Debatably Better

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It’s been a week since the girth of my flabby ass cheeks rubbed up against a bike saddle. During that time I ate and drank a LOT. Ham, beef, potatoes, pizza, whole blocks of cheese, sweets, cookies, beer, and gin fueled cocktails all found their way into the muffin-like stomach that spills over my too tight jeans. I also spent nearly fourteen hours in the car driving to and from Pennsylvania for the Christmas holiday. I slept like shit, ate like shit, and I’ve felt like a fleshy turd mentally and physically over the past week.

Now back into the frigid bosom of Michigan, I was given the choice to either run on the treadmill in the Stankment® or head out into the crisp air and wind for a Better Than The Trainer Ride™ in an attempt to make a dent in all that flab. With Monday calling for freezing rain and sleet, I chose to ride and save the indoor miserableness for Monday.

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Blowing & Sucking

Wet and windy outside my box on wheels.

Wednesday night after I helped Wifey out with her strength training, I hung around in the Stankment™ to search through piles of bike crap for a saddle to put on my road bike, a bike which these days stays affixed to my trainer all year round and has been missing a saddle for the past eight months. Knowing that crap weather was fast approaching I searched, cussed, found and installed the saddle in preparation for another day hunkered down avoiding high winds and rain.

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Dumping Gear

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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].

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Remembering Why I Love It

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With Brennan off on a camping trip with his school as of this morning and Wifey out-of-town on business again until late Thursday night, I pretty much had nothing to do today. So, after I got B off to school/camping, ate breakfast, drank 62.3 ounces of coffee, dumped out two to eight times and came to mental grips with the fact that I indeed had nothing to do, I decided to head down to ride some of the North Country Trail.

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Alternatives

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Today felt like Monday in every way except the fact that it was Tuesday. Of course all of the things that went and felt wrong about the day were trivial in comparison to the fact that B-Man had to take a trip to the ER because he had a fever of nearly 102˚ this afternoon. That boy, he will never just let me complain and moan about my petty problems without making me look like the self-absorbed, slacker douche that we all know I am (or at least the way I come off like on this blog, on social media, on the phone and in person).

Thankfully the boy is fine, he just has a bit of a virus and the fever is coming down*. Great! Now we can turn the focus back to me and how the monsoon of a day ruined my ride plan but made my hiking plan.

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I Was Due

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I hadn’t been on my “real” mountain bike for about three weeks due to a broken shock lockout and all the logistics that go into having a broken shock lockout, getting the part ordered, receiving the wrong part, getting the right part ordered and having it installed. But today, FINALLY, I was back on the Superfly for a ride on the trails at Mid Michigan Community College.

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