Abq is located on the west side of the Sandia mountains, which happens to be the side with not so much vegetation, giving the mountains a quite brown look year round, especially in a dry year such as this one. The east side of the range has a greenish appearance due to the numerous pinon and juniper trees. So the question is, why did the good people who settled this area choose the uglier side of the mountains? [yes, there is a correct answer].
I rode up the canyon to Tijeras. Near the Subway, I was filmed by an KOAT Action 7 news camera man. Pitifully, we watched a good chunk of the 10 o'clock news in hopes of seeing a famous version of myself to no avail. Perhaps it was for the best: you can see the silly shoes I would have been seen in below.
I turned south on 14 towards Oak Flat. While eating Saltines in a parking lot, I talked to a mountain biker about the trails he was about to ride. He was a little worried that I would ride the big boy blue bike on the trails, but I assured him that I would try them on my cross bike, perhaps next week.
I rode the reverse direction of the Oak Flat road race course. This brought back fond memories of my first and only race victory (sure, it was only the C race, but I heartily celebrate small victories). My victory celebration was doused by a dust blanket caused by a street sweeper near the finish. Question: why sweep this street as (1) nearly no one drives on it and (2) it's just dust?
Total ride time 3 1/2 hours. Distance: maybe 50 miles, with lots of climbing and lots of wind.
2 comments:
Why choose the browner side? Because, despite its brownish nature, that's the side with water?
Cody
The real question is why they put the water on the dry side. Civil engineers are so silly.
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