Chain Ring Cowboy

Merry Christmas to you all. Hope you get a chance to ride something on two wheels today.

to start writing on this site again. I thought I was kicked off for a while. More to follow.

This writing is to pay respect to Tiger Woods for voicing his opinion about the poor judgement John Paramor made last Sunday at the Bridgstone International Golf Tournament. The scene, one of those Sunday afternoon battles where first and second place players are dueling out toe to toe heading for the last hole. It was anybody's match at number 16. That was until Mr. Paramor, the man in molded to a golf cart and holding a two way radio like it was his first pacifier decided to wield his inconspicuous power that would change the momentum of the game with a snap of the fingers. Putting the two champions on the clock that far into the day didn't seem to make any sense at all to me. Yes, if they were on numbers 9 or 10, I could see this happening, but not o 16 as they were on a decent pace. Padraig Harrington got rattled, it appears because of the call, which was actually counter productive to speeding up play. Tiger, on the other hand kept his cool, never missing a shot, in fact p

I just got back from a week in Las Vegas. Lot's of noise, colorful lights, and people. I managed to get in 3 twenty mile rides. Once you get off the Strip, riding gets good. Early morning casts a long shadow of me as it became time to get back to the hotel and get ready for the day's long conference activities the Pallazo, not a bad place to have to stay in Art work everywhere, even on the ceiling.

Anyone who knows me knows how much of a disciple of Lance Armstrong I am. From all accounts I've seen, it is decided that he will become helping teammate to Alberto Contador. I guess this it true, but something down inside of me thinks that it is not too late for Lance to become the man for Team Astana. I hear one of the NPR reporters this morning describing how Contador ground his way up the steep mountain. From what I saw on Versus TV early Sunday morning Alberto "Danced" up that steep mountain. a smooth waltz in perfect rhythm. He almost looked like he was on flat ground to me for a bit. I have to say, that young man can ride the climbs. If Lance can come back that will be some of the best history to be made. If he can't, well maybe he can come in second. After all he has 7 Victory jerseys at home. the way he is riding this year makes me very proud.

">

As I ride around the city each day I am now more in tune to the memorials placed on the side of the road. Mostly in the form of cross, usually adorned with flowers and religious objects, they sit there as a reminder that someone loves them. If they had a dual purpose it would be a reminder that each one of us can be going about our life, then have it come to an end faster than a snap of the fingers. Today is a good time for me to sit around and watch the Tour de France instead of touring El Paso.

I have had some email conversations with some interesting people who live on my side of town, some of which live on the same street Heinz Duerkop did. The Ghost Bike Program may actually happen one of these days. I hear of a young man who has been around Texas, places like San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and maybe more; who has seen ghost bikes. In 2006, 51 cyclists were killed in Texas. Am too lazy to look this up right at this moment, but I think it is a pretty close average as to what we can expect to happen in 2009. Awareness could reduce this number significantly if we all do something about it. A couple of months ago I went to a meeting that the city Streets Department were laying out the approved bicycle path/lane plan. To my surprise, and yes I am naive, there was hardly anyone there. Of those present was and elderly man who watches a lot of CSPAN because he was well practiced on asking questions like a senator would when someone is in the hot seat. He was a naysayer. Another att

Today's El Paso Times is now focusing in on finding the driver of the car that killed Heinz and fled. Click on the link to read all about it.

The comment following this paragraph was written in the previous post, but the words of AJ and the importance compels me to post it again, up front and center. If you are reading this we need your help. The street that Heinz was killed on has one of the widest right hand lanes in the whole city, at least 30 feet. It had to be a very unusual circumstance for this to happen. But two things NEED to happen. 1. Get the person who did this to come forward or get caught. 2. Do something to memorialize this event to make our streets a safer place. Tomorrow I will give another idea on what can be done, but for now I don't want to take the gravity of what AJ has to say. AJ said... Rick, I sent you our email address if you have any information as to how we can contribute to a reward fund or make the public more aware of what happened to Heinz. The initial write-ups indicated that he was "elderly." What a laugh. Maybe in years but he and his wife were in better shape than most 20-som

Bicycling overall is far safer than motorcycles, ocean swimms, horses, hospital stays, or climbing ladders. 9 out of 10 serious bicycling injuries don't involve a car or other motorized vehicle. "There is no greater danger to the urban cyclist thant the cyclist's own incompetence". These words come from Robert Hurst in his book The Art Of Urban Cycling. It's a good book, so no matter how experienced a rider you are don't let those words upset you because he backs that statement up with some very encouraging teaching. The point I want to make is that we as cyclists need education, with continuing education. I count myself right up there in the front of the class. Fewer then 1 in 70 car/bike collisions are fatal. 2 out of 3 cyclists walk away after treatment. In the USA about 700 cyclist die each year compared to 4,000 motorcyclists, 5,000 pedestrians, and nearly 40,000 car/truck drivers/passengers. These statistics can be found on the National Highway Traffic S

