Day: April 11, 2008

Illegal brain candy

/ chollaball / 2 Comments

I have been having a lot of heavy thoughts on the subject lately. I never thought the whole “illegals are bankrupting us” carried much weight, or figured if it did they we’re sure as hell making it up in the cost of affordable maid service. But a series of articles have changes my mind. A hospital in downtown Mesa recently closed – it was an old hospital and allegedly not that good. However, the overtone of the article was that in part serving illegals caused the hospital to shut down since it could not make budget. I bet it was partly both, based on its location. This came not long after i read about an illegal who was hit by a car and was finally sent home to Mexico in a nearly vegetative state after wracking up over half a million in medical bills. In all the racism and paranoia over illegals and the money they cost us, rarely do you see just how that money is broken down, and that is a shame because it allows the racism and paranoia to dictate the discussion. Should we care about protesting a privately-funded day-labor center, or stress that much about the cost of school and teaching any kid to read, if the simplest and least painful area to focus is in medical care denial? Yesterday I read about a van with 32 people in it that crashed outside of Benson, and a bunch of the victims were airlifted to Tucson. AIRLIFTED TO TUCSON!!!! I think it goes against their mission to ask a rescue worker to realistically identify someone’s immigration status before providing them service, but its even more crazy to ask the taxpayers to pay for helicopter rescue. Sometime in this M*A*S*H* episode not a single officer asked any of the 26 other people to provide ID and a story for the 6 people who got airlifted?!?! Aint no damn airlift for me when i’m in Rocky Point and paying Mexican taxes! We are the richest nation on earth, we should provided an ambulance, but not a helicopter. My health insurance would make a similar decision about me.

When I say this i sound like a Minuteman.

The unintentional effect of a house in Rocky Point has been a lot more empathy for the people trying to come here to work. They are coming to Rocky Point too, and bringing their crime and their trash and their vagrancy and their loitering and their run on public services. They may be legal, but they are using my grill and my water and leaving trash in my yard. But then I see up close on my bike guys working all day in the heat loading buckets of bricks and then walking 3 miles home. Its hard to resent someone trying to work and improve their quality of life.

When I say this i sound like a bleeding heart.

Maybe AZ Prop 200 isn’t so bad after all. Except that it is entirely too blunt and stupid in its attempt to protect the citizens from the black hole of medical bills. You shouldn’t be able to sue the cop who didn’t cancel the helicopter, but there had to be 10 people involved who could have stopped that helicopter. There had to be dozens who could have stopped the half-million dollar fiasco. It has to be part of their policy to evaluate the citizenship, at least if its feasible. Sometimes it may not be feasible, and you can’t blame the rescue worker in the middle of that decision, just review it and learn from it as part of your ongoing training. Doctors have evaluation boards, police have reviews, is that so hard?

Rock Fairies on Geronimo

/ chollaball / Leave a comment

some rock fairies dropped some fairly large rocks into a couple blind corners on Geronimo. a couple people spilled or beat up their bikes as a result. Oddly enough, this has raised an incredibly contentious debate on mtbr between xc’rs vs dh’rs, trail changes to Geronimo, and just about any other ad hoc topic that people seem to want to yammer on about. Sometimes i get drawn into this shit, but i sat this one out.

I find myself oddly conflicted about this latest situation.

the rock fairy bullshit is a no-brainer – some fucking coward is trying to booby trap the trail and the results could seriously hurt someone. I’m sure its some ne’er-do-well hiker who is offended by one-too-many downhillers going by them too fast, or what they in their infinite wisdom to perceive as too fast. it may not have even been that someone did anything specifically wrong, just another damn hiker who thinks the presence of guys on big bikes and full-face helmets has alienated him enough from “his” trail that he needs to take justice into his own hands. Likely a combination of both. irregardless. but likely a combination of both. it could have been me taken out as I creep slowly down that hill after climbing for an hour and a half and saying hello to every hiker i see. Pussy motherfucking self-righteous coward.

I have never had a problem on Geronimo with hikers, but i usually ride it by myself on weekday afternoons. I have tons of friends who dh that trail on weekends, and i’m sure they are being courteous and doing their best to share. unfortunately, the fact is that some hikers get pissed off losing their cadence stepping off the trail and think that just because they are hikers they should be allowed to maintain the perfect uninterupted cadence – the same people who would get pissed if there were twice as many hikers on the same trail. also unfortunately, even safely passing someone on a bike at speed in a group is going to make most people a bit on edge — even me when i’ve got G with me. I think dh’rs have a constant uphill issue of perception, that they will never be able to shake. I also think if you have a problem with traffic you need to go on weekdays or have some attitude adjustment. I am likely riding Somo this weekend with some friends, and my entire mindset is going to get into hanging out with friends and having a good day on the trail. Yesterday i hammered up from the office to BV in 1:15 and sessioned everything i wanted – the priviledge of a weekday. the reality of an enormous city.

I don’t consider myself a downhiller, cause i go too damn slow and i don’t shuttle and i don’t ride the same trails over and over in one day. but i don’t like being hated on for no good reason other than following the rules while on my bike and enjoying gnarly descents. Some XC-types a-little-too-quickly pointed out that the rock in the blind turn could be a kid and you must always be in control and able to stop. True, if the kid was 18 inches tall and hiding in the rut; true, if the kid was alone and you saw neither him nor the people he was with; true, if he happened to be wearing camoflage; true, if he and his invisible companions paid no attention to his own surroundings so could give a warning or step himself off the trail. It will happen someday, but it will be 1 in 10,000, and it won’t be me cause i go too slow. the priviledge of a weekday. the reality of an enormous city.

Riders and hikers come to have expectations of the trail, and what will be in it. For your own safety, you should always maintain the attitude that you need to be in control and able to stop at all times no matter what. And if you can do that you are a machine. Trails are all about what they offer and their feel and their views and their touch and their flow. And they are awesome because they are not treadmills. But trails change, and you must be able to handle obstacles. But obstacles do not jut out like pungi sticks in blind turns. But sometimes they do and you must ride it.

Fortunately i go slow, and ride on weekdays.