Pedaling Squares

Yesterday we flirted with/heavy petted with some sun and temps in the low 60s. It was windy as eph but warm. Today it was windy as eph, about 25 degrees cooler, with mist and occasional squalls of face stinging snow pellets. It was sort of brilliant.

As luck would have it my buddy Ryan who teaches at CMU was off for spring break, was around and wanted to ride. Thank God, 'cause even though I am chomping at the bit to ride, I know me and I know I would have either said "fuck it," and rode the trainer like some sort of moron or would have done a way shorter loop, er I mean "square."

We had some heavy rain overnight as the cold front moved through so we knew my beloved dirt and gravel roads would be a deep muddy mess. So I concocted a 37.5 loop that would have us on pavement the entire time except for a 2 mile stretch of Beal City Road that is dirt. I was not happy about the amount of time on pavement but really didn't feel like pedaling 40 miles through deep mud either, so pavement it was.

Along with an annoying creek in my crank, a cold, annoying headwind was howling and slowing things down BIG time. Going right into the headwind had me going about 12 mph on my CX bike. No major climbs around here, but you gotta work you ass off!

After a brief respite on we once again hit the freaking headwind as rolled the dirt of Beal City Road. Or should I say the MUD of Beal City Road. DEAR GOD!! I was trying to follow the firmer car tire tracks to stay on, but at one point got off line and came to a DEAD stop. DOH!! Can you believe I had to hike-a-bike about 15 yards or so over a FLAT shoe sucking muddy gravel road??

The bone chilling wind continued as we hit paved B.C. Road and eventually the metropolis of Beal City (population: 345-ish according to various web sites).

"Beal City is a beacon in the farmland of mid-Michigan. Named for Mr. Beal, the city features a delightful small town atmosphere. The heart of the city is a blinking traffic light with four corners of excitement. A general store, complete with pizza and videos, provides high entertainment. For those looking for a little bit of nightlife, there's the Beal City Tavern across the street with its famous burgers and lifelong patrons. Across from that is a gas station/bar that just might be open. The fourth corner, well, it's a residence. (The owner of the bar lives there.) But there is a lot more to do then just downtown Beal..." - www.tombowl.com (I have NO idea what the Tom Bowl is).

Pictured above: The Beal City Tavern (mentioned above) and its presumed rival the Blue Bar. Right in the heart of the "city."

Once we got through the city, it we FINALLY got a lengthy break from the wind (I guess we "broke wind?"). It was nice to pedal and be able to hear more than the deafening wind passing through my helmet straps.

A nice tail wind pushed us close to 25 mph or more on Baseline Road, until we headed down Winn Road toward... you guessed it... WINN!

Remember that creaking crank?

So we're heading down Winn, dealing with a healthy cross wind but making some good time. I thought my foot slipped out of my pedal, looked down and saw my left crank arm attached to my foot and swinging in the wind. DOH!!

We pulled over and before I could say "Shit, I forgot my multi-tool on the kitchen table," Ryan had his out of his pocket and was dashing down to the creek to wash off the much. He was like some sort of NASCAR pit person and ignored me telling him to just give me the tool, that I thought I could fasten down a screw. (At least I think I could) Ha! Not sure why the crank came off, the spindle looked healthy, no gouges n'at, it just fell off... must have been the combination of raw power and lack of any maintenance what-so-ever. Glad Ryan had that tool, or I would have either A. Had to walk into the local gas station in lycra and ask for a tool. Or B. call my wife to come pick me up. I think we both know which one I would have chose.

3 or 4 minutes later we were back on the road with 10 more, cold windy miles to go. At one point it started to blow face stinging snow pellets. It was like low speed weed whacker to the face. Ryan pulled up along side of me, I looked over, smiled and said "this is brilliant!" And it was. My arm was killing me, half of my sinuses were clogged, the other half was oozing snot down my lips and chin and my face, I was soaked with snow and I just had a crank arm fall off. What's not to love?

Well a few more miles of wet, muddy pot holed gravel was what was "not to love." Ha!

This road was killing my bruised arm and I often would just ride with my left hand on the bars to ease the pain up a bit. It was over soon enough though and I was able to enjoy ONE more stretch of headwind, some more blowing snow pellets and the happiness that is riding 2:25 with a buddy. Good stuff.

Time for handfuls of various medications for all my various ailments. As my late Grandma Helen used to say "it's hell getting old." Indeed it is Gram, but days like this sort of make up for it.

Later.