Another nice Saturday morning ride on the '99 Joe Starck 26"-wheel, 76" gear, gofast fixie.

[Patrick Moore]

Met a friend at the Sandia Pueblo commuter rail station for a nice northward loop through Bernalillo and Algodones and the Santa Ana Pueblo and return; the early morning cold (~23*F when I took my dog for an early "run the evil out of him" run before the ride) quickly warmed with the sun, so that it must have been about 32* when we started at 9 am, and the mid 40s by the time we got back to the station, 2 1/2 hours later; my hands were sauna-ing in the the PI Lobster mitts. Very pleasant winter morning, sunny and still; breeze didn't pick up until the southward return leg; just as I was getting tired.

I get into a riding rut, riding the same pretty, but uvarying routes nearby over and over again. Within 10 miles from home there are miles of open state and country roads through at-once charming and squalid environments that combine horse culture, ancient little villages, and single wides, but all with vast vistas ending in distant mountains, and punctuated in this bosque area by the cottonwoods that are so precious and noticeable in a high-desert landscape, Fields populated by horses, cows, and vast herds of wintering herons and geese; and even, said my friend of another ride up the Tramway hill, bison in shaggy winter coats. This is what North Valley Albuquerque must have looked like back when Edward Abbey drove along 4th Street while when getting his master's in englit at UNM, and what the Brave Cowboy must have seen during his equestrian peregrination through the city.

Friend was riding his commuter mid-range Cannondale road bike, 3X10 and room for no more than 28s under the cf fork (he rides a Santa Cruz Stigmata, not a Pinarello Dogma; but same weird old-fashioned, Catholic-fixation nomenclature, though); me on the 76" Joe Starck with the ineffably smooth and fast Rene Herse Elk Passes. I was pleased to find that my climbing out of shape muscles must be permanently altered, because I've been riding almost exclusively N-S along the perfectly level Valley (4,980 feet) for the past umpteen months, but the hills, one steep one at least 1/2mile long, left me only moderately overexerted and were mostly just fun.There's a very pleasant rhythm when standing to climb fixed; it's less efficient, but there is a very distinct "plateau" of exertion where one can stand for long distances and hold off the inevitable move to anaerobic exhaustion. Must work on hills; climbing fixed is very enjoyable when you prepare for it. I do have 67" and 57" (17/20 Dingle) on the flip side.

30.something miles; no biggie, I know, but given my condition and age, a very pleasant stretch of my capacity. I want to start riding the 7-mile Tramway hill again; it's been a long time.

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[WETH]

Patrick,
Lovely ride report. I enjoyed especially your description of the landscape. I can almost picture those cottonwoods, mountains, and blue sky. I’m glad you got to begin the New Year with such a lovely ride.
All the best,
Erl

[jack loudon]

Nice story, nicely written.  Thanks.

Jack - also an Edward Abbey fan, and I don't care a whit if some of his non-fiction was (reportedly) largely fictionalized