The corn and the beans are all but gone, with just a few stragglers remaining here and there, but for the most part the dirt and gravel roads are now void of most everything that even thinks about growing from the soil. Having said that, you would never know that it was November 2nd in the middle of Rectal Fornication, Michigan because it was sunny and close to 70˚ degrees today. I wouldn’t call that normal, but I will sure as hell take it when I can get it!
With the strong wind finally out of the area, I headed south for a dirt road ride on the fatty on Friday. After the rain of the previous days, the roads offered up a bit of everything: tacky dirt, wet peanut butter mud, deep ruts and soggy sand. I was happy with my girthy choice in bikes and even happier with my choice of cameras (the Fuji X-T10) and lenses (the Fuji 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8). The camera and lens set up is a bit heavy for mirrorless, but when you are on a 30+ pound bike, and weigh over 200 pounds yourself, what’s another pound or so? Plus I really dug the results.
When I woke up this morning at 6:05 and checked the weather while drinking my pre-dump cup of coffee, weatherdotfuckingcom said “35, rain, snow, wind.” Yeah, that sounds pretty crap to me. So I took a last gulp of java, headed upstairs, shat out that coffee fueled dump and sat upon the throne thinking of how to get my ass outside. It was obvious to me that a ride was NOT going to happen (’cause it would surely be anything but fun), so, I was gonna have to put one foot in front of the other and do a hike around Deerfield Park. Cuss everything all to hell! You can call it a hike, but it’s walking!! WALKING!! Ug!! What’s next, Shake Weights??
Rainy Saturday. X-T10, 1/2000, ISO 6400
I woke up at 7:30 this morning; the late fall sun was just starting to think about thinking about rising to show off the dark gray of the day. I brushed my snags, washed my face, assessed the status of my numerous wrinkles, the severity of the bags under my eyes and headed downstairs to let Jake (the dog) out into the dark damp morning to do his thing. I thought about a cup of coffee but turned the TV on instead and saw that the footy didn’t kickoff until 10. Why am I up?
I went back to bed.
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.
The following post has very little to do with cycling other than I talk of the area I ride and it features a series of photos that I took while on my bike Thursday. You’re welcome to continue on, or just look at the photos. – Management. Continue reading
The winds were pretty fierce on Sunday so I aborted a planned, post soccer match dirt road ride with a couple of friends. They were still riding, choosing to head into the woods to ride singletrack, but I really had no desire to beat my myself into submission and embarrass myself trying to stay on their wheels all afternoon. Instead I opted to skulk around the house, have some beers and inventory all the gear that I want to sell [including the Velocity Blunt SL Comp wheels seen above].
Since I am not one to keep quiet (in the blogo-shere) even when I have nothing at all to say, I am putting up this post. Lucky for you there’s not much to it except some bitching about crap weather and some photos from around greater Michiganderburgh and food in my kitchen.
I knew going into this weekend that unless I got up at the ass crack of dawn on Saturday, my only day to ride would be Sunday. B had an away match Saturday afternoon, so most of the day would be spent driving and spectating. It didn’t really matter that much since the winds were gusting and the rain was pissing down all day. Perfect weather for sitting in a chair watching U12 soccer.
I finally did it! I finally forced my [recovering] sick, fat assed self to get in the saddle and get some miles in. It wasn’t the longest of rides, but between the wind and fatness of the bike, a workout was had.
Thursday was just like Wednesday, except that my short walk/hike was on different trails. Other than that everything was pretty much the same: still sick, still achey, still acting like a dick and being a forty-four year old baby because I’m sick with a head and chest cold. You know, typical douche-like me stuff.