  | Hail, Velocipede!Trail-a-Week: South Diversion Channel Betty Sprocket Don't forget your water bottles, you guys. It's getting hot out there. Betty Sprocket has been sweating so profusely she feels like she was baked in a salt crust after getting home from a ride. Today we're riding the South Diversion Channel trail in a big loop that circumscribes some South Valley neighborhoods and industrial yards, a short portion of Rio Bravo, and the dry, open throat of the South Diversion Channel itself. Get on at the southernmost tip of the Paseo del Bosque trail (near Rio Bravo and the river) and keep going south. Paseo del Bosque becomes the South Diversion Channel. I guess you could ride east on Rio Bravo and do the loop clockwise, but it's better to start out going south. The views are typical South Valley tableaux: junkyards, panels of endearingly bad graffiti, those dirt-bike-trail-covered hills rising up in the east. O, the many faces of Albuquerque. I love them all so much! Finish your ride coasting downhill on Rio Bravo, being sure to check out all the sweet South Valley rims you'll see rollin' by. Does anyone know where to get chrome dubs specially made for the velocipede? I'm ... asking for a friend. Note: There's been some debate within the Alibi's online community about whether yelling "On your left!" as you pass someone constitutes an act of bike punkery. My short answer is no, but you should treat the phrase like a car horn and only yell when the person you're passing needs to know you're there. If they're keeping to one side of the trail and riding in a straight line, keep your trap shut. If they're swerving, riding two abreast or otherwise blocking your path, go ahead and say something. Be forgiving if it's a kid or an inexperienced rider, but if it's an oblivious jerk, you have my permission to narrow your eyes censoriously as you ride past. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author. Betty Sprocket, professor emeritus of the Skinny Tires Department of the University of New Bikexico, is here to lecture you about Albuquerque's many magnificent bike trails. You'll learn about a new one each week, so please take notes. And do remember to do your homework: Get out there and ride.
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