In tracking down the elusive set of new(ish) City of Albuquerque Parks & Recreation bike/ped counters around town (actually, they aren’t that elusive, as they are firmly planted on popular multi-use paths), reader Keith beat the Better Burque staff to the punch and recently submitted this fine, fine map after his own search:

Better Burque staff rode yesterday to spot the elusive 5th Beatle “Pole Counter,” but weather, wind, and a desire to spot the North Diversion Channel in full flood (we were a few hours too early for that) left it undiscovered. What we did spot were even more of the “pins in green” above, existing in-pavement counters without the optical element centered in the pole.

To give far better visual explanation to the unnecessarily vague prose above…

In riding with Official Staff Photographer John Fleck (btw, John also draws a salary of $0 with no benefits in his equally prestigious position) yesterday, we also ran (literally biked) across the following:

In that manner of human behavior that makes us notice things far better after we see what to look for (“once I bought a green car, I saw green cars everywhere”), it’s easy to see that these counters, whether pole or pole-free, are all over the place.  Which leads to the following questions:

1. Where is that Fifth Beatle Pole-Counter?
2. Are there actually only four pole-counters?
3. And, more importantly, where are the counts from these counters, whether pole or pole-free?

As Official Better Burque Staff Photographer John Fleck noted yesterday, stepping well outside his strict role as photographer, and reflecting his noted expertise as a scholar in the field of public policy (and I paraphrase): Maybe there’s a a lack of communication between governmental agencies and the general public, in particular the cycling community.

BB will speak for “the community,” raise its hand and admit it should do a better job of asking questions like: Where is that Fifth Beatle Pole-Counter? And where are those counts?

Which, I guess, we’re doing right now, via this blogpost. We’ll “hold.” We’ll even dial 0 to speak with a customer service representative. Nah, actually we’ll just hit “publish” on this blogpost, for now.

We’ll let you know, cycling community and everyone else with an internet connection, what we find out. Meanwhile, the hunt for that elusive 5th Beatle, Willie Wonka Golden Ticket, Horcrux Pole Counter goes on.  Will you be the one to spot it?