It PISSED down rain just about all day today so no ride. In my opinion it would have been a fine day to watch the rain fall from the front porch whilst drinking a fine stout but alas my sagging man hams say “no.”
Oh well, racing 50 miles of dirt on Saturday so a easier week might not be too bad.
So instead of riding I pushed a huge amount of pixels towards XXC Magazine No. 18, took photos of Jake The Dog, ate a shit ton of Gringo Mexicana and farted a lot.
Not sure what sogginess is in store for us tomorrow. Looks to be a shit day of rain and a high of 54˚. Might be a good day to take a rope to the attic… or just do some more work before the busy race/holiday weekend. After tomorrow’s crap-tastic-ness it looks like we’re in for a stretch of super sweet weather. Hope so.
Later.
Yesterday I took the day off the bike to get some work done. In a way I wish I hadn’t because in my flurry of work it became clear to me that the XXC App is a no-go do to some odd-ball pricing by Adobe. F*ck ‘em, who needs a mag that can only be seen on ONE device. The new improved membership site is coming nicely and the new mag will be on both the site and available for download in about 3 weeks (I hope).
Caution there’s a rant coming…
I am a bit pissed at myself that I mis-understood the Adobe literature about the apps. You can upload unlimited apps via Creative Cloud (which I dig CC) but not “multi-folio” apps. Meaning that uploading an XXC app to Newsstand and then selling issues via that app is not possible. I could TRY to submit a few stand alone apps per year under the guise of XXC but from my understanding Apple can be prickly about all that. Best to just f*ck it. That’s me being a dumb ass but the thing that really chaps my balls is how smug Adobe and Apple act about all of it and respond to my questions with curt answers about how it was noted and I should have understood and that I could just use the Pro DPS to upload for a mere fee $500 a month. A MONTH!! I don’t think I have ever even sold $500 worth of one particular mag. Eeesh! Just shows you can be as creative as you want and do anything you want in life…. as long as you have money or don’t mind kissing a lot of ass. Add in XXC gets very little paid advertising and as of late I can’t even get my current advertisers to return my emails. The bike industry enrages me sometimes and I really don’t have the ass kissing sales skills that are apparently need. It seems just making a quality magazine based on good stories and photography isn’t enough. I am about ready to pulls the plug on any advertisers at all. OK rant off. I apologize.
Back to good stuff (or at least OK stuff)…
This morning we got an early round of heavy t-storms but then they gave way to clearing skies so I hustled to try to get a road ride in.
Even though a pre-ride phone check showed no rain in the area, things started to get dark and a bit windy after a few miles. I wanted to trust the weather goofs, but I have been burnt, frozen and soaked by them too many time to trust them. So I at I rolled a quick Baseline/Rive Rd. loop and headed home just in time for it to NOT rain all day. F*ckers.
Calorie and training-wise the ride was about one step away from being a trainer ride in the basement. Ahh, what do I care, I’ve never been one to embrace “training.”
OK time to try to do some extra non-App making work before bed.
Operation 15/30 Day 23 Stats:
Miles: 25
Time: 01:21:09
Calories Burned: 1003
Calories Consumed: 2010
Beers: 0
Weight Lost: N/A
Later.
Time to play catch up on the past few days.
Friday, all I did was work, throw baseball with B-Man and drink beer. Fine by me.
Saturday I opted out of the race, thinking (rightfully so) that $45 for a 26 mile XC race that only had 10 miles of singletrack was a fucking rip off.
Instead I went to Hanson Hills to ride and fuck about in the woods on my bike (I told you that was what I was going to do!) and it was pretty freaking awesome.
While I only rode 21 or 22 miles due to a late start (see beers above), the trails were awesome and I am really starting to see progress in the fitness department. Sure, I only rode HALF of what I will be racing next weekend but I was feeling titz.
I think I have taken like 26+ photos from this flat, sandy spot at Hanson. Basically it boils down to the fact that this is one of the flattest sections there and I can actually ride and shoot at the same time. Anyway, sorry for the repeats… we all need to just deal wit-it (ghetto talk).
OK, ride done. With B-Man at a friend’s dig’z for the night it was time to go out with Wifey and some friends for a few beers at The Bird here in Mt. Peezy. Great jukebox, great beer selection and some pretty damn good pizza. Love me some Bird.
