Colbert and Maron

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 3 Comments

If you’d just as soon skip tonight’s Democratic beauty pageant for something, anything else, well — have I got a podcast for you.

No, it’s not another edition of Radio Free Dogpatch. This is the real deal, two pros, Marc Maron talking with Stephen Colbert.

I loved “The Colbert Report,” and Herself is nuts for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Maybe you’re crazy for both of these aspects of the guy’s personality.

Well, lemme tell ya, there’s a lot more where those came from. The chorale of voices in Colbert’s head make mine look like a barbershop quartet. And yet somehow, he has them all singing instead of screaming.

I wish they’d had more time, but somebody had a show to do. Maybe there will be a rematch.

In the meantime, if you need a little sumpin’-sumpin’ for dessert, check out Maron’s chat with David Letterman. 

De ’bate, boss! De ’bate!

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 14 Comments
Heading west on Meadow, which kicks off the mostly downhill run to Tijeras.

Welcome to “Fantasy Island,” with a side of “Survivor.”

A couple fantasies should get voted off the island after tonight’s Democratic “debate.”

I steeled myself for the ordeal yesterday by riding the New Mexico Touring Society’s Frost Road Loop, which was something of a spin down Memory Lane. It includes a few bits from the old state road championships circuit, where in 1991 Your Humble Narrator took second in the Masters 35 race after a late crash took out all of the serious contenders save for Laurence Malone (yes, that Laurence Malone).

Yesterday I finished first, Laurence Malone being elsewhere, along with everyone else. I’m still waiting for my gold medal, bouquet, and podium ceremony, though.

My take on the Frost Road Loop was a 40-mile round trip from El Rancho Pendejo, with a couple thousand feet of vertical gain, and it made for a nice change of pace from my usual rides, though NM 14 is under construction through much of Cedar Crest, the Old Route 66 shoulder was slathered in debris and gravel past Zuzax and Tijeras, and the wind — de wind, boss, de wind! — was much in evidence on the homebound leg because I got the traditional late start.

I think we had a little pollen-and-smoke action going on, too, because the snotlocker and eyeballs were grumbling a bit afterward. Not as much as they will be tonight, though. This “debate” is liable to be hard on the nose, eyes and ears.

El Gran Furúnculo

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 17 Comments
I ride this …
… so I can get to this.

Hijo, madre. I had forgotten that the inaugural GFNY Fanta Se is mañana.

Looks like it uses some of the old Sangre de Cristo Cycling Club Championship course in addition to the Santa Fe Hill Climb course.

And it sure should be interesting, given the amount of climbing, the quality of the air this weekend, and the temperament of the local motorists more or less year-round.

I’ll take a page from “The Milagro Beanfield War” on this one: “I’m not saying it’s good, I’m not saying it’s bad. Let’s just wait and see what happens.”

Just ’cause it’s Sunday doesn’t mean drivers will have Jesus in their hearts.

Here’s the official website.

Repsychling

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 12 Comments
Put a lid on it.

Remember that recycling discussion we were having a while back?

According to The Guardian, recycling is mostly a figment of our imaginations. Says The Guardian:

A waste executive from Republic Services, one of the country’s largest garbage haulers, which serves more than 2,800 communities and has 91 recycling centers, said that one-third of everything collected by recycling trucks went to disposal because it was either contaminated, too small to be sorted or not actually recyclable.

“We’re right now landfilling it [plastic],” adds one Arizona operator. And Sierra Vista gets a shout-out, too.