I knew after Thursday’s 45 mile ride that the following days–especially the balls of the weekend– would feature less miles due to family commitments and forecasted rain. However that is not to say that the weekend sucked.
Tag Archives | fucking weather
The Week That Wasn’t
This week has been kind of crap, and not just because last week was so freaking awesome! It’s been crap because of the weather (snow, seriously?), not riding outside thus far, annoying, dirt bag student neighbors (who will hopefully be leaving when the semester ends), poor sleep, and varying degrees of self-inflicted, random acts of stupidity from me (of which there were many).
On the brighter side of the week: no one died (yet), I haven’t gained the weight–which I’ve been working hard to lose over the past two weeks–back (yet), Wifey hasn’t left me (yet), B-Man doesn’t hate me (yet), and my various Trek bikes (how did that happen??) were not part of the galaxy wide skewer recall (yet).
Boone Clearance, Clarence
Today’s post is yet another post that falls into the lengthy Soiled Chamois sub-category of The Weather is Crap & I Didn’t Ride, But I Wanted to Post Something. Usually these posts end up being about food, crap photos, beer, or people that race bikes way better than me (in that they still race them). However today I figured I would post something that someone out there could actually use. Something that I was going to post over the weekend but got all caught up in the joy of my beer the moment and forgot. It’s to do with the Boone 5’s tire clearance when using a WTB Nano 40 tire (my tire of choice).
The MJU II Project No. 2
As they predicted things have been windy and rainy so far this week, so after one of my biggest weeks of riding in some time and a day off the bike on Monday I was back inside spinning and going nowhere in the Stankment today. Since there is little to no interest (from me or you) in a post about riding the stationary trainer, I figured I would post something else of little to no interest– my ongoing dabbles back into shooting photos with film. In particular with the new to me Olympus [mju II], also known as the Stylus Epic.
Found Color
After what seemed like weeks of steady sunshine–and cold ass temperatures–we here in mid Michigan have endured several days of gray skies, downpours and steady rain. The extent of my riding this week has been hour-long sessions on the trainer every day since Monday’s short 27 mile loop. Who knew you could ride junk miles on the trainer??
Things I’m High On
I know the title of this post suggests that this post is going to be about various sorts of glues, gases, pills, herbs and beverages that I may or may not be using to get high. As it is, I am on nothing. Sorry. But since Monday the weather has thrown me a bit of a velo-cock block and forced me to the Stankment and the trainer, so I figured I would waste your time talking about some things that I am digging right now, both on and off the bike.
A Different Direction
There are plenty of things I should have been doing today instead of riding. We all know what those things are (probably what you did all day). I’m not happy about that, but there’s no use getting too worked up about it since I can’t do much about it.
So I rode my bike for a bit.
Slightly Off
After what I would consider a good(ish) week of early March riding last week, this week has gotten off on the wrong pedal stroke and has felt slightly off. Monday greeted me with what some might call “a bout of irritable bowel.” I tend to be a bit more colorful and descriptive (at least when talking to Wifey) but I’ll just leave it at that for now and say that I’m not sure what’s up with my guts? OR what’s coming out of them!
The Spoils of Baloney
Whether this photos is a scream, a cry for help or a yawn from Jake (the dog), it makes no difference. It pretty much sums up the week thus far.
A Small Mental Victory Over Winter
Since Tuesday’s 30+ mile per hour wind gusts and -25˚ wind chills moved on, we here in central Michigan have been treated to a few days of brilliant sunshine and blue skies. Of course the lack of cloud cover also means that temperatures are struggling to get out of the single digits until well after lunch. Unfortunately, my time slot to ride is around 10 a.m., when the thermometer is grunting, groaning and moaning to get above zero.
Because of those high winds earlier in the week and the frigid temps that followed, I spent the first three days of this week hunkered down in the Stankment™ putting in miles running on the treadmill and riding the trainer. You would think that after forty-three years of living in the cold winter climates of Pennsylvania and Michigan I would be used to the cold and snow and would have learned to love it. Nope.
Like many of my cycling friends in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota I try my best to be active through it, but unlike many of them, I always fail to embrace or love the winter. For me the result is always the same; I tolerate winter and merely try to survive it with my mind and liver still functioning properly and my pant size unchanged come spring.
But enough of that winter hating hyperbole, lets’ get to the winter riding hyperbole…