Some days, the smashing of the State will just have to wait.
Yesterday was one of them.
The high temp was 83°, which can be something of a shock to the system in April. But we’ve eased into it, starting with 50-something on Monday and jumping up 10 degrees each day.
Shoot, I’ve managed nearly 100 miles so far this week and it ain’t over yet.
Oh, yeah: And in case you think I’ve gone soft on fascism, I’ll have you know that I struck a blow for The People on yesterday’s ride. The gate to La Cueva Picnic Site was closed and locked, but I snuck around it and rode to the top anyway.
¡Venceremos! ¡Sí, sue puede!
Mad Blog Media 
Up Davie, up! Chapeau, mi amigo. Me? “I look like a train wreck and feel like a blob. Till you get to know me, you may think I’m a snob. But, I’m closer to heaven than I’ve ever been.”
Rodney Crowell – Closer To Heaven
Noticed the headlight on the bars. Do you ride during the day with strobe flashers? I’ve thought about it but so far, nyet.
Nah. I know some people who do, and it seems to make sense — you can really see a blinker a long ways off — but I just leave it on reg’lar mode.
The tail light I run in pulse mode, a slow, steady rise and fall in its glow. That one I really want people to see. I figure anything coming at me from the front I can react to, maybe save myself. From the rear? Not so much.
Speaking of needing a tailgunner.
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/santa-fe-bicyclist-injured-in-hit-and-run-south-of-espa-ola/article_b307c593-961e-4f1e-a704-972a776de797.html#tncms-source=block-behavioral
Goes without saying (which I’ll do anyway) that she hasn’t won many beauty contests lately. Or likely beat anyone at scrabble. Strange that no mention of booze or opiates as if they don’t test when you are pulled over?
“Pedal faster, I hear banjo music!”
Back in the Day® you could count on at least one DUI checkpoint between Fanta Se and Española. There was a liquor store in Pojoaque with a drive-through window, and the cops usually set up between there and La Puebla.
Nothing like a short chat with the fuzz after a long shift in the barrel at The New Mexican.
And good on the deputy for being on the ball. People talk shit on rural cops, sometimes for good reasons, but a good one knows his previous offenders.
“This ain’t your first rodeo with us, is it? Step out of the vehicle, please.”
That booze joint, Kokoman, is still there, but they shut down that drive through window long time ago. I don’t recall ever seeing it open.
We used to get all our wine there but they went through some sort of change in management and it wasn’t so good after that. Total Wino is killing it.
I’ve seen more riders with rear flashers lately. I put one on one of my road bikes but often forget to turn it on. Too bad they don’t make a miniaturized CIWS that fits on a rear bike rack.
I used to ride between Pojoaque and Española all the time. And it was frequently scary.
I’ve mentioned the time a comedian riding a big ol’ hog snuck up from behind me as I was grinding along into a deafening headwind and then barked like a dog as he passed. Thought somebody’s pit bull was fixin’ to jump out a pick-em-up truck’s window and take me down. I wasn’t scared or nothin’, but somebody shit on my saddle.
The last few years I was riding, including the Sante Fe ride with my buddies, I used a front light in flashing mode. At the Santa Fe ride it was mounted on the fork. My thinking was it would keep people in intersections from turning in front of me. Wishful thinking?
Even if the flasher only gave you a 10% edge that beats getting made into a pancake. I ponied up for the BikeSpark Auto Sensing Rear Light last fall but have used it little so can’t vouch for it (yet). One thing I admire about the e-bikes I see zipping around is many have built in lights that are on whenever the computer for the motor is engaged. Some of the lights are pretty bright too since they can pull from a big ass battery.
Love the Cateye computer. I’ve resurrected, replaced batteries and re-installed a couple of them lately myself. They go well with my older bikes (’88 and ’74).
Yeah, I love ’em too. The Velo 8 is my fave, but I have a few Velo 5s and 7s too. And a Strada Slim for the 1994 DBR Prevail TT.
Simple devices, easy to set up and cheap to maintain. Cateye sells spare bits and keeps the owner’s manuals online forever.
I second the motion on Cateye Velo computers. Mine always lived on multiple bikes, and I can’t remember one failing.
I’ve got Velo 5s and 7s on my fleet except for one old off brand that refuses to die. When the battery dies, I have to reset it by random guess, as the instructions are long gone, as is the company.
Head &tail lights flashing on the road while commuting here in Los Angeles area while wearing a reflective construction worker vest, and I still feel they’re out to turn me and the bike into a hood ornament.
I am partial to the old Avocet 30 on the fast road bike and the Surly Long Haul Trucker.
Wow Mr. Codger you got your monies worth out of those Avocets. Are they 20+ years old? I haven’t seen them in eonsbut maybe I wasn’t looking and they were still made. At one point I had a Ciclomaster which claimed to be German that you could stack modules onto to not only tell speed and distance but what time to take the pie out of the oven and where that second sock crawled off to. I went through a series of them under “warranty” and damned if I ever found that sock. Those things also loved to switch back from miles/fahrenheit to km/celsius on their own. If you weren’t observant you’d think you were either Eddy Mercyx or maybe breaking out in a fever since you felt really hot since it told you it was 26 degrees and you still had your layers on.
I have at least two Cateyes. I think one is an Enduro and the other is a Mitey (Mity?). I forget their versions. I’ve always liked Cateye stuff and since I have them I’d agree that they seem to have lasted the longest. I have a fancy Garmin watch but went back to the cyclometers when the watch “trumped” up on me a few times. I have a box of other cyclometers and I have an old Avocet still in there. It may be a model 10 but it’s one that has tape applied letters on the front – one of those pro-version models that made sure all the techie watchers knew who made it. I don’t even know if it still works.
I rocked the Avocets for years before switching over to the Cateyes. Just one remains, an Avocet 25 on Herself’s mountain bike, which gets ridden every Feb. 31st. If she ever climbs aboard again I’ll replace its battery and see whether I can remember how to configure it.
The Beatified Sheldon Brown has the codes to reset your computer on http://harriscyclery.com
Awwww. … Señor Brown was the best.
So many helpful people in the bike racket. They just want you to have the most fun possible.
There are a few of the other sort, too, of course, But we don’t gotta pay them no mind.
I tells ya, it is so cool when you have something “vintage” and are able to find parts and directives to keep it going. While it’s likely not pushing the almighty economy forward, it’s a small step in reigning in rampant consumerism which ultimately makes the CEO’s rich(er) whilst we just deal with the fekking clamshell packaging that forces you to risk your life just to open. Then, when we get it open, well hell…there are no directions! If you don’t have internet you are screwed. And don’t you just LOVE it when you hit the Q-code expecting to get some form of owners manual or direction steps but instead get advertising for more…..well…crap you don’t need.
That’s one of the things I love about outfits like Cateye and Sidi. You can find manuals and repair parts for both without spending a few weeks scouting eBay. I’ve replaced all manner of bits on various pairs of Sidis over the years, and found mounts and manuals for some truly ancient Cateyes.
A shout out to Park Tool for their exhaustive library of this and that, and for Calvin’s YouTube videos, while I’m thinking of it.