Running With the Foghorn Leghorn
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
OUCH
Tuesday, July 29, 2015
Tuesday morning is nondescript for the most part. I think every day here can be described with that word. @davidcarson48 says he likes this stuff better than the other trips I have taken and I can appreciate that and I know exactly why. Imagine you are reading a restaurant review. There are 2 different reviews, options 1 and 2...
1: This place was good, food was good, I enjoyed it.
2: Let me explain to you in excruciating detail why this place sucked balls...
Option 2 is always a better read than option 1. This is sort of an inherent problem with any discussion about anything at all. When you talk about Bob across the street, more people are riveted if you talk about Bob's penchant for sleeping with porcupines as opposed to Bob being nice, normal, and boring. Well, I guess that all goes out the window when you add explosions. Columbus could use some explosions. Well, at least Dublin could.
Another thing that has become painfully obvious is why college football is so big here. There is literally nothing else.
Dale asks me in the morning how everything is going and when I tell him he seems happy in as much as Dale can show happiness. He then says that I really don't need to be around here much longer, that I can go whenever. We figure that I'll stay until Angie leaves - through Wednesday. This is good, as the idea of having to be here all week is less than thrilling. Plus it would mean I wouldn't see the boys again until the end of August as they are off to Canada on Friday.
Today we are in a different room. This one is named The Schott. I can only imagine this is named after Marge Schott which again, says so many things I cannot even begin to make sense of it. It's sort of like naming your conference room The Gay Blade. I mean, among any number of other arcane things. Well, The Gay Blade would actually be more colorful than Schott.
At 11:00 Dale is bored and suggests we go to lunch to beat the crowd again. Today we are 5, the additional 2 people do not play much of a role in this narrative so I won't bother to discuss them. We pile in the truck and Dale wants to go to the Brew House. Then he says well maybe PF Changs if people want. The other 3 want to go to PF Changs. I have never been there, and raise no objections. Have you ever been here? I will not belabor this any more than to say this is like Chinese food but without any of the Chinese culture at all. It would be like making chocolate cake with horse shit. I may be overstating this, but a bunch of white people from Ohio cannot make good Chinese food. This is just a fact. The meal is like chicken slathered in maple syrup with a side of brown rice.
The rest of the day is more or less productive, and I roll out at 4:45 because I want to get back so I can ride. I have decided to do the same loop as yesterday which may or may not be a terrible idea. I feel like with the knowledge of what to expect it will be a little bit better. In the end it is. Knowing that I have 4 miles between what I will call "landmarks" helps me meter my insanity a bit. And I pop from point to point to point until I am at the far end. I cross the bridge and go across the river and am greeted with a road that was not there yesterday. Well, it was there, but the day before it was paved. They have stripped an entire mile of road down to dirt during the day.
As I get back on pavement I see a sign that makes me think that Ohio maybe isn't the Suck that I have described it to be. But then I open it and it has 1 bottle of water that is boiling hot. Oh, the humanity.
With about 12 miles to go I see another biker and I sort of give chase. I am barely hanging on to 20 mph today as my legs are toasty toast and it is hotter and I am dehydrated. I passed on the hot water so I am almost out at this point. I see him turn, and it takes me 40 seconds to get to that point. The next landmark I am 27 seconds back. Then he hits a stop sign and a few cars eradicate his lead. I catch up to him on the other side of the stop sign, say hi, then bury him. My legs were screaming here but I wanted to just put my head down and plow through it just because this gave me something, anything to hang on to. A few minutes later I looked back and he was gone. I thought he had latched on but he was a half mile back in no time.
I cruised out the ride and ended up with a 20.1 average. A bit off yesterday but still a solid showing. Tomorrow will be an easy recovery day. When I upload my ride I name it, "If I lived here I would quit biking and burn my bikes." Jocelyn comments lol, and that her brother is here and there is nothing within 1.5 hours. Then a guy I had passed early in the ride gave me kudos. So even the people from Ohio agree that Ohio sucks to ride in. There must be so few people that he immediately went home and looked at his flyby to see who I was. Turns out that his profile says he is "stuck in Ohio." Man I hope he's getting paid well.
Iced tea, beer, tea, chili, turkey wrap, and then a beer up in the room for dinner. Talk to D, write a post, then call it a day. Day 2 in the books but I know there will only be a day 3 in this journey so that's a positive.
Ohio is totally cat 6.
