Here comes the sun

April 15, 2015 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 17 Comments

One of these days I’m bound to get tired of the view out the back door. But not today.

My mood may be extraordinarily light because we’re actually getting a refund from Uncle instead of having to forward the usual duffel bag full of tear-stained greenbacks to the Eternal Revenue Service.

I’ve lobbied heavily to direct this windfall toward consumer spending, in order to jump-start the economy going into the 2016 elections, but Herself just chuckles and tells me to get back to work. I think she’s a closet Republican.

Perro-Roubaix

April 12, 2015 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 26 Comments

Never did find the damn velodrome, though. I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque.

Them’s what y’call your free-range, grass-fed, humanely raised, non-GMO, gluten-free, all-American, New Mexican pavé, cuate. I bet you even John Degenkobble would have a few misgivings about riding this lot.

Got my Apple Watch

April 10, 2015 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 27 Comments

I might have to get back into the gym if I'm gonna wear this thing. Also, I'm gonna need pants with bigger pockets. — I might have to get back into the gym if I’m gonna wear this thing. Also, I’m gonna need pants with bigger pockets.

It’s bigger than I expected, but what the hell, first-gen product, right? Herself says she picked it up for a song. And it’s the easy-to-read Senior Citizen Edition, too.

Dig it

April 8, 2015 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 15 Comments

A stretch of the Paseo del Bosque trail, south of the zoo.

There are times — even when my eyeballs feel sandpapered and my snout is clogged like the Paseo del Norte at rush hour — when I think I was pretty smart to let Herself take that job with the Military-Industrial Complex here in Duke City.

A recently resurfaced section of the Bear Canyon Arroyo trail, just west of Tramway.

Like today, when I read in the Albuquerque Journal that Duke City just broke ground for a project to create a 50-mile bike loop around town.

About 80 percent of the “Activity Loop” trail already exists, and I’ve ridden quite a piece of it. Mostly it’s a matter of linking up and sprucing up all the various bits and pieces. Bike-ped bridges, on-demand signals, striping improvements, and what have you. The project will take years — the work is to be done in nine phases, as money becomes available — and cost about $20 million.

This sort of thing is not a panacea for problems like violent crime, trigger-happy cops, chronic long-term unemployment, and a sluggish economy. But it can help make a town a better place to live, which in the long term might help address at least a few of these issues.

I did most of my 61-mile birthday ride on separated bike path. The rest was on streets that were designated bike routes or had bike lanes. Not bad for a place where Bugs Bunny was always missing that crucial left turn.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

April 6, 2015 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 10 Comments

Join Charles Pelkey, the Man On the Scene (MOTS), The Old Guy Who Gets Fat In Winter, some other old fat bald guy, and the proverbial Cast of Thousands this Sunday when Live Update Guy will follow the 2015 edition of Paris-Roubaix as it happens.

That’s why they call it a “live update,” in case you were wondering.

Paris-Roubaix will be something of a test drive. Consigliere Pelkey, being an attorney and freshly elected legislator, is busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest, but he’d still like to keep a toe in what we like to jokingly call “cycling journalism.” If all goes well, we’ll consider doing all three grand tours again, as has been our practice for the past few years.

It’s a public-radio-style deal, dependent upon financial support from the audience, so if free-range, grass-fed, gluten-free, humanely raised, organic-hemp live coverage is something you find marginally valuable, pop round for a heaping helping of our patented Non-Race-Related Blah-Blah-Blah (NRRBBB)™ come Sunday and consider dropping a copper or two into our beggars’ bowl as we cover the queen of the cobbled classics.

I would not feel so all alone. Everybody must get stoned!