More Gravel

Today I made some slight adjustments to yesterday's loop, cut out a bit of pavement, and put a few extra miles of gravel that in. In the end it canceled out the pavement and I ended up with the about the same nugget hair under 45 mile.

The ride was a bit chillier today with temps in the low to mid 40s and there was a bit more wind which made it feel a bit colder and my legs a bit heavier. I also had a minor mechanical in which my front wheel popped a spoke and took the wheel out of true. So for 20 miles or so of the ride I rode with the front brake loose to prevent the brake from rubbing the tire. Luckily (I guess?) there are not major hills to contend with. Once I got back to pavement and the campus area I refastened it to prevent any braking issues. Stopping with cantis is hard enough with TWO brakes let along only one!

I found a hill!!

I will say that these rides should not be underestimated. The wind, the constant pedaling, the soft sandy gravel, and the rolling hills more than make up for the lack of climbing.

Some Children Of The Corn action. Where's Maliki?

I'm still amazed that I can get so far out in them middle of nothingness so quickly from my crib. I really dig that. It was also nice to cut out 2 miles of road from the ride. I hate riding on the road anymore, not to mention here in my parts of MI, if the speed limit is 50 that really means 70+ and then you add in some cross winds and you have the making of some ass puckering. Meanwhile out on the gravel I am either not cared about, waved at or given random peace sign from drivers. Of course today a cow did let loose with a downpour of urine and feecus as I passed her. Surely this was her way of saying "get off the road asshole."

One of several pieces of furniture that I could have had a rest on along the road today. My friend Ben (formerly of Wisconsin) thinks I should keep a photographic tally of furniture (including appliances) that I see along the Michigan roads I ride, sort of how I did with the Pennsylvania gutchies. Not sure. Undies just have so much more to offer. I mean you see a chair like above and you're like "OK, some dude want rid of the chair, this seems like a good enough place to dump it." But undies! I mean there is a STORY behind that shit. Ha!

This was a pretty good week for riding and work outs. Ended up with close to 10 hours of riding/training. Can't bitch about that. Tomorrow is what would "officially" be the start of 2011 training. But I may start it with a day off the bike and out of the gym. Going from 0 hours to 9+ then starting more serious training is a recipe for illness. So me thinks I will chill get my wheel fixed, map out some more rides and get some t shirts sent out. Or ride. Ha!

Later.

Close To Perfect

I now have week in the new house, in a new town, in a new state. I sought out some semi-local single track twice now, and did a road ride back during our house hunting trip over Labor Day, and that was all nice, but I really wanted to explore the low traffic gravel and dirt roads that lay just outside of town. Today I did just that and the results were amazing!


First let me say (and this is no joke) I have had a reoccurring dream for years that I stumble upon some hidden trail right down the road from my house. One that I can't believe that I never knew was there and spend hours exploring it with a grin across my pasty face. Today that dream was pretty much realized. While it wasn't a trail (poop!) but it was endless rolling miles of dirt and gravel. I had to pinch myself on occasion to assure myself that I wasn't dreaming. It was like heaven. It was that perfect.

I rolled out of my driveway mid morning in some chilly high 40 degree temps and gray skies. A few blocks later I was on the CMU campus. A few miles later I was out on long stretch of pavement, then it was a right turn onto dirt. Then it was 30+ miles of dirt and gravel before I saw pavement again. JOY! I blather at length about the mountains and how I love them, etc., etc., And there is now doubt that I do, I mean I want my ashes scattered atop that high mountain meadow at the start of trail 401 in Crested Butte, but sometimes I think it's just dirt. Anytime one is on dirt you are bound to see things and experience things that you just can't on pavement. Today I pedaled along rolling dirt roads in awe of the simple beauty of the rural Michigan landscape before me. There was a time or two I had to stop just to breathe in the openness and simplicity that was before me. To soak it all in.


There was so much about today's ride that I loved, I just can't explain it. When I bought the Jake The Snake I had rides like this in mind, but prior to today I was having a bit of buyers remorse. "What the f*ck did I buy this bike for?" I often asked myself. I don't race cross and the gearing was all wrong for the Pennsylvania mountains. Today that all changed.

While there are things I would change about the bike- the brakes still suck ass, and the FSA crank is mushier than an after school special projected on Oprah's naked ass, a cross bike was the absolute best bike for the job today and any remorse was gone. Now the only remorse I have now is not holding out for a Ti Vaya!

There were signs of Gluten Free militants about. Fear them.

