It’s been four days since I was last on a bike. Because of that, I feel fatter, saggier, flabbier, and more bloated and useless than ever. Thankfully those days weren’t complete wastes of time.
Posts Tagged → photos
New To Me
In recent weeks I became increasingly unhappy with the performance of my trusty Canon s95 point and shoot digital camera. I’ve been using an s95 for years now and it was perfect for riding: small enough to fit in a jersey pocket, easy enough to operate one-handed in most cases, and used ones could be found cheaply on eBay. But since I started to do rides using my Nikon DSLR I found the quality lacking to what I had become used to, but the problem with a DSLR is that even though the DSLR Slinger from Porcelain Rocket makes transporting one on a mountain bike easier, you are STILL hauling around a heavy DSLR (often on an already heavy fat bike).
So I started looking into a new camera that is smaller than my D3200 but better than my Canon s95. In my research for a new everyday camera–for both on and off the bike–I kept coming back to a couple of different cameras: The Sony RX100 and the Fuji x100t. Sadly both where WAY out of my price range.
Alternatives
Today felt like Monday in every way except the fact that it was Tuesday. Of course all of the things that went and felt wrong about the day were trivial in comparison to the fact that B-Man had to take a trip to the ER because he had a fever of nearly 102˚ this afternoon. That boy, he will never just let me complain and moan about my petty problems without making me look like the self-absorbed, slacker douche that we all know I am (or at least the way I come off like on this blog, on social media, on the phone and in person).
Thankfully the boy is fine, he just has a bit of a virus and the fever is coming down*. Great! Now we can turn the focus back to me and how the monsoon of a day ruined my ride plan but made my hiking plan.
The Moisture of The Wetness
After thirty-six to forty-eight hours of thunderstorms and torrential piss downs, Ma Nature finally relinquished her soggy grip on central Michigan and permitted folks as myself to venture out-of-doors without fear of being washed away into a river ripe with E. Coli.
The Last 36 Hours
Any riding that I planned to do on Thursday morning was washed out, as Ma Nature unleashed storms and torrential downpours on Michiganderburgh all day and night. As I type this on late Friday afternoon things remain dark, dank, dreary and soggy and I have no desire to leave the house for anything other than beer and pickle juice (I’ll explain that in the near future).
Doing What’s Necessary
Sometimes you get up and go for a bike ride. Sometimes you don’t. Today I did not, but I did stick to my almost daily plan of doing something outside and doing something creative by going for a quick three-mile hike in the woods in between bits of real life.
Blood, Clouds & Cows
Busch Light on dirt.
My Monday morning was spent in my doctor’s office for a six month check up on my blood thinners and to get some blood work done. After that I drove all over Mount Pleasant looking for (and failing to find) some replacement parts for sliding drawers in the panty. I probably could have squeezed a ride in there somewhere, but to tell you the truth the low, dark clouds that hung over central Michigan, gusting winds, and temps in the high fifties just made me want to drink coffee and curse the reality of being a home owner. HOUSE GODS, WHY DO YOU MOCK ME??
The MJU II Project No. 3 & 4
This post has even less to do with cycling than most of my posts do these days. The closest you’ll get to cycling here is that nearly all of the photos in the post (except for the one above) were taken while riding my bike. The following has to do with my continuing forays into shooting photos with old point and shoot film cameras. Instead of rehashing all the reasons why I tracked down an Olympus MJU II (also known as the Stylus Epic) camera several months ago, I will just refer you to the posts The MJU Project No. 1, The MJU Project No. 2.
Now on with this post…
Hardtail Rambling
I had to spend two days off the bike as I took care of a variety of house issues that included HVAC repairmen and appliance delivery drivers. Oh well, life happens. With that said, I was anxious to get out for a ride on Friday, but I was also geeked to spend some time snapping some pics with my DSLR. This would normally call for one of my fat bike rambles in which I roll at a slug’s pace around Michiganderburgh snapping pics of rural dirt road life as I see it. However, I just wasn’t craving a slug’s pace, so I brought my 2010 Salsa Ti El Mariachi out of retirement, put my Porcelain Rocket DSLR Slinger on it, and headed out for a ride.
Rambling Through The Heat
This week has sort of been all over the place; one day I’m doing nothing but random house stuff, the next day I’m walking around in the woods like a crazed hermit with a camera, the next day I’m on my cross bike north of town rolling on fast, hard packed dirt roads, and the next day I’m on my fatty, rambling over, wet, muddy dirt roads in ninety degree heat for just under thirty miles [I think thirty miles on a stock fat bike equals fifty on a regular bike, but I might be wrong on that].