Tuesday morning is nondescript for the most part. I think every day here can be described with that word. @davidcarson48 says he likes this stuff better than the other trips I have taken and I can appreciate that and I know exactly why. Imagine you are reading a restaurant review. There are 2 different reviews, options 1 and 2...
1: This place was good, food was good, I enjoyed it.
2: Let me explain to you in excruciating detail why this place sucked balls...
Option 2 is always a better read than option 1. This is sort of an inherent problem with any discussion about anything at all. When you talk about Bob across the street, more people are riveted if you talk about Bob's penchant for sleeping with porcupines as opposed to Bob being nice, normal, and boring. Well, I guess that all goes out the window when you add explosions. Columbus could use some explosions. Well, at least Dublin could.
Another thing that has become painfully obvious is why college football is so big here. There is literally nothing else.
Dale asks me in the morning how everything is going and when I tell him he seems happy in as much as Dale can show happiness. He then says that I really don't need to be around here much longer, that I can go whenever. We figure that I'll stay until Angie leaves - through Wednesday. This is good, as the idea of having to be here all week is less than thrilling. Plus it would mean I wouldn't see the boys again until the end of August as they are off to Canada on Friday.
Today we are in a different room. This one is named The Schott. I can only imagine this is named after Marge Schott which again, says so many things I cannot even begin to make sense of it. It's sort of like naming your conference room The Gay Blade. I mean, among any number of other arcane things. Well, The Gay Blade would actually be more colorful than Schott.
At 11:00 Dale is bored and suggests we go to lunch to beat the crowd again. Today we are 5, the additional 2 people do not play much of a role in this narrative so I won't bother to discuss them. We pile in the truck and Dale wants to go to the Brew House. Then he says well maybe PF Changs if people want. The other 3 want to go to PF Changs. I have never been there, and raise no objections. Have you ever been here? I will not belabor this any more than to say this is like Chinese food but without any of the Chinese culture at all. It would be like making chocolate cake with horse shit. I may be overstating this, but a bunch of white people from Ohio cannot make good Chinese food. This is just a fact. The meal is like chicken slathered in maple syrup with a side of brown rice.
The rest of the day is more or less productive, and I roll out at 4:45 because I want to get back so I can ride. I have decided to do the same loop as yesterday which may or may not be a terrible idea. I feel like with the knowledge of what to expect it will be a little bit better. In the end it is. Knowing that I have 4 miles between what I will call "landmarks" helps me meter my insanity a bit. And I pop from point to point to point until I am at the far end. I cross the bridge and go across the river and am greeted with a road that was not there yesterday. Well, it was there, but the day before it was paved. They have stripped an entire mile of road down to dirt during the day.
As I get back on pavement I see a sign that makes me think that Ohio maybe isn't the Suck that I have described it to be. But then I open it and it has 1 bottle of water that is boiling hot. Oh, the humanity.
With about 12 miles to go I see another biker and I sort of give chase. I am barely hanging on to 20 mph today as my legs are toasty toast and it is hotter and I am dehydrated. I passed on the hot water so I am almost out at this point. I see him turn, and it takes me 40 seconds to get to that point. The next landmark I am 27 seconds back. Then he hits a stop sign and a few cars eradicate his lead. I catch up to him on the other side of the stop sign, say hi, then bury him. My legs were screaming here but I wanted to just put my head down and plow through it just because this gave me something, anything to hang on to. A few minutes later I looked back and he was gone. I thought he had latched on but he was a half mile back in no time.
I cruised out the ride and ended up with a 20.1 average. A bit off yesterday but still a solid showing. Tomorrow will be an easy recovery day. When I upload my ride I name it, "If I lived here I would quit biking and burn my bikes." Jocelyn comments lol, and that her brother is here and there is nothing within 1.5 hours. Then a guy I had passed early in the ride gave me kudos. So even the people from Ohio agree that Ohio sucks to ride in. There must be so few people that he immediately went home and looked at his flyby to see who I was. Turns out that his profile says he is "stuck in Ohio." Man I hope he's getting paid well.
Iced tea, beer, tea, chili, turkey wrap, and then a beer up in the room for dinner. Talk to D, write a post, then call it a day. Day 2 in the books but I know there will only be a day 3 in this journey so that's a positive.
Ohio is totally cat 6.
