It is down right pathetic how long it has been since I have posted HERE!! This spring has been great. Jonathan came for four days and we got in a backpacking trip and saw three bears. On his second full day here, the day we came back from camping, Stephen, Hannah, Nora and my new little buddy grandson that I had yet to meet came and stayed for two and a half weeks. A bit different having four, five for a couple days, extra people in our house after being so used to it just being Jodi and me but we had a blast!! Tanner wrapped me around his finger immediately. And Nora, though in that age where she will have something to do with Pops ONLY when SHE says so and I had a blast also. I kept both the kids one night while Jodi went to a work dinner and Stephen and Hannah went on a date. Nora and I had a blast. Tanner didn't really seem to care.
The only bad thing was Stephen bringing a cold with him and giving it to everyone in the house except Jodi. I ended up with it but the timing was decent at least. My biggest fear of a cold is not being able to ride my bikes. This time I had the cold while the kids were here and the wind was pitching a fit itself so I probably wouldn't have ridden anyway.
The Friday after the kids left I got in a 25+ mile road ride but didn't do anything TOO drastic. Good ride but I didn't push too hard because I was still recovering from the cold. I didn't realize just how much it had affected me until I TRIED to ride the Volcanoes with Daniel on Monday evening. The wind was in my face and that along with me being weak ruined that ride. I was hurting!!! The next Friday I got in a good 13 miles on the road and could tell I was feeling better.
Saturday I didn't feeling like biking in the wind in the afternoon after we got all of our "stuff" done for he day so I opted for a hike. I wanted something new and relied on the internet for help. I chose 3 Gun Spring in the southern Sandias. I didn't hit the trail until 3:45 in the afternoon even though it was 8 miles round trip that included over 2,200 feet of elevation gained then obviously that much elevation loss. I of course took too many photos and marked each one on GPS so that took some time. I ended up clocking a top speed coming down of 6.1 mph. I made it down at 7:50, 4 hours and 5 minutes from the time I left. I wasn't fairly pleased with that and could tell my lungs were better.
Monday I had to work late and was just too busy to ride then Tuesday the wind played havoc like crazy so Daniel and I decided to try Wednesday. He took me to a new ride I had not done, along the bosque and the river north of Alameda to Corralles. GREAT ride. If not for loose sand it would have been a fantastic ride. About 5 of the last miles were deep sand that totally kicked my butt. I had been very pleased with how I was keeping up with Daniel until I hit the sand but my 80 pounds more weight than him along with his phenomenal cardio abilities and I was toast.
Troy, the CEO at the hospital, Daniel (above mentioned) the lead respirator tech and Troy's son Caldwell and I have been trying to ride together on Monday evenings. The wind has not cooperated and sometimes when it does cooperate schedules do not. Caldwell has only ridden with us once. Troy has a few times and he took Dr Gibson one time when Daniel nor I could go. Se we'll eventually get a good group to make it a weekly thing hopefully.
