Another weather rant - It's brutal here and it is interfering with my riding.
- Thread starter MotownBikeBoy
- Start date
I still hope I feel up to riding to my 5am group Tri workout tomorrow. Weather will be fine, 28 and cloudy, but I'm fighting a virus. Feel kinda shitty.
Well ... It doesn't help. I have lived my life for more than a year and a half now in a perpetual high alert mode, always keyed up as if I had had about a dozen shots of espresso, five times a day, each and every day. Sleep just feels like ... A waste of time. But I have no balance, I recognize that "Before" my life was "safe" and "ordinary" and "boring" - but I didn't feel "alive". "After" has been as Dickens wrote, the best of times, and the worst of times. Contemplating a miserable fate and a painful death has made me feel so ... Alive. Exactly as Walter White said to his wife in the final episode of Breaking Bad - Why did you do it? - Because it made me feel so alive. Maybe it's a personality quirk, or a character flaw, or gross overreaction, or all of the above, but I now go to real extremes, hence the crazy things I do I never would have done "before". And, it is addictive. But unsustainable. I recognize that, I am burning myself out. I was afraid I only had time to do a sprint, but turns out I have plenty of time, it's a marathon. So, I am trying to work on balance, keeping what works, and doing what I need to ... Like getting more sleep.Volnix said:
Quote by MBB:
"Sleep just feels like ... A waste of time."
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
I'll probably have to wait until I'm dead to ride, too.
It's 35° and the rain is coming down sideways in a 20 MPH wind. That will soon change to freezing rain and ice followed by a revised prediction of 2" to 4" of snow.
More snow tomorrow morning followed by...more freezing rain and just plain old regular rain.
"I recognize that, I am burning myself out."
It's better to burn out than fade away!
"Sleep just feels like ... A waste of time."
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
I'll probably have to wait until I'm dead to ride, too.
It's 35° and the rain is coming down sideways in a 20 MPH wind. That will soon change to freezing rain and ice followed by a revised prediction of 2" to 4" of snow.
More snow tomorrow morning followed by...more freezing rain and just plain old regular rain.
"I recognize that, I am burning myself out."
It's better to burn out than fade away!
We really can't catch a break, this latest system is bringing high winds to the 40 plus mph range on Saturday, which was my free day to ride. Wind is about the only weather condition I really hate to ride in.
I rode in 20-26 MPH steady wind on Monday with gusts going well over 30 MPH, but at least it was a warm 70°! Damn, did that warmth feel great! When it's really windy I go play in the hills. It doesn't offer 100% shelter by any means, but at least the lower slopes and valleys get you out of the wind for a few minutes. Cresting hills into the wind can make Watt outputs spike and get you a pair of tired legs at the end of the ride.
Yesterday was also great...60° and almost no wind. I ran into a family of five out for a casual bike ride and I got to race a pair of Amish sulkies. The Amish train trotters and pacers for the area race tracks and those nags were a good 2' taller than my wife's with legs a mile long. They cruise at about 25 MPH and when the driver gives them the giddyup-go you better be in a big gear and hope your own legs respond to the throttle up! I have had my ass kicked on the flats by their heavy buggies pulling the whole family, but I can usually crush that **** on the hills. The sulkies are great for speed training...just watch out for the...er...'exhaust' products.
The local old timers/farmers say we are a month late with the weather pattern this year. Global Warming© jokes abound...
Yeah, Saturday is calling for wind gusts of 30 MPH again. Sunday is looking pretty good.
Yesterday was also great...60° and almost no wind. I ran into a family of five out for a casual bike ride and I got to race a pair of Amish sulkies. The Amish train trotters and pacers for the area race tracks and those nags were a good 2' taller than my wife's with legs a mile long. They cruise at about 25 MPH and when the driver gives them the giddyup-go you better be in a big gear and hope your own legs respond to the throttle up! I have had my ass kicked on the flats by their heavy buggies pulling the whole family, but I can usually crush that **** on the hills. The sulkies are great for speed training...just watch out for the...er...'exhaust' products.
The local old timers/farmers say we are a month late with the weather pattern this year. Global Warming© jokes abound...
Yeah, Saturday is calling for wind gusts of 30 MPH again. Sunday is looking pretty good.
