Posts Tagged → barns

Squeezing It All In

quickgravelbarn

With time on my hands the past couple of weeks I have been trying to squeeze in a bunch of stuff before fall arrives: riding, hiking with Wifey, picture takin’, hanging out with the boy, fishing, catching up on all my normal house stuff and getting some estimates for some home improvements we need done before/if/when we decide to move to another part of the MP area. Not all of that is fun, but it’s not all that bad either. It really the least I can do whilst Wifey is out slaying figurative bacon to bring home. Not to mention the stuff that IS fun is PRETTY FREAKING FUN and I am lucky to be able to do it. The crap parts are just things that everyone has to deal with.

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Re-Rambled

gravelroadhillsouth

Today I had the same plan as yesterday: go for a ride in the late afternoon/early evening on my fatty, take my DSLR, ride about 25 miles, and stop to take pics every so often when something interested me. Not the most intense of workouts, but riding twenty-five miles or rolling dirt and gravel roads on a 32 pound fat bike into the wind is still a pretty good workout. More importantly I would have a chance to make up for yesterday’s creative clusterfuck in which I forgot to put the SD card in my camera.

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Salty, Dusty Goodness

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I tried to get out early this morning for a dirt road ride, I really did. Sadly, my “early” turned out to be 9:45, and things were already starting to really heat up around Michiganderburgh. We get less than ten or so HOT days a year here and today was predicted to be one of them with temps going up into the low nineties by afternoon. Which if you’re from Michigan feels like you’ve been set on fire and thrown into a pool of gasoline.

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Best Made Plans

dirtroadandbarn

After working eleven hours at the shop on Wednesday and knowing that I had the next two days off, I had a plan for my Thursday: sleep in (8:45 AM) and get thirty to forty miles of fast dirt road riding in on the Boone before cutting grass, trimming some hedges, going for groceries, doing laundry and getting B off to his last night of soccer camp, after which he would leave to spend the night with some friends and teammates while I enjoyed some white trash Mexican food and a cocktail or three while watching pre-season footy.

Here is how that worked out…

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Why Would You Do That?

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After four days in a row of riding, which included: a mountain bike ride in the woods, a fast dirt road ride on my Boone and two fat bike rambles on the Farley, I was back at work at the shop today. As always, it was nice to get back to contributing to society for 8+ hours. Of course I am not sure how much society appreciated me there to contribute to it.

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Multi-Surface Monday

gravelroadoflust

With Wifey out of town until late Wednesday night, I won’t be working any hours at the shop until late in the week. For while B is old enough to stay extended hours on his own, over nine hours on his own, with the closest parent 25 minutes away, is a bit extreme. No big deal, this gives me a chance to catch up on stuff around the house, hang out with B, and get a few 30-35 mile multi-surface loops in my legs.

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Quick Dirt Roll

barnrolling

Last night we had another evening of heavy, better grab a life jacket type rain. In my opinion, here in Michigan, we get less rain on daily basis than I was used to dealing with in western PA, but when we do get rain, we get freaking RRRRAIN! It seems to just freaking pour down thick ropes of water.

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Back to Rambling (Again)

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Just when I started to think that I might never ride my bike again; I did. I rode last Wednesday then my work schedule (who’d a thunk that would happen?), appointments and weather kept me out of the saddle for four days in a row. While it’s easy to blame all those things, it was mostly just laziness that prevented me from riding. What can I say, I’m pretty swell at being lazy.

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And The Fun Begins

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After feeling good on the bike yesterday, I found myself creeping around the house last night and early this morning like someone repeatedly hit me in the back with a baseball bat. Me thinks that my lower fat back did not take kindly to the hip stretches that I did yesterday, oddly enough, done to relieve me lower back pain! Typical me-ish-ness.

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Tuesday Multi-Surface

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On Tuesday I got out for a quick 35 mile multi-surface road ride. There was little that was impressive about the ride: it was more pavement than dirt, featured little elevation gain and it wasn’t all that long. What was impressive about it was it was a perfect sunny day, there was little wind, I felt strangely good on the bike, and the bike itself [the Trek Boone Disc 5] continues to impress and woo me with its charms, whether I am on dirt, gravel or paved roads.

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