I figure Ohio is similar to the rides j did in Delaware this year. After the second ride I was done with it and was daydreaming that j would probably get a TT bike if I lived there as the higher speed would give something to focus on because riding pancake flat roads and looking at farm fields gets old real quick.
qclabrat
Well-Known Member
Sunday, July 26, 2015
I wake up with the following things to do today:
1. Pack
2. Ride
3. See Julia
4. Drive to Ohio
I pack. I have made a list at some point during the week which is like 19 items long. I got the car the day before so I have that covered. If you go for 4 days you end up just renting for the week. Price is cheaper that way. I pack up some stuff in the morning before we really get going. But only a suitcase of work clothes for now. Just business casual. Suits. It's Ohio. They don't wear suits, man.
We ride. I think we average like 13 mph again. Who cares. Just chatting and riding. We get back, shower, and gotta go grab J from a birthday party in Florham Park. Does anyone else say "floor ham" when they say that town?
J asks what we're going to do today. I say, "we have like 90 minutes to hang out. I'm going to pack this minivan mostly." Being 9 years old she pretty much asks this question every 20 minutes or so. Eventually I pack the minivan. 1 suitcase of work clothes and the remainder of the minivan with bikes, tools, camping gear, and bike clothes. Priorities.
At 2:45 I'm off. I drop J off at her mothers, then hit the road for a 525 mile drive to Columbus. As she is about to go into her mom's house she looks at me seriously and says, "I'm gonna miss you daddy," then gives me a hug. This is both wonderful and awful. I think it's obvious why I feel both. I have seen her a total of 2.5 hours in the last week and at best I'll see her on Thursday. I do my best not to think about it because it's out of my control.
I decide to not put the GPS on because there are 4 roads that cover the first 524 miles and me being OCD, I will look at the miles remaining every 9 seconds. Oddly if I don't have it on I peacefully just drive. I start with The Slow Ride podcast. It sucks, honestly. It's just pro cycling which is meh. Then I listen to the first Serial. It's good but honestly just too dark. Like we watch crime drama on TV but that's fake. This is real life. I think TV desensitizes us a bit. It's kinda hard to take in that sense. Finally I listen to Open Mic, another bike podcast - the one with Adam Myserson. I can't help but think these guys are all way too fucking removed from real life biking. They have no clue at all what most actual bikers think and go through. The rest of the time I drive in silence. Oddly enjoyable.
Anyway, Pennsylvania is long. West Virginia is short. And Ohio is at the end. I make the trip in 8 hours and 1 minute with 3 stops. 1 stop for gas, coffee, and pee. 1 stop for pee. 1 stop for coffee. The check-in takes like 60 seconds and I'm in my room in no time. I have a beer and talk to D and go to bed and sleep is ok, not great.
you got some big bladder son, what's that padding on the van floor? looks sturdy
Wednesday, July 30, 2015
I wake up to the alarm at 5:40 and jump out of bed, groggy as hell, and get dressed to ride. I am rolling by 6:00, done by 7:00, and eating breakfast by 7:30. The car is packed by 8:00 and I have a coffee and roll out by 8:30. Gonna be a long day. If it weren't for the 31/31 I'd never have ridden this morning. I roll a total of about 110 miles in Ohio in the span of 38 hours.
At the office we have a 3rd conference room and again it's just Angie & I today. We don't do much work because this powwow is mostly up. I'm just looking forward to rolling out of here. I go to see Dale and he asks if I'm leaving today. I tell him I'm probably going to leave at 4:00 or so.
He furrows his brow and says, "No. You better go by 3:00 to beat the traffic."
Lunch is just the 2 of us as Dale disappears for 2.5 hours. We find a deli and I get a muffuletta which is a NOLA special. It's actually pretty good. Decent bread goes a long way to making a sandwich not suck.
I hit the road by 3:00 and head off East. Nothing much comes of this drive other than my leaving Ohio. I never thought I'd be so happy to see West Virginia. I listen to Taylor Swift and CSNY, among other assorted things.
I drive 5.5 hours and end up in Bizarro, Pennsylvania. I have poached campsite #101, which is about 1/2 mile from where Utah's 30+ mile Raystown loop starts.
I'm too lazy to put up the tent so I'm going to sleep in the back of the van. Tomorrow is going to be another early day. Hoping to roll before 7:00 and be on the road by 11:00. Got another 4+ hours ahead of me then need to empty the car and maybe then return it.
I wake up to the alarm at 5:40 and jump out of bed, groggy as hell, and get dressed to ride. I am rolling by 6:00, done by 7:00, and eating breakfast by 7:30. The car is packed by 8:00 and I have a coffee and roll out by 8:30. Gonna be a long day. If it weren't for the 31/31 I'd never have ridden this morning. I roll a total of about 110 miles in Ohio in the span of 38 hours.
