I don’t care what the calendar says — yesterday was the first day of fall. It was mostly cool and overcast until late in the day, when summer made something of a comeback. Nice change from the 90-plus weather we’ve been enjoying lately.
Naturally, I didn’t get out for a ride. It’s been heavy lifting around here, what with breaking in a new dog, working the VN.com site by myself on weekends, and deadlines for Velo the magazine (Monday) and Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (Wednesday).
The BRAIN column was a real bitch to write. The turmoil at Velo and VeloNews.com has been much on my mind, as has my friend Charles Pelkey’s cancer, and of course the never-ending mad-hattery in the nation’s capital, where the League of Small Hat Sizes holds sway. So I’ve been oscillating between rage and despair, neither of which is exactly fertile ground for bicycle comedy.
Nevertheless I prevailed — I shat out something, words in a row, and beat the clock with minutes to spare. And today I fled the office and the Innertubes for a fat-burning 50-miler that really flushed out the old headgear.
I’ve been contemplating a short bicycle tour, but finding a safe, pleasurable route out of Bibleburg has proven problematic. I’ve never liked riding Highway 24 west — too easy to get picked off by an 18-wheeler or RV between Manitou Springs and Cascade. North lies Jesus country and then Denver; no, thanks. And nobody in his right mind goes east. We’re Westerners, goddamnit.
That leaves south. But Highway 115 is under construction through October at both ends — Fort Carson and Penrose — and after a short recon by Subaru the other day I crossed that formerly delightful highway off my list, too. Single-lane climbs, gravel trucks and commuting prison guards give me the heebie-jeebies.
Thus the mainline out of Bibleburg is Interstate 25 — not exactly the sort of bucolic backroad one sees chronicled in Adventure Cyclist magazine. Still, you tour with the road you have, not the road you might want or wish to have at a later time. So today’s outing was something of a recon on two wheels, and it proved very illuminating indeed.
I wanted to avoid as much of the interstate as possible and so took Las Vegas Street to Highway 85/87, and portions of both roads sucked very much indeed, as in crumbling 55-mph two-laners with little or no shoulder. Nonetheless I survived and picked up I-25 at the Fountain exit. Hoo-boy, was that ever a barrel of laughs. At least the endless parade of tractor-trailer rigs blunted the headwind until I pulled off at the defunct Pikes Peak International Raceway, 22 miles south of the DogHaus.
Coming back was excellent. I not only had a tailwind, I skipped the interstate in favor of Old Pueblo Road, which is a staple of the leg-shavers’ Saturday ride out of Acacia Park downtown. It’s a winding two-laner that heads back to Fountain, and traffic was light, practically non-existent.
At Fountain I briefly considered revisiting the 85/87-to-Las Vegas route and then said screw it, instead picking up the Fountain Creek Regional Trail, which leads to the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail and home. Fat city, especially with a tailwind. More miles, but more smiles.
This, incidentally, is how Brian Gravestock of Old Town Bike Shop and the Bike Clinic Too gets out of Dodge when he has a hankering for some Mexican food in Pueblo, 45 miles south of here. He rides the trail to Fountain, picks up Old Pueblo, and then takes the frontage road where it’s available and the interstate where it’s not.
Sure beats sweltering in the office, awaiting evil tidings.
Mad Blog Media 
So you live!
K, like Nick Danger, I walk again by night … toward my weekly meeting with The Unknown.
Well, don’t make a career out of it…
Ow, my nose!
Reading your name on the glass door —
“Regnad Kcin”.
I love those old Firesign records!
For anyone else out there in TV land who might want to explore their works a bit more — “Everything You Know is Wrong” is a lesser-known masterpiece.
I have a ton of Firesign, on CD and vinyl. And yeah, “Everything You Know Is Wrong” is a fave, as is “The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra,” which is a must-listen for any Firesign fan who also likes Sherlock Holmes.
I think we’re all bozos on this bus.
As we all know… A bad day on the bike beats a good day in the office every time.
I’m currently suffering RAGBRAI withdrawal. Man… That was the hottest one I can ever remember. I’m so heat acclimated now, it a base layer, long sleeve shirt and then the heavy sweater in the office and I’m still freezing. Maybe I’ll have to start riding in a parka once fall shows up.
