Randomonium

Every ride requires a lengthy cleaning session of late.

Well, with having been ill most of 2015 so far, the riding has been on the down low. (Do people still use this term? ) Anyway, since that has been the case, I have a splattering of disjointed stuff to talk about today that may or may not make sense. Let's see......

Mucky-muck: Generally we have maybe two weeks that are really a mess as far as riding goes around here. Those two weeks generally happen in March when the snow is melting and the frost works up out of the ground. Car "leavings"- things like remnants of accidents, hub caps, and bits and pieces off autos can be found since their snowy hiding places melt away, revealing the junk for all to see and run over. This is typical March type fare for city riding around here. Well, that is exactly how it has been now.

The odd January thaw, for real this time. It's been weird, and really messy. My commute to work is across some grassy fields, parkways, and in some gravel parking lots. These areas are where I get mucked up the most, but even the streets are a mess these days. It makes for more maintenance work. I suppose it will freeze up again, since we are not even into February yet, and then we will get to do this all over again in March- when it is supposed to happen.

Image by Jacob Stevenson

With this strange weather we are seeing a lot of spectacular mornings and evenings. It has been fairly consistent for the past couple of weeks. Fiery skies, or pastel concerts of rose, yellow, blue, and purple. It certainly has been fun to catch these early or late atmospheric fireworks.

I've noted some folks on Facebook have picked up on this as well and I have enjoyed your posts immensely. Thanks for taking the time to post those, if you are one of the folks doing so. All across the Mid-West, West, and beyond seem to be experiencing this of late. I don't mind it one bit, but it is something to consider.

Stickered up and ready to represent

Frostbike: 

Hopefully the weather doesn't go upside down for Frostbike, (but it probably will), like it did last year when we drove through a blizzard to get there. This time I will be representing RidingGravel.com and I have gotten my kit in the mail and am all ready to go. Well......I need to line up a place to stay yet. There is that. Time to go shopping for a motel room, eh?

I will be busy doing another Riding Gravel Radio Ranch post. This time we will be talking to Trenton Raygor of the Filthy 50 gravel race. It should be a good time. I would think that the podcast will get posted later in the week. So far, in an amazing turn of events, I have gotten a lot of great feedback from doing these. It kind of reminds me of doing those old cassette tape machine "radio shows" I used to do as a kid. (If you are younger than 40 years old, never mind! You won't get that last statement.) Anyway, I like doing it and it has been fun so far. I hope to expand upon the scope of subject matter in the coming days. I'd like to get into having some racers on for chats, and maybe do something from a remote location. Possibly from an event or two. Look for things in that vein to pop up later in the year.

Oh yeah.....this section was supposed to be about Frostbike. Well, actually I will be doing some test recording there that may show up as audio on the Radio Ranch. Stay tuned.......