“El Paso’s streets are meant to be shared.”  –City of El Paso, streets and maintenance dept.

Bicycling El Paso and experiencing that desert city and the environs reinvigorated my senses.  El Paso is creating a comprehensive bicycle plan.  It sounds good.  The planning is being coordinated with the City, MPO and State, which owns and operates many roads in El Paso.  There are community meetings the next two months.  El Pasoans, make your voices heard.

After we returned to Albuquerque winter arrived.  I walked across the bike/ped bridge to Los Altos Golf Course and took pictures.  I-40 was closed from here clear to Texas.  I have bicycled this bridge from our home over I-40 to the bike/ped trail and back 100’s of times.  The pedaling rhythm is easy to find.  Walking the bridge on a snowy day gave me time to see more.

It felt like a blizzard but the next day I was riding outside again.  The power of the intense Southwestern sun.  A different look with mountains draped in snow and chiseled in low angled light.  There’s nothing new on earth, it’s our perceptions that open and attenuate.  Learning is stimulated by seeing distinct and a variety of places, reading, meeting people, being exposed to different ideas and cultures, exercising curiosity, thinking freely, reflecting.  Living.

Today we visited Los Poblanos, an open space preserve in the North Valley on the eastern bank of the Río Grande.  The air whooshed underneath the feathery wings of Sandhill Cranes.  I remember hearing Richard Nelson on NPR talk about how bird flight is simply extraordinary.  Indeed.  Seeing the evening unfold from Los Poblanos was more magical than staying indoors.

I hope in 2016 I can keep bicycling daily.  I like the discipline of riding well, and the symmetry and sense of discovery it brings to life.  Everyone should have access to these freedoms.

 

References:

El Paso’s Bike Planning including meeting schedule and interactive map!:  http://www.elpasotexas.gov/capital-improvement/project-updates/el-paso-bike-plan

El Paso is also revitalizing a street car line between downtown and University:
http://www.sunmetro.us/streetcar.html

The Federal leadership on bicycle planning is heading in the right direction:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/guidance/design.cfm