June Bug

Wearing a mask telegraphs to others "I take this seriously. Keep your distance and don't f**k with me." That's what I'd like to think. Twenty somethings are oblivious to it all.

There's never a good excuse to pass on a teachable moment.

More of southern Utah shut: Coronavirus closes canyons of Escalante, campgrounds in Kane County Local officials cite worries over first responders This tells me that people are STILL traveling to recreate, instead of staying home. Also, the park service needs to close everything, just shut it all down.

I belong to a Cycling Over 60 facebook page; it's international. People from all over the world post lovely pictures of whatever ride they have done. Recently, it's just a landscape or a single bike, because sane folks are riding solo in areas with almost no traffic and very few other cyclists. As recently as a few weeks ago (and possibly still), some people (men) were arguing vigorously that group riding was safe, because 1) you were outside and 2) of course fit cyclists had immunity because so very healthy and fit and pooh-poohing the need for solo riding.

There's a national movement going on -- anyone with a sewing machine and some fabric is cranking out masks, with patterns for specific purposes. There are patterns for fitting over N 95 and other masks in use in hospitals and medical settings so the original mask (which should be disposed of after one use) can be used multiple times. My niece works for a children's hospital in the Atlanta area and that hospital put out a call for home sewers to create 3,000 masks. That was a little over a week ago. I think someone on here or facebook noted that you can goose up the efficacy of a home-made mask or a little dust mask with various household items like a vacuum cleaner paper filter. And sanitary pads. And baby wipes. How to make your own face mask to help stop the spread of the coronavirus How to make a no-sew face mask Elastic is now in short supply, but if you cut open a bungee, it's stretch comes from a bazillion long pieces of elastic.

I just did a quick google on vultures. Those look more like black vultures with the white on the wing tips, but turkey vultures more often hang out with their wings spread to dry their wings or regulate body temp. Whichever it is, that is an awesome sight!

Yes, the temps really plummeted in a short period of time. What was your return route? There had to be hills involved, right?

Mr. JB is reading it right now and I'm getting started on Dark Towers. Looking forward to reading it later this week or next. A facebook friend posted that the Brentwood Social Club, a coffee shop/market on Koenig Lane at Arroyo Seco, had storefront pickup, and had eggs in stock, so it seemed like a nice bike errand. We still get a paper newspaper delivered every day in a plastic sleeve, so used those over a pair of smartwool socks, which worked great to keep feet dry and warm. The ride over wasn't terrible, streets were wet but it wasn't raining + traffic was light for the most part. My little bag was waiting on a table by the front door, packed everything on the bike and headed home. Had to try to avoid bumps, because 2 dozen eggs. Raining, north headwind but not bad. Contemplating a curbside pickup by bike at Wheatsville this coming week. Have to balance items with space available (2 panniers, rack top bag), but should be able to do some restocking and get in a ride.

I don't recall ever seeing a road runner on the wing, so that is fascinating. WIKI says that roadrunners will fly to escape predators but prefer to walk or run. They are members of the cuckoo family. I heard an owl hooting at WC last week in the evening near the Lincolnshire trailhead , but didn't see it. There is someone who uses these little disposable plastic devices to floss their teeth and then discards them on the Shady Springs side trail, so that is something I see on that particular trail. I found a mouthpiece for a hydration pack drinking tube this last week. That's it.

In the "this is why we can't have nice things" category From my NextDoor neighborhood listserve: City of Austin Closes Barking Springs on April 3:

I thought this afternoon might be a good time to return a library book (Trump and His Generals), because it's a nice ride on the Northern Walnut Creek Multi-Use Path to the library on Amherst and it had stopped raining. The libraries are all closed but book drop, right? Lots of folks on the path but not crowded. I took a raincoat. The library is closed closed. The book drops are taped shut with signs about NOT trying to open them or push the doors open and for heaven's sake don't leave your damn books by the door or under the book drop. So...closed. Really closed. Shut. Austin Public Library is also forgiving fines and extending checked out books for a month. I was almost to the Metric bridge coming home and it started barely sprinkling, and continued to sprinkle, but really cooling off and looking ominous. Put on the raincoat, same all the way home. Got the garage door closed, went in the house and now it's pouring, dark outside and thunder rumbling in the distance. Cozy. Partly read: Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World On deck: Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Tale of Destruction Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon Kevin Fedarko is an amazing writer so I don't quite understand why it's taken 3.5 years to work my way through his book, but this is a good time to wrap it up.