It sounds like a pretty idyllic place to live, Campy. There are a couple of small Amish/Mennonite groups in Michigan, I remember seeing the buggies on a trip or two but don't remember exactly where, I think near Clare north of Midland about 40 miles.
Quote by MBB:
"It sounds like a pretty idyllic place to live, Campy."
Yeah, it's really nice...other than the Arctic Wintersâ„¢ it's damned near perfect. Three seasons of spectacular cycling through varying terrain (Ohio ranges from billiard table flat to the foothill of the Allegheny Mountains) in moderate weather with a well developed secondary and tertiary road system. I guess the road quality could be improved, but the low traffic count on the back roads is the trade off.
Quote by JH:
"Absolutely beautiful weather here, just perfect for painting my house instead of riding."
I took the story of the Three Little Pigs to heart.
The answer is always bricks. Lots and lots of bricks. And Vinyl decks and railings. After all these years of gripping those handlebars, paint brushes don't fit my hands.
ETA:
My ***** is the yard. If I had my way, I would cement the whole damned thing and sell the garden tractors.
"It sounds like a pretty idyllic place to live, Campy."
Yeah, it's really nice...other than the Arctic Wintersâ„¢ it's damned near perfect. Three seasons of spectacular cycling through varying terrain (Ohio ranges from billiard table flat to the foothill of the Allegheny Mountains) in moderate weather with a well developed secondary and tertiary road system. I guess the road quality could be improved, but the low traffic count on the back roads is the trade off.
Quote by JH:
"Absolutely beautiful weather here, just perfect for painting my house instead of riding."
I took the story of the Three Little Pigs to heart.
The answer is always bricks. Lots and lots of bricks. And Vinyl decks and railings. After all these years of gripping those handlebars, paint brushes don't fit my hands.
ETA:
My ***** is the yard. If I had my way, I would cement the whole damned thing and sell the garden tractors.
Yup, the answer is always durable-low maintenance. Campy, being at the edge of Appalachia, do you have either paw paws or American persimmons growing wild down there? They are claimed to grow here in spots, but I have never encountered in the wild, just a few planted specimens. If you come across trees with good genetics, the fruit on either species can be pretty good. A few years back, my former lard-ass self found some tasty wild-growing-in-cultivation pawpaws and whipped up some great, I dare say memorable, walnut-paw paw quick bread with a crumb topping that everybody loved. No longer on my diet
Paw Paw? Oh hell yeah! We even have a Paw Paw bike ride!
http://www.ohiopawpawfest.com/events.html
Pawpaw Double Nickel Bicycle Ride Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013
Start any time from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
This 55-mile road ride starts and ends at the fest, taking you from Albany on a circle tour around Zaleski State Forest. Enjoy challenging climbs, ridgetop views and sweet downhills, all along the Raccoon Creek Watershed. A rest stop awaits you at the halfway point. There is also a shorter 20-mile loop option.
On-site rider registration will be at the festival from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. – get started on the ride any time during those hours. The rest stop will be set up until 2 p.m.
The self-guided, self-paced ride is included in the price of the festival admission fee, and includes a map of the ride, marked turns on the roads and the aid station.
www.athensbicycle.com
The AP trees are just south of me. I'll ask some of my tree hugger friends and see if they know of any that are growing in my area.
http://www.ohiopawpawfest.com/events.html
Pawpaw Double Nickel Bicycle Ride Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013
Start any time from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
This 55-mile road ride starts and ends at the fest, taking you from Albany on a circle tour around Zaleski State Forest. Enjoy challenging climbs, ridgetop views and sweet downhills, all along the Raccoon Creek Watershed. A rest stop awaits you at the halfway point. There is also a shorter 20-mile loop option.
On-site rider registration will be at the festival from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. – get started on the ride any time during those hours. The rest stop will be set up until 2 p.m.
The self-guided, self-paced ride is included in the price of the festival admission fee, and includes a map of the ride, marked turns on the roads and the aid station.
www.athensbicycle.com
The AP trees are just south of me. I'll ask some of my tree hugger friends and see if they know of any that are growing in my area.
Quote: Originally Posted by CAMPYBOB .
Quote by JH:
"I don't deal with a yard anymore just some weed eating."
You cemented yours? Or just hire a lawncare company? Or live in a van down by the river?
I built my house in the woods, very shaded and no grass.