At the office we have a 3rd conference room and again it's just Angie & I today. We don't do much work because this powwow is mostly up. I'm just looking forward to rolling out of here. I go to see Dale and he asks if I'm leaving today. I tell him I'm probably going to leave at 4:00 or so.
He furrows his brow and says, "No. You better go by 3:00 to beat the traffic."
Lunch is just the 2 of us as Dale disappears for 2.5 hours. We find a deli and I get a muffuletta which is a NOLA special. It's actually pretty good. Decent bread goes a long way to making a sandwich not suck.
I hit the road by 3:00 and head off East. Nothing much comes of this drive other than my leaving Ohio. I never thought I'd be so happy to see West Virginia. I listen to Taylor Swift and CSNY, among other assorted things.
I drive 5.5 hours and end up in Bizarro, Pennsylvania. I have poached campsite #101, which is about 1/2 mile from where Utah's 30+ mile Raystown loop starts.
I'm too lazy to put up the tent so I'm going to sleep in the back of the van. Tomorrow is going to be another early day. Hoping to roll before 7:00 and be on the road by 11:00. Got another 4+ hours ahead of me then need to empty the car and maybe then return it.
ugh. or whatever guttural noise that produces...
ANT(hursday):
1) Is the fact we had a winter shoes thread in the middle of summer a sign that global warming is real?
2) Was that a record for shortest time between first post and perma-ban?
3) Is the MTBNJ ride coming together for 8/8?
1) Is the fact we had a winter shoes thread in the middle of summer a sign that global warming is real?
2) Was that a record for shortest time between first post and perma-ban?
3) Is the MTBNJ ride coming together for 8/8?
ouch
Thursday, July 30, 2012
I am not yet asleep and I hear the inevitable. The ranger truck pulling up. I pretend to be asleep but it is of no use. The ranger knocks on the door and asks if I reserved the camp. I tell him that nobody was here when I got here to pay, which is true. He basically couldn't care less, and says that if by some small chance someone comes to claim the site, just move to another one. He goes on his way and I try to sleep after that. It is brutally hot, so I occasionally wake up and turn the car on and run the AC for 15 minutes. Overall I actually sleep pretty well.
I am up at about 5:45 and I am rolling by 6:30. I am going to make this short & sweet because of that whole option #1 thing that @davidcarson48 talked about the other day. It was good. Raystown is good. To introduce a little #2 in here, despite what some people say, Raystown is not Kingdom Trails. Anyone who says this is the kind of person who eats the same meal for dinner, every day. It is like saying that Rutgers could beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a game of football. It is like saying the number 9 is greater than the number 50. This is an absolute. Do not waste your time arguing this point. You are wrong. Raystown is the greatest trail system in the world compared to the state of Ohio. In the grand scheme of things, it is a good trail system that I'm happy I got a chance to ride today.
It's fun, and would have been more fun with a group I'm sure. My legs were tired, which has nothing to do with Raystown and everything to do with me. And it was so brutally humid that I think I may have been sweating more today than I ever have before. So much, in fact, that I could smell the ammonia in my sweat as I was out there. This is not anything that I've ever experienced before. Usually I smell it on the clothing after I'm done and the clothes sit around. Today I was sweating so profusely that it was running down in streams off me. Later when I stopped for gas and to pee, after I had drank 6 total bottles and a cup of coffee, I was still peeing neon yellow.
After I am done with the ride I start driving home, and stop at a Sheetz for some breakfast and coffee. I did the 25 miles and was done by 9:05 so it was still breakfast time. As I walked in I knew I was in another realm of the planet earth as country music was playing and people talked with a bit of a southern twang. I opted for 2 wrapped sandwiches and a coffee and hit the road for like 100 miles of shitty middle America driving.
Then it started pouring rain. Otherwise it was more or less an uneventful drive. I listen to Taylor Swift and CSNY yet again, then as I get into NJ I listen to Tool and realize I'm going 90 mph before long. Ok, bad music choice. I also make the observation that there are more assholes in NJ on the road than anywhere else. Sure, Pennsylvania has its share of clueless people. But NJ has more assholes per mile of road than anywhere.
Home by 1:40, took a shower, then I had to immediately leave and go get Julia to take her to the doctor because she has a double ear infection. Again. So doctor. Pharmacy to get ear drops. Shop Rite for food while we wait. Then we get Zac at the YMCA and head home. I then open a beer and eventually start dinner. While dinner is cooking I take a nap lasting several minutes. I wake up refreshed, and finish up dinner.
