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.
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.
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.
The road to Thunderdome?
If I wasn’t crazy already I do believe that road would make me so.
That’s just 10 miles of scary.
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.
What are those things on the horizon? Around here, 10 miles of straight road just means looking at 10….more….miles…of corn.
At least it is sunny….
That’s not a false flat, it’s just flat. Doesn’t look like a place for a 23C tar.
looks more like false hope to me.
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.
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.
Riding on roads like this will make you a hard hard man
What else could you ask for?
^^^^^^^^^^^^
A car ??
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.
“You are not alone, dear loneliness” —Foo Fighters
Some of us ride because the solitude soothes our souls.
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
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.