BIBLEBURG, Colo. (MDM) — I’m always surprised to find myself at home after a longish road trip, because once I get that old Newtonian motion going the inclination is to keep on keepin’ on.
Why not swing down through Phoenix to McDowell Mountain Regional Park, do a bit of autumn cycling? Then drift further south to Tucson, have a bite at El Minuto. There’s some fine desert riding around Las Cruces, too, along with the High Desert Brewing Company.
Then I could head north through Socorro, refueling at El Sombrero, before pushing on to Santa Fe, where the eating, drinking and cycling opportunities are boundless. A guy can bat around there for the better part of quite some time without ever coming to rest.
Alas, I’m no longer an unencumbered twenty-something, answering only to a spindly, bad-tempered mutt and a Japanese pickup. So I took the well-worn route back to Bibleburg, picking up on an excellent set of music from the Green Chile Revival and Medicine Show on Gallup’s KGLP en route — Mary Gauthier, Stan Rogers, Fred Eaglesmith and the New Orleans Nightcrawlers — and enjoying two last norteño meals at La Choza in Santa Fe and Orlando’s in Taos before finally coming to rest back at the ranch.
It’s fall with a vengeance here, which means cool mornings and an extra blankie on the bed at night, but excellent riding weather in between. So I plan to spend as much time as is humanly possible piloting a bicycle — one with what Larry calls “after-lunch gearing” — instead of a Subaru.
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Looking forward to some miles in and around McDowell Mountain Regional Park myself in late December, when I head south to visit the ‘rents for Christmas.
I wouldn’t call it Fall with a vengeance, for me the temps are just dropping enough that I don’t put the ice pack in my messenger back for the afternoon commute. Ah, the anticipation of flurries.
It got to be fall with a vengeance when the clouds opened up on me this afternoon. Happily, I anticipated this and was doing random loops around the neighborhood to avoid a serious soaking, as the latest review bike (an All-City Space Horse) lacks fenders at present.
Yeah I don’t get out in the afternoons much, but I do have a pair of rain shorts in my bag to keep the glop off. The bike does not stay so clean, it’s ok I know a mechanic.
Its getting to the time of year when after lunch gears go back on my bikes.
Love, love, love the fall rides.
I have an ancient LeMond Poprad with fenders. If the forecast is grim or the sky looks threatening, it gets pulled off the hook in the shop. Has (almost) worked perfectly as the anti-rain bike…and the one or two times it hasn’t, I’ve really not cared much since the only wetness was from the sky rather than the slop from the road. I REALLY do not enjoy wet shoes/socks/feet!
Its the road grime that is gross, not the rain. OTOH, suddenly getting hit with 40 degree rain at 8000 feet ain’t pretty. Need to carry backup clothing and rain slicker up here.
I once was up in the Jemez in August wearing only bike shorts and my Old Guys jersey (no rain slicker, etc) and a big late summer thunderstorm brewed up before I could high tail it back to BombTown. I ended up hiding under a large rock ledge as the temp dropped and the hailstorm intensified. I finally called Meena and she rescued me about an hour later. As we drove out, we passed the national forest parking lot about a mile up the road and the two PortaPotties were surrounded by bicycles. Any shelter was better than being out in that storm, I guess. Lucky for them no Great Zot hit the Johns!
Reminds me of a day in May atop Wintergreen Mountain for a stage in the Tour de Trump/Dupont (can’t remember which name they used that year) when the thunderstorms came in suddenly. Same deal – shivering wildly, so much that controlling the bike was tough. Took shelter under the eaves of a guard shack at the toney resort until the sunshine returned and we dried out. That’s just one reason we insist our clients in Italy ride with some sort of jacket in their jersey pocket – if it starts to rain we blame the one who didn’t take their jacket!
That was a memorable day, Larry. VeloNews photog standing next to me got her shot of Davis Phinney & group sprinting, silhouetted by lightning bolts, then scrambled for the tents. I was the only one still out there when a lone domestique struggled up – dropped, soaked, doing switchbacks all the way across the road. He looked at me like I had totally lost it, standing there in the cloudburst whooping and cheering. Actually, he was the first guy on that climb I could identify with!
Post cloudburst, two friends, who had ridden their touring bikes all the way up from the base of the ridge on the west side, found one helmet, but the other one and the handlebar bag with camera & car keys were washed down the mountain & on their way to the Chesapeake Bay. Gave them a ride back to Richmond in my 2-seater so we could burgle her apartment, and they could head back to collect bikes and car.