Bike Week In Retrospect

Not much happened in BombTown for BikeWeek. The usual suspects rode to work. Maybe a few new riders, but not a torrent. A whole lot of people did not ride bikes. So it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut would say. If we want a showtime event, someone has to do the hard work.

I thought about cycling as I did an enhanced Bandelier Loop (i.e., add a bunch of little loops through Pajarito Acres and White Rock) this morning. Some standout rides.

1. Favorite commute to work: From Kalama Valley to the University of Hawaii, via the Ka Iwi Coast on Kalanianaole Highway. No ka oi. See photo and weep. Distant second place: Port Jeff Station to SUNY Stony Brook via Sheep Pasture Road.

Yep, that was my commute to SOEST, U of Hawaii

2. Favorite Century Ride: Red River Century, followed closely by the Honolulu Century. Red River for its rural beauty, rugged landscape, and mondo climbs. Honolulu Century, well, because Oahu is simply gorgeous. Ride along the Ka Iwi Coast, Makapuu Lookout, and then the sheer cliffs of the Windward side. Sigh....

3. Favorite Long Ride (roughly 60-70 miles): First place, Stony Brook, Long Island out to Mattituck and back along the North Shore back in the eighties. Back then, this was along a lot of quiet north coast roads, with a good mix of evil-steep short climbs where the roads traveled the Harbor Hill Moraine and long spins when it did not.  Second place: Windward Oahu, any start and finish, as long as you stop at the Hygienic Store for apple bananas--eat one now and put a couple in the jersey pocket. Third place: BombTown to LaCueva, before the Las Conchas fire. Now that ride just makes me sad, even though it is still beautiful. I wish the dang state DOT had not chipsealed all of NM4. Had to replace most of my tires with wider, softer ones or replace a bunch of fillings.

4. Favorite middle distance ride (less than fifty miles).  Kalama Valley through Waimanalo and Kailua and back. Second place, the Bandelier Loop.

5. Favorite short ride: Tantalus Loop, Honolulu. Second Place: Harbor Road/Harbor Hill/Three Sisters/Bacon Loop, Stony Brook, NY.

6. Favorite "Leave No One Left Alive" climb: Camp May Road, Los Alamos.

Camp May Road. 7700 ft at bottom, 9200 ft at summit of climb, 
in about 3.5 miles