I love reading about your riding experiences in Colo. It is sure hotter than you know what here in Texas. I generally don’t mind the heat in the summer too much, but this is just getting ridiculous. And I too think about the future and what it might hold for us and the nieces and nephews. Hopefully, there will be jobs and a little house for each to make a home. Maybe everyone will need to want a little less and take their expectations down a notch or two. Plant a little garden and eat out less – that would be good and good for everyone too.
One of my alter-egos is tussling from time to time on the Huffington Post with the climate-change denialists — they have a well-oiled PR machine that would make Goebbels green with envy. The big lie, repeated over and over …
“rage and despair” is it ever going to stop. good to hear from you again. Stay safe
Glad to hear Turkish awaits a better day to rise up.
On your travels with panniers do you notice any difference in driver behavior? I’m thinking if the recumbent effect – odd bike equates to more room.
Ben, yes. I’ve noticed that drivers seem to give more respect to cyclists who appear to be commuting or traveling.
If I’m in blank kit on my townie or a touring bike I mostly get ignored (it may help that I obey traffic laws). My nastiest encounters have been while riding some high-zoot machinery in full team kit in the middle of the day, when Real Americans® are supposed to be working.
Of course, whenever I’m riding, I am working, kinda, sorta … but the road ragers don’t know that.
Sadly, roads in the USA are too often as you describe. Back when we lived in Northampton, MA we could find some good roads to ride, same with Charlottesville, VA. Not much here in Iowa-at least on the “west coast” where we are..
The Repuglicans have invaded Iowa, I sort of feel sorry for Mitt Romney — he’s kind of the only adult in the room, surrounded by all these whackos.
Just bought my airtix to escape it all, we’re out of here at the end of next month (assuming things go well at the consulate next week) to live in Sicily until May of 2012. We’ll return to the USA in July/August, just as the presidential poiiticking reaches a fever pitch. We should have regular blog reports from Italy and I’ll be checking in at the Dog House regularly.
Larry – Feel your pain over here on the east coast of Iowa. It seems like the ReThugs are that house guest that just won’t leave.
I’m heading up to Minnesota next week to ride. I’m hoping the roads will be lovely and that I escape the State Bird without donating a quart or two.
Guys, I look at the Iowa appearances as a blessing here in PA. At least Rick Santorum is out of the state for a while.
Glad you got a ride in and got to clear your head, at least as much as traffic would allow.
Libby, the homebound leg was the best. No cars, creeks at trailside, and a tailwind. Does it get any better than that?
Depends Patrick…on what your post-ride repast was like. Today we’re celebrating my birthday and have invited the nice folks who look after things for us while we’re in Italy. We’ll treat them to crostini misti followed by Lorenzo’s panzanella (Tuscany bread salad) and the second plate will be an attempt to recreate bistecca all Fiorentina (Florentine grilled steak cut “three fingers thick” from the Porterhouse end and seared over hot coals) along with white beans cooked with tomato and sage and some grilled vegetables. Dessert will be a non-Tuscan hazelnut cake with some gelato and dark chocolate sauce. We’ll probaby toast with some prosecco to start, then one or two bottles of cabernet/merlot/sangiovese (Italian of course!) before the big wine, either a special Sagrantino di Montefalco we’ve had for awhile or our last bottle of Montevetrano, an extremely rare red from Campania. The dessert’s from Piedmont so a chilled Moscato will go well with that. A shot (or two) of espresso should wake everyone up enough to make it home afterwards! We’ll start today around 5 pm and probably finish up close to midnight. But before that we WILL get on the bikes for a couple of hours as it’s gorgeous here today! If we can’t be in Italy, this comes as close as we can get.
Larry’s birthday party details here – http://cycleitalia.blogspot.com/2011/08/party-time.html
Well hell Larry…happy lap around the sun!
3 bottles looks like a good start at least. My better half and I did something similar this past Friday. We had 2 NY strips of grass fed goodness cooked over charcoal while I made a pico de gallo or grilled vegetables and some roasted asparagus beans. Alas, the pico kept me from the grill for too long, but the strips were saved from severe overcooking (read medium well) before it got worse. The almost ruined steaks were still good enough for Jehovah though.
Belated happy birthday, Larry. I just noticed your posts.
We were outa town and thankfully not reading the papers or the Internet for most of the time.
Of course, Sunday morning we awake to the Albuquerque Journal at our friend’s home in the Duke City and see that the batshit crazy lady won the straw poll. Pretty amazing set of bozos on the Repug bus. As you say, Mitt is the only adult in the room. Barely.
pico de gallo OF grilled vegetables…but you probably knew that already. Shit.
