Possibly rain.
Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible.—The Weather Underground forecast for The Duck! City
The gods are pulling my chain again.
Actually, they may be peeing on it.
We just got more than a half inch of possibility in about 15 minutes and Your Humble Narrator beat the deluge home by the chromoplastic skin of his mudguards.
I hadn’t intended to go for a ride. The original idea was to drive to Dick Missile’s Galaxy O’ Grub for a couple hundy worth of disco vittles.
But about halfway there I realized I was short one wallet (mine). So I pulled a U and in a cloud of blasphemy motored home, where I swapped the Subie for a Soma.
Some explanation is in order. I like to buy my groceries early, when most people are working, schooling, or riding their own damn’ bikes. This has the effect of broadening product availability, widening aisles, and shortening lines at checkout.
By forgetting my wallet I had squandered my chronological advantage over the Little People, so I thought I might as well go for a ride instead. Which I did. And it was very pleasant, thanks for asking.
About an hour in I noticed the clouds bunching up and darkening. As I looped around High Desert en route to El Rancho Pendejo things looked positively moist down by Four Hills.
“No worries,” I thought. “It never rains before noon, when it rains at all. Plenty of time.”
Uh huh. I felt the first few drops just off Tramway at Manitoba, and on Glenwood Hills Drive they were bucketing down in quantity. I had fenders on — all the Somas have fenders — but I had to mind my manners in the corners as I slalomed home at a quarter ’til noon, just in time for lunch, if I had any food.
“If only we had some ham we could have ham and eggs, if we only had some eggs.” You said a mouthful, brother.
Tags: Dick Missile's Galaxy O' Grub, Groceries, rain, Soma Saga
Mad Blog Media 
August 10, 2022 at 3:12 pm |
Annie got her long walk this morning. As I finished up some emails at home and got ready for a ride, I noticed it was actually getting dark out, not just my mood settling into its usual place. I think we got an inch of rain in about an hour. Now it is raining again.
August 10, 2022 at 4:24 pm |
Did you ever get out? I think we might be due for another round here as well. Either feast or famine.
August 10, 2022 at 8:03 pm |
Finally got out for a short rip around four-thirty. Was better than nothing.
August 10, 2022 at 8:14 pm |
It’s all good. Even if yis get the dreaded Brown Stripe up the bibs.
August 10, 2022 at 3:53 pm |
I had to relearn the lesson Nate Silver tries to teach me. Things with a 15% probability (weather.com’s forecast for the chance of rain) may very well happen. It happened to me at Tramway and Central coming back from Tijeras and was driven home riding six miles north through the brunt of the storm.
Glad I had fenders. Not so glad I left them in the garage.
August 10, 2022 at 4:03 pm |
Oof. That storm was a pisser. Sounded like God emptying His thundermug on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
I got lucky. I was riding the befendered Soma Saga because it’s been suffering from a slipping seat post and I wanted to see whether I’d solved the problem. Didn’t have a rain jacket, but I made it home before I would’ve really needed one.
August 11, 2022 at 7:37 am |
There you go again leaving us poor readers hanging. How did you solve the slipping seat post? It’s an issue that NEEDS attention before one finds either a broken or stripped binder bolt in hand or…..shudder…a cracked brazed-in binder on the frame itself. The world awaits POG!
August 11, 2022 at 7:54 am |
Details, details. … I recently swapped out the stock Soma post for a Thomson (the original had a bit too much setback) and then made a couple small adjustments. Next thing I know the saddle is taking that down escalator to the top tube as I rode around and about.
Having snapped a binder bolt in a brazed-on clamp not that long ago, requiring a visit to the bike shop, I was reluctant to gorilla the Soma’s bolt on the road. So home I went to pull the post, wipe off the grease, swab out the seat tube, reapply a very very very light coat of grease to the post, and reinstall the sumbitch.
Then I left it alone for a while so it could learn the error of its ways. Took the bike for a short spin the other day, gave the bolt another leetle nudge, and hey presto! So far, so good. But I haven’t hit any really bumpy roads yet. The next high-speed trip down Simms from Elena Gallegos should be most informative.
Also, do not expect me to attempt any cyclocross-style remounts on this machine anytime soon.
August 11, 2022 at 1:54 pm |
Glad you put forth the juicy details. To grease or not grease….that is the question. I used to grease the crank axle tapers back in they day after having some catastrophic issues with a crank arm removal thereby stripping threads.. Then, I had a crank arm (left side) fall off whilst pedaling so no more of that. A miserly film on the stem and seatpost and that’s it!
August 10, 2022 at 4:25 pm |
Most times when there is nothing I can do about getting dumped on and I know that I’m going to get wet, my attitude changes and suddenly I’m a kid that’s having fun in a big puddle. That is if I don’t have a long way to ride or I’m not cresting a pass at 10K ft + worrying about lightning and getting ready to ride down in cold rain.
“couple hundy worth of disco vittles.” Tortillas ?
August 10, 2022 at 5:16 pm |
I prefer to have company if I’m gonna be cold, wet, freezing my ass off, etc. That way I have an audience for my sniveling. The voices in my head have no sympathy.