Arlene, please contact me: jordan630@gmail.com When one sees the deep scrape marks the bicycle frame left as it ground its way down the street some 75 feet maybe took only a second or two. When I see the blackened curb and tire prints made from a swerving vehicle I wonder which story in my mind is closest to what really happened when Heinz met his fate. I wonder if he was spinning his crank at a high cadence with the great feeling only an early morning ride in El Paso can bring. The makeshift cross craftily created on the fly with a picture frame, probably torn apart for the purpose. Attached to shelf bracket to anchor it to Mother Earth, the dust from which we come. Flowers and candles set against the desert breeze to pay homage to a Salt of the Earth gentleman, fallen, gone. I pray that this memory does not fade so quickly. I pray that a seed is planted to allow this tragic event to grow into a better cause. I pray that the other party(ies)involved will bring themselves to justice.

Even though I may have to eat some crow and apologize for my rant about the El Paso Bicycle Club, my main purpose that day was to rally up support to memorialize the unfortunate way Mr. Heinz Duerkop had to die. I do, however, like it that it has stirred the stew. Based on the last post's, to bridge some gaps and make an amends, not only for the way I portraid the club, but also to extend a hand to concerned cyclists for more unity. After all, I do claim to want raise advocacy awareness in this city. It could be that the advocates are here, alive and well, like Fred, Becky, and other unnamed pedalcyclists. So let's come together and make a difference. Fred frequently commutes with his bike to work from EP to Juarez and back. He knows what the traffic can be like and how to navigate in it. Becky commutes from the northeast to the central part of the city. I would like to hear more about hers and Fred's experiences. There is a guy out there who rides a nice bike and doesn'

It happened yesterday in this fair city, El Paso, Texas. A cyclist was killed while on an early morning ride, a time when the roads are still sleepy and a time when there is not much concern for safety. Mr. Heinz Duerkop, 67 years old was taken from life on earth by a car which hit him from behind. I went to the spot this morning to see that the cyclist had been hit from behind by an automobile who had not applied brakes, leaving fairly deep scrape marks in the asphalt for a distance of about 20 feet. According to the El Paso Times newspaper the rider was thrown a distance. The driver is being sought for hit and run. From what I could see by the remnant marks on the street, the rider was about 15 inches from the curb riding on a street(Georg Deiter) that had a wide inside lane. someone had to be veering extremely far left of the dashed lane stripe to have hit this cyclist. I don't want to exploit the unfortunate, but I feel like doing something to memorialize this man and this eve

At intersections on most every road anywhere that has a right turn only lane, I use a neat trick that seems to keep me out of harms way as well as keep the motorized traffic somewhat happy with me, the rider. A lot of bicycle riders remain in the right turn only lane when they are going straight through the intersection. This is the wrong thing to do. Forget about it that it's not legal; legal schmegal. Don't get me wrong, I believe in riding legally. The state's drivers handbook says I the cyclist has a right to the road, but am supposed to be responsible when I use it. But what I am talking about here is safety, you know, survival. Anyway there is this place in the road see, I call the No Drive Zone at an intersection that has a right turn only lane. When enough cars and trucks turn right in that lane debris seems to pile up in an arc shape. In other words, if a driver is half way through a right hand turn and if they look down to the pavement outside their window where t

Saturday I road down into the Rio Grande Valley, the fertile grounds where Indian tribes long ago found a way of life. The culture continues to hold on to its roots in this historically rich river bottom. On this early sleepy morning gun shots startled me, my first thoughts were not to get caught getting in the middle of a gang war. After all I was just a couple of stone throws from the international border which is know for daily violence. But when I went around a corner I could see a parade of Indians and onlookers marching to the Ysleta Mission, one of the oldest on this continent. Someone please take a close look at the picture on the right and tell me if the marcher in the white wearing a reddish cap is Bishop Ochoa.

Meet Joaquin (pronounced Wackeen) a happy guy who tools around on his bike with no particular place to go. We both talk a lot, so we stood there for a while. It was a nice morning.