The Ritchie 700 x 40c tires were perfect. Fast rolling on the pavement and fat enough to float over the more sandy sections of the roads and some of the studder bumps left from those BIG freaking tractors that I saw out there. The rubber seems a bit soft, and I wonder about their durability, but overall I am happy with them. So far. I had mapped out the ride and had a cue sheet made up. I did fail to put the mileage of some of the sections, and often found myself pedaling for ages wondering "when the hell is that turn coming??" Eventually I always found the turn, it's just that the area of nothingness that I was covering was just that vast. The ride covered close to 45 miles door to door. 32 to 35 miles were dirt and gravel. I REALLY freaking like that!!!

The wide (almost) 40c tires worked great on these sandier sections of gravel.

The ride should have been about 43 miles, but I did some backtracking in the campus area on the way home. I was a tad overwhelmed by some game day traffic (FIRE UP CHIPS!) and found myself lost on campus! Ha! But a few turns had me back to home PDQ. As I made my way through campus a dude in a pink bunny costume on a vintage road bike saw me and yells "YES! ANOTHER CYCLIST AROUND, ALRIGHT MAN!" I was so shocked at the fact that he was in bunny costume, and yelling something NOT dick-ish that all I could do was smile and mutter some sort of unintelligible gibberish as I laughed. Rock on my bunny suit wearing cycling friend. Rock on.


Today was some Karma payback I'm sure of that. The stress level in my life has been turned up to 11 since August. To ride 45 miles from my front door and have it be mostly dirt was the work of the Cycling Gods. I thank them for making a dream of sorts come true. Not to mention Wifey says thank you and hope that maybe I won't be such a dick about our move. The best part of the ride was knowing that while I rolled several miles of dirt and gravel, there are many more options that lay ahead. I can't wait to explore more.


If I were a bike shop in MP I would bet tooting the horn of gravel for any customer that walked through the door. I would have a selection of cross bikes on hand, as well as bikes like the Salsa Fargo and the fine frames from Rawland. There is some serious beauty out there. It lays somewhere between a ribbon of single track trail and the mountains, and it seems to me it's called gravel. Riding, exploring, seeing new things. That is what it's all about. I love
it.

Later.

Not So Low Key

In my world sometimes Sunday is Friday and Monday is Wednesday, etc., etc., but today it was Friday and it felt GREAT to be done with this week. B-Man struggled just a tiny bit (he would never admit that) with adjusting to his new school, I have been adjusting to my new state and town, and Wifey is adjusting to dealing even more with two creatures of habit, with one (not B-Man) being sort of a dick about the whole thing. Our first week in Michigan done. Joy.

In reality I like this town/state. I like that at least in the part of the state that we are there seems to be just a tad less anger. The mid west accent is driving me loco though, mostly based on the fact that I find it impossible to imitate. The Pittsburgh accent was way too easy. This is sort of hard. I've heard Brad and K do it but they're from Wisconsin, so they are just being themselves and struggling to fit in with the 'Burgh/WV accent. ;)

I finished up XXC Magazine #9 today and got it out there to not buy or buy. Really stoked about this issue. It was a hard one to get finished with all the moving n'at, but I could not be more proud of the results. Sure as with any mag run by one dude out of his house there are going to be mistakes, but K-AH-Schmalz helped me on a few of them and that was super cool and I can't thank her enough. So at least half the mag will be good! LOL!

Things I love about my area of Michigan? OK, well it's a bit earlier to start s-ing any d of the state but I will say that I rode the MMCC trails again today- just one day after some SERIOUS winds and downpours- and it was pretty much bone dry. The leaves were a bitch to see the trail, and the random sticks aching to destroy a wheel and/or derailleur made it sort of bitchy but there was NONE of the normal down trees, slick clay, and/or mud that I would have had me avoiding trails or had to deal with in the great state of PA (sniff sniff). How are my mountains BTW???? D-POW?, can you step up?

I only did a short hour ride today, because I really wanted to get XXC #9 out and about to folks. Now that that is done I can try to get as familiar as I can with Michigan before winter (God do I dread the though!!).

Hope to explore some dirt roads tomorrow.

Later.

Hunkered Down and Rideless

Wow, what a week! For two days winds slapped the Michigan and Great Lakes area around like a Charlie Sheen hotel room wall. While at no point did MP police have to rush to my house and find me naked, punching walls, and screamng "where's my watch??" (like the aforementioned Sheen), had they been out and about Wednesday night around midnight they would have seen me hanging out our 2nd floor bedroom window in my gutchies, with 50 mph winds battering me as I tried to grab on to a 10 foot piece of siding that was flailing around like a male stripper from the roof above. It was a scene, that's for sure. I finally got hold of it and was able to pull it off the roof and in the window before it jacked too much more of the house up.

