Sharing a Lovely Sunday Morning With Cletus Spuckler and a Kitted Out Salmon

Share the Road
Share the Love 
I think this malignant version of a real
sign (W11-1/W16-1-FU) 
is courtesy of Patrick O'Grady

It couldn't have been a prettier Sunday morning for a ride around the Bandelier Loop. I guess the Spucklers though so too, because I kept running into the extended family. First, headed down Truck Route, an oncoming motorist pulled out to pass a slower car and started into my lane with me in it. He didn't fully pull out though. Then four times, in light traffic, motorists passed me on NM-4 (3 times between the Truck Route and White Rock where the roadway shoulder on a busy road is slim to nonexistent) while actively playing chicken with oncoming traffic. This was in spite of traffic being so light** that there was no particularly rational reason to not wait the five seconds for the ONE and ONLY oncoming car within observable distance to go by before passing me. One family did wait, and then slowly passed me while staring at me as though I was some sort of amusement. Well...

Then, just to prove that its not just motorists who think their convenience is more important than everyone's safety, a kitted out cyclist was swimming salmon in the Diamond Drive bike lane by the high school, riding right at me. He said, when I asked why he was on the wrong side of the road, something about his destination being on that side. I responded to the effect that his was an incredibly stupid excuse.

Bicycling doesn't have to be unsafe. We have to work at making it unsafe. The salmon-swimmers and Spucklers are doing a fine job of that. It was still a great ride, even though my blood pressure was unnecessarily spiking along the way.

** I actually plan my trip so I get that section of NM-4 over with as early as possible to avoid these overtaking situations. But I can't stop motorists from behaving stupidly, even when I take the whole damn lane in that situation. Done that experiment.

Typical shoulder section on NM4. 
Photo taken just before the downhill into Ancho Canyon, riding from White Rock. 
Its not like I ride in the lane just for the hell of it.

Some days you just wonder about people.....with acknowledgements to Ian Brett Cooper for stealing his theme

Just This Once: Support One More Car

I'd normally not say that, but driving vs. using some other form of personal transportation should be decided in some logical, thoughtful fashion, not on the basis of one's sex. So here's a tip of the Bombtown Brain Bucket to all the Saudi women who faced down their sexist culture today and got behind the wheel.  Now, when they have successfully made their statement that driving vs being driven around is their choice, maybe they can break out their bikes, too.

Balancing Rocks in Pueblo Canyon

There are several ways to get down into Pueblo Canyon and all are worth exploring. Today I rode down from North Mesa and rode along the back of the golf course (East Fork Trail?) to the jeep road where it drops down into the canyons and from there, crash-dove into Pueblo with the hind end low and off the back of the Stumpjumper seat. Plenty of tent rock to photograph if the spirit moves you. Climbing back out for me was a bit of huffing and puffing on foot, as I am not quite the expert on riding the mountain bike up extremely steep slopes. Great morning, regardless.

Lots of evidence of damage from the big storm, including downed trees, pieces of pipe and construction debris, and washouts. The county has bulldozed access since then, so its an easy ride along the bottom of the canyon.

For a good quality pdf map of the trail system, go here.

Tent rocks at the bottom of Pueblo Canyon
Pardon whatever ails the Blackberry's camera

A Temporary Reprieve from Government Insanity, and its Back to Normal Now

I guess the local businesses here on the Hill can resume breathing.

Another Nice Fall Day in the Mountains

I was going to do a Bandelier Loop today, but decided to take advantage of moderate temperatures and the fact that I overdressed and so headed up the mountain instead. It really was a glorious ride.

Start of ~7-8% descent back towards Los Alamos 
from the top of the Jemez climb.

Lest anyone think my recent screed about Strava was a damnation of spirited riding, it is anything but that. The bottom line is to have fun but consider one's responsibility to the public, if not to one's own skin. NM4 on the Bandelier Loop and up in the mountains has a dearth of crosswalks, downhill "bombs" into busy intersections in the Castro District, or school zones to contend with. One's principle worries are excessive speed (such that you lose control, overcook a curve, or god forbid, get a ticket), gravel, F150's, "surprises", especially on blind curves (such as bloggers stopping along the side of the road to take pictures), or herds of elk and deer suddenly crossing the road in front of you. I've seen or heard of all of that and more--this is anything but a closed course. So control your bike, don't force anyone else to do something risky to save your careless ass, and have a good time. Be aware though, that good ascenders can gain minutes on adversaries to the seconds gained, at considerable risk, by good descenders hell-bent on making up time. 

As far as online counts of who is beating whom in online competitions, I can assure you that some of the local folks logging times on the Strava site can probably lap me on the Bandelier course in one loop. But unless one is racing under identical conditions, its not clear to me what having the "best time" really means when it comes to close competitions. Does it mean you had a tailwind and I had a headwind? Who the hell knows...its all about enjoying the ride and enjoying honest competition.

Shortly after you top the main climb into the Jemez you get to a tight
downhill hairpin.  A few years back, a cyclist and motorcyclist "apexing" in
 opposite directions met each other nearly head-on here, resulting in serious injuries.

Other side of the hairpin, both being fast descents

Will October 18th Bring Us Biketown Instead of Bombtown?

2013?

 With the Feddle Gummint still in a childish snitfest over the budget (I'll say what I really think over at North Mesa Mutts at some point but will spare the bike page my personal political animosity), we may soon see an entire county in Northern New Mexico, ours, unemployed, even if only temporarily. Should this come to pass and LANL shut off the lights on the weekend of the 18th, we will have more time and less money on our hands.

Perhaps in such a case its a good time for the public to put away the gas card (for local trips) and dust off the bicycle as a mode of local transportation. Bicycling to Smith's, Metzgers, The Coffee Booth, the Co-Op, etc.,  doesn't require one to drop dollars into the Regular, Premium, or Diesel slot and can help fill time with healthy outdoor fall activity in between bouts of cleaning the garage, catching up on reading, and re-learning how to cook from scratch.

 I sent an email to the General Manager of the Los Alamos Co-Op and copied Pajarito Riders, asking if there is interest in a bicycle clinic at the Co-Op, should Uncle Sam turn off the lights at LANL next weekend. I also decided to toss the idea past Council and the Chamber of Commerce.

This could be a healthy, productive way to avoid a furlough funk while covering your basic ABC Quick Check, Traffic Reminders, Lights and Reflectors, and How To Carry Goods on a Bicycle Without Falling Over. Maybe other stuff as well.

Waiting to hear back from anyone....

If its good enough for Harold.....