You may remember when I wrote about the guys back in Austin ragging on me, of course with good humor, how I like to admonish people for when they do something wrong or dangerous on the road. I gotta say that during the year I’ve been here in El Paso, the traffic is very tolerable and safe. I actually think it safer to ride here than in Austin, even though there are a lot more cyclists in Austin. I think I spent a good bit of time looking up the registered owners to vehicles so I could send them a no no letter about their misdoings on the road. In the past year I’ve only done two lookups. A great rate in my opinion, however those two don’t get off so lightly as not to hear from me with a nice packet inside a legal envelope. Yep, I feel it my duty to let them know that in this world we live in today, random acts can be traced to the person doing them. The picture you see here is registered to a gentleman named Daniel J Portugal, a supervisor working for the USPS. A female was driving the

With the passing of Texas House Bill 488 , there will be a bit more legal protection for vulnerable road users like pedestrians, runners, physically disabled, highway construction workers, horse riders and of course, the subject nearest and dearest to me; bicyclists. Actually, I think it is a crying shame that there has to be a law that will discourage a common motorized vehicle driver frome skirting too close to a child walking on the side of the road, or a utility worker repairing, in all possibility, that very driver's electric line. The law will take effect on September 1, 2009. I hope there is a way to get the word out to all the transportation world from the big truck driver, the pickup truck driver, the automobile driver, and on down to the cyclist, and the pedestrian well before the law is the law. House bill 488 is easy to read and understand, won't take long to read it. Please go ahead and give it a glance. Then tell someone about it, whether it be possitive or negat

Everyone knows if it hasn’t rained in a long time, the streets get a dusty but oily film layered on top of the gravel and asphalt. When the rain first comes especially the light drizzly type, that’s when the streets are at its slickest of all. Everyone knows that don’t they? Taking care on one of the fast turns on my daily route, the new supposedly “extra traction” tires did well. Being careful not to get caught in the ultra fast trip down to the street presented no problem. The next turn which is fun to take fast also with a lean that even Levi would appreciate was throttled down to about half. No problem there. Third turn, thinking all things were safe to go fast, lean hard, and pedal on without diligence in safety go me. The trap was set; I was going down and going down hard. Its’ that moment in time that only lasts a second, but can run it through my mind like the third act in a boring production. Getting up was difficult; watching the trusted green steed laying down the blackened

The City of El Paso Streets Department along with along with a consulting firm are to begin installing 23.5 miles of bike lanes in the near future. There already are some lanes, but the additional lanes will be great for the city. I went to a public awareness in my district last night, met the city rep and a very vocal nay Sayer. Over all it was a good meeting, but not enough people were there. Have you heard about the Bike Box Turning accommodation for bikes at intersections? Check it out on the link. I've heard that Austin, NYC, and Portland are using them. Well, lil-ole El Paso is getting at least one of them too. That is if someone doesn't shut it down. And check this out

Lance is trying out his new Trek, with special design. I think he is going to ride this in the Tour De France. He seems to like it. Have you ever noticed that when a group of weekend riders get together, maybe do a 50 miler, a century, or even more, or even less; that they ride up on the brake bonnets the majority of the time? Maybe you are one of them, I know I am. When I ride in events or socially on the weekends and when commuting to work, there I am, hands high on the handlebar..... Well that's the way it was until I went to watch the Tour de Gila a few weeks ago. After observing the big pros in person, it finally hit me that these guys live down low in the drops. So now guess what I'm doing? Yep. It's for real. During my commute to work this week, I got a feel of what it was like to spend that much time down there. Whenever I needed to come out of the saddle and power up a hill, or get across an intersection lickity-split, it felt very good, better than I thought it wo

It looks like Lance Armstrong's bike has a more or less horizontal stem. Mine is turned down a little more than horizontal, I wonder if my pride will allow me to turn it up? Like the way it was when I first got the bike. I don't think that not being so upright is hurting me, but I did take my rode bike out a few weeks ago and hammered out a 60 miler. The day after I had some pain in the back of my right knee. The soreness has diminished with only slight discomfort. My theory is that since I have been riding my touring bike exclusively for at least six months, my legs were not able to deal with the difference in range of motion, even if ever so slight. Today I made some adjustments to make the fit on each bike as close as possible to each other. Tomorrow I will test this theory out as I am going out for a nice spin with KF.

The day before I went to the people hospital, I put my numero uno in the bicycle hospital. I was told by my doctor, more especially by my wife that I WOULD definitely not be riding a bicycle for two weeks. I figured I could sneak in a spin or two in about a week, instead I decided to abide after losing to a stare down. So my time is up and I am ready to ride. Suffice it say, itching, burning, and yearning to ride. When I went to the bicycle hospital to check out the green machine, it wasn’t ready. Sadly, it is going to be in for another day. That means today I can go by there, climb on and resume the moving partnership I’ve had with this worthy steed for almost exactly three years now. Nope this isn't really my Touring bike collapsed from over running it, but I would like to think I am capable of doing that. I stole this picture from a site " Crazy Guy On A Bike ". He rides the same bike I do. Check out his site sometime. It's way cool if you like bicycling stuff.