Not thrilled that we have lived in the house for 5 days, and already have started getting it ghettoed up. Like Mike Ness says- "you can take the boy out of the white trash, but you can't take the white trash out of the boy." I'm truly blessed.

Anyway, between the 45 to 50 mph winds we had for two days, and some freaking nasty downpours, I have been stuck in the gym all week. Could have ridden today, but XXC beckoned as I am in the home stretch of having it up and on sale in the next 24 hours or so.

I can't say I'm minding the gym. It's nice to mix things up. Wouldn't want to rely on if for my only source of "fitness" but when you go to the gym with a purpose, and some sports related goals, rather than to just go to lose weight or hang out, it's nice. As a bonus being that I spend a LOT of time alone working and riding, it's sort of pretty OK to be out amongst people. Like I said, I wouldn't want to do it all the time though!

Speaking of the gym. I started introducing some weights into the workouts this week so as to wake the muscles up a bit for the winter (other than just making a sweaty ass of myself on the StairMaster). Wow, it's been a LONG time since I lifted weights (3 or 4 years now? I could check the blog, but I'm lazy). The first few reps on the leg press were a real treat. I felt like an old man getting in it, then once in I felt like I should A. Get ready to push when the doctor sees the head, or B. Close my eyes and think of England. Then when it came time to press, I think I let out and audible grunt of "Oh sweet Jesus!!!" and just may have seen the head. Today was a bit better though.

Still getting used to the whole gym etiquette thing though. I realized today while on the StairMaster Master Stair-ing, listening to music and watching the Price Is Right on the TV across the room that people get freaked out if you start screaming "HIGHER! HIGHER! LOWER!! NO, HIGHER!!" at the dimwitted contestants. I kid of course... I would never do something so freaky. Plus I'm too busy being "that creepy old guy with the freaky tan lines on his arms, that sweats all over everything." Oh well, somebody has to be that guy, might as well be me.

The next few days look good for riding, so I plan on some mountain(less) rides, and then on the weekend explore some dirt roads on the cross bike.

Gotta get some work done. And bed. Bed would be nice.

Later.

A Real (lame) Post

Enough catching up, and back to the real world of the Chamois. Hmmm... not much to talk about. It completely pissed down rain here today, with giant hurricane force winds, flooded roads, the works! (At least is wasn't snow. Yet.). A ride was out of the question, so I utilized my newly purchased gym membership to get a quick 45 minute work out in. It's been a long time since I've been at the gym. Long enough that I stood still on the StairMaster for 5 minutes pushing buttons and knobs to get the thing working, before I broke down and did the "idiot walk" to the front desk to ask for help. Give me a break, it's been a few years, shit changes!

One thing that has not changed is the amount of sweat that I put out,"Moisture wicking" my ass! I truly disgust even myself (and that is hard to do!). I of course wipe the machine down, use the disinfectant spray stuff, etc., But I'll say this- If I saw a dude/chick (unless hot) lay the amount of sweat that I laid on that machine, I sure as hell wouldn't use it. Ever. Not even if steam cleaned and wiped down with alcohol. Not to mention the fact that sweat soaked t shirts clinging to 39 year old 20 pound over (goal) weight bellies, is SOOOO not a good look. When I start on the weights I'm gonna have to bring another set of clothes to wear before I'll even be able to do the freaking machines! UG!

With the amount that I need to get done on XXC and around the newly moved into house, I may end up there again tomorrow. The next few days look OK, though so mileage should be accrued over the weekend.

Later.

More Updatedness

The move out of the Dubya-Oh.

Sunday: Oh wow, it's been a bit of a blog lull. Sorry if you are used to my seemingly never ending rants about such important issues as whether I rode or not, or my ailment of the week. (once again a back issue, if you are keeping track at home). As I alluded to, the "lull" is from the fact that as of last Thursday Wifey, B-Man and I moved to Mount Pleasant, MI. Home of Central Michigan University and... a... a... Hmmm.... XXC Magazine? Seriously, it's a nice little town, and we have taken up residence in a nice new (old) home right in town. Walking distance to a brew pub, coffee shop, a bike shop and a library. Not sure if one really needs anything else, but if you do, I'm sure there is something nearby.

