This week has really lived up to the anti-hype. I’ve been sick since Monday and got out for just ONE short ride on Tuesday before things really went south. As of this morning (Friday) I am slightly better (from shitty to crappy, nudging my way slowly towards poopy) but with no ride planned. Oh well, it’s a head/chest cold, it will pass… or I will, either way it’s a win.
Posts Tagged → journal-ish
More Bad Ideas

Earlier this month I thought it would be a good idea to take a 30+ pound borrowed fat bike out for a ride on dirt roads. That wasn’t a bad idea, but it wasn’t a great one either. Since I am not one to avoid doing stupid things (in fact stupidity is sort of my thing), I one upped myself today and took my 40+ pound Surly Pugsley out on energy sapping muddy dirt roads… while sick. How bad could it be?
When Two Became Three

My plan to take a couple days off the bike for family stuff and to rest a slightly sore knee has rapidly turned into three days off the bike after coming down with an illness of some sort on Sunday. I woke up yesterday a bit achy, rocking a cough, a raspy throat and little to no desire to ride. That illness and apathy carried over to today and was compounded by a depressing, cold drizzle most of the day.
The weather is suppose to be better tomorrow, so I am hopeful that medicating, resting and hydrating today will allow me to head north and roll some fatties on wet and sandy ORV and snowmobile trails for a few hours, or at very least get out on the mud bog dirt roads outside of town.
I could blather on about some sort of bike crap, but I’m opting to turn in early instead.
Photo: Soiled Chamois file photo from an ORV road fat bike ride early this summer (or is it “last summer” now?).
The Rebound Ride

After last week’s brilliant (for me) return to the saddle and near daily riding, this week has be quite the opposite. As of mid morning today (Saturday) I’ve ridden twice this week. Tuesday’s 42 mile road/gravel ride and Friday’s quick “better than the trainer” 23 mile gravel ride. Sigh.
Some Days

Some days it’s fun to go out and pedal through the drizzle, mud and crisp fall winds; the past two days were not those days.
Feeling Lucky

With yesterday’s stomach bug seemingly gone, I embraced my chance to get out amongst the corn and bean lined dirt roads of central Michigan today.
Resting The Gut

Monday’s for me are usually pretty stacked with real life duties, so riding takes a back burner. As (bad) luck would have it, today was also the day that I got hit with a bit of a stomach bug.
This is the second time in two weeks that I’ve been hit in the gut with multiple bouts of stinky leakage and I am starting to think it might be coming from my bottles; the Camelbak ones to be specific. The insides are easy enough to clean but the nozzles are sort of a bitch and I am starting to think that despite my best efforts to clean and soak them, the multiple layers of plastic and rubber that make up the nozzle are harboring the ushers of the my bowl hovering, intestinal distress. Then again, it could be from a skank batch of my White Trash Mexican food. Either way, I think I’m gonna star fresh with a new batch of bottles.
I’m hopeful that my gut will be back in running order tomorrow and I’ll be able to get a ride in. I might pack a bit of t.p. in the saddle bag, JUST in case.
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Photo: by me. Taken post-ride last week when I was trying out my buddy’s Farley. Well soiled tires inside the xB, and a soiled chamois on the outside. Trying to remember if I had pants on or not when I took the photo…
The Second Season Part II

My “seconds season” of riding has kicked off and I am fairly stoked with the results: ten hours and forty-five minutes in the saddle of a borrowed fat bike, a shit cross bike and two different (excellent) mountain bikes on pavement, gravel roads, dirt roads and singletrack.
Adequate

I mentioned in an earlier post today that I was off to ride, try out the WTB Nano 700 x 40c tires I picked up and try to make peace with my Kona Jake The Snake. Well, you may or many not have seen my afternoon edit on the post, but if not I will mention again: the tires were most excellent and well worth it, but I think my time with the Jake is done. I just don’t feel good on it… it’s almost painful. I doubt I’ll sell it (unless you want it?), but it may become a townie or a two-wheeled paperweight.
Bullet Points

I’m lacking time for my normal verbal diarrhea of a blog post, so I’m going all crap sales meeting Power Point presentation on you [not really] and doing it all with bullet points of random information nonsense. The only thing missing is a wig wearing sales director in a bad suit, bored as hell employees doodling sketches of him being chased by an angry bear with a knife and poor slide graphics (not designed by the in-house graphic artist, but instead downloaded from the web at 72 dpi and enlarged stretched to 900 dpi for that cool, “What the hell is that a graphic of?” look).