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Socorro Striders And Riders News

5/8/2003


2003 Statewide Race Calendar


Hash House Harriers Meet Thursday

The next hash is starts from Robert's house at 903 School of Mines Rd. at 6PM on Thursday (May 8). Grab your running togs and a 6-pack and join us for some fun!


May 10 Bike Rally Details Set

Meet at the Socorro Plaza at 10AM on Saturday, May 10th for the start of the bike rally. Robert's spare time has been limited lately, and so the rally has had to be changed a bit. Robert will describe the rules when we meet at the Plaza, but in short, this will be a non-competitive event where we'll be given a rally sheet at the beginning, and a route to follow. Along the route, we will find words written in chalk. If you take a short cut, you may miss marks. When we finish at around 11-11:30 at the Socorro Springs Brewing Company, we'll try to guess what the words mean.

If you're coming, please let Robert know via e-mail, or call him at 838-0861.

The route will follow paved streets, and so you can use road or mountain bikes. Families and friends are welcome. Come try this out; if it's a success, a bike rally of some sort may be included as a part of the Fat Tire Fiesta.


Highway 60 Clean-Up On May 14

It's that time again, time to pick up the litter on our adopted stretch of Highway 60. Meet at 5:30PM on May 14th at the bottom of Sedillo Hill (west of mile marker 129). The highway department provides garbage sacks, and they pick them up; we just have to fill them. Bring gloves; we'll provide the water. We'll work until 7:30PM or so.


May 12-16 Is Bike-to-Work Week

May is National Bike Month, next week (May 12-16) is National Bike-to-Work Week, and May 16th is National Bike-to-Work day. The recent spike in fuel prices should remind everyone that prices are tied to Mid-East political stability. Conservation is a hard thing, but real change has to start at the grassroots level, and that's us. So get that commuter bike out and use it!


Regular Rides and Runs Around Socorro

These are not SSR-sponsored club events!

  • Cycling (Road): MWF 11:30 AM, meet at the IRIS Parking Lot.
  • Cycling (MTB): Friday 11:30 AM, meet at the IRIS Parking Lot.
  • Running: Sunday social run, meet at Tech pool parking lot, 7AM Sundays.

Like to start a new regular run or ride? Contact Matt Perini to get it listed here.

SSR Meets With NM Highway Department Representative

Tuesday's regular meeting was almost entirely a discussion session with Greg White, the New Mexico State Highway And Transportation Department representative on the state's Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Equestrian committee. Mr. White, who describes himself as a "cultural revolutionary" within the highway department, is a strong advocate for cultural changes in New Mexico that would make our state more accomodating for cyclists. Perhaps the strongest point he made was that the bond issues used to fund recent major highway construction in New Mexico, including US550, US285, and the Big-I, will starve the highway department for cash for years to come, and any changes to help the cycling community will have to be limited in scope. We were asked to prioritize possible projects in our area in terms of their neccessity and impact upon the cycling community, with weight given to political issues, such as the impact upon tourism.

During our discussion, some problem areas were identified quickly. Those included the Bosque del Apache railroad crossing, the Highway 60 railroad crossing, Highway 60 near the hospital, the Escondida I-25 underpass, the I-25 frontage roads, New Mexico Highway 1 in general, dangerous quad-bikes on the ditchbanks, and others. Mr. White expressed an interest in helping us get the Bosque del Apache crossing fixed soon, but emphasized that we could help get it done by complaining to the Department of Tourism.


Save Otero Canyon Trails

Submitted to SSR by Matt Turgeon
http://www.saveotero.org
There is a popular hiking, biking, and horse riding trail outside of Albuquerque called Otero Canyon. The trail is on part of land that has never been fenced or used for anything other than recreation. However, it also sits outside of Kirtland Air Force Base and a portion of the land is what is called "military withdrawal land." This land was given to the Department of Defense when Kirtland AFB was originated right after WWII, but the Air Force has never had use for it in over 50 years.

The Otero Canyon trails extend from National Forest Land into this military land, and for at least 20 years there has been no concern by the military over the use of it as a recreation area. However, because of the significant amounts of money available for Homeland Security, Kirtland decided to request funding for a project to fence this land off. Most people here in Albuquerque would agree that this is an unnecessary taxpayer expense and the land is better served to be left open to the public.

Please take the time to click here and sign the petition to stop the closure of Otero Canyon. Also please pass this onto others that you know of that might be interested in signing this petition.


May 5, 2003

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