While mildy intoxicated I made plans with my friend Chris to road ride on Sunday. Hmmmm… let’ see if this happens.
It did.
Chris chose to do the race on Saturday, so he was just looking for some active recovery. Me, I was looking to burn off the 10 to 15 beers I drank on Saturday night. We both got what we wanted on what may have been the hottest day of the year thus far in Mt. Pleasant. I think we hit 86˚ according to the weather douche.
That speck in the distance is Chris. Unbeknownst to me, I dropped him when we started this downhill. Believe me, this has NOTHING to do with me and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that I weigh 25 more pounds (at least) than Chris (thus dropping like a rock) and that Chris was on a singlespeed road bike and I was geared. I sort of felt like a dick though. He soon caught up and we continued on.
That was pretty much the last few days. Lots of sun, lots of miles and fitness coming around. I still have 7+ pounds to go to REALLY feel good about shit and 21 more to go before I feel like a respectable, functioning member of society.
That’s it, here’s a bunch of shit you don’t care about…
The 15/30 nasty fak-tz:
Operation 15/30 Day 20 Stats:
Miles: 22 miles of singletrack
Time: 02:09:23
Calories Burned: 1665
Calories Consumed: God knows
Beers: Many
Weight Lost: N/A.
Operation 15/30 Day 21 Stats:
Miles: 41
Time: 02:17:30
Calories Burned: 1753
Calories Consumed: A lot?
Beers: many
Weight Lost: 9 lbs.
Operation 15/30 Totals After 3 Weeks:
Miles: 589.3
Time: 37:49:00
Calories Burned: 28,535
Weight Lost: 9 lbs.
Later.
Today was an “off day.” By “off day” I of course mean I didn’t ride but I did get ALL the freaking digital paper work that needed done to launch the XXC Magazine app in place, mow the grass, get some groceries, do laundry, do some web work, do such B-Man baseball gear shopping and look at some naked girls online (Kidding. I think I am, I may have, who knows, it was a busy day).
So I won’t bore you with with 15/30 stuff or pics of my rides on dirt roads. Instead I give you my fave pic from last night’s baseball game…
That’s B-Man at bat. I don’t believe he got on but he had a great game and shows a real knack for the game.
Not racing tomorrow. $45 to race 26 miles with only about 10 miles of singletrack just doesn’t seem legit. But what do I know? Going up to ride Hanson and fuck about. When it comes down to it, the best times in life are had fucking about in the woods on a bike and if there is one thing I know how to do, it is fuck about in the woods on a bike.
Later.
Spent my ride time following the white line for 43 miles. Twas pretty awesome, especially since for the second day in a row I was lucky enough to get a tailwind on the way back home.
Rather than stick to pavement, I did a short 2 mile stretch of gravel road. Unlike most of the dirt and gravel roads in the area, this one is (in my opinion) is more like a paved road that the county is just letting turn into a gravel road. Fine by me and for this friendly Blanding’s Turtle (I believe). The B.T. is a protected turtle in Michigan. Should have helped it cross the road
Good day of riding, good day of work and a great night to watch B-Man play baseball. He made a few real good plays, drove in a run and scored on a passed ball. His team got HAMMERED yet again, but he continues to do well, fine by me.
Might go against my word and do a race on Saturday. Might not.
Operation 15/30 Day 18 Stats:
Miles: 43
Time: 02:15:25
Calories Burned: 1752
Calories Consumed: 2726
Beers: 0
Weight Lost: 8.2 lbs.
Later.
To say that today’s ride was better than yesterday’s ride would be an understatement… EVEN with the 20+ mph wind gusts that thwarted my gavel-ly progress and tried to blow me into fields of turn up dirt and cow feecus.
You can vaguely tell in the photos that the cross winds are coming from right to left (north westerly in real life). But it was all good ‘cause the sun was bright, the sky was blue, shit is getin’ green and the dirt roads are in prime condition to burn some flab, even with a thunderstorms last night!
Lots of farm work gettin’ done out there now, a sure sign of spring and summer is here. Before you know it, these roads will be six feet high with corn.