Life has just been nuts. Our family has been a separated in one form or another for at least part of the last 10 of 12 weeks or more. The single dad things is hard, the solo husband thing is harder (not to mention my frustration with "pop up" screens.) Add in the stress of buying a house, trying to sell a house, moving, running a semi unsuccessful magazine, lack of riding, lack of fitness, lack of liver, etc., and it's been a big bowl of steaming dog feecus.

BUT, all that (at least 67.4%) is over now. We are all living under the same roof for more than two consecutive days for the first time in a lllllong time. Joy.

New digz and some pre furniture arrival entertainment
(yes, we're watching Surf's Up).

The move it was easy enough. The joy of having movers who pack your crap, haul it 7 hours and then haul it in your crib. Very nice. Still made for a busy weekend/4 days. Thank God, Wifey knows that it's been ages since I've had my chamois properly in a saddle, and gave me the 100% PLEASE GO OUT AND FIND SOME DIRT BEFORE I KILL YOU DEAD sign to explore some Michigan dirt.

I had read, seen, and heard of some single track on the grounds of Mid Michigan Community College. MMCC is about 30 minutes away. To some this might seem like a big deal, but it is SUPER easy to get to from MP. A couple turns from my house and I'm in the lot for the ride. Boyce Park in PA is WAY closer on the map, but takes just as long to get to due all the traffic lights, turns, and knob headed drivers. On the other hand, driving to MMCC was a super easy couple turns and the xB cranking out 75 MPH.

As I slept Saturday night and into Sunday morning I heard the rain pelt down against my new crib. I pretty much decided to abort the ride. A few hours after I woke up Sunday, I said "what the f*ck" and went out anyway. Glad I did.

After the above mentioned easy drive I landed at MMCC a bout 35 minutes later. It would have been sooner, but I missed a turn and had to do a u-turn in a middle of nowhere strip club parking lot (I kid you not) where the sign said "Jobless? Go topless!" I of course will keep that in mind if XXC doesn't pan out.

Mucho glad I said "f-it." The 10 mile loop at MMCC was super fun and flowing. No, there were no huge 2 mile climbs, or big rock gardens, but what there was, was a sweet 10 mile loop of leaf covered single track hiding a few roots, some chattery embedded rocks. It was fun, and made funner by knowing it was a super easy 30 minutes from the house. It was like Boyce Park, but without the annoying drive and overgrown trails. I bet about 2 or 3 weeks ago this loop would have been super cool. As it was, it was still fun, but the trees were minus their leaves and the trail was a bit hard to follow due to the kaleidoscope of color that I was trying to follow.


The only real downside was the fact that my back as been more of a pain (literally) than usual. Pretty sure it's a disc issue, but too busy, and too far from life normalcy to care or seek attention right now. Buy my 2nd 10 mile lap it started to feel much better. Letting some PSI out of the tires helped too. First lap had me bouncing around like a 10 year old hopped up on Trix and Mountain Dew.

I have not even had the chance to explore the dirt roads ar trails in Deerfield Park yet. Hopefully that goes just as well. If not, there are more options 1+ hours away. Many may scoff at driving so far to ride, but I look at it as time alone in the car to listen to music, meditate, n'at.

Monday: Still no real web, poach some at the coffee shop down the street as you can tell from the short blog post.

Tuesday: Finally have contact with the outside digital world. It's pissing down rain and the wind is blowing like a 2¢ hooker. I am ballz deep in XXC work and need to get this issue out before I lose the 12 readers I have. Damn! I did get a chance to join the local gym, and have started my die with a goal of loosing 25 pounds by race season. Damn, shit can really get away from you when your don't ride, but eat and drink like you do. Shit.

Gotta work, not eat, workout, and continue to unpack.

Later.

Not Dead (Yet)

Quick update to assure folks (myself?) that I have arrived in Michigan without a major (mental) breakdown LOL. The house is slowly coming together, and my web service should be up and running on Tuesday afternoon. I did get out for a ride on Sunday on some nice single track that loops around the Mid Michigan Community College about 25 minutes away. It was a fast, flowy 10 mile loop that I doubled up on. I was sort of like Boyce except with a little less climbing and a little more open (meaning no brush to smack you in the face). While it was 25 minute trip to get there, it was way easier to get to then to dive to Boyce from White Oak. 1 traffic light, about 3 turns, and 75 mph the whole way there.

I got 20 miles in and was stoked to finally hit some dirt here. A "real" post should be forthcoming, but for now this is it as I'm writing this in Biggby Coffee down the street from my new digz and no access to my camera to DL any pics and what not.

