Tag: John Crandall

The longest day

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 2 Comments
Tick tock, etc.

Hot town, summer in the city, as the fella says. Welcome to the summer solstice in the Year of Our Lard 2026.

It’s 76° at 15 minutes after the big hour of 9 a.m. here in The Duck! City, with a high of 95° expected — three degrees above normal but well short of the record of 103°, set all the way back in 1981, when “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes topped Billboard’s Hot 100 as Ronald Reagan shredded the social safety net while bulking up the Pentagon.

Well, there you go again. … Good times. Maybe not. Better than now? Your mileage may vary.

Where there’s heat, there’s often fire, and it should go without saying that we have a few: Deer Canyon, south of Mountainair; Osha Canyon, south of Placitas; Rio, at Mesa de la Gallina; and Elk, in the Pecos Wilderness.

Rather than add my little flame to this hot mess I whipped up cool smoothies for breakfast: Mango, strawberries, banana, yogurt, honey, rice milk, and a sprinkle of Vietnamese cinnamon.

Up north my man Hal Walter was putting the finishing touches on his Substack series, “The Blur Goes to College,” which over the past two years chronicled son Harrison’s adventures in higher education. And I do mean “higher” — The Blur attended college at 10,000 feet, in Leadville, after growing up at 8,800 feet outside Weirdcliffe.

Hal’s plan is to transform the Substack chronicle into a physical book, with a cover by noted Leadville artist and old pal Craig Schreiber. Mine is to go for a ride before it gets too bloody hot.

The DBR Prevail TT.

I can’t go all the way back to 1981 for a bike — that year I had just abandoned a Seventies Schwinn when I fled The Arizona Daily Star and Tucson for parts unknown, shortly after my father’s untimely death in Bibleburg.

But I can time-travel back to 1994, when I bought a DBR Prevail TT from John Crandall at Old Town Bike Shop in that very same town.

Do you believe in magic?

Air Subaru flies again

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 6 Comments

Bibleburg, as seen from the overlook at Palmer Park.

Another week, another flight aboard Air Subaru. This time it was back to Bibleburg to clear some stuff out of the garage at The House Back East™, which is to have a new proprietor by close of business Friday.

We’re talking your basic high-speed up-and-back, so apologies to the many Bibleburghers I missed during my whirlwind tour.

I was able to visit our old friend and former tenant Judy, who’s now living in a senior center off Lower Gold Camp, and looking fit despite a bad fall that required surgery, some aftermarket parts, and a whole lot of rehab.

Looking stormy this morning off the side patio.

Too, I caught up with John Crandall and the rest of the gang at Old Town Bike Shop, where we spoke of Tim Watkins, another recent victim of gun violence.

Then I beat it back to the Duke City in time to vote in Tuesday’s election, sign closing documents for THBE™, and score a half-bushel of freshly roasted green chile, some of which went almost instantly into vegetarian quesadillas for Herself and Your Humble Narrator. A green chile stew is to follow directly, as the weather is said to be turning damp and chilly for a couple of days.

And now, after piling a couple thousand miles onto the odometer in two weeks, it’s time to give the old hunk of junk a break. The Subaru could use one, too. So it’s back to human-powered transportation for a spell. Look for me on two feet and two wheels for the foreseeable future.

Good News Department redux

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 3 Comments

I almost forgot to pass along the word that John Crandall’s Old Town Bike Shop has once again been named the top local bike shop in the Colorado Springs Independent‘s Best of 2010 issue.

And Colorado Running Company recently scored a featurette in the Gazette noting (albeit belatedly) its 10th anniversary plus the opening of a second location up north in the Industrial Christianity Zone. CoRunCo is managed by longtime Dog John “Usuk” O’Neill, who is another portly Irish-American tosspot cluttering up the local sporting scene with his opinions on this, that and the other.

A lift of the Mad Dog pint to the both of yis.

From our oft-ignored Good News Department

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 5 Comments

I had just wrapped up a bit of leaf-raking this afternoon and was vigorously applying water to what serves us as a lawn when my friend, neighbor and bicycle adviser John Crandall of Old Town Bike Shop rolled by to exchange pleasantries.

John, as you may recall, was involved in a horrific bike-auto accident a year and some months back, and in his recovery has suffered the trials of Job. He has been carved like a Thanksgiving turkey (and more than once); had parts installed and replaced; taken steps backward as well as forward; and endured physical therapy that would make the Grand Inquisitor say, “Aw, c’mon, guys, ease up.”

And now he’s cycling again, on the road; has been for a couple of weeks. Ten miles is a good day. He’s trying to figure out whether he can still ride a motorcycle, which must be an agonizing decision for a throttle-twister of some four decades’ standing.

But at least John is back on the bike. I should’ve taken a picture. He looked so happy.