Tag Archives | Fuji X-T1

Thanks February

By soiledchamois on February 27, 2017 in Cycling

I feel like I need to say a big thank you to February. THANK YOU!

You see my winter riding goal is usually to get out at least once a week, braving the cold, snow and ice on the Fatterson with studded tires. The rides are usually no longer than 20-25 miles, I’m cold and miserable for most of the ride, and I swear that I’ll never do it again as I mentally plan my “let’s move someplace warm” sales pitch to Wifey. The rest of the time I hole up in the basement on the Drainer® or the Dreadmill® and pray that I’ll miraculously find fitness, despite not riding and drinking too much beer. Even back when I gave a shit about racing (that seems like a long time ago) I didn’t venture out too often in January and February. I would go to the gym, strength train, ride the trainer and use the StairMaster for hours on end.

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Gettin’ It

By soiledchamois on February 24, 2017 in Cycling

Despite its brevity, February in Michigan can be a long, depressing bastard of a month. February lodges itself in between the death-like acceptance of winter that January offers and the hopefulness of spring that March provides. Most often it’s bitterly cold, windy, and blanketed with ice and snow. However this February was not “most often.” We had several days of temps between 45˚ and 60˚, very little snow, and just a hint of ice at the beginning. While I am the first to admit that it should not be 55˚ in February, I am in no way going to complain about the ability to log over 265 miles as I attempted to jump start my fitness and hopefully some weight loss.

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Advantage Played

By soiledchamois on January 24, 2017 in Cycling

Some light rain overnight did nothing to help the swampy conditions of the dirt roads, but the warm-ish 40˚ temps were enough to poo poo an indoor workout and get out for a quick Better Than The Trainer Ride™ (Plèasant – Bêal – Plèasant road ride edition) before another round of “wintry mix” moves in.

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Snow Day

By soiledchamois on January 10, 2017 in Random

The weather goofs were right, we got snow. Yeah! About four inches or so, then it started raining and turned everything into a slushy, sloppy mess. Boo!! Now we’re getting 35+ MPH winds, more rain, and the temps are supposed to be dropping into the low twenties later. That should REALLY make things awesome by morning. I’ve learned to tolerated winter in the past few years by riding the Fatterson and snowshoeing, but wet snow, rain, ice, is about the worst ever. What sport or outdoor activity is done best in slush? Exactly.

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17 Starting Like

By soiledchamois on January 4, 2017 in Random

Since the New Year’s Day ride on Sunday the weather has not cooperated for outdoor ride fun. Monday was a day of getting stuff done and sort of recovering from “doing stuff” for six days in a row. Tuesday brought a day of rain, freezing rain, wind and 38˚ (no thank you, I’ll workout inside), Then on Wednesday we got the flip side of that– 40+ MPH winds, blowing snow (that seemed to be falling upwards rather than down), and 18˚ temps. Again, no thank you. However don’t be fooled by the pic of Jake (The Dog) hunkered down in his blanket, I’ve actually done stuff.

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Day One Again

By soiledchamois on January 2, 2017 in Cycling, Random

Part I (On The Couch Whilst Sitting In a Recliner)

New Year’s Eve had some promise; Wifey and I had the house to ourselves, good food to eat, and a fridge full of good beer. Sadly by 9:00 PM all that promise turned into Wifey pissed at me because of my opinion on how I can’t see any good that could possibly come from 2017 (I still stand by that, the world’s f*cked), and debating my talents (her words) and lack there of (my words) as I head into another year without a paycheck.

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Joy of Snirt

By soiledchamois on December 30, 2016 in Cycling

This holiday week I have immersed myself in sloth of varying degrees, mostly saved for the tail end of the day in front of the fireplace. During the day I’ve been eating proper and being as active as possible so as to make amends for my evening vices. Those activities have mostly been confined to 3.5 mile runs/lumbers on the treadmill, but yesterday I got an itchy bung to be outside. So I aired up the Fatterson, dawned multiple layers of winter clothing, and headed out to experience The Joy of Snirt (thankfully void of hairy hippies getting their freak on).

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Ninja Holiday Visit

By soiledchamois on December 28, 2016 in Random

Excuse me while I sing one of my favorite lines from one of my least favorite songs…“ITTTTT’S the most WWWWONDERFUL time of the yyyyyear….” Yes, the holidays, barring New Year’s Eve, are OVER! Can I get an amen??

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Solstice Stomp

By soiledchamois on December 22, 2016 in Outdoors

Wednesday I celebrated the Winter Solstice with a snowshoe stomp around in the woods on Sally’s Trail. A fat bike ride on the same trail would have been possible, but with winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour the day before, I was hesitant to believe L.C.’s tales of the trail being in good enough shape for a proper ride. So I slapped the Tubbs on my tubbiness and headed our for a 3.5+ mile loop to blow the stink off me and give cafeteria Pagan thanks to the sun which will be inching itself back into our lives in the weeks to come.

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4 Degrees In The Sun

By soiledchamois on December 16, 2016 in Cycling

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I woke up Thursday and did my normal Jason things: multiple coffees, multiple dumps, wake B, make lunches, get B his breakfast, make and eat my breakfast, check that B brushed his teeth, make sure Wifey remembers her travel mug, etc., etc. Then as soon as Wifey and B were out the door I laid down for an hour of what I call “second sleep.” Pretty much an hour for me to lay there and think about what I need to do and try to forget about the fact that I got up at 6 AM without a paycheck in sight.

Whilst I laid there digesting breakfast, what I needed to do, the never f*cking ending Trump shit show and my hatred of said orange skinned Hitler, the mouse (or bat) living (mouse, now dead) in our garage wall, and whether or not I’ll ever have a real job again, I got a text from L.C. at Terry’s filling me in on the condition of Sally’s Trail down in Alma (slow, but rideable he said). Little does L.C. know, but I farted in his general direction, turned over an farted again (I had Mexican the night before. Maybe I should build a wall? Around my anus!!! Sorry).

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