Urban Bike - Chateaus, Burritos, Coffee And The Crinkle of Autumn Leaves

Moving the series Urban Bike, over from PhoenixMarketTrends, is becoming hard work. This post was released in mid fall last year and makes me very impatient for fall in 2011. I can't wait to jump on my bike an ride over fallen leaves and listen to how they crumple under the skinny wheels.

It’s been a gruesome while since my bike saw much pavement in the last 2 months.  I guess when I think of the places I may ride to, I immediately get a tingle of boredom, but that’s more because of a lack of imagination or the forgotten realism that there are places to discover in Phoenix, that nooks and crannies lie all around and that cycling is a pleasure.

The latter is a, ‘not doubt’, it’s just the city that got me down. I’m a bit mad at Phoenix or more at the people, the promises they made, the vulture investors, the banks and the politicians, like our mayor, who’s flame fizzled out and the grand ideal of urban Phoenix went bust along with the dumpy economy and the cowboy politicians who brought shame upon this state and took our eyes off what’s important. Enough with the innuendos though, lets go cycling.

The  photo above is of the ceiling at Giant Coffee on the border of Midtown and Downtown Phoenix.  The industrial ceiling and lamps suit the coffee shop well, much better then that guitar and 18th Century picture on one of the wall. 

Those two things always seem to mar my visits there. It’s a bad design for them to be there.  Neither the wall complements the two items nor vice verse. The coffee is good and the burrito – thus the reference in the title – is awesome: just beware, it’s big and two can easily share it, even after a long bike ride.

Giant Coffee was the end point of my journey south from north. On the way I took advantage of the overcast sky to take photos for the ongoing coverage of the light rail stations and the public art along each one.  Two stations filled the SD card today.  Many of the stations have very interesting art.  They are worth visiting just for that, if you don’t ride the rail.

What, also, caught my eye was the progress of Chateau on Central, that controversial project near the Willo neighborhood.  It was nicely spruced up and it looks like it may be going live soon.  It’s a very beautiful project in itself, but we’ll see how the price point is received by the market: I have my doubts, especially considering the slow pace of progress along Central and the political mess.

Part of the ride was along the Sonoran Bike-way which in the Central Phoenix section has a lot places to explore and enjoy.  The streets are lined with beautiful home on huge grass covered lawns and massive trees overhanging on the streets, many of which are in the process of dropping their leaves so as the bike wheels roll over they crinkle, mash up and get thrown to the side and back: it’s a wonderful soothing sound.  It must be the feeling that a change in seasons brings on.  We have so few in Phoenix: only two each year.

What a wonderful city to cycling in, so few cars and so many trails and streets to explore with a local coffee shop always near by.