The northbound view.
With the Tour in the books, I actually managed to saddle up while it was still coolish outdoors and went for a long, pleasant spin along the Paseo del Bosque trail.
Southbound, en route to the Rio Bravo turnaround.
Raptors and bunnies were playing hide-and-seek for keeps as I zipped down the Paseo del Norte trail, which drops off the North Diversion Channel trail and feeds into the bosque trail, and there were plenty of two-wheelers out and about as well, despite it being a workday (bums).
After enjoying a slight tailwind out, I decided to skip the 5.4-mile circuit south of Rio Bravo, which turned out to be a poor decision — I missed making my 62nd-birthday mileage by the length of the loop. And the headwind for the return leg was not so much of a much, though the steady climb back to El Rancho Pendejo was the usual struggle.
Speaking of struggles, it sounds as though Comrade Eeyore’s cadres are going all Little Red Book on pretty much everyone at the Democratic National Convention, including Dear Leader himself. Good times. Maybe not.
And yeah, I know me some Little Red Book, yo.
I feel their pain. As a retired commie myself, I enjoyed voting for the old socialist in the primary. And I’m certainly not feeling that old smash-the-State love from The Hilldebeast, though Comrade Downhill Bill speaks highly of her running mate in comments. Comrade Pierce approves, too, albeit with reservations.
But you go to vote with the system you have, not the system you wish you had. Ask any old Red.
And if the choice is between Ronald McDonald McTrump and The Hilldebeast, well, that’s no choice at all, is it? You pinch your nose, vote D, and then go home and give yourself a swirly for three or four hours in a toilet full of cheap gin.
Tags: Comrade Eeyore, Paseo de Bosque, Paseo del Norte, Ronald McDonald McTrump, The Hilldebeast
Mad Blog Media 
July 25, 2016 at 7:03 pm |
Or you vote your conscience and go Green. With enough votes they may become a viable party some day, and we sure need an alternative.
July 25, 2016 at 9:30 pm |
I’d be inclined to support an alternative to the Big Two, but you have to start at the local and state levels, build the mechanism to become a serious player in Mordor (DC). You could drop a Green or a Libertarian on top of what the clusterfuck we have going on there now and they’d just wait him or her out.
July 25, 2016 at 7:27 pm |
This all seems orchestrated to me. I just might write in Patrick for prez, and vote against every incumbent, every god damn one of them.
July 25, 2016 at 9:32 pm |
I’m going back to the land of me fathers, County Clare. As Heinlein said, the Irish are the only truly logical people on earth. They never let facts sway them in the face of higher truth.
July 26, 2016 at 6:39 am |
Rodger that, mi amigo. I will get one of Khal’s clothes pins, and do the logical thing. And once again, I will pay attention to the whole ticket. Congress needs a good flushing, especially the repugs and lifers.
July 25, 2016 at 7:29 pm |
Meanwhile, the irony of Paul Simon singing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” without Art Garfunkel has not escaped me (the former musical partners despise each other). As an attempt to bridge the chasm between the Sanders and Clinton camps it should be retitled “Gasoline On An Open Flame.”
July 25, 2016 at 7:38 pm |
I think DWS should have hired the Stones for the musical interlude.
July 25, 2016 at 8:00 pm |
And then trotted out Billy Joel to introduce the candidate.
July 25, 2016 at 9:47 pm |
Yeah, well said, O’G. Just turned off the NPR feed and had an extra helping of bourbon. Sigh….I still think I will sell clothespins on election day.
July 26, 2016 at 6:36 am |
You could become a blue-collar billionaire that way. Should we look forward to the erection of a gilded Spencer Tower in Bombtown?
July 26, 2016 at 6:43 am |
Khal Towers. Kind of rings, doesn’t it? You should have two towers, not just one like a pretender.
July 26, 2016 at 7:05 am |
Speaking of rings, we could call ’em Khal Tirith and Khal Morgul.
July 26, 2016 at 8:36 am |
Every Lib’rul in Va. already has a bloody great sack of clothespins at hand. Need some more? I generally agree w/Comrade Pierce, but what he has missed (and the Rethugs are in denial over) is that we’ve been diluting the redneck pool by importing liberals, AKA moderates anywhere else, by the truckload for years. Ex-cons just aren’t that much of an activist voting block; most of them have too much else to worry about. The Gov has nonetheless embarked on a project to enfranchise them all one at a time ASAP. Can’t tell you how great it is to see some junkyard dog behavior by a Dem.
Waves of nostalgia washed over me at the sight of Mao’s Little Red Book. Once got an A for a paper I wrote about it for ROTC class. Don’t think they were real clear on either irony or subversion.
Cycling content: those Western vistas are always breathtaking, including the less frequently seen subtle ones, as above. We have lots more trees and 95+ degree temps that don’t show up well in photos. But it’s a soggy heat.
July 26, 2016 at 2:01 pm |
And now a cheap plug for our new and local cycling event. Our neighbor and riding buddy talked me into the metric century.
http://www.skyislandtour.com
July 26, 2016 at 4:35 pm |
That looks like fun, Pat. I’ve ridden some of those roads, during the ACA’s Southern Arizona Road Adventure and while covering La Vuelta de Bisbee waaaaaaaaaaay back in the day. What’s the vertical gain? Shame it’s the day after Interbike, when I ordinarily schedule my annual sinus infection.
July 26, 2016 at 5:11 pm |
Yea, the day after Interbike. Sandy is talking about how neat it would be to ride the Paseo del Bosque, so maybe we will be up there some time before the snows set in. It’s about 2850 vertical feet of climbing.
July 28, 2016 at 9:50 pm |
The last sentence pretty much sums it although I take my swirlies with Vodka,,,