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.
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.
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.
I had a few plans locked and loaded for my “Friday of Solitude” while Wifey and B are in Pennsylvania:
Not one of those things happened. I ended up on the trails surrounding MMCC again for 15 to 16 miles of autumn leaf surfing. Obviously this was NOT one of my plans for the day, but when I rolled out of bed, it seems I rolled out on the wrong side and stepped in a huge, steaming pile of funk. And not the good, badass kind. So, it was sort of a miracle that I got out at all.
There were some random showers making their way through central Michigan today. Somehow, someway, I ducked and dodged nearly every drop that fell. I’ll take that.
B-Man had his last match of the regular season down in Lansing on Sunday evening, so I snuck out for a quick 35 mile dirt road ride before we had to get ready and make the drive. The temps were crisp to say the least, with a start time temp of 39˚ and a steady breeze from the north, but it was awesome to get out and enjoy the sunny fall day.
As I mentioned in a post not long ago, I’ve had a ton of great rides this season, but sadly most of them were done on the Boone cross bike or on the Farley fatty. In fact I’ve done over 225 rides since January 1st and only 17 of them were on singletrack and on my actual mountain bike. Well, ride 18 was worth the wait.
Today I forced myself out of my dirt road riding routine and into the woods around Mid Michigan Community College for a lap of leaf covered singletrack goodness. I was really shocked how many leaves were on the trails already and how many more are waiting to come down!
Not sure when it happened, but it seems over the past few days fall arrived. Technically it’s been fall for a while now, but today was the first second ride that I’ve done that it actually felt like fall: leaves changing, cool gusting winds, crisp air, knee warmers, jacket, cap, etc., etc.,
Fall usually depresses me more than I already am, and this year is no different. Well, it’s a little different as I am putting my complete faith and belief in weather.com which says that the current El Niño will have Michiganderburgh dryer than usual this winter. You would think that someone who owns a fat bike would have hopes for snow, snow, snow and more snow. In my case you would be wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong again. I have no problem with not seeing another snow flake the rest of my life.
Thursday I grabbed the fatty and headed south on dirt and gravel roads again. It was a good day to be out rambling around and taking pics. There wasn’t much excitement, just a fine fall ride in rural Michigan, so I will just let some of the pics I took speak for fat 30 rolled.