The snot locker

May 14, 2025 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 10 Comments

Apologies for the extended hitch in the blogging gitalong.

Herself returned from Maine on Saturday with a case of The Bug, and thanks to the recent heavy rains I have been enjoying an extended allergic reaction to just about everything, including, as you have seen, bloggery.

The Boss is feeling much better now, thanks to rest, tea, posole, and television. I remember when rest, Canada Dry ginger ale, Lipton’s chicken noodle soup, and comic books did the trick for me. So it goes.

Despite a surfeit of snot I have been out and about on the Soma Pescadero, and you may expect an Adventure Cyclist-style review here in the very near future. Of the Soma, not the snot.

It’s been interesting to see how the Pescadero stacks up with the rest of the Merry Sales family — my two Soma Sagas (one rim brake, one disc); the Double Cross (my oldest Soma); and the New Albion Privateer. Marketeer Stan Pun says the Pescadero is “probably our most under-the-radar frame,” which is a pity, because it’s a smooth blend of past and present. It should be flying high.

Anyway, more on that later. Right now it’s time to ride.

Or so I hope, anyway. We have a largish fire burning at the Arizona-New Mexico border, another one freshly pissed out in an industrial district north of downtown, an air-quality alert, and a red-flag warning.

If I were smart I’d stay inside with the doors and windows shut. But if I were smart, I wouldn’t have mowed the lawn yesterday.

Mayday!

May 2, 2025 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 17 Comments

We didn’t smash the State yesterday.

Herself had just returned from a nine-day trip, so she got caught up on her trail running and weight training while I settled for smashing a few climbs on the Soma Pescadero in my best socialist-red cycling kit.

I feel some remorse over not making our local May Day march, which drew either hundreds or thousands of people, depending upon your news source.

But I’m certain there will be other opportunities to hit the streets for a cause instead of just ’cause. I mean, fascists gonna fascist, amirite? We will not lack for opportunity.

Case(s) in point:

• West Coast ports are bracing for a tariff-related dent in import volume:

The number of containers scheduled to arrive at the Port of Los Angeles is anticipated to drop more than 35 percent next week compared with the same period last year, data from the port shows. And a quarter of the ships that had been scheduled for May have canceled because of light volume, said Gene Seroka, the port’s executive director.

• This means that Beelzebozo’s recession has already begun:

This is how the recession begins. In Seattle, cargo shipments are down 60 percent. Los Angeles will be next. The recession will make its way east from Seattle and Los Angeles as trucks and freight trains carry less cargo overland.

• And businesses are already planning to share the pain with their customers as tariffs start nibbling away at their bottom lines:

More companies are starting to warn that they will have to pass on higher costs to American consumers, raising prices for products like strollers, mattresses, power tools and cast-iron cookware as President Trump’s tariffs take hold.

One thing I keep seeing in stories like these is the shock — shock! — among Beelzebozo Believers that they will be among those assuming the position as his “deals” go down.

Consider Michelle Hall, a 48-year-old secretary in Snohomish, Wash. She found shopping online with Temu “addicting and fun” — until she noticed the “import charges” piling up.

She voted for Mr. Trump in November, initially thinking his trade policies could help reduce the deficit, create manufacturing jobs and make the nation less dependent on foreign countries.

Ms. Hall said she never thought her own costs would increase, and she originally hoped that Mr. Trump would quickly bring prices down.

“I wanted to have faith,” she said. “I don’t have that faith anymore.”

See you on the barricades, Michelle. I’ll take a day off the bike if you’ll take a day off from shopping.

The Devil is in the details

April 29, 2025 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 12 Comments

Old Pueblo Road, just south of Hanover Road. — Winding down a three-day tour of Colorado in 2012.

I’m a sucker for a good road-trip story.

“On the Road.” “Travels with Charley.” “Blue Highways.” “Not Fade Away.” The list goes on and on and on.

Here’s another one, from Colum McCann, author of “Let the Great World Spin.”

Headlined “The Church of the Open Road” — perhaps a riff on “The Church of the Rotating Mass,” which may be a Maurice “Dirt Rag” Tierney creation — it’s McCann’s recollection of a bike tour some four decades ago. On the road to nowhere, or so he thought when he set out.

A Catholic when he began, he encountered tiny Louisiana chapels and Texas megachurches, Southern Baptists and holy rollers (no pun intended). Slept in a pew, worked in a church camp. Inclined to listening, open to revelation, he collected stories as he went.

I won’t spoil this story by summarizing it. Give it a read.

Also, cast not your eyes upon the illustration. There may be some hidden meaning in there, but if so, it is obscured by a lack of historical verisimilitude. Forty years ago bicycles had neither integrated brake/shift levers nor disc brakes (especially not on the drive side). They did, however, have chainrings (and chains), freewheels, pedals, and external cables.

A journey of a thousand miles may begin with a single pedal stroke. But for Christ’s’ sake, you gotta have the pedals.

A very good Friday

April 18, 2025April 18, 2025 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 16 Comments

The Soma Pescadero is in the house!

Also, on the road. We took our maiden voyage this morning, a rolling 20-miler around the Duck! City foothills to see what was what.

And what it was was … an excellent first impression.

The build goes 24.5 pounds, or just under a pound lighter than the New Albion Privateer. The feel is friskier — shorter, shaped chainstays, a skosh less rake, a nicely sporty ride.

The wheels may be a tad burly, but hey, this is Albuquerque; the roads are broken and bad, and I run 38mm tires at low pressures to keep the fillings in my teeth and the teeth in my head.

Drivetrain is nine-speed double for now, 46/30T x 11-32T, and I can see that it’s gonna take a few outings to fine-tune the friction shifting. Not the machinery; my operation of it. The Privateer is seven-speed, so basically I can just slap the shifter and be on the proper cog. Nine cogs want a little more delicacy of touch.

Who knows? I may go to seven-speed on the Pescadero, too. How many cogs does a geezer really need, anyway? Three? One for up, one for down, one for flat. You need more than that? Get an e-bike. Or a car.

And the Paul Components Racer centerpulls? Disco.

First change I make will be the saddle. This Soma Hishou is a perennial stand-in for (and an homage to) a classic Selle Italia Flite, of which I am all out at present. Further purchases may require additional authorization from The Management.

More as we learn it.

In the meantime, the best thing about the Soma Pescadero is that it took what remains of my mind off fascism for 98 refreshing minutes.

Up the (pedal) revolution

April 11, 2025 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 22 Comments

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!