After a dismal start to the week, I ended with four (mostly) gravel rides in a row Wednesday through Saturday, hitting roads south, north, south, and then north again. You would think spending nearly 8 hours on the bike over four days would yield some big miles, well, you would be wrong!
At the end of my last post I mentioned that I was getting ready to head up to MMCC to ride some singletrack. I did, it was fun, and unbelievable that it happened nearly a week ago. I got sidetracked, then did other stuff, then got busy, then got sidetracked again. In this post I do some catchup with riding and life, mostly with the use of photos.
I didn’t have a great week of riding last week, getting out just 4 of 7 days, but as someone who just rides to ride, and to shoot some photos it wasn’t too bad.
I recently went on a five-day stretch without riding and to be completely honest I really didn’t miss it, until I did.
I got out Tuesday morning for a ride south of town with the PrOcal. I’ve been opting to use the PrOcal on the rides south of town due to many of the roads being extremely sandy and torn up by Amish horses and buggies this time of year, but I have to admit, anytime the roads smooth out I am left longing for the efficiency of the Boone. The gearing of the PrOcal is way more suited for actual singletrack (probably because it’s made for actual mountain biking, not putzing around slowing on gravel roads), and I just feel like I’m pedaling on fly paper much of the time.
Having said all that, when things get sandy and shitty I plow through with confidence without so much as a wobble.
After Wednesday’s crap 16-ish mile ride I took Thursday off the bike and just goofed off and got caught up on some stuff.
By Friday I was feeling better mentally and ready to ride, but could have used better legs. I got a half way OK ride in and took some photos, but that was about the extent of it.
I took today (Thursday) off the bike for a couple of reasons: 1. I needed to get some shit done and 2. Wednesday’s ride sucked, sucked real bad and I wanted a break. I should clarify that the ride didn’t suck, the bike didn’t suck–I sucked!
Yesterday morning I woke up to dark clouds and rain followed by some ongoing mist. As I drank coffee and typed another crap blog post that no one asked for, I was excited to get myself out into it with my bike and camera. My plan was to head south of town since there’s a bit more of the rural decay that I love. I readied the PrOcal and my camera, took care of some Dad duties and other business, got into my kit–which is no easy feat these days–looked out the window and saw blue sky and sun. Damn.
The promise I made to myself to get back into the routine of riding and writing was short-lived. The riding part held up, but I fell short with the writing. I got caught up in processing photos from last Thursday night’s Alma MTB Time Trial, riding, taking and processing my own photos from rides and a rainy Saturday hike. There was also some bitterness and depression, too many beers, and bidding farewell to my friend Mike at his memorial service on Sunday.
This summer I have truly lowered the bar for this blog. I know, I know, that’s seemingly impossible, but I’ve done it. Having said that, I have a list of excuses (and rebuttals) ready to go…
