Last October, your humble blogger made the really dumb decision to try walking his bike through the meetup of dirt/mud/water (dare I say “quicksand”) photographed below:

and the bike ended up looking like this:

Last October’s foolhardy hijink happened at the western terminus of AMAFCA’s massive cementwork on Tijeras Arroyo. Not many folks know the area, so here’s a map with the point in question outlined in red circle:

Plenty of cyclists venture very near this point, as the Bosque Path’s “Chavez Loop” sweeps south nearby before following Tijeras Arroyo east to 2nd Street/Valle del Oro, and on around to Rio Bravo Blvd. Not as many folks take the dirt detour at where the Arroyo and bike path first meet, and thus do not do stupid things like trying to walk their bike through quicksand.

Well, the quicksand is no more and may/may not return in the same manner next Monsoon, because AMAFCA is currently using its biggest Tonka Toys to clear the Arroyo channel, very importantly including from an Arroyo cycling perspective, the dirt/sand/mud at the entrance to all that concrete.

Hence in coming across my old quicksand stomping grounds yesterday, I was presented with this view:

So instead of linearly vertical feet of dirt/sand/mud, to such a lineraly vertical depth that the idea had never entered my mind before, my immediate thought upon seeing the new vista photographed above was: I gotta ride that Arroyo.

So I did.

Here’s a few looks up/down the thing.

Still, the concrete already available is great fun and helps you avoid both Broadway and 2nd Street. The Arroyo also has so much graffiti canvas available (always at risk of removal, perhaps in part due to its high visiblity, I dunno). Currently, about the only artwork is found at the mouth of the concrete, back where I almost died in quicksand last October.

Fresh from riding up the Arroyo, your humble blogger then rode north into Downtown to stand at 4th and Lomas holding a sign encouraging impeachment of the current president. I don’t have a shot of me holding said sign, but here’s my view of things at around Noon yesterday:

About 175 or so folks were out there sprinkled on all four sides of Lomas at 4th. This weekly gathering has been going on for months and months now, and features good fun, enthusiastically angry people (yes, mainly old) and quite a few drivers honking their horn in an encouraging manner.

Thus, yesterday’s bike ride offered the anarchy of riding up an arroyo (and seeing a very impressive “ACAB” graffito along the way) with the democracy of asking, pretty please, if we could impeach (again, and this time with feeling) the president. All in all, a fun bike ride, although as any cyclist will tell you: they are all fun.

*Actually, one can cross under I-25 at Tijeras Arroyo and your humble blogger has done this. He doesn’t plan on doing it again in the current configuration and really wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who is not as insane as your humble blogger.