Using a thong, an everyday thong...

Joe at Monkey Wrench is backed up two weeks on repairs and whatnot. He's gone to half day (afternoons) M-F, so check the website for updates or call before you head that way. He said he's having to de-spider older bikes that come in -- they've been sitting in somebody's garage or shed for five or six years and spiders are coming along for the trip to the bike shop.

My first full suspension bike! On the other hand, elastomers.

Gah!

cxagent, thanks for all of your hard work over these many years! Take a well deserved break and get back to enjoying life without that particular headache! Looks like some rain will be in the forecast until *checks weather notes* starting Friday and continuing to the end of the current 10-day forecast. Who knew e-bikes were so, uh, powerful.

This.

We're been mashing up "what is gravel biking" and "what bike to ride on gravel" and we've made great progress on this rocky (but very, very small rocks) issue, so now I need to know, Where is gravel? What is the closest 20-mile gravel ride to Austin or even a 10-mile out and back? Texas has been great on paving ranch-to-market and farm-to-market roads all over the place. Where's the gravel?

Wanted to clarify about the relative number of people. I was on the far side of the park; there were no hordes as there can be on Saturday or Sunday morning at WC. But people were wandering in Tangle of Trails. It's partly an emphasis on realizing that people can be in unexpected places. That said, this was later in the afternoon (~3:30 to 5:30); the weather was perfect. The morning was windy, overcast and cool, not the kind of weather that draws people out. Plan accordingly.

Any place you can dig a hole. ARR has lots of shovels.

I held my breath and walked back up the trail a little ways.

Went over to the WC to do some lopping and trimming in the little section of trail between the cyclone fence and the left turn into Mark's Art and also the section to the right if you don't turn into Mark's Art. While working, I heard a bike coming so I stepped off the trail. The guy got right up to me and sneezed the wettest sneeze humanly possible just as he got even with me. Seriously, it raised the relative humidity and he had both hands on the handlebar so it was all just out there. Then another guy wanted to show me a picture of a mushroom on his cell phone in case I could identify it. No, just no. So, social distancing was not 100% successful. Anyway, this leads up to the real point of my post. There are a lot of people out and about on foot at Walnut Creek and I'm assuming every other trail system and also people who don't usually ride, like (no disrespect) guys in baseball caps on 26ers. It's spring; everything is growing and the sight lines aren't great. There are many, many more people hiking, walking, strolling than usual and for the most part they aren't alone. I know this because I could hear them talking, even if they didn't make the turn onto the section of trail where I was. They may be walking single file or side by side, there may be kids and/or dogs. They may have zero awareness that mountain bikers even use these trails. The guy who was trying to ask me about mushrooms had on big headphones and I've noticed a few people with ear buds talking on their phones while running. Save cxagent from agita by being extra cautious controlling speed when you can't see what's around a corner being ready for anything being super considerate of and courteous to your fellow trail users, even if they are oblivious

Damn! I've got a vacuum bag (unused) and a dust-mite-proof pillow case. And a sewing machine. And maybe a little elastic. Whoo boy.

Excellent! I adore punny stuff, and that is perfect. I'm inclined to contact Evil to ask the age of the person that came up with this. Could be a boomer.

I saw a reference to the Evil Chamois Hagar and thought "what a weird name for a bike" before I had the "Aha" moment. Sammy Hagar, y'all.