Today, starting at 4:30AM I rode in one of those big garbage trucks. You know, the type that come by your house with an arm and grabber that picks up your big plastic can, hoists it in the air to pour out the contents into the big container that can then crush anything it wants to? I gathered statistics today, like how many people forget to leave their can out on time, and how many people have two containers, or three or four. yes four big cans some people have. Trash generators they are. First trip goes to the land fill, second trip goes to the recycle center, and that's the part I like. My dad was an early recycle person you know. Those big ole trucks use a lot of fossil juice to do their job, but I suppose it is necessary. Too bad we can't do it en masse on bicycles.

After seeing all the racers in Silver City New Mexico Saturday, my already vibrant passion for bicycling has been boosted at least one more notch. My mandatory two weeks layoff from cycling due to an umbilical hernia surgery is going to end in two more long days. Of course my commuting will resume, but I am firming up a personal resolve to do more work towards getting faster, stronger, leaner, and having more stamina. By the time the tour de Gila comes round again, I would like to be in it. I don't necessarily think I will be ready to bring home the trophy in my age group, but making a respectable showing is good enough for me. Now that Lance and all the big boys are in Rome getting ready for the Tour de Italia, maybe there will be some decent news coverage. I heard somewhere that Germany is going to give some TV coverage. Keep your fingers crossed

Tour de Gila in Silver City, New Mexico Johan Bruyneel is staning on the door step of Lance's Motor Home, while lance pleases the crowd by signing autographs. this all took place about 20 minutes before the 40+ mile criterion races started in Silver City New Mexico this past Saturday. I heard that Johan coached his unofficial "Mellow Johnny" team to be especially cautious for crashes. It was some good advice because there were some really gnarly spills on this up and down, windy course through downtown. "> Video Our spectator view was just past the last corner into the final strait away toward the finish line. It can't be seen that the street before the turn was a steep downhill. See the flags blowing horizontally? The wind added speed to the down hill, these riders were making the corner at about 50 mph. Most of the photos I took were blurry and I even had it set to fast sports. Those riders were hauling. I have this idea that Lance was experimenting in this

The trip yesterday to Home Depot was awesome. We loaded up the plastic box so we could add some more flowers to the garden. There is still room for more. The ride though, is what it's all about.

Lance is doing one of the things he does best, get out of the saddle and take a mountain. Of course he does many things well, like raise cancer awareness. The dude broke his collar bone, got it welded back together and is riding like a mad man up and down the Colorado mountains. This to me is such an awesome thing, I am trying to follow him as much as possible as he works his way towards the Tour De France. Just moments ago Lance posted this on his Twitter about DR Chris O'Brien ,Please Read

The department I am working for is moving across the street in a brand new building. We all have to take our personal stuff home, leaving our cubes and offices with only work related items. I’ve done this before, and it is only a matter of time before all the personal stuff gets brought back to work. I like the idea because it gives me a chance to pull my trailer, just like when I brought a box a day to the UPS Store to get me moved from Austin to El Paso.

Maybe you’ve seen the video of the cyclist up north who loads himself with video cameras. He puts one on his helmet, then one on his handle bars, then tools around town filming the dangerous situations he gets himself into. When another vehicle comes close to killing him he has it on film complete with sound to where you can hear him cursing at the car or eighteen wheeler. To me that part is funny because I bet the drivers can’t hear him, but he has it on camera. It reminds me of when a dog chases a car and barks all the while. Is he barking at the car or the driver? Some of my friends have said that this guy is my long lost twin. Surely they jest. Or perhaps not. I don’t think I am that radical, but I do get vocal and animated when I feel crossed or threatened or find myself in a dangerous situation. I am not posting said video on my blog because maybe that guy is my twin. This leads me to now, this time in my life since moving from Austin Texas to El Paso Texas, still commuting to wo

The pre-dawn comfortably cool 54 degrees is very pleasant to ride in. Fridays seem to have less traffic, especially today because it’s Good Friday. I am not used to having to work on Good Friday, but that’s what I’m doing on this one. Mother Natures seems to me to swing to the extreme. The wind, the dry and stuff like that all are like accentuated. The spring flowers in bloom send out the aroma as like what happens all over the world at springtime. But there is something about the nectar that floats on the molecules that makeup air. It’s like if you breathe enough of it you might get a buzz. On this day last year I was living in Austin and working for the State. I flew to El Paso to be with my family as I did most weekends. Good Friday is a holiday for the state. We walked up Mount Cristo Rey . This year that isn’t happening, maybe next year.

Kurt and I went on our first organized ride, a 60 miler in very heavy wind.

I saw a needle on the ground Riding throuh my old home town. When I pedaled over the same place where I first learned to balance, to ride some 52 years ago, it felt pretty sacred. The old neighborhood looks much the same in many ways. Still, OK to be from there.