One Last Hit

Yesterday the weather was amazing. I didn't ride. OK, I rode, but I rode inside. Boooo! Just had too much to do. Putting together some podcast stuff for XXC Magazine and sort of got balls deep in it. Plus I had my normal shit to do. So an hour on the trainer with iPodious had to be good enough. It was.

Onto today...

Looking ahead at the weather forecast on the news it was clear that the party that has been 40 to 45 degree January days in Michigan is about to come to an end Thursday. It was also clear that the thick bodied weather chick (I mean that in good way, I like meaty) was wearing Spanx under her form fitting attire. Holy "high pressure system in the south!!" Yet again, I've said too much... Anyway, I was not going to let a ride slip through my chubby fingers today. So I devised a nice road/gravel ride that would be about a 30/70 blend of pavement vs. dirt. More pavement than usual, but I just wanted the legs moving and calories burning.

I've mentioned a few times, that since moving to Mount-Pee I have been pretty stoked on the riding that I can do out my front door and since my ride with Mike on Saturday and my "lost" adventure on Sunday, I am even more stoked. I have found new to me dirt roads and pavement that can be added to my old routes and have also found some new way to get to those roads.

The furriest cows I've ever seen. I thought it was a Yak!

One road that I have recently discovered the joys of riding has been Baseline Road. Nice wide shoulder, good road surface, low traffic and it sort of looks like a giant grey carpet that has just been laid out and has yet to be tacked down. It would make a great road to do an ITT on or some fitness testing. Me, I just like riding it 'cause it's fun.

Baseline-a-go-go

After about 12 or so miles of pavement the road finally turned to dirt. Some of the dirt was newer, so was in my old standby route. In any event, it added in with the pavement made for 1 ride with 2 very distinct feels. The first part was smooth pavement with easy rollers to power up, the second part was dirt with surfaces that varied from ice (I still don't how the ice hangs on after like a week of sun and 45 degree temps???) to smooth, packed dirt, to soft mud to rutted, bumpy roads that appeared to have been the victim of some sort of tractor race or something. Eeessh! Some of the roads were real nut slappers today!!


Sometimes a slap in the nuts is good. Makes you feel alive! Actually that's bull shit, it just hurts. I'll still take it though, it was nice to continue to be able to get nice rides at this point in the winter. Winter is returning starting tomorrow, so I will have to reacquaint myself winter shoes and re-install the Moose Mitts and once again move back to the mountain bike.

Later.