It’s been a week since I got sprung from jury duty and I’m (a) still slightly bemused by the experience, and (2) not particularly interested in diving back into the sewage lagoon of the 24-hour news cycle.
Anyway, the fiber-optic fairies have been scurrying hither and yon in the ’hood, barricading streets and sidewalks; parking trucks, trailers, and arcane machinery in the right of way; digging holes and then filling them up again (or not); cutting gas lines and unplugging cable TV; and like that there.
It seems like a treasure hunt, albeit slightly spastic, and for some spray-tanned Suits in air-conditioned offices it almost certainly is. But for the sunburnt dudes with the shovels it’s hard labor with a side of heat stroke. And for the casual blogger it’s a noisy pain in the brain that takes his eye off the ball.
“Fuck this noise, I’d rather go 10 rounds with the bears.”
Well. Maybe not. Unless you can find me a real little one. Some toddler’s teddy, maybe.
Instead I go for a ride.
Yesterday I’d planned to wind southwest along the Paseo de Las Montañas Trail and through downtown to the bosque, before it dries up and blows away, then come home via the Paseo/North Diversion Channel Trail/Osuna/Bear Canyon route, or take the NDCT through Balloon Fiesta Park and up Tramway.
But NDCT south of the brief stretch of I-40 Trail west of Carlisle was closed for some reason, so I skipped downtown and the bosque and rode north to the Tramway climb, which I hadn’t done in two months.
I usually ride this gradual 5-mile ascent from I-25 to County Line BBQ as an individual time trial, just for shits and giggles, not trying to prove anything. My “training,” if you can call it that, is focused on having fun, testing myself a little when the spirit moves, and not getting centerpunched by some leadfoot “making his day” on TikTok.
A half hour for the distance is not shameful. My best time is 26:37, set four years ago on the DBR Prevail TT.
Yesterday, aboard the Soma Pescadero, I didn’t feel like I was crushing it — maybe a slight cross/headwind, p’raps sloth and torpor, or some combination of the two — so I was surprised to check the ol’ chrono at the finish and see a time of 28 minutes flat.
It seemed familiar, possibly because it was. When I got home and checked my training log to see how 28 minutes flat added up to previous Tramway time trials … well, it was the exact same time I’d ridden back in June, on the New Albion Privateer.
That was weird. What was really weird was that my time for the entire ride — from El Rancho Pendejo to the I-40/NDCT trails, Balloon Fiesta Park, Tramway, County Line, and back to the rancho — was likewise identical to my June outing, which covered the same ground, to the centimeter.
Talk about spinning your wheels to no particular purpose. No wonder I never go viral. You gotta give The Algorithm something to work with.
I mean, like, tik fuckin’ tok, yo.
Mad Blog Media 
If you ride long enough in the same rut, you discover you’re creating little change. My last two rides along the same route were identical to the second – 1:01:54 and 1:01:54. Data collection can be a fascinating beast. At least it can make the mundane less boring. I like to see how my route times change with increased wind, direction and/or broiling temperatures. And of course if I break out the skinnier tire bikes then numbers change noticeably.
It’s sad to read about the Cottonwoods down in your bosque region. Maybe an area of future Saguaro groves?
Current news? Same old shit. An inept old loser trying to steer the paddlewheel battleship while launching gold plated projectiles at old warehouse shanties making drones from the remnants of exploded gold plate projectiles. I’m honoring him with a little sign mounted in my toilet that says “A Trump thought once floated here”.
Now I’m going for a ride. I’m not sure which rut I’ll make deeper.
Yeah, that’s why I like to mix it up a lot. I have a menu of rides that I can shoehorn into almost any schedule, but I really enjoy grabbing a cyclocross bike and just winging it, jumping off the road and into the dirt and then back again. Really makes the time fly.
One thing I don’t do is train anaerobically anymore. If I cross the threshold because I feel frisky on a series of hills, that’s fine, but I don’t work at it. “Fartlek,” they called it Back in the Day.® I think it meant “speed play.” Lots more fun than intervals.
Didn’t you mean fuck tic tok, yo? I used to say fuck Strava when some punk poser came ripping down the Brown Canyon trail and pissed off all the hikers while I am sitting at the bottom with my bike taking a break. Got some side eye, bro.
Strava. Don’t get me started. When I still wanted to race I did it around other people who felt the same way, which made it more interesting. And more fun, too.
I wish Allo was trenching in my yard right now. Not yet says the HOA because of some $3k dispute over landscape damage. Aren’t you ready to give the DSL the ole heave ho?
We have Gigapower rocking the cul-de-sac. They’re just laying the fiber, and won’t act as an ISP. I think their primary “partner” is AT&T, with which we have a checkered history.
I guess we’ll have to see which band of brigands we can sign on with once the hard work is done. CenturyLink isn’t getting any better, but they charge as if they are.
I’ve got two routes that I ride frequently, one on road and the other off. The on road is laps on the bridge trying to get 2 laps in under an hour. That includes the ride from the house which usually takes about 8 minutes. Yesterday I got caught by a train so that added a few minutes and I did the route in a little over an hour.
My off road route is for me a 50 minute ride. I’ve yet to get under that time. I feel like I’m getting better but the heat just sucks everything out of me.
I have other routes but they either take more time or I have to drive to them. I can ride out to the beach to the fort and back which is right at 40 miles but the traffic out there is awful and the route mostly sucks. My favorite ride is up in the state forest. No particular route, just seeing the sights and exploring. There’s always something to see. This time of year though the weather starts getting bad around noon so it’s not worth the drive.