Posts Tagged → unfunny commentary

In Praise of Putzing

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At this time in my life, I would never dare say that what I do on a bike is “intense,” “epic,” or the most overused word in the modern day cyclist’s lexicon– “rad.” However, I do usually have a loose plan for what I want to do. Most of my rides are based on time in the saddle (but usually by how much time I have), while others are merely based on a desired loop or the amount of miles I want to cover. What I rarely do is just putz around. What I mean by “putz around” is to ride without a planned route or set goal. I also rarely ride the trails of Deerfield Park, a local county park just a few minutes by car from my house. Today though, I not only putzed around, I putzed around on a bike at Deerfield Park.

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Catching Up (with opinions)

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The past few days have been filled with three things: beer, football (er, soccer) and dirt. In other words, three things I dig.

I skipped riding on Thursday to drive down to beautiful downtown Alma, Michigan and pay a visit to Terry’s Cycle where I picked up a Trek Farley 8 demo bike. I spent some time getting it dialed and had it out on the trails Friday morning for a lap at MMCC.

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Trek’s Farley 8 is SOOOOOO light compared to my heavy assed Pugs! It really is an awesome bike… sort of.

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A Lack of Crush

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.

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Resting The Gut

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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…

Bad Ideas Turned Good

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As I mentioned the other day, my buddy at the shop lent me his Trek Farley* to ride for a few days and see what I thought. I did a lap on singletrack last Saturday and thought it felt a bit harsh compared to my Pugsley and made the pre-mature decision to shelve any ideas of considering one in the future. Then I got to thinking: whether I buy one or not, I think my assessment was a bit rash and not all that fair, given that while I have ridden my Pugsley on singletrack, I have only done so for 10-12 miles at a time to mix things up after I’ve done a “real” lap or two on my Superfly, or when conditions were shit.

I’ve love the Pugs in the snow and on the deep sand ORV trails, so I figured I should give the Farely another go before I return it this week, and ride it on surface that would be more akin to what I would actually use a fat bike on. The trouble is (thank God!), there is no snow on the ground and this week won’t really allow for me to head north to those ORV trails. So I had an idea– I would use the Farley for my dirt road ride today. Afterall, some of those roads are pretty sandy and pretty shit… It was a bad idea; sort of.

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Photo Dump

Because I’m lazy and a bit tired from riding in the rain and humidity for two days, AND from watching DVRed football for the past few hours (soccer, NOT fucking throw-ball) while drinking a few beers I am going to just photo dump the past two days. Let out your collective moans now…

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Loyalty and Such

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I do 99% of my riding on my own, so I often find myself pondering a variety of things as a roll along the trails and roads: personal issues, what I’m having for lunch, why I see so many panties along the road, and of course, bike stuff. My most recent “bike stuff” thought (not to be confused with my “butt stuff” thoughts) was about the strange beast that is brand loyalty in the cycling community and how it weighs versus supporting one’s local bike shop.

None of the following thoughts apply that much to riders who wrench on their own bikes; for them, building a frame up is as easy as ordering it off the Net or direct from the builder or manufacturer, riding the hell out of it and servicing it themselves. What I am thinking applies more to someone like myself: someone who can do some minor maintenance, but for bike builds, serious fixes, or the want of having a repair done right, by someone who actually knows what the hell they are doing, knows the local bike shop is the place to go (OR to a friend’s garage who has all the tools, digs working on bikes and is happy(ish) do it for a few dollars or a six-pack or two).

And so my thoughts…

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