I'm gonna ride my bike for an hour tomorrow then take the month of August off. I'm totally exhausted.
I am not yet asleep and I hear the inevitable. The ranger truck pulling up. I pretend to be asleep but it is of no use. The ranger knocks on the door and asks if I reserved the camp. I tell him that nobody was here when I got here to pay, which is true. He basically couldn't care less, and says that if by some small chance someone comes to claim the site, just move to another one. He goes on his way and I try to sleep after that. It is brutally hot, so I occasionally wake up and turn the car on and run the AC for 15 minutes. Overall I actually sleep pretty well.
I am up at about 5:45 and I am rolling by 6:30. I am going to make this short & sweet because of that whole option #1 thing that @davidcarson48 talked about the other day. It was good. Raystown is good. To introduce a little #2 in here, despite what some people say, Raystown is not Kingdom Trails. Anyone who says this is the kind of person who eats the same meal for dinner, every day. It is like saying that Rutgers could beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a game of football. It is like saying the number 9 is greater than the number 50. This is an absolute. Do not waste your time arguing this point. You are wrong. Raystown is the greatest trail system in the world compared to the state of Ohio. In the grand scheme of things, it is a good trail system that I'm happy I got a chance to ride today.
It's fun, and would have been more fun with a group I'm sure. My legs were tired, which has nothing to do with Raystown and everything to do with me. And it was so brutally humid that I think I may have been sweating more today than I ever have before. So much, in fact, that I could smell the ammonia in my sweat as I was out there. This is not anything that I've ever experienced before. Usually I smell it on the clothing after I'm done and the clothes sit around. Today I was sweating so profusely that it was running down in streams off me. Later when I stopped for gas and to pee, after I had drank 6 total bottles and a cup of coffee, I was still peeing neon yellow.
After I am done with the ride I start driving home, and stop at a Sheetz for some breakfast and coffee. I did the 25 miles and was done by 9:05 so it was still breakfast time. As I walked in I knew I was in another realm of the planet earth as country music was playing and people talked with a bit of a southern twang. I opted for 2 wrapped sandwiches and a coffee and hit the road for like 100 miles of shitty middle America driving.
Then it started pouring rain. Otherwise it was more or less an uneventful drive. I listen to Taylor Swift and CSNY yet again, then as I get into NJ I listen to Tool and realize I'm going 90 mph before long. Ok, bad music choice. I also make the observation that there are more assholes in NJ on the road than anywhere else. Sure, Pennsylvania has its share of clueless people. But NJ has more assholes per mile of road than anywhere.
Home by 1:40, took a shower, then I had to immediately leave and go get Julia to take her to the doctor because she has a double ear infection. Again. So doctor. Pharmacy to get ear drops. Shop Rite for food while we wait. Then we get Zac at the YMCA and head home. I then open a beer and eventually start dinner. While dinner is cooking I take a nap lasting several minutes. I wake up refreshed, and finish up dinner.
I'm gonna ride my bike for an hour tomorrow then take the month of August off. I'm totally exhausted.
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
Drove from Minneapolis to DesMoine last October. I was surprised that DesMoine has as much "life" as it did, almost comparable to New Brunswick. But the rest of Iowa looks a lot like this...
Is a TBT Post from 2012???
If not seemed like a good ending to a work trip. Rays is fun but not the Kingdom. On Rays there is so much more speed on every trail in the beginning and then you climb up and out with ease. CSNY makes the trip easy too. Welcome home 2012..
I hate when you have to compare something great to something else that is just in fact better...just always comes out like you are putting the one of them down. Love rays, its not kingdom.
Welcome home...lane discipline....its a concept that has no meaning in this state.
Welcome home...lane discipline....its a concept that has no meaning in this state.
Rays is fun but not kingdom. That would still not keep me from going to Rays.
I worked this week on a high deck job hidden fasteners PVC rail with 10 hours of Sun exposure by myself. I devoloped rashes burn and sweated 500 gallons. 4 t-shirts per day. I know what sweating is, I dont wish that experience on my enemies...
I worked this week on a high deck job hidden fasteners PVC rail with 10 hours of Sun exposure by myself. I devoloped rashes burn and sweated 500 gallons. 4 t-shirts per day. I know what sweating is, I dont wish that experience on my enemies...
Pagliacci
Well-Known Member
I was once described as a vacant, soulless ghoul whose only joy in life comes from the misfortune of others, but this is too harsh for even me.
I'm gonna hug my kids and go ride my bike. You bummed me out bro.