We started with prosecco and finished with moscato so the wine lineup was incomplete as pictured. I kept a close eye on these steaks and of course being three-fingers thick they took awhile to get cooked enough, though the tradition is for them to be “al sangue” (bloody) inside, which is how most of us at the party like ’em. I grilled a thinner steak too for those who like ’em just barely pink inside. Grazie for the birthday wishes!
I think I’m ready to live in a state where I am considered the Consevative. Moving from Louisiana to Alabama to that right wing bastion of small hat sizes South Carolina has me totally bummed. Here in SC they think the civil war is still going on. PAS.
Just so you know Brian, up here in NC we don’t claim SC as family at all.
Meanwhile welcome to the rest of the Bible Belt. It sounds like all you’ve missed for the full tour is GA.
I’m not sure NC is any better. I have a buddy that lives in Fayettville. The times I’ve visited him, NC seems pretty far to the right. Might just be the close proximity to SC though.
It’s a bit more of a mix up here. Down east is traditionally Democrap and up west they tend to be more Repuglican. The county north of me even voted for Lincoln. That said, the state tilted for Brobama in 08 and then turned around and voted in something like only the second Repuglican General Assembly in 100 or more years.
Perhaps another way to sum our differences up though is SC fired the first shots while NC was last, or one of the last, to join the Confederacy.
Oh yeah, Fayettenam is where Camp Lejeune is. Good luck finding anything left of George H W Bush around there- despite the fact it’s down east.
Reminds me of when we lived in Amherst, MA. The local folks were SO far to the left, they acted as though running a for-profit business (like the bike shop I managed) was immoral! We moved west to Northampton and fit in a bit better on the other side of the CT river. We were far from the leftiest of the left-wingers though, not like here in Iowa where we’re looked upon as Commies.
I have a tough time understanding why so many think capitalism and democracy are the same thing…but these are the same folks who rail against something listed as sinful in their “Bible” (like being gay) while ignoring the next one (like wearing mixed-fiber clothing)…but you all know what my wife says……
That’s a doozy, Larry. I wonder if that word was derived from Deuteronomy, the book that spells out a bunch of those weird laws fundamentalist whacks love so much. Yes, they seem to pick and choose what fits their life style.
I’m just trying to figure out if Levitcus 25:45 will allow be to buy some of the visiting ReThugs – “You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.”
Might be nice to put them to work mowing the lawn and washing the car.
Back when I was young, the right threaded wingnuts were treated with the amused contempt they deserved by a mainstream East Coast Republican party. Now the mainstream Republicans have drifted to the right of the NSDAP. Richard Nixon pioneered that movement, albeit such tactics have been a historical recurrence.
Gotta laugh, though. Back when I was in academia at the U of Hawaii, we had frothing-at-the-mouth left threaded wingnuts who were akin to your friends at Amherst (U Mass, I presume?). Haunani Kay-Trask and her buddies in Hawaiian Studies and in the (anti-) American Studies program, for example, were lobbying to make Hawaii its own nation, all the while happily taking the state government’s paychecks. Whatever floats their boat, I suppose.
It has always been amusing watching the extremes rant and rave. Back when I was an undergrad, there was a Marxist student at the U of Rochester who used to jump up on tables in the Men’s Dining Hall during dinner and start ranting mindless propaganda in a way that would make Michelle Bachman swoon, if my classmate had been a conservative. Annoyed students would eventually quiet him with a volley of airborne mashed potatoes. We had that right.
Nowdays, the nutcases have been taken out of their padded cells and given the steering wheel of the Ship-O-State. Shit-O-Dear…
When smart, rich, right-wingers like the Koch bros fund whacko groups like the Tea Party, ya gotta figure they know what they’re doing. Same with Karl Rove. The TP’rs might get rowdy now and then and give ol’ weepy John Boner or droopy Mitch McDickwad a headache, but generally they’re helping get the corporate agenda into the mainstream of American culture — and that’s exactly what the fatcats are paying for. I wish Rick Perry would take Texas and secede from the union like he once threatened — then maybe all the Tea Partiers could move there and leave the rest of us out of it. Meanwhile our escape to Italy in late September can’t come soon enough, I’m ready to go now! These ass-hats are running amok here in Iowa.
Here’s her true talent : https://fbcdn-photos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/298779_2130033284154_1045642599_2432897_1011902_s.jpg