I’d love to bitch about the wind but it really wasn’t that bad today. I don’t seem to mind it when there isn’t a -10˚ wind chill associated with.
Tonight I decided to take things back to the 90s in the El Mariachi’s cockpit for a while with E.S.I.s and my old ass stubby bar ends.
Why? Well the Ergons are comfy, but as of late I have been getting some hand numbness despite the “ergonomic grip,” and some handling issue in singletrack. So I am switching things up for a while. Not to mention, my days of doing races much longer than 50 miles are probably done. We’ll see, I my be going back after a few rides. Who knows?
That’s it. LOTS more work done on the new un-live XXC site today + some XXC No. 18 work and e mails + ride + bike work + dad/son time + making dinner + this stupid blog + smelling Jake The Dog’s farts = me ready for bed, some reading and sleep.
Operation 15/30 Day 17 Stats:
Miles: 36
Time: 02:14:49
Calories Burned: 1627
Calories Consumed: 2558 (little too much olive oil tonight!)
Beers: 0
Weight Lost: 8 lbs. (I failed to hold off weigh-in until tomorrow).
Later.
“Are you OK buddy?” A man shouted from his truck as he slowly made his turn from Gilmore onto Baseline Road.
“Yeah, I’m fine, no worries. Thanks!”
That’s what I said, but what I was thinking was “No, I am not fine. You see sir, I AM AN IDIOT! Is there any chance you could swing your rig around and maybe just back over my idiot ass? Maybe get the bike too, just for the hell of it? Thanks!”
Over dramatic? Sure. Why not?
There are many, many reasons I consider myself an idiot, but for the sake of time, I will just share today’s reason.
For months and months I have been riding my cross bike with the following gear in my pockets: 700 x 35 spare tube, mini pump, 2 Co2s, Co2 pump, multi-tool, phone and my Canon PowerShot s95 (mud smeared sensor and all). Yeah, I know I could use my phone but I hate phone pics and the s95 is super easy to snap pics with whilst wearing gloves and rolling along rough gravel… But I digress, my choice of camera over phone is not the reason I am idiot (today).
Let’s go back… riding cross bike… gear… second item, yep, there it is, the mini pump! That fucking old as shit, can’t remember the last time I ACTUALLY inflated a tire with, mini pump. Yeah, the one I am almost certain has been broke for a year or more. The one that I carry on every ride in addition to my Co2s just in case I need it.
Photo taken with iPhone even though I had my s95. Such an idiot.
Yeah, the pump that I carry just in case I need something to blow emphysema-esque puffs of air fruitlessly into a tube along a dirt road in the middle of rural Michigan and suck the same amount out on the return stroke.
The very pump that I refused to part with for some unknown reason yet continued to carry on every ride even though I knew that if my Co2s failed and it was called into service it would surely leave me shit out of luck, standing along a dirt road lying to a friendly pickup driving farmer offering help and making a call to the team car (Wifey) as soon as he was out of sight.
I suppose it goes without saying that I was having an awesome ride, thought my rear tire was feeling a tad soft, realized my one Co2 was empty, successfully blew the 2nd one in, only to flat completely about 5 miles later (and almost 7 miles from home), leaving me to attempt airing my spare tube with the aforementioned mini-pump before I called Wifey (who was just leaving work for lunch at home) to come pick me up.
See? IDIOT.
But it all this was not without some benefits: When I was riding I was feeling damn good. It was nice to be offered help from a stranger, even if I didn’t take it. Wifey did come to drag my ass home and never once used the term “fucking idiot.” It also gave me the chance to sit silently along a gravel road and realize how amazingly peaceful it is out on the dirt toads. Nothing but the sounds of the breeze, the birds singing and cows mooing in the distance. Lastly, it gave me the chance to stop at Motorless Motion today and buy a new Topeak mini pump.
Operation 15/30 Day 16 Stats:
Miles: 26.5 (before the flat, should have been about 33 or 34).
Time: 01:40:00
Calories Burned: 1236
Calories Consumed: 2331
Beers: 0
TODAY’S RIDE PICS
Cornfield roughage
New XXC mobile?
Chasing bird uphill.
Looking back after blowing my last Co2. Funny how well a tire with under 20 psi climbs dirt roads.
Later.
