Time off for Christmas means time on the bike

Tired of the cold or not, when I have a day off I just can't stand to not get out. Luckily I've slowly been acquiring gear for riding in all kinds of weather. Friday unfortunately Jodi was called into work because of a visiting inspector. SUCKED for her and I would rather her not have had to go in but since she did I played and played hard.

Not a long ride but in as much as 4 inches of snow, soft dirt underneath in the sunny un-frozen areas

and some nice mud in spots it made for some low-gear, leg-burning trails. I was quite surprised when I rode farther out these trails than I had before that I got to a low point where I could not see a single familiar landmark. Not that getting lost out there is a problem, go north and you have no choice but run into Southern, south and you either hit Irving or Paseo de Volcan, east Unser and west you'll make it to Mt. Taylor, eventually. I don't recommend heading west!

In the photo it looks like this was a road ride but as strange as it seems to be, especially being so close to a pretty good size city, there are hundreds and hundreds of miles of dirt roads (little more than trails in places) mapped out. And lots of people on these dirt roads.

Christmas day the sun was out all day and the weather on my Droid said it would be around 45 for a high. It lied!!! I did not layer enough for a road ride over my chest and abs, the rest was good, but when I got home it took hours to get my core warmed up. I pushed a little cold or not, I got in almost 15 miles but that was all the cold I wanted. Next time I think I'll head back to the Bosque or Rio Grande where there is a little more protection from the wind. The wind never stops on the hills over here.

I'm really glad I haven't let the cold keep me off the bike like it has most years that I've ridden. WA was the only other place I rode in the cold. If I didn't there I would have missed too many months of riding, it was cold 9 months of the year sometimes.

2012 is coming quickly and I am very excited about what it holds. I plan on MUCH more riding and training as well as some organized rides and possibly even work harder and harder toward a race or three.

Afternoon off means great training opportunity

I've been told that probably the steepest climb in the Albuquerque area is the climb up Rd 333 to the La Luz Trailhead so I decided if I want to hill climb I might as well try it first. It IS steep and long. And on this particular day I had to ride through a bit of slushy snow, but it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be.

But OH MY GOSH it was colder than I expected. I should have thought of that considering I knew the trailhead is over 7,000'. While standing there my GPS showed 7,037'. Going up the wind was pretty crazy which of course made it colder.  Coming down was much colder even because of course I was traveling a lot faster. The road was slushy, wet, strewn with the cinder grit enough that I took it pretty easy but I was still near 30 miles per.

Since the climb wasn't as bad as I thought and I was already warmed up I headed straight for the climb up to the Tram. Another big climb but again not as bad as I thought it might be. The wind was getting harder and harder so as I came down I really thought I was going to freeze.

The afternoon was mostly sunny so that helped but the wind just kept getting colder but I decided I still had time for one more climb before I needed to head back across the river. I turned left again when I got back to Tramway, passed the car then turned left and headed up the road to Ellena Gallegos Trailhead. I had done this climb so I knew what to expect. It proceeded without a hitch though the legs were starting to feel pretty tired by the top. After a brief rest, brief because it wasn't getting any warmer standing there in the wind, I decided I didn't have time for any more today. Which I wasn't too disappointed about.

Maybe by this time next year I'll be able to do these much quicker. I love climbing and I want to be good at it but I will have to have a lot of practice and hopefully lose several more pounds. Hmmm, what's next?
Maybe head to Tijeras and into the mountains there! We'll see.

Goals nearing, one step at a time

I really never thought it would happen. I had high hopes and was working pretty hard on it (not as hard as Jodi who as of today has lost over 76 pounds in the last year, but pretty hard for me) but the reality seemed far away. I still want to continue but even if I can't or if accomplishments slow I can't be disappointed.

As this post from another site I sometimes write for explains I have been working on getting back in shape for a long time. When I arrived in New Mexico in 2009 I weighed over 273 pounds and wore size 42 pants, this morning I weighed 215 pounds and I wore size 34! And they weren't miserable. Talking about weighing that much isn't something I enjoy but I want anyone that reads this and is struggling to know that improvements are possible. Will I ever be the 175 I would love to be in order to be a much stronger cyclist? That's probably a pipe dream but I can sure tell a difference between when we moved here and when I rode this past weekend. and fully intend to continue trying. I think 20 more lost is very possible and hope for 30. Time will tell. Joining and enjoying the Lovelace Cycling Team has most definitely helped.

The cold weather isn't helping at all but I'm trying to stay active even if I do have to freeze to do it. I do not want to go backwards from what I accomplished this year. They're talking about maybe 60 degrees on Sunday and I cannot wait.