After four days in a row of riding, which included: a mountain bike ride in the woods, a fast dirt road ride on my Boone and two fat bike rambles on the Farley, I was back at work at the shop today. As always, it was nice to get back to contributing to society for 8+ hours. Of course I am not sure how much society appreciated me there to contribute to it.
As we went about our various shop tasks this morning, we talked about what we’ve been up to, and I relayed that I got over 50 miles of dirt road riding on top the Farley in the past two days. The general consensus from my coworkers was “why would you do that?”
It’s not that my co-workers don’t get fat bikes, it’s just that no one could really get why I would choose to ride one on dirt roads when I have a carbon fiber CX bike (which I love) that is WAY more than capable of doing the same ride in half the time. Also, it’s not that 50 miles in two days is a lot, it’s just when you are used to doing those rides on bike that is nearly twice as light as the war pig known as Farley, it SEEMS like a lot.
Truthfully, the only answer that made any sense to even qualify my decision to ride the Farley on dirt roads was that the fatty forces me to go slower, take in more of my surroundings, and is the perfect mule for my Porcelain Rocket DSLR Slinger (containing my Nikon D3200). The slower pace combined with a better camera results in me mixing things up from “just riding” and has me keeping an eye out for things to take crap photographs of along the way.
I won’t even pretend that any of my friends and coworkers “got” what I as saying, but they nodded, smiled and didn’t say too much about me being some sort of art school wanker who wishes he knew more about real photography. It’s the little things that bring us all together.
Wednesday’s ramble was one of the first ones that I did north of town. In my mind there was a shit ton of things that in the past I had mentally noted that I wanted to get pics of, but sadly I just wasn’t feeling too much. On top of that, the gray/white Western PA-ish sky was not helping. Most often in the summer I enjoy a blue sky, but this time the white sky just washed out a lot. No worries, there will be other rambles in my future, I am sure of that.
Another day a the shop tomorrow before my holiday weekend alone starts. My plan is to get some dirt miles in on the trails and the dirt road, try to make it to a friend’s cookout on Saturday, listen to a bunch of music, and do some fishing. There are worse things in life for sure, things like “being stuck in a Tibetan boot camp.” Don’t ask, it’s a long story, and amazingly was said by someone who (normally) has 200 times my intelligence! Oh Wifey, traveling does not treat you well!
Back to doing my bit to bring society and the bike industry down tomorrow. Then fasten your seatbelts for what looks to be one hell of a shit holiday weekend (unless it rocks).
Later.