Yesterday was un-freaking-believable in a bad way. After a week of weather in the high 70s the temps dropped to the low 40s, the wind kicked up and there were random snow squalls. Fucking brilliant.
Rather than curse the wind and snow pellets I opted for a marathon work session. Got TONS done and really I am happy on how XXC Mag v.2 is coming along. Should be out in June sometime.
Today though was the start of Week 3 of Operaton 15/30. Before I get into today, here’s the recap of the first two weeks:
Operation 15/30 Totals After 2 Weeks:
Miles: 388.8
Time: 24:48:00
Calories Burned: 19,043
Weight Lost: 7.4
3.2 pounds per week isn’t bad but it should have been more. Sadly I opted for a few too many “refreshments” on the weekends. DOH! My bad. As it is, I can’t complain though. Weight is coming off, I am actually feeling my fitness improve, I am sleeping better, eating better, not drinking at all during the week and I am more focused on XXC Magazine than I have been in months. I think that is a success (of sorts).
OK, today it was back in the saddle to do a dirt/road loop.
The ride was chilly and only in the mid-forties at ride time. Good thing I didn’t put the winter riding gear in storage yet, as today certainly called for it.
Today should have been longer to make up for a slack weekend but my desire to ride in 45 degrees after riding in 78 degrees last week was a 0. Better than nothing I suppose and despite the cool temps the sun and blue skies were amazing.
Operation 15/30 Day 15 Stats:
Miles: 33
Time: 02:01:35
Calories Burned: 1459
Calories Consumed: 2121
Beers: 0
Weight Lost: N/A Saving weigh in for Thursday’s now.
Riding will continue until further notice.
Later.
It was rainy and 45˚ on Friday, so I picked that for a rest day and catching up on a ton of work. Then later that night I met my buddy Chris at The Bird for beer and pizza. Nice way to end the week. Sadly the stats stayed stagnant for the day.
Operation 15/30 Day 12 Stats:
Miles: 0
Time: 00:00:00
Calories Burned: 0
Calories Consumed: A fair amount.
Beers: A good many at The Bird.
Weight Lost: 7.4 lbs.
The weather was slightly better on Saturday but rain was still about. I thought I could squeeze in a ride at MMCC before the rains came back, but I was wrong.
As I hurled myself up 127 the rain started. I thought about turning around but just kept driving. I figured if I could get there, get dressed and on the trail before it started coming down too hard I would be OK. I hate starting in the rain but don’t mind actually riding mountain biking in the rain that much.
I am sure glad I did too, ‘cause the trails and the forest were super springy and greenishly sweet.
The MMCC trails a sssooooo amazing in that the hold water soooo well. There are some trails back in PA that I wouldn’t even think about riding for days after a heavy rain for fear of trail damage, bike or body damage. The MMCC trails often get BETTER after a rain. Weird.
Just last week all the trees were barely budding and the forest floor was shit brown. This week it was budding like a horned up Bohemian college girl at a Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit.
The ride was good too… The day off did me well and I can really tell my fitness is coming around. That is always nice to see. Operation 15/30 is still going but, as always, it hit a snag on the weekend. Oh well, still a great weekend.
Yesterday’s ride wasn’t long, just 15 miles, but I was lucky to get out at all considering the weather and the fact that it was blowing snow here today. Yep… Mother’s Day snow pellets. Stupid weather.
Operation 15/30 Day 13 Stats:
Miles: 15
Time: 1:22:27.
Calories Burned: 1134.
Calories Consumed: A fair amount.
Beers: A good many at The Bird (again).
Weight Lost: N/A probably the same.
Later.
The next couple days look to be potentially soggy in these parts, so I made sure to take advantage of another sunny day to get some miles in and burn some ham.
Pretty much just did what has become my standard road loop from MP to Weidman and back. The ride locks in at about 41 miles and gets me some nice saddle time.
Probably taking tomorrow off rain or not due to work flow on the increase. So much to do as I finalized stories and gather pics to go in the next XXC Mag… and that doesn’t even include the hoops that still need jumping through with Apple.
Operation 15/30 Day 11 Stats:
Miles: 41
Time: 02:21:22
Calories Burned: 2072
Calories Consumed:
Beers: 0
Weight Lost: 7.4 lbs.
Later.
