Monday was spent doing all the things that Monday brings, none of which were that fun, or had anything to do with riding my bike. Tuesday however brought some ride time south of town on the PrOcal in cool, fall conditions.
Most people love Fall, but I find it to be the “Sunday” of months. It’s like putting the year in hospice care. Sure, there will be some good days, but the writing is on the wall, death winter is coming, so don’t get too freaking excited. Soon enough things will be cold, dark, and wet, and you’ll want to curl up with a six pack of 12% imperial stout, a bottle of anti-depressants, a blanket, a smelly bulldog, and a remote. Or what I like to call every Saturday from November to May.
Don’t get me wrong, winter has its moments, especially since I started riding the Fatterson to help me cope, and if was just November, December, and January, there would be no issue. It’s just here in Michigan there is the chance of snow and cold ass temps from October to April–or in last year’s case–May!
Having bitched and moaned about all that, I do tend to get some of my favorite photos during the fall and winter. The gloomy sky, and dank conditions are just more visually appealing to me. I could do without the added layers of clothing, numb fingers, and bone chilling winds, but each year my collection of dedicated cold weather gear increases and those things become less of an issue. The extra forty pounds I carry around these days help a shit ton with the insulation as well. The air has a hard time chilling bones that are buried under five inches of fatty flesh and human whale blubber.
Tuesdays ride was also pretty ripe with photo opportunities, and allowed me to fall further in love with the Fuji X-T1. I even got to visit a couple of subjects that I’ve photographed before, but this time had a better tool with me. Or at least a tool with better glass. OR, as many of you surely think, a tool on a bike, with a camera, that has better glass.
One thing I noticed on Tuesday’s ride is that last week’s cold and cough borrowed further into me than I though. While my legs felt good, my lungs burned at times as I attempted to haul myself up the lumps that pass for hill around here. One thing I didn’t notice was my back and hip. While it proved to be short-lived, I found myself not even thinking about it, and had one of my best days (back/hip wise) on the bike in a while. Oddly enough, I was on the PrOcal, the same bike that I was on when my back and hip started ruining every ride for the past six months. But I’m not gonna talk, about that (even though I just did), because I promised I wouldn’t bitch about my old ass aches and pains anymore.
I woke up Wednesday to rain. I contemplated not riding and doing something crapper, but as the day went on I found a window of time and weather to sneak out for a ride north of town.
I wasn’t sure how much rain we had received overnight and into the morning, so I opted to ride what has become my dirt road beater bike–the Fatterson. Why ruin an expensive drive train on the PrOcal or Boone, when I can ride the equivalent of two-wheeled tractor, and plow through the gritty mess, with less chance of needing to empty my pockets on bike parts in a couple of months.
As it turns out, the roads were pretty tacky with only a few spots of deeper mud. The PrOcal would have been just fine, but what’s done is done, and the Fatterson was betweenst my legs, and rolling just fine.
The ride wasn’t as fun, or as pain free, as Tuesday, but still managed to get in a 27.5 mile ride, handicapped by the sluggishness of the Fatterson, and the obeseness of the rider atop it.
Later in the afternoon the clouds got dark and dumped some hard rain down on central Michigan, that combined with cold overnight temps should make for some sloppy Thursday riding. At least I hope so! I guess I should make sure fatty is ready to go. I’m talking about my bike of course.
Later.