Tag Archives | Gravel

The Storm Before the Storm

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Monday was more productive than usual for me since I’ve taken on the (volunteer) duties of redoing the website for B-Man’s soccer club and I was soccer balls deep into putting the finishing touches on a locally hosted version of my ideas to present to the board that night. I got a 3 mile treadmill run in, got the temp site done, got it approved at our meeting that night, and now I am up to my fatty pelvis deep in creating the real website. It’s been a lot of work, but I’ll be happy to see the club get a way better site (in my opinion) and do my part to help the club. God knows I have nothing else to offer them other than annual fees and a son who is an awesome player.

If nothing else, the club project is the continued learning/self teaching/self loathing of stuff that I was never taught in a crap two-year art school–’cause Web design classes weren’t around in 1990–and who knows, it might lead to some cash paying/bartering jobs in the future. I’ll post a link when it’s done… if it’s ever done.

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At Least

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Saturday morning as I sat around drinking coffee and writing this digital fishwrap I finished my post by saying “time to air up the tires, charge the camera battery, and get out in the sunshine and calm winds while it lasts.” Well, the winds sure seemed calm here in town but when I got onto the open dirt roads north of town, the winds felt anything but calm. A stiff breeze came out of the west and cut right through my jacket and Craft windstopper base layer, keeping my nipples like two diamonds attached two fleshy beanbags full lard for nearly two-hours. Oh well, at least it was sunny.

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While it Lasted

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Last week was an optimal early spring week for getting time on the bike and continuing some mild success with the Fit to Fat & Back process. Sadly, this week has been crap. The weather was rainy, blustery, and cool; riding was limited and time spent indoors “doing stuff” was high. On top of that any potential weight loss is unknown do to my scale in need a new battery and me being too forgetful stupid to remember to buy one. Add to that my “cheat day” came earlier than expected due to a mind funk and you have the makings for a more unsuccessful week in my life than usual.

Thankfully on Friday the storms had finally moved out of the area, the high wind warnings receded, and I finally got out on my bike for a ride. A ride in cool 35˚ “spring” temperatures, but a ride nonetheless.

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Not Entirely

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I have a solitary, not at all lofty, goal when it comes to my winter riding–get outside at least once a week for a real ride. See, not that lofty. However it can still be pretty hard to accomplish.

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Snirt Rollin’

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Thursday brought three ride options, four if you count riding the trainer in the Stankment™, which I’m not, ’cause that sucks:

1. Ride snow-covered dirt roads on the Fatterson with my camera.
2. Drive down to Alma and do some solo laps on the Fatterson.
3. Meet folks at 6 in Alma do some night laps on the Fatterson.

As you can see, the Fatterson was going to play a part in the day’s ride time festivities, it was just a matter of which one I picked. Part of me really wanted to do the Terry’s group ride, and I even went so far as to charge my lights the night before, but when push came to pedal I opted for the convenient and photo friendly snirt roads.

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Snirtishness

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Thursday morning after I got B off to school I found myself waffling on when and where to squeeze a ride in, or if I wanted to at all. I should really do that second strength training session of the week, and conditions aren’t that ideal right now with many of the snirt roads being covered with every imaginable form of winter: ice, snow, slush, mud, water, dead squirrels, etc., etc. But with rain in the forecast, which will undoubtedly make the dirt and snow (snirt) into miles and miles of gritty chilled diarrhea, I figured I’d better roll while the rolling’s good.

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Studded

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Yesterday’s short, sweet. intense ride on the trainer (yuck!) was semi-enjoyable, but as I mentioned in the last post, there really is nothing like riding outside. So that’s what I did. But not before some Fredwardian maintenance.

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Void of Light

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This December has been pretty sweet as far as weather. We here in Michigan aren’t exactly getting the warm sixty-ish degree temperatures that some of the east coast states are getting, but for these parts in December, forty degrees and no snow is just as good, and in many ways my rides have felt more like those done in late fall and early spring rather than winter. Having said that, I feel the need to add: THE SUN COULD SHINE ANY F*CKING DAY NOW!!!

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More of the Same

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After Sunday’s foggy ride, I took Monday off the bike but not off from “doing stuff.” I forced myself on the treadmill for 3 miles of sprint intervals and to do my feeble attempts at strength training with the weights which is about as fun as root canal. Tuesday I headed back out onto the dirt roads for a short ride which was again enveloped in a misty fog.

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Into the Fog

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With the first singletrack ride on the Procaliber under my expanding belt on Saturday, I decided to take it out for a short twenty-six mile spin on the dirt roads north of town on Sunday. I was warned that I might not like how the bike rides on dirt roads, mostly due to its gearing, and as it turns out, I didn’t like it–I loved it and found the gearing a non-issue.

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