After Sunday’s foggy ride, I took Monday off the bike but not off from “doing stuff.” I forced myself on the treadmill for 3 miles of sprint intervals and to do my feeble attempts at strength training with the weights which is about as fun as root canal. Tuesday I headed back out onto the dirt roads for a short ride which was again enveloped in a misty fog.
With the first singletrack ride on the Procaliber under my expanding belt on Saturday, I decided to take it out for a short twenty-six mile spin on the dirt roads north of town on Sunday. I was warned that I might not like how the bike rides on dirt roads, mostly due to its gearing, and as it turns out, I didn’t like it–I loved it and found the gearing a non-issue.
Fall, autumn, the Sunday of seasons, call it whatever you want, it’s nearly gone. I know, it’s not officially over until December 22nd when winter, the relentless heavy flowing period week of seasons takes over, but it feels like it’s all but done now.
After windy, crap ride on Saturday and a Sunday-Sloth Day, it was nice to start off the week with a ride on the dirt roads and not feel like I wanted to take a freaking hostage or lie down in the dirt and wait for a ten ton tractor to run me over.
In many ways, the Thursday Ride Was much like the Wednesday ride; most of the roads were getting a fresh coat of deep, power sapping dirt and gravel. However there were a few things that made it different, yet still wildly uninteresting or blog worthy…
In Monday’s post I commented about the amount and severity of the pot holes on the dirt roads north of town. In the back of my mind I was thinking that with the roads this bad, the county would surely be dumping some fresh dirt and doing some grading to the roads soon. I thought about how much better the 35c X’Plor USH tires would handle the roads when they were finished. What I didn’t count on was riding on the day they were actually dumping and grading that fresh dirt and gravel.
Not long after I hit the publish button on this morning’s post about riding the fatty and taking pics, and how I probably wouldn’t ride until Monday due to weather and my family activities, I kitted up and went for a short Better Than The Trainer Ride™. It wasn’t the best, it wasn’t worst, but I’m glad I got out to blow the ‘Weener stink off of me.
Up early, do my dad stuff, eat, coffee up, do some pixel pushing, kit up and go for a ride. The air is chilly but the Weather Channel says that the winds are calm. I opt for a jacket and leg warmers just in case.
Saturday was a washout for riding, so I was looking forward to making up for it on Sunday. After the strong storms that blew through on Saturday I figured the trails would be a mix of slick mud and downed trees, so I headed out for a 33 mile dirt road ride… on the fatty. You can’t cure stupid.
No matter what the bike companies tell you, there is no reason to EVER ride a fat bike on anything other than snow or sand. You are absolutely fucking stupid to ride it on anything else. Yet people do–I do. I hate myself. I mean I REALLY hate myself.