Part I (Friday & Saturday)
After two cold, windy days of riding out on the roads of Michiganderburgh last week I decided to skip riding on Friday and take shelter from the cool winds with a hike in the woods of Deerfield Park. It was nice to be out and enjoying the sunshine and crisp spring temps without having to be layered up in several moisture wicking layers of Lycra and wool. Still, it wasn’t riding.
With yesterday’s stomach bug seemingly gone, I embraced my chance to get out amongst the corn and bean lined dirt roads of central Michigan today.
Part I, Friday
With B-Man off of school on Friday I did not expect to be doing any riding until Saturday. It turns out that Wifey decided to take a much-needed vacation day and gave me the go-ahead to go out and get some trail time in. I did not say no. Continue Reading →
Today was another amazing fall day in the palm of “the mitten,” and I was eager to get out on some dirt roads. I extended my northern dirt road route further west and south of town today and got in just under three hours of pavement, gravel, dirt, sand and as you can see– dust.
I really don’t know what I was thinking when I decided to get out my “new to me” camera and expose its lens and mechanical naughty bits to the tsunami of dust a speeding sand pit bound dump truck left me today. You just know tomorrow I’ll be complaining at length about how my lens is scratched, the shutter grinds and my photos look worse than they already do. Idiot.
Today I shot out for a quick hour and a half dirt road ride before a lunch meeting with Wifey. A bit of hard packed dirt, some deep sandy gravel, a nice headwind and some long steady elevation gain (still talking hundred of feet here, leave the high fives for later) made for a fun way to burn some calories off of my hulking figure and gelatinous thighs which have started more and more to resemble raw pork shanks.
I hated to see B-Man go back to school today (Holy 4th grade!!), BUT I would be lying if I said I wasn’t pretty stoked to get some spare time back in my day for more riding. To celebrate, I harnessed all that geek-uped-ness and headed out for a nice 36 mile dirt road ride on my hardtail. Continue Reading →
It’s funny what a difference having some good carbs in the system and cooler temps can do for the legs. Some storms moved through various parts of the central Michigan area yesterday (somehow missing Mt. Pleasant) and left behind 20˚cooler temperatures.
Despite the cooler temps, there was some thick, lingering humidity in the air… the sort of that leaves you soaked with sweat even though it is NOT all that hot out. The sort which causes sweat to collect on your eyelids in puddles and can have your chamois feeling like a sweat soaked sponge that oozes perspiration with every shift of the crotchial region.
I feared the worst for today’s ride, since pre-ride prep involved me breaking a valve stem upon removing the pump. I considered it penance yesterday’s aborted ride and hoped the Bike Gods were appeased. It seems they were. Today’s 42 mile road ride was light years better than yesterday’s craptastic mountain bike ride. but to be honest, the ride was nothing to write home about (or blog about) yet it appears that I have done just that… c’est la vie.
