What's going on, Albuquerque?

I Resolve to Evolve

My lovely machine (to me, anyway) stands neglected. I haven't ridden in over a month and this galls me every time I look at it. Look at it's headlights. See that glint of reproof? Meant for me and only me, muchachos y muchachas.

Perhaps I should state here and now my intentions for this new year? Public humiliation as a punishment for failure is a great motivator, non?

* Ride my bike! Ride to work often and also for recreation as often as is feasable. I've been leery of riding lately because I live in fear of shady spots where the snow and ice have lingered. I've already fallen ass-under-New Balances during a morning walk, and the idea of careening into an arroyo at speed on a bicycle gives me the shudderings.

* Drop the rest of the weight I've gained since I quit smoking (whereupon my metabolism shanked me in the back and rolled over for a long nap).

* Stay regular with the workouts at the gym and on the trail. Learn to run. Yes, I typed "learn to run" because I suspect I don't really know how to do it. Because running sucks and I rarely willingly learn to do things that hurt whilst doing them. Actually, being an example of Urban Man, running for me is unnatural for any distance longer than, say, half a block (catching a bus or an ice cream vendor), but never mind, yeah, have to learn.

* Learn this great city of Albuquerque. Ride the bus, ride the bike around, learn all the trails and all the byways. Except the highways. Hate them. LOATHE them. These people (not YOU folk, I'm sure) drive as if the automobile had been invented two minutes before they sat in one. I once read a description of the Autobahn as like being fired upon from behind by cannons lobbing BMWs and Porsches. Driving the highways here is like that to me, except I suspect Germans drive better, or at least manage to stay in the lane for longer than ten feet. I digress.

* Learn Spanish! As in, crack the damned book we bought and apply myself, rather than leave it lying on the table as if it's very presence will let me hablar la lengua de España (translated via Google; guh!)

That's five. Not unreasonable.

Now for this to be effective, somebody has to volunteer to chastize me when I fail to persevere. But you know, that's just likely to make me mad and send me into an ugly, middle-aged pout, so never mind.

Hasta.

Tags: Albuquerque, Bicycling, Spanish, baby, big, exercising, middle-aged, pouty, speaking, talk, More…the, walk, yer

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Comment by Masshole in Fringecrest on January 10, 2010 at 10:40pm: Number 6- learn to crop your photos to 500 pixels wide by about 150 (give or take 30 or 40) pixels high, and then we the moderators will be able to promote them to the front page blog roll... :-)

Thanks for the words...

Comment by once banned twice shy on January 11, 2010 at 10:29am: The highways here are nothing like the Autobahn. Except maybe the speed. The skill level (which is zero) of most motorists here would have them dead on the Autobahn in minutes. Also, FYI, there IS A speed limit on most stretches of the Autobahn in Germany. 130 kmh. One thing German drivers do is observe lowered speed limits for construction. For the most part. This is not to say driving on the Autobahn is a joy. It most definitely is not.

Comment by LaGuera on January 11, 2010 at 11:40am: Habla la lengua de Espana. . . y de Mexico, de Guatemala, de Puerto Rico, de Belize. . . pero no es la lengua de Brazil! (Sorry about the accents. I can't find them on my keyboard).

Comment by Lee on January 11, 2010 at 12:00pm: All admirable goals.. I wish you the best in all of them, well except for running. I never understood running, but these are your goals so run as you will. Maybe what you really need is something or someone to run from ? Just an idea.

One last comment.. not original, I actually got the idea from a previous post in the last couple weeks. But I liked it enough to add it to my own list.
7. In the event that none of the above come to pass in full, or part, rather than feel bad about it, I will grab my hat, my boots and go for a half day hike some place I love and just enjoy the fact that I aint all that damn bad just the way I am...

Comment by Rob Creighton Garrison on January 11, 2010 at 5:34pm: @Masshole: Crap!

@obts: I-25 is the closest I want to come to driving the Autobahn, similar or not. I drive a Yaris these days, but Saturday I really missed my old '74 LTD. Sufficient length and width for lane domination and trunk space enough for a tail-gunner.

@LaGuera: ¿No es la lengua de Brazil? ¿Que es la lengua de Brazil? Zut alors!

@Lee: I like that thinking. Any excuse for a hike!

Comment by Rob Creighton Garrison on January 11, 2010 at 5:35pm: Thanks, all, for the comments.

Comment by Masshole in Fringecrest on January 11, 2010 at 5:57pm: We are supposed to have a volunteer crew who can help but it's hard to organize. If I have time later in a bit (2-3 hours), i'll do it myself....