we do have it good here, we were recently rated number 3rd per capita bike city, but, I'ld challange that based on number of ridable days! We have all! Denver? how many truly ridable months do they have there?
RE: Goatheads...What i've found works AWSOME (havn't had a flat since I started doing this) is double treads. hear me out. It's a little rougher ride, but nothing that an extra wrap of handle bar tape won't fix... what you do is cut the bead off an old pair of tires, and then use them as a "liner" on your new or current tires, then I put 1 oz of franks no-more flat in the tube, and go to town. Last weekend I ran through a section of non-paved goat head ridden "path" up by tramway....got no less than 15 goat heads in EACH tire for my trouble...picking them off later was a pain, but I didn't get a flat...still wished I'ld dismounted and walked accross the 10 foot section to the bike path though!
LOVE the paths this time of year, just starting to warm enough that riding is TRULY enjoyable, and NO ONE is out yet

I'm commuting 20 miles a day, and gonna move up to 40 miles by April hopefully, trying to get fit for the BTC, anyone going to that?