Time to go back to the house and try to get as much done on XXC #9 as I can without Internet service. Then off to join the gym and get read for the kickoff of off season training on November 1st (which is gonna suck!).

Later.

Squeezing One & Leaving

I was breezing through some work today, having fun getting some pics set for the next XXC Magazine (due out in about two weeks), when I thought about going for a short ride. I wanted, needed, lusted a ride and the furnace guy (the one coming to tell me I need a new one for the house I'm moving out of), wasn't coming for another 2 plus hours, so maybe it would be possible!!

PFFFFFFT, RIGHT!

2 seconds after the thought entered my mind I got a call from some random Real Estate Overlord instructing me to look for a 6 year old document. I had no idea what I was looking for or where it might be. It took 25 minutes, several e mails and a pinch of mania, but I found it and got the info out to Wifey and the Real Estate Overlords. Did I mention that earlier in the day I was picking through garbage in my garage to find a different paper I thought I threw out? No? Well I was. Turns out it was packed in a box in my office that I made just for papers NOT to throw out) Then as I started to relax the movers call, etc., etc., etc.,

FINALLY I can ride. Ah, no, no, no not really. I'd never get back in time for the furnace guy (the one coming to tell me I need a new one for the house I'm moving out of) Damn!! Like a pent up blue balled high school kid on prom night I needed to do SOMETHING to release the stress, so I chamoised up and busted out a 40 minute TT on the trainer. Yeah, I know it was 50 and sunny and I was on the trainer. I felt like an idiot for doing it, but it did feel damn good to get the legs moving and get a sweat on.

15 minutes after I finished, the phone rang, it was the furnace guy (the one coming to tell me I need a new one for the house I'm moving out of) he was on his way and should be at the house in 5 minutes. Wow! Way to be 2 hours early. And THAT is why I rode the freaking trainer on a nice fall day. Because for the last 3 weeks if shit can happen, it WILL happen, and by shit I mean crap, and by crap I mean the shit that f*cks up a ride.


My advice to anyone who will listen- Never buy a house, never sell a house, hell if you can live in a Unabomber-esque hump shack (seen above in FBI custody) in the woods and ride your bike and never deal with a furnace guy (the one coming to tell me I need a new one for the house I'm moving out of).

On THAT note, the blog will be on hold 'till next week most likely when I will commence broadcasting from the Wolverine State. Thanks Pennsylvania, it's been pretty darn OK.

Later.

Searching

Searching for SOMETHING, ANYTHING, that I could possibly write concerning me being on a bike.... still searching..... still........ ..... ... . . ... .

Yeah I got nothing.

The time is winding down here in PA. The last ride I did outside I had a jagoff try to run me over on purpose, and I am overwhelmed with the amount of things that need to happen by Thursday (EDIT: a phone call from Wifey now has this by Wednesday. Great). Sadly me on a bike is NOT one of those things that needs to be done. Not real happy that the last memory I'll have of riding in PA is going to be of that jerk and his pick up truck. Might have to sneak out somewhere in the next two days just to cancel that wanker out of my mind. (SEE ABOVE EDIT to see why that is now impossible. Great.)

In other move news... I also need to use up a bunch of frozen food before the movers come on Thursday, so tonight I am baking 14 chicken breasts and washing it down with that large jar of mayo that I need to get rid of in the fridge. EDIT: The chicken turned out like shit, and I accidentally threw the jar of mayo out in a cleaning frenzy today. I had to use full fat Ranch dressing.

Hoping to get out on the bike this Saturday up in Michi-go-go-gan. My Salsa TiEM and cross bike will be the two bikes that will join me on the Thursday drive. The others will join me at a later date. I can't tell you how anxious I am to get this move over and in the new to us house. Then I can focus on shedding pounds, doing a full mind and body cleanse, going to the gym, and more fun stuff like bikes and racing.

I will be void of the WWW from mid Wednesday until next Tuesday. If I start going through withdrawal or something maybe I'll take the laptop to Starbucks to hork some Wi-Fi.

Later.

Things I DId On Saturday

Perfect fall day for riding. I did not ride. What I DID do is...

Sleep in 2 hours (first time in years).
Chill and drink coffee with Wifey.
Make some kick ass peppers and eggs.
NOT RIDE
Let the coffee work it's magic on my colon.
Panic over the amount of repairs that need done to this house before closing.
Panic just because.
Panic more, because the first two didn't work out.
Work on the mag.
Work on the website.
Panic about the mag.
NOT RIDE.
Talk with the contractor about some of the possible repairs that need done to the house to sell.
Not feel all that panicked.
Panic because I don't feel all that panicked.
Think about the song Panic by The Smiths.
Chill.
Listen to music.
Watch TV with the sound down.
Drink a couple beers.
Think about food.
NOT RIDE.

