As I mentioned in my last post I was sort of sick, then that turned into balls out sick for a day or so, then by Friday the illness went away, and I was stoked. The snow we got on Wednesday had melted, and I got out for some muddy dirt road rides on Friday and Saturday and felt really good. Then on Sunday we spent the day freezing our asses off in Bay City watching B take part in a one day soccer tournament (they won it, yeah). Then around 3 AM on Monday I woke up with all sorts of sludge in my sinuses, and full on body aches. Oh yeah boy, the illness that had been gone, was now indeed back. There was much mental cussing.
Despite feeling like hell, I spent Monday getting a bunch of work and errands done, and didn’t even look at, or think about my bike. However since I was now ill again I did take the time to make up another batch of semi-homemade soup to warm me up, and take my mind off the fact that I seem to now have the immune system of a 100-year-old man mopping a day care floor with his tongue.
Monday night was another night of fitful sleep, clogged sinuses, coughing, and chills, so after my 6 AM dad duties of getting B up, fed, and off to school, I slept for an hour or so in front of the fire-place before thinking about getting some stuff done, and then choosing not to. Instead I decided to post an entry on this crap blog that these days sort of has to do with cycling, and post of some photos I took over the past few days. Most of the shots are from my rides, others are just random shots of soup, or my kid.
The wet snow and cool temps left the dirt roads in less than ideal shape for riding, but that didn’t stop me from taking the Fatterson out to plow through the muck.
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For every road with deep mud, ruts, and standing water mixed with horse shit, there was one that was tacky, and lined with multi-colored leaves.
To hell with getting a nail in your tire, here you have to worry about rusty spikes.
A sea of cattails lined many of the dirt and gravel roads along last weeks loops.
With some of the trees losing more and more leaves, they now expose things like the dirt road piñata above. Wonder what sort of treats it’s filled with?
Shapes, lines, and laundry seen as I rode past one of the many Amish farms south of town. I love the use of the bike wheel to build one of the world’s larges clothes lines.
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During my first round of illness last week I made up a batch of semi-homemade chicken soup (topped with sriracha sauce for added warmth).
Then for my second round of illness I made up some semi-homemade vegetable soup with whole wheat pasta. If I can’t sweat this illness out, I’ll blow it out.
We had a heavy frost on Monday morning, so I did force myself outside to capture a few of the frost covered fall leaves.
The shot above is of B at the Soccerween tournament on Sunday. His team changed their name to “Heroes FC” for the tournament, and each kid had the name of a superhero on the back of his jersey. B was The Human Torch from the Fantastic Four. Despite the cold temps and constant wind, B and his team did well, and took the overall win, even with playing up an age group. I swear some of the kids they went up against were already shaving! You know it’s been a long season when he’s nearly worn through the outside of his shoe, time for some new boots!
Hoping to be feeling better soon, so as to do more with my spare time than do laundry, make soup, eat, watch the birds at the feeder, and sleep.
Later.