Despite having legs that felt as heavy has a two sacks of haggis, I got out for a ride on Thursday. Right now, I’m not so concerned with the length of the rides, just trying to get consistent time on the bike. So I headed out for yet another Better Than The Trainer Ride™, but this time ventured off of pavement for a bit and reintroduced some dirt, er I should say mud, to the ride.
On Wednesday I headed out between rain drops with just my Canon s95 camera stuffed in my jacket pocket, but since Thursday’s ride had no showers in the forecast and I knew my legs were tired from “doing stuff”– for what would now be eleven days in a row–I took the X-T10 with me.
Between the cooler temps and having sluggish legs, stopping to snap some pics over the 26.5 mile loop was a welcome respite. I rode away with a few shots that I really liked, a few that I wished would have been better, and a few that were utter crap and quickly hit the digital dust bin with hopes that I can recreate the shots in the future.
Venturing off for a few miles of muddy dirt roads was also awesome. It was refreshing to hear the sounds of tacky dirt and mud beneath my wheels rather than the sounds of humming pavement or crunchy snow. It was only two or so, miles, but it was a quick reminder of the sort of “road riding” that I love to do. For someone like me who spent the brief meaty balls part of his cycling life riding, and unsuccessfully attempting to train for, and race mountain bikes, riding dirt and ravel roads is an amazing substitute. Having said that, I am anxious for the trails to dry and get out on some singletrack soon!
Riding along the dirt roads yesterday also got me thinking of Tom Boonen’s reaction to the dirt road sectors of Stage 1 of this year’s Paris-Nice race.
Let’s try something new, but to go back to 100 years is apparently now the trend. Well, I did not become a rider to race on dirt roads. Then I would have stayed in cyclocross.
I get what he’s saying to an extent, but hearing it come from someone like Boonen was a disappointment to me. This is a guy who has always been considered one of the hard men of the sport with a penchant for the cobbled classics, so bitching about a few dirt roads sections that–from what I saw on the televised coverage– didn’t even look that challenging, just made him look like a wanker. In fairness, he did go on to say “Sometimes I like to ride on gravel. I do that in training too…”. Oh well, who am I to judge, I’m just a crap cyclist with an opinion, a blog, and access to the internet.
While it was great to get out this week, I didn’t feel like the pics I took from the first two rides were scratching that creative itch I get in my nether regions. Thankfully, Thursday’s ride had me feeling a little less itchy and a bit happier.
I was also happy with how Week 2 of Fit to Fat & Back is going. As of Thursday afternoon I am down a tad over seven pounds. I guess that’s what comes from “doing stuff” every day for eleven days straight, cutting back on booze, and eating quality food. I would be a bit happier if I didn’t have 35 more pounds to go, just to get back to where I was a few years ago. Some people are good at writing, math or building things. It seems that I am good at being a glutton.
I hate me.
As much as I would like to get some more time on the bike in on Friday, I think it’s best to give myself a rest and do something low-key indoors between my trips to the storage bin and dumpster as we continue to get ready to sell our home and move into Casa de Chamois in early April. It’s supposed to be warmer tomorrow anyway, so I’d like to get my 40 mile road loop in, or one of my full dirt loops in.
Later