Forget about all of the above and note that next weekend I WILL ride some new trails and or new roads from my new home in my new state.

Hang a DJ.

Later.

For Granny

Short indoor worktout today. Not happy about that but rain + chimney cleaner + prospective house buyers + work = a steaming dog turd of suckage. Hey at least no one tried to kill me today!

I did get a ton of work done on the next issue of XXC and I'm EXTREMELY itchy to put it out ASAP, and NOT just because I need the money! LOL! BUT the move and getting the unit straight (again, talking about my family unit here!) and moved to Michigan is priority ONE right now.

I have some free time tonight as B-Man is visiting with his grand poppy, so rather than waste it on this digital fish wrap I call a blog, I'm just gonna post a pic that I found on MTBS.CZ that made me think of my late grandma Helen (one of the top 3 women in the world), make some food, have a beer, and chill.

Dude, I NEED these gloves!

Later.

The Reptile

Finally had a chance to test out some stuff on my new to me not really used at all demo Jake The Snake cross bike. As I mentioned before, my cross bike needs are that of a road bike to go off road, tackle some gravel, shit roads, and stuff like The Hilly Billy, Southern Cross, or Iron Cross. Not a bike to race Cross with.

So far I dig the bike, but it IS going under some mods. I've started simple. The seat and post that came stock on the Jake suck. So for now have borrowed my Fizik/Thomson set up from my little used Dos Niner.

Next up- the tires. The Continental SpeedKings might be fine for cross in the park or hard pack, but when it comes to crappy gravel roads I was longing for something with a bit more cushion. So I am trying out the Ritchey Speedmax 700 x 40 tires. I've read they MAY not be true 40c tires but they are for sure fatter and cushier than the 35 SpeedKings.

On the loop I did today there is one descent that is all loose gravel, and plates of deteriorating road. I can often get full travel on my Fox suspension on this road. When I attempted this descent with the Contis I thought I was going to be launched right off the road. Today was MUCH better. The Speedmax at 50 psi (75 max) felt great. The rubber on them is pretty soft so I'm not sure how they will wear, or how they will handle punctures, but today was nice. They are also sort of heavy for a cross/road tire, but then again I'm heavy for a cross/road rider.

Next up was some chain rings. The stock 46/36 FSA rings would be fine for racing, but were NOT handling the climbing I want to do. So for now I switched the 36 to a 34. Not too dramatic, but I did notice some improvements today. I would like to get a bit more aggressive on the gearing, but with moving to Michigan, it will be some time before I have to worry about big climbs on this bike. So I am just saving that for another day. IF I were staying here in PA, or had any XXCross races coming up this year, I think I would move to a long cage derailleur and a much larger cassette. Something that will be easier to do with more and more 10 speed components with wide gear ranges coming down the line.

As I type this I can't help but wonder why I didn't A) Just ditch my aging Dos Niner, get a cheap alumn hard tail 29er, put my rigid fork and cross tires on it. Or B) Save up a few pennies and get a Salsa Vaya or a bad ass Rawland Drakkar set up as seen on the Milltown Cycles blog...

Buyers regret on the Jake? No, not really, but I did let my racer boy mind wonder and went for a cross race bike. Not that I can't get the bike to how I want it, but I could have saved myself some hassle. Having said all that the real test will come in about 10 days when I am finally able to get it on the dirt road near my new digz in Mount P.

I leave you with this pic from today's ride...

I'm no fan of the cold, and would rather live someplace that is warm all year 'round, but DAMN, you can't get colors like that from no palm tree!

Later

We Did He See?

So today I got out for a ride. Yeah! Two hours on "the reptile" divided up between rail trail, back roads, and back BACK roads. Most of the ride was great, but one incident left me feeling, sick and depressed with the human race.

As it is now, I go out of my way to avoid motorists. I do most of my riding on back roads, to avoid as much traffic as possible, I mean I even drive my bike to rail trail trail heads to avoid the even busier roads, and I ride very defensively and with caution when on the road. But do you think that matters?

No.

About an hour into my ride I was out on Lowber Road. A back road that sees SOME traffic but no too much. As I was descending a small roller I saw a pickup at the stop sign on Slaughter Hallow Road. I saw him look my way, but I moved even further over to the shoulder of the road JUST in case he would pull out. Good thing because he pulled out anyway. I was able to blow by on the shoulder, not really coming close to him at all. I continued riding on the shoulder waiting for his pass. He seemed to slow down a bit, so I looked over my left shoulder just in time to see him purposely swerve right towards me and get closer to hitting me than any car has ever got before.

