Sweet Sandia

The bike tour headed to the southwest earlier this week as while pretty much everything is closed, the parks/trails are not. With that, with no flu symptoms, the cleanest hands out there, social distancing whenever possible (my friends can attest to my social distancing as I was doing it even before it was prescribed), extended leg room and no one sitting next to me on the plane as the airports were a bit on the lean side, this scribe headed to Albuquerque Sunday to pedal the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. The local area had not put any social restrictions when I got into town Sunday so it was business as usual but Monday was another story. You can take your beverage out on the patio (Route 66 viewing was outstanding) but no indoor sitting at the bar. Check. My biggest worry of the trip was hearing that all domestic flights would be cancelled immediately and I would be a local for the near distant future. If it happened, it would suck but there could be worse places to be. If the call came through, I was ready to have my work computer shipped over, find a place with temporary lodging and deal with it. It did not happen but by the time I left town yesterday, it was becoming a ghost town.

All illness talking aside, the intention of the trip, the mountain biking, was outstanding. The folks at the bike store supplied some great recommendations for an old rider like myself, well past his hardcore days (don't think I ever reached hardcore status). The foothills of the Sandia Mountains supplied some beautiful views west into the city without having to bust your ass climbing a hill to see said views. Attached below is a short clip of the trail views.  

Get out and enjoy the parks all you hermits out there. 

Thank you New Mexico!

Trail Head

Fat Tire Slalom - New Olympic Sport

That's right, the next Winter Olympics will have a new sport on a trial basis, fat tire downhill slalom racing. 

Olympic sport kidding aside, that was the scene this past Sunday at the Pine Knob Winter Carnival as I got an offer from my mountain bike patroller group to give downhill fat tire riding a try. The resort owner was looking for alternative ways of getting more moo-la and our group got some nice exposure at no cost. We were only on the bunny hill and not breaking any land speed records but what a thrill. No hike-a-bike either as you could pedal along the motorized track up with little effort. I attached a short video below from the helmet cam of my slow speed and a few other riders making the effort.   

U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Trail Head 

Too Young for Demolition

Tis the season to tear down stadiums as Joe Louis Arena just needs a fierce south breeze off the river for that current erector set view to come down.

The second arena, one much too young to be put to rest, The Palace; a name I honestly thought was a joke when they first announced it. Not my money though. There must be some money in the property in tearing it down so soon but how valuable can property be where you have to utilize never-ending I-75 construction to get there? Again, not my money. Good timing at the arena's opening as the hoops team was at its peak (versus the bad timing of the current crappy team opening the current arena). Tickets were in high demand as my old man bought a partial season ticket package with a friend in the second year the arena was open and he was WAYYYYY up there. The product was good so you brought the binoculars. I saw a handful of concerts there; Seger two nights in a row and was not disappointed.

My lasting memory of the place though will be in 2004 when friends and I were at the Piston-Pacer game. We had seats where you could see the players run out of the tunnel; pretty cool. It was the year after their championship and was a very early season match up (meaning some of the players were on auto pilot). The home team that night looked like they still had the championship hangover as they played like shi* and looked disinterested. With about six minutes left and the team down 20+, we made the call to head for the exit rather than wait to see if Darko would make an appearance (only Piston fans will get that reference). We weren't the only ones heading out as others followed. So we make it to the car, turn the game on the radio and the announcers are in disbelief describing an uneducated player first laying down on the scorer's table crying about a foul, an uneducated/inebriated fan throwing a beer cup at said player (and nailed it from a good distance away) and then all shi* breaking loose between said fan and player before more fans and players got involved. Chairs were thrown and not too far from where we were sitting.  

A bummer I didn't get to see mankind beating each other up (Idiocracy is getting close) but I would have left early had I did it all over again as the product before the brawl sucked.

Timmy Leaves

RIP JLA and Palace

Trail Head 

HAD GOOD SEATS THAT NIGHT