“Hey, you did this to us, shithead. We were perfectly happy with the idea of going to the grocery. But no, you had a better idea. …”
August 10, 2022 at 8:10 pm |
Oh, yes. Cresting a high pass in the rain is such fun. On my second year doing the Red River Century Tour, I crested Bobcat Pass (9,900 ft) in a driving sleet storm and barreled down the steep side back into Red River with my hands and feet numb, soaked to the skin, and the road a wash of water. I guess it turned to snow after that and folks slower than I got rounded up in school buses. I shot past the finish line and went right to my hotel room and turned on a hot shower, bike clothes and all.
It was my second year living in New Mexico after fourteen years of warm, tropical rain on Oahu. Welcome to the Land of Enchantment.
August 10, 2022 at 5:13 pm |
My experience as an Air Force fighter pilot re the weather was:
“Flexibility is the key to air power; indecision is the key to flexibility; and weather forecasters are the key to indecision.”
Fully agree with Tony and Shawn! 🙂
August 10, 2022 at 8:05 pm |
We had the opposite here in Sierra Vista. The rain chance today was 60%, a we got zip, zero, nada. What is it about Soma Sagas the makes them stand out from the rest of the herd? You walk in the garage and Saga says come over here son, you know I’m the one bike to rule them all. Most comfortable bike I even owned. The Double Cross was a close second.
August 10, 2022 at 8:13 pm |
Those Somas are well thought out. Likewise the New Albion Privateer. Both come from the Merry Sales boyos, who are a treasure and a treat to work with. Between Herself and Meself we have two Soma Double Crosses, two Soma Sagas, and one New Albion Privateer in The Fleet.
My rim-brake Saga with a set of Rivendell wheels practically rides itself. I could take a nap in the saddle and it would fetch me home like a well-trained horse.
August 11, 2022 at 5:56 am |
Interesting, we here in the Metromess also had t-storms and rain Wednesday afternoon. Broke a 67 day dry spell.
August 11, 2022 at 7:35 am |
Good news there, hey? You always think you hate the rain until you don’t see any for a while.
August 11, 2022 at 7:07 am |
NWS 1, Pat 0. We got 1/2 inch of hard rain, accompanied by flashes and booms, about and hour after my comment above.
August 11, 2022 at 7:39 am |
Pyrotechnics! No fires, I trust. Man, this has been one of those years. Occasionally I think about re-reading The Revelation of St. John the Divine, but nix. Might be something in there about accursed cities in the desert and the various plagues to be visited upon certain baldheaded heretics therein.
August 11, 2022 at 8:31 am |
Or, it might have various plagues and afflictions for silver headed taoists. Brings Mr. Carlin to mind. “…….but he loves you.”
August 13, 2022 at 10:40 am |
Several years ago at about this time of year, l was about six miles away from the end of a good long ride in the country. I was on a flat road surrounded by vast cornfields. I glanced to my left and see the leading edge of the rainstorm bearing down about half a mile out. Interesting feeling when you see that and realize escape is impossible (resistance is futile- you will be assimilated). One of my more benign biking in precipitation stories.
August 13, 2022 at 3:41 pm |
Back when I was a “serious” cyclist and living in Bibleburg there was a small group of us, all self-employed at one thing or another, and we rode long distances year-round in the most vile weather imaginable. Neoprene was involved. Also, and too, wool.
After checking the weather I would always cross my fingers and hope that someone would cave. “No, boys, it’s just too damn [insert your least favorite conditions here] out there.” But it almost never happened. Pulling on all those layers felt like dressing for your tumbrel ride to the guillotine.
August 13, 2022 at 9:37 pm |
Years ago when the internet was still young, I penned a short riff about donning attire for a mid-winter ride in Fairbanks, AK. A process that would benefit from a squire or a kind and thoughtful girlfriend, neither of which I had. On one such occasion I was relishing the thought of some riding along snowy trails at about -25F. What added the relish description was that the mid-winter sun was giving the northern world a pleasant orange (alpen) glow. Ah, sunshine. But as bad luck happens it may sometimes occur after you’ve spent ten minutes suiting up. Although bikes in the far cold north stay nice and clean, they unfortunately are not immune to flat tires. So as I learned more than once, always check the bike first before donning riding armor.
I don’t recall Dickens’ mentioning tumbrels in his epic about a couple of metropolitan areas. I can’t imagine that he did not though.
August 14, 2022 at 7:17 am |
Got up yesterday morning and weather report on phone indicates perfect timing for fishing. Scramble around to locate gear, load kayak and head out to lake. Notice menacing black clouds moving in. Recheck phone…see I was looking at weather screen from YESTERDAY. Turned the car around as the rain began. And it didn’t stop all day as temps stayed in the 50’s. Doh!!
August 16, 2022 at 12:01 pm |
Rain? “Let it rain, let it pour, let it rain a whole lot more.”. I got those shallow river blues.
https://apnews.com/article/mexico-arizona-lakes-colorado-river-cc37e49759fabe8236a081286dfc61ee