Ten miles of bad road.
I’m not sure who took this photo, or where and when they took it. Or, for that matter, why they took it. Was it to memorialize something? A place in time? A road trip with friends? A crappy little exit somewhere off some soulless interstate highway?
Could be Arizona. Could be Utah. Could be Nevada. Even California, I suppose.
It sure looks like a place many of us have been at one time or another on a bicycle. Awful pavement. Headwind. False flat. Wolves nipping at your heels.
Ok, maybe only figurative wolves… But, god awful impending doom nonetheless.
February 10th, 2010 at 9:51 am
The Global Warming Fairy left another foot of “settled science” on top of the ~two feet we already gots, Owl Gore be praised. I’ve been the past hour dancing with the snowblower. The town crew, such as they are, can barely keep pace on the main roads, nevermind the twolane blacktop. The C&O towpath, my usual source of solace, has been under at least two feet since Saturday. So I wouldn’t mind seeing some of your bad road, and damn the wolves, full speed ahead.
February 10th, 2010 at 9:58 am
A woman who got dropped by the shoot out and got a flat was killed and EATEN by the packs of wild dogs out there. This might be a Tucson urban legend but I’ve seen these dogs and I have felt the adrenaline of motivation.
And the only time I ever broke a chain was out there, past the bridge… good thing someone had a chain tool that passed me, and that I wasn’t DFL or even close when I broke that fucking Dura Ace chain.
I dream of roads like this. Their lack of paint and resemblance to the future crumbling of the infrastructure really gets my imagination going.
February 10th, 2010 at 10:36 am
The road to Thunderdome?
February 10th, 2010 at 10:52 am
If I wasn’t crazy already I do believe that road would make me so.
That’s just 10 miles of scary.
February 10th, 2010 at 11:01 am
That looks nice and smooth compared to the frost heaved goodness of upstate NY.
Broke budgets in the county and state level insure we’ll all be riding our cross bikes on the tarmac for a few years.
February 10th, 2010 at 11:05 am
What are those things on the horizon? Around here, 10 miles of straight road just means looking at 10….more….miles…of corn.
February 10th, 2010 at 11:06 am
At least it is sunny….
February 10th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
That’s not a false flat, it’s just flat. Doesn’t look like a place for a 23C tar.
February 10th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
looks more like false hope to me.
February 10th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
That image combined with the mounding fluffy debris outside is making my rollers look better. I think I’ll dust them off and get em’ buzzin’. Cuz they do buzz.
February 10th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Have to ride fast or the cracks in the road will grab your tires and yank them out from under you like some crazed pavement snake. Right now that road looks good on one hand and makes my cheeks pucker on the other.
February 10th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Riding on roads like this will make you a hard hard man
February 10th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
What else could you ask for?
February 10th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
^^^^^^^^^^^^
A car ??
February 10th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Could even be Oregon or Idaho.
I spent almost 6 years in Davis, CA riding on roads as flat and straight and true as that, but without the desolation. When faced with a headwind, self-doubt was your companion – you were never alone. In any condition, the mind wanders, usually into dark corners best left unexplored.
February 10th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
“You are not alone, dear loneliness” —Foo Fighters
February 10th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Some of us ride because the solitude soothes our souls.
February 11th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Golly, that looks just fine to me. You guys like riding in traffic I hear, and that’s cool, that’s cool,, back when i was SLowBoken’ my way across this here country, with tyrez that worked on my Xtra, I spent plenty of time on roads like that and the likelihood of getting mowed down by the city bus wasn’t the only plus.. Talk all the smack you want about cobbles and the like but if you’re not having fun grinding it out on traditional crappy ‘merican road surfaces, you’re just not tryin’ hard enough. Aah well, back to your trainers and your tv. Leave those long lonely rides to the STOMPrz
February 14th, 2010 at 6:24 am
Reminds me of some roads in Tucson or the Big Ugly, Phoenix, circa 1992. I remember leaving a lot of skin on a road like this near Seligman, some route 66 days’ race. Spent the night at the Williams hospital and got back to my bike and it was a write off. The good ole’ days.