A trip to the West Side

Now that the weather has become particularly pleasant, Jill and I decided to take a little ride to to the west side of ABQ. The historical attraction is a region of petroglyphs that we had yet to visit. Here's the Rio Grand crossing.

Astute readers might notice that I'm riding a different bike than usual. It's my birthday present! A 1982 Trek 610, made in Wisconsin, USA! Really, sometimes stuff was made in the US back then. I like it a lot. Now I have 5 bikes again, so probably one of them will have to go.

Note that spiral behind Jill. The images that aren't 'historical graphiti' were made between 400 and 700 years ago. I like the spiral symbol -- life continues to move forward and yet the world's patterns (seasons, years) go on as usual, helps point us to origins, etc. -- but overall I'm not terribly impressed with these drawings.

We each got a flat during the ride. While we were fixing the second flat, two boys rode up to us on their bicycles and asked us if we needed help. How kind! They just hung out and watched me change the tube, talking a little with us and a little to each other. In english to us and spanish to each other. We were impressed and told them so.

It was pretty windy, not a big problem normally, but there are tighter water regulations on the west side. Hence more sand and dust that blows along with the wind. When it hits the legs, it hurts a lot more than expected.

The baby blue bicycle is back and is orange. It looks really good, so please don't fret about the color shift. Think about the spiral -- yes, we're on a different circle, but we're at the same angle on the spiral. Look to the center and remember all we've been through. Better things are ahead.

I'm still building it up -- the last major project is to install the aluminum fenders, which will involve some drilling and cutting to get them mounted -- but the primary delay is allowing the paint to cure. Did you know it takes 30 days for paint to fully cure? That's a long time!