Posts Tagged → not doing stuff

Thanks February

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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Empty Headed

You may wonder how the following relates to a cycling blog. Stick with it, I have a point eventually, you just have to sift through some ranting. Keep in mind there is surely a dose of hypocrisy, preachiness, and anger even though in my head it all makes perfect sense. Read at your own risk, or feel free to read something not a crap cycling blog. It’s totally your call.

Over the past few months I haven’t been sleeping very well. There are many “might-bes” and “could-bes,” which include such things as too much coffee, not enough riding, worry that my family’s entire world could come crashing down at any moment, and an ever-growing affection for nihilism. No matter the cause, counting sheep, masturbating, counting sheep masturbating, and masturbating while counting sheep only gets one so far, and I’ve found myself with time to think. This is both good (the time has allowed me to put some creative wheels in motion), and bad (see much of this paragraph). However in addition to all of that I have also had some thoughts that hover in the middle grounds between fond memories, existential ennui, and the want for simpler times.

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Toe Tales

There has been a distinct lack of things happening over the past week. Quality outside riding was once again shelved due to ice, then deep mud, then ice again, now more crap snow. Then my running was shelved because I stubbed my toe and ripped the toenail off (that felt just as you might imagine), which left it looking like it was gnawed on by a wolverine.

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Snow Day

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

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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Solstice Stomp

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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