Posts Tagged → being a michigander-burgher-ite

An Unexpected Detour

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I debated back and forth whether to go for a ride or not today. The weather LOOKED beautiful; sun, blue sky and a light breeze. Very spring-like. The only thing missing was the spring-like temperature. I think when I headed out the door it was less than 20˚.  To say I was less than thrilled to ride in such temps (yet again) would be an understatement. But the prospect of the trainer was just NOT that appealing and since I gotz handfuls of fat that need to be burned off ASAP, that meant layering up–yet again–for a ride in cold ass temps.

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Back To Racing (Sort of)

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As I drank a couple of beers late last Saturday afternoon I somehow convinced myself to go ahead and enter the Barry-Roubaix’s 36 mile race, a distance– at the time of entering–roughly 15 miles longer than any ride I had done in 2014 due to the relentless and brutal winter we’ve had. It would also be only my second ride not to be completed on fat bike this calendar year. “This could be bad for me, but other than a few out-of-staters, everyone else will be in the same frigid, snow, ice and shit filled boat as me,” I thought as entered my credit card information and took the final draw from my pint of Founder’s Imperial Stout. So let it be done… it’s God’s will… it is what it is. Pffft! Whatever, it’s just bike ridin’.

And with that, I now give you yet another race ride report, in a long history of Soiled Chamois race reports, that didn’t need to be written…

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Dust & Mud

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The 2014 Strade Bianche race was a super fun race to watch! I highly recommend watching it [HERE] on YouTube or downloading it from your favorite torrent site. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) is such a powerful and fun racer to watch, but was outdone by Michal “The Kielbasa King” Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) who was in freaking beast mode. Watching the pros racing on the white, dusty gravel of Italy was just the motivation I needed (along with a couple high-octane beers) to finally enter the 2014 Barry-Roubaix.

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Another Go At Winter

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Winter is slowly letting go of its icy grip on central Michigan. Still, I wouldn’t quite call it ideal weather for big base mile road and gravel riding, but it’s becoming more doable every day.

As you may or may not have seen in my last post, up north a bit winter is still rolling along, so today I took advantage of some extra time, shot up for another fat bike ride on the nordic ski trails at Hanson Hills and had another go at winter before it’s gone. [To reiterate, Hanson is done grooming for the 2013/14 season and the trails are open to all traffic, including fat bikes, riding these trails was done legally].

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The ski and tubing hills are still covered with snow, yet were void of people, the small lake was frozen over and my car was the only one in the entire lot. It was sort of eerie and a bit like I had 35 km of trails as my personal winter playground (one of the few benefits of being an active non-contributing member of society.. sigh).

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Ridin’ Bikes is Swell

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After mentally cracking for what may have been the 84th time in my life last week and vowing to spend the rest of this godforsaken endless winter under beer fueled fart smelling blankets in a curtains closed bedroom, I pulled up my grown fat man bibs and forced myself out into the snow to ride today. I have to say it was worth every second of the 21 minutes it took me to stuff my fat ass into three layers of cycling and cold weather gear.

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Drinking Local (In The 989) III

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I am a big fan of stouts, I am a bigger fan of imperial stouts, and I am an ever BIGGER fan of imperial stouts brewed by breweries located 1.1 miles from my home.

The Impervious Imperial Stout has been on tap at the Mt. Pleasant Brewing Tap Room my past couple visits. While I hope that it is still there this weekend, I am realistic that it may not be. Impervious is a higher ABV seasonal beer, brewed by a small brewery, that makes is both awesome and sad. Awesome because it tastes incredible and is brewed locally and sad because production isn’t huge and it won’t last long. And if there is one thing that can help a person survive the ice hardened snow and continued cold we’re experiencing this winter, it’s a delicious mind numbing imperial stout.

C’mon weekend! (Or maybe even Thursday night if I’m good).

 

The Seven Stages of Ice

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Most of the paved roads surrounding my neck of Michiganderburgh are snow and ice-free. The dirt roads are however are not, nor is my driveway (seen above) or the neighborhood sidewalks.

I believe my driveway perfectly illustrates the Seven Levels of Ice that we are currently encountering (Six and Seven are not pictured above). The sixth levei is giant piles of frozen solid snow at the corner of every driveway, parking lot and sidewalk in town caused by copious amounts of shoveled and plowed snow, followed by rain and 40˚ temps which then froze solid when arctic temps and high winds returned last week.

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The Seventh Level of Ice is two to three ice cubes direct from the kitchen freezer, placed in a high ball glass and covered with 4 fingers bourbon, vodka, scotch, gin or boxed wine of your choice.

Speaking of ice and wind, the National Weather Service has issued ANOTHER Winter Winter Advisory for the next 24 hours that includes:  blowing snow, wind gusts reaching up to 35 mph and wind chills of minus twenty degrees.  I really need the weekend (see next post) so I can give myself the green light to enjoy the Seventh Level (except in beer form).