tourista

Things are slow around here...and while I've taken great pleasure in in laughing at my friends (and camera) who are racing in the rain and snow at the Trans Rockies, its tough to ignore the part of me that kinda/sorta wishes I was doing it, too, with them in the cold and rainy Canadian Rockies.

There were a pair of crits here in town that I'd considered doing, as its not often you can RIDE to a race rather than getting there in a car...but my shoe broke as I was heading to the first one, so we blew it off and went to the park instead, which is just as well because I might have been taken down by the rookie anyway...and that would have made me sad. I have a strong aversion to falling down. It gives me a rash.

The 2nd race of the weekend was less than a mile from the house. However, watching bicycle racing does nothing for me, to be honest. Not at this time in my life...sure, the Tour, etc, can be compelling, but that's a different sport. NORBAs, NRCs etc...that's my sport and I either want to be in it, doing it, or generally far from it because I'm, perceptively, at least, supposed to be doing it. And I wasn't feeling "it". Mid summer blues? Apathy? Hungry for cyclocross? Who knows...could I at least go, gasp, and spectate?

Squaring up to my fears and phobias, we packed the stroller and strolled down to the neighborhood crit to check it out...

It was...a Ghost Town.



I felt terrible...the crowds were small. Only a few spectators...and even fewer athletes.

Bike racing in the US needs to morph into something sustainable - hiding it off in the woods or in the remote corners of the county, where every one has to drive long distances and few-if-anyone from the public knows the event is even happening, is tanking the sport one weekend at a time. Events like downtown and neighborhood crits that cater to the folks that live in the area, to racers that BETTER NOT DRIVE to the race, and local businesses that see the weekend festival as something to get behind rather than avoid, will be a component to the future success and growth of racing and cycling in general.

I didn't compete, and that irritated that athlete in me, so we stretched my comfort zone a bit...and watched. Then spent some money in a couple of the booths to complete the of sponsorship, vendor, and customer.

So to the other Portlanders...where were you? And Evan Elkin, why did you drive, much less, solo?

On Sunday, Portland was hosting the Bridge Ride - most of the downtown bridges are closed to cars and it becomes a bicycle free-for-all. Ye-haw, ride every bridge you can with the freedom to wobble and weave in the street without fear of being run over by a car...and instead risk crashing and injury due to thousands of over weaving and wobbling people on two wheels.

No pictures...the camera is sitting in the back pocket of Christan Leask, who rather than spending 3 hrs completing the first stage of Trans Rockies, he and his partner spent 6hrs covering the same distance. Taking photos, I'm sure, occupied the additional time.

I stopped and napped on a bench along the river. It, too, was a ghost town. I believe everyone was either riding their bikes across the bridges, or sitting in cars, in traffic, because the bridges were closed.



And now we're about to get in a fight, in Georgia, with Russia, over a pipeline. Electric cars and local crits never looked so good.