He then proceeded to gun his truck away from me and down the road. My heart was racing faster than I have ever felt, but still I let out the instinctive "WHAT THE FUCK??" Complete with WTF? hand gesture, followed buy the FU! hand gesture, followed by the COME BACK HERE AND LET ME BLEED ALL OVER YOUR FIST AND LOOK STUPID FIGHTING IN LYCRA gesture. He continued on, and my heart continued to pound and race.

Why was he so mad? Because I was on the road? Would he have felt the same way if a car, motorcycle, or even a motor scooter was coming down the road? I doubt. I doubt that he would have even felt the same if a dog or cat had run out in front of him. Just what did he see in me that filled him with enough rage to purposely try to sideswipe me off the road because of HIS mistake. I mean let's face it, I'm 6'1" tall, 200 lbs., and I'm on a bright blue bike. It's wasn't like I was a 3 foot tall kid on a BMX blowing through a stop sign.

Did he just see some "fag biker" that slowed him down from wherever he was going in his pick up truck? Did he see someone that should be at work and instead of out riding his bike?

Not sure.

But when someone swerves towards me in a 2 ton truck on purpose I pretty much know what he didn't see- He didn't see a man in love with his wife, a man who loves his son so bad it hurts sometimes, and a man who loves the freedom and joy that only being out on my bike can bring. He didn't see a man who feels like he's wasted much of his now almost 40 years alive, and is still wanting to try to do something greater in the years I have left. And I'll be damned if some f*cking douche in a pick up is gonna bring me down.

I understand bitterness, resentment, and hate. It's in all of us at some point or another. But what I see anymore is just blatant disregard for human life and feelings. Life is not some YouTube video of a kid smacking his nuts while doing a rail slide on his skate board, it's not a rap video glorifying murder and and "keeping bitches in line," it's not a cartoon. People don't just get up after being run over with cars. Actions like running someone off the road have REAL consequence. Did he think that it would be cool to run me off the road and laugh about it later over Keystone Lights with his boys? Did he NOT think that if someone saw him do it to me that he could go to jail? (at least I hope he would, but then again, he would probably not even pay a fine). Did he not think that with one stupid fit of rage at a f*cking CYCLIST he could ruin several lives forever?

I say a lot of over the top, crude things on this blog, I can often have a dark and sarcastic sense of humor (or lack of), and God knows I don't love everyone, but I have never thought so little of someone to purposely try to injure them in a way that could result in death. You want to yell "FAG!" out your car window at me, or tell me to "get the f*ck off the road," fine. But damn this is just too much.

Part of me wants to never ride my bike on the road again. To let those f*ckers win. But I can't and I won't. I also know that I'm ranting about something that turned out OK in the end, but the "what if it didn't" part gnawed at me for the remaining hour of my ride and for most of the day.

Sorry for the rant, just needed to vent. Time for Chamois Post #2, where I talk about other more normal shit and not sound so over dramatic and high horse like. I hate real life.

Later.

240 More Hours And Rented Pigs

Anymore I find that it's not a question of whether I ride or don't ride, it's just that I don't ride. Wifey is once again away (this time in our future hometown), and I am once again Mr. Mom for the week, along with dealing with MORE freaking house inspectors, real estate agents, and mortgage creeps. The ONLY good thing (and I can't believe I'm saying this) is knowing that in 10 days my unit (That would be my family unit, not MY unit!) will be in Mount Pleasant. Then I can get the show on the road as far as getting SOME sort of riding and training routine in place so as to unleash Operation Mid Pack At Best 2011.

But since I STILL have 10 days of stress, and a joyful although be it over dramatic want to suck on the business end of a gas stove pipe, I plan to order up one of these to help with my embarrassing back bulges and gut jiggles.

Beat having to worry about what you eat or training, right?

IF, and it's a big 300 point, extra bold IF, the furnace inspector guy gets his ass on the early side of between 9 and 3 tomorrow, I hope I can squeeze in some sort of ride. If not it looks like I will be limited to POSSIBLE rides on Wednesday, and MAYBE Friday or Saturday. But that could change for the worse by this time tomorrow, so I sill just keep my eyes on the prize of 10 more freaking days.

10 more days.
10 more days.
10 more days.
10 more days.
etc., etc., etc.,

BTW, have I ever shown you this?

