January 4, 2026
# of Cycleblaze Meetups in 2026: 1 (and counting)
Do I remember what happened on this morning, two days after the fact now that I'm finally getting around to saying something about it? I do not. What I think happened though is that I pretty much sat around on my ass all morning while Rachael walked to and back from the nearest Safeway two miles away to pick up a few essentials we're running low on, including another half pint of pistachio ice cream.
I don't remember why I sat around so long - maybe it rained some or was too chilly in the morning hours, or maybe I was still writing about all the new birds I saw the day before up at Madera Canyon - ten, in case you've forgotten, including one lifetime first, the Arizona woodpecker.
I remember what happened after that though. In late morning I headed out on the bike for a short ride along Rillito Wash, short because we have a 2:30 commitment I needed to be back in time for. My thought was that I'd just go a few miles and maybe finally see a Gambel's quail. And just to stop right there and break the suspense, I did:
But as long as I was mobilized I kept biking west, dodging walkers and bikers (especially by the racetrack, because the place was jammed from the Saturday public market), checking off birds and miles until I came to the last crossing to the south bank of the wash, Camino de la Terra; took it, and then doubled back home on the south bank, continuing to collect birds as I went.
It was a successful outing, well worth the time. I saw one more new bird for the year, a kestrel, which I'll include here even though it's a pretty poor shot just so you won't have doubts that I really saw one.
By the time I made it home I claimed sixteen birds for the day, in sixteen miles. And I heard another thrasher without being able to spot it, which I think brings me up to four this year already. So they're definitely out there and it's just a matter of time.
And thinking about it now, I realize I was wrong at the start of this post. I made it back by two, in time to shave and shower, and there's no way that I covered sixteen miles and stopped to check out several dozen birds in just a couple of hours. I must have gotten started closer to ten, which isn't really as sloth-like as I was thinking.
I won't show you all the other 14, but here are a few of them anyway so you won't feel short changed.
| Heart | 6 | Comment | 3 | Link |
2 weeks ago
As we've said before, we really have no idea what's in store for us this year. Who knows how many birds I'll get to see, if I don't even know if we'll be leaving the Pacific Northwest? And who knows how many CycleBlaze meetups will happen, or even how much actual cycling will happen as far as that goes?
But we won't get skunked. Rachael's still waiting to score her first biking miles, but I've got 31 already! And 77 birds (well, including the days since solstice anyway, but still); and we're only four days in and we've already convened our first meetup! We want to thank Kelly and Jacinto and Wendy and her son Kurt for helping us start the year off with a bang.
And a word about Kurt, who you might remember from our visit with him last spring bikes a bit himself. Kurt lives in Edmonton, which isn't the best spot to train in the winter if you have any big cycling plans in your future, as Kurt does. He's down here for a few months to train for the 2026 Tour Divide, this year's backpacking race down the famous Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.
Kurt's not super-ambitious and is just in it to have a good time. He's not thinking he'll challenge the big boys and girls who pretty much ride around the clock - last year's winner competed the 2,745 mile event in under 12 days, something I can hardly comprehend. Kurt is thinking he'll take time to smell the flowers and gaze at the grizzlies along the way, keeping himself to just about 200 km/day and rolling up to the Mexican border wall in southern New Mexico in something like three weeks.
The race starts in Banff at 8:00 on June 13, come rain or come shine. I think Kurt is planning to maintain some sort of online presence during the race, so if we find out where it is we'll post it here or maybe in the forum so you can cheer him on. Go, Kurt!
| Heart | 5 | Comment | 1 | Link |
2 weeks ago
__________
Today's list: Mourning dove, Rock pigeon, Anna's hummingbird, European starling, Brewer's blackbird, Gila woodpecker, Northern mockingbird, Phainopepla, House finch, House sparrow, Red-tailed hawk, Cooper 's hawk, American kestrel, Gambel's quail, Lesser goldfinch, Long-tailed grackle (16)
Today's ride: 16 miles (26 km)
Total: 31 miles (50 km)
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2 weeks ago