Tag Archives | photos

While it Lasted

By soiledchamois on March 19, 2016 in Cycling

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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 ~~forgetfu~~l 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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Pre-Snow Walkabout, Etc.

By soiledchamois on February 26, 2016 in Cycling

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After a weekend that featured back to back rides on the Boone, I haven’t been on a bike since. Other than some borderline useless Stankment™ based workouts, pre-moving chores, and some free design work for B’s soccer club, I’ve been a slug.

Wednesday I was jonzing to get out on the bike in the morning, but a winter storm was barreling down on Michigan and I didn’t want to get caught out in the snow storm, so I opted to attempt hiking in the woods again.

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A Temporary Return

By soiledchamois on February 18, 2016 in Cycling

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It seemed like forever since I last rode outside. I am fully aware that in reality it was 11 days, but it might as well have been 1,100. As mentioned in a previous post, that time was ~~well~~ spent doing my best to become a Tub-O-Goo. A fatter, rounder, dumber me. Just what the world needs.

Today however I was finally able to say “Goo be damned!” and get out for a ride. Not a long ride, but a ~~quick~~ short 20 mile snirt road ride on the Fatterson in 25˚ temps is better than nothing, and since it was on the Fatterson it felt 50% harder, and was 40.23% slower than when on a “real” bike (stats based on feel rather than some whacked out witchcraft like math). No offence to fat ridin’ , winter lovin’ folk, but I can’t wait to ditch the heavy fatty and get back to riding real bikes while wearing less than four layers of clothing on.

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Out of The Saddle

By soiledchamois on February 9, 2016 in Random

That rear brake cable.

As expected, there has been ~~little~~ no time in the saddle since Saturday’s foray out onto the snirt roads. Most of that is due to doing a crap ton of other shiz that seemed more important than freezing my tits off out on some desolate frozen dirt road.

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Not Entirely

By soiledchamois on February 6, 2016 in Cycling

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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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The Best Worst Ride (This Month)

By soiledchamois on January 31, 2016 in Cycling

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Since last Saturday’s “race,” riding has been somewhat limited by road and trail conditions, time, and desire. Other than that 4.5 mile snowshoe up north, my laziness kicked into high gear and my half-hearted attempts at strength training turned into quarter hearted attempts, and any time on the trainer was short-lived with a focus on “fuck it.”

It looked as if I could get in a dirt road ride in Saturday morning. With an eye on rising temps, I hoped that I could roll the studded Fatterson on frozen dirt and ice and avoid the slushy, muddy quagmire that the Michigan dirt roads would become as they thawed throughout the day. As you can see, I didn’t make it. I could have made it if I could have pushed my ass out the door earlier in the morning, but I got wrapped up in laziness, coffee, and FA Cup footy.

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Stomp The Woods

By soiledchamois on January 28, 2016 in Outdoors

StopHd

I had two different, yet similar, plans for doing stuff Wednesday:

A. Drive north a bit and ride some trails that the Godfather informed me might be swell for fat biking. Take some pics.

B. Drive north a bit and snowshoe some trails that the Godfather informed me might be swell for fat biking–or might not be–depending on the snowfall and recent grooming efforts. Take some pics.

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Snirt Rollin’

By soiledchamois on January 15, 2016 in Cycling

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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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Goofing Off, Sort Of

By soiledchamois on January 13, 2016 in Cycling

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After a short and sweet foggy ride on Saturday, I took Sunday just to goof off: watch ~~soccer~~ football, play FIFA ’16, and make food while drinking a few dozen pints of coffee, herbal tea, water, and a few other things completely void of, and starving of alcohol. My Monday was spent doing Monday stuff along with cursing, shoveling and blowing snow, and squeezing in a quick thirty minutes on the trainer combined with my loose, slack attempts at strength training. Fun, fun, fun… (not really, not at all).

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The Fog Before The Storm

By soiledchamois on January 10, 2016 in Cycling

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January is notoriously the hardest month for me to get through, especially here in Michigan; it’s long, cold, snowy, icy, and as of late it’s been foggy. Snow and ice on the ground, followed by rain and warmer temperatures meant that a heavy fog rolled into the Mt. Pleazy area on Friday night and it stuck around well into Saturday ~~morning~~ afternoon. Not ideal conditions for getting out for a road ride, but with the rains predicted to changeover to snow Saturday night, I wanted to get a few (emphasis on few) miles in.

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