The tastiest treat $1.79 can buy. It's a pepperoni roll from the Six Pack Shop in Champion, PA. I have been on streak of the SPS having a nice fresh basket of fresh, still warm from the oven, rolls the past 4 or 5 trips to the mountain. If you ride there, stop in and buy one. They are the BEST. They sit in a little basket right on the counter. Tell them I sent you. You won't get any discount, special treatment, or high fives, but you will get the woman behind the counter saying "Yeah, so what, who the hell is he?"

And while I'm showing you things, I also loved this saying that I saw on a trailer in the Camp Run Pkg. lot the other day...

Was the dude getting THAT tired of answering the question "excuse me sir, but do you happen to rent pigs?" that he had to get this painted on his rig? I assume this is some sort of equestrian humor that is lost on my horse hating brain. I wish people did rent pigs. I would rent one for the holidays.

Later.

Mullet

I love seeing pics from Euro cross races. Only there (and NASCAR events) can you see big banner portraits of of mulleted men. I wonder if Gunnar ever had a banner during his mullet/cross hay day?

Later.

Finally Back

Been a while since I last posted. Maybe the longest since 2005? All is good (sort of). Just overwhelmed with moving, and the stress, angst and depression that come with it. I got tired of Chamois posts with me bitching and moaning, so it was easier not to write anything. Not to mention the most riding I got in all week was an hour of spinning and core work out stuff indoors due to some piss poor weather and some traveling.

Thursday B-Man and I headed to D.C. to see Wifey get sworn in for her new ALJ position with the .gov peeps. It was amazing! Every time I go to an event like this with her I am super proud, but at some point I get completely and utterly amazed that she ever married me! I mean while I'm not the dimmest bulb, I am in NO FREAKING way the brightest. Ha! Seriously it was amazing to be there and watch her officially start this next chapter in her (our) life. Big congrats to her. I wish it wasn't moving us so far away, but.... STILL proud and happy.


We also took a quick night time bus tour of the city while we were there. The tour was given by a portly middle aged dude of middle eastern descent. Who clearly had memorized U.S. history and the history of Washington D.C. enough to rattle off fact after fact, without the use of tip cards or taking his hands of the bus wheel. I guess he's living his American dream. Good for you Ali! (that was his name, I'm not being a jerk). I'm not into the tourist thing, but it was cool to see some of the monuments commemorating some of the greatest minds in U.S. history. And it was cool to let B-Man check it out. Hearing B. read the words of Thomas Jefferson at the Jefferson Memorial was memorable indeed.

D.C. was OK I guess, if you dig cities. I don't, so it could have been any big city in the U.S., and I would have walked away thinking the same thing... GET ME OUT OF HERE!!

After our whirlwind trip to D.C. it was home to chill for a night and get my ass up to the mountain for what may be my last ride up there (or on any mountain) for some time. I met D-POW up there and we started straight off with a climb up Camp Run, and then went on to do a ton of climbing and riding various ski trails, forest roads, and a few single track ribbons.

This shot may be the last I see of Don's ass for a while. Thank God! I could really use some new subject matter for my rides! Just kidding of course, some of my favorite rides on the mountain over the past couple years have been with Don. And on occasion Montana and Aaron too. It's been fun. BTW while the photo's color was tinted a bit the sun really was that blazingly white in the original pic.

Today's ride took us about 43 miles, and an estimated 3,500' of climbing. The weather was freaking amazing! Even with me almost having to do an emergency poop stop (ala Rob Lochner) and continuing to cough up lung butter from some sort of illness that I been rocking in one form or another (pink eye, stomach issues, chest congestion) for a month, I felt pretty darn not bad.

Within the next few weeks I will be finally moving to the ill named Mount Pleasant and continue to do my "mountain" rides in a state with NO mountains. But I'm sure I will find new challenges and other interesting things to do on my bike, it doesn't take away the fact that I will miss the rides in my Laurel Mountains (and climbing over 3,000 feet in just 43 miles!!). And while I'm sort of an introvert when it comes to my riding, preferring to do most of my rides solo, I always loved the rides with these guys. Except for the ones where I totally bonked while leading the freaking ride!! Riding with them was a humbling experience. As I got slower, fatter and raced less, they got WAY better, WAY stronger, and have been kicking some serious ass. But for some reason they still seemed to want to ride with me. I'll never understand it! But I'm glad they did.

Later.

It Was...er..um...

It was good, at times great, and better
than the way things turned out for this guy.

Later.