera dry in the event of worsening rain. The Slinger helps protect the camera from the elements a bit, but it is by no means waterproofed and it’s best to carry some added protection from potential heavy rain.
It was also nice to be out on the Farley again. I forgot how much I actually enjoy riding the fatty–even when it’s just on dirt and gravel. The rides I do on the fat bike take on a unique feel that is hard to explain to someone who has never ridden one. No, I can’t imagine it ever being my go-to bike for dirt roads or singletrack but it always manages to mentally ground me and have me remembering how much fun it is just to ride a bike and goof off without worrying about calories burned, miles rode or heart rate zones.
Once home the day of errand running and my trip to Alma commenced. All that was made better with the knowledge that a quick ride was under my belt and that Wifey would be returning home from her week-long business trip to California later in the evening.
When Friday’s work was done it was time to chill, hang out with B-Man and wait for Wifey to return home. It was fun to kick the ball around with B, chill out on the porch and sip some beer before making dinner. It was also fun to catch up with Wifey once she returned home. I missed her big time!
Non Cycling Blathering
Saturday morning I woke up around 7 to let Jake (the dog) out for a wee and it was pissing down heavy rain. Any hope I had to squeeze in a ride in before our trip to Flushing in the afternoon for B-Man’s match was shelved and I returned to the Chamber of Farts to resume sleeping, and of course, farting.
Once up for good the day was all about the footy. I watched a couple of BPL matches on TV, then we headed out the door for B’s fourth match of the season an hour and a half away in Flushing.
Despite the slow-moving, ankle high, dandelion laced pitch, the boys played well and B-Man scored his first goal of the season helping the MPSC’s U11 boys take a 2-1 victory and move to 3 and 1 on the season. While Wifey and I were both stoked that B scored and the team won, it was more impressive seeing the boys continuing to play as a team: putting the ball into space, passing and never giving up. Something that is easier said than done for a team that has only two substitutes to work with, while many of the teams he plays can sub off whole sides at times. In fact B has played every minute, of every match this year (240 minutes by U11 standards). Endurance U11 soccer!
Another highlight for me personally was when B moved from center mid to center back and was defending an oncoming striker in the exact way that his coaches had instructed the boys earlier in the week. I overheard one coach express his happiness with what B was doing and in turn my Proud Dad Stoke got turned to 11. Wining and scoring goals is awesome; listening, learning and growing as a player is better in my opinion (FYI, my opinion means nothing).
Of course HAVING FUN while winning, scoring goals, listening, learning and growing as a player is even more awesome(er)! Just as I was fortunate to discover a love of cycling and mountain biking to help keep me sane, happy and fit, B is fortunate to have discovered soccer.
Today (Sunday) has been another day of pissing down rain. I guess we needed it and in a way were sort of due, but it put the kibosh on any riding today. However, it didn’t put the kibosh on having a good Sunday and celebrating Mother’s day with Wifey. She’s earned it.
Hoping that the coming week will allow me to get more time in on the bike and get back to trying to shed that winter blubber that I put on.
Later.