Mountain biking near Gallup, NM

Chronologically this is out of order but that's ok, it's my blog and I just now decided to write it.

The middle of June was quite warm and very windy in Albuquerque so we decided to head to a little higher terrain and see what happened. Gallup here we come.

I had read and heard a lot about outdoor recreation opportunities near Gallup but we had yet to venture there. Singletracks.com listed a few rides in the area but the one that caught my attention most was the race course of the High Desert Screamer, also know as the Squash Blossom Classic, that I had previously read about on NMORS website.

The trail did not disappoint. We headed straight to the trailhead and I mounted up on Scotty while Jodi decided to take a walk. While I pedaled the 8 mile course Jodi got in over 4 miles of hiking along the same trail. Quite impressive.

The trail started climbing a small hill that got the blood pumping a little then turned in to very easy single-track for a while. The majority of the trail is easy with only a couple challenging hills. There is one hard right hand turn with a little bit of un-nerving exposure if you have a fear of heights. Luckily I do not so to me it made for a great view. There are a few areas with great views, a short easy section of slickrock and some very fast fun spots all mixed together.

If I lived closer I would definitely ride this trail often.

While looking for somewhere to camp on Saturday night we accidentally found Nutria Lake on reservation land. There are only a few designated camp sites around the lake and it turned out to be a quite peaceful (except for the drunks next to us) camp area with no artificial light which made for a great night's sleep.

The next day we explored around Gallup more then headed east and south into the Zuni Mountains to McGaffey to check out other trails I had read about. As we drove up the hill we were met by more vehicles hauling bikes than I had ever seen on any given day. We later found out that the 24 Hours in the Enchanted Forest race had just ended so some of the trailheads were still closed. We also discovered according to one sign that that some trailheads were closed due to state government budget cuts. But we did find the Hilso Trailhead open so we stopped and I mounted up again for a quick spin just to check it out while Jodi was on the phone with our granddaughter. I rode a six mile section of the previous 24 hour's race course just to get a taste of the trails.

This is an area I will definitely have to return to because there are miles and miles of trails to play on.

Ride the Rockies 2012

As much as I love mountain biking, partially because of my lovely Scott Scale 50, I have learned this year that I like road riding more than I ever thought I would. As the previous post states this is largely due to the trails in New Mexico being closed for a lengthy time due to fires in so much of the state and such a dangerous threat in almost all the state.

Another thing that caused me to be more interested in road riding was when in the border of my Facebook page I saw an ad for Ride the Rockies which I immediately "liked" and then spent hours on their website looking at the gorgeous photos of last years ride.

So, the first step was to start riding my cyclocross bike on the road on longer rides and throwing in a LOT of climbing. Step two, buy a road bike. Since I just bought the $1,300 cyclocross last year and we have other plans for expenditures this summer I put my new bike in lay-a-way at Cycle Cave. XL 2011 Scott CR1 Comp, all carbon, dual ring lovely, lovely ride. Can't wait to get my hands and other body parts on this baby!! Then the training will truly start!!

2011, crazy spring and summer in New Mexico

Photo: courtesy David "wanderingpops" Sims, one of the great road rides I experienced because I couldn't ride trails

The wind never stopped! The horrendous winds that plague New Mexico every spring were relentless all the way into July. Mid-spring Arizona's largest ever fire broke out covering much of New Mexico with often thick very smelly smoke. And just as it was beginning to dissipate what seemed like half of New Mexico caught fire.

Two of the fires, both in the northern half of the state, became the two largest fires ever recorded here. With ever changing winds there was never any way of planning where the smoke would be and where it would not.

And to bring it all to a head, the worst drought in the state's history comes along and fear of more of these huge fires forced the closure of practically every National Forest in New Mexico. Not a bad idea considering how thinly stretched the fire fighting capabilities have become. So finally the city of Albuquerque followed suit and closed the bosque, first leaving the paved trail open but finally shutting it all down entirely.

First of all, this is a pretty minor problem (except for loss of business for those who count on outdoor recreation and tourism and the entities who count on tax revenue from the same) compared to those unfortunate folks who lost their homes or were evacuated for several days, and the businesses in Las Conchas that were closed for over a week due to evacuations.

Secondly, come on!!! It's Albuquerque. There are so many miles of road riding here there is no reason (except on the worst days of smoke) to not keep building cardio and climbing legs so that when the trails open you can hammer faster and climb harder.

The forests will recover, homes can be rebuilt and trails will be re-opened. And I have discovered that I like road riding better than I ever expected. I hate it for the loss of vegetation for food and homes for the wildlife but fire is a natural part of progression so they will recover also.

Come on 2012!

GREAT bike ride while visiting friends in the Phoenix area. 9.4 butt-kicking miles in the HOT morning sun at the Estrella Mountain Regional Park Competitive Trail. I thought I left early enough but by 8:00 the temp was over 85 degrees. Only problem, I tried to leave very quietly to let everyone else continue to sleep so I forgot one essential item, WATER!!! I left both my water bottles in the refrigerator. Luckily Jodi had left a little water in a bottle in the car, warm water is better than no water. Then about 3 miles from the end I met another rider who had moved to the Phoenix area from northern CA. He had become accustomed to riding in such a dry, windy climate so when he saw I was basically out of water he gave me about 4 ounces of his.

The ride started on wide gravel that was easily ridable by any skill level. In fact, I began to think the ride might be a little boring. It become more interesting fairly quickly then as I got near the upper elevations and the crux of the trail it changed more drastically. One map I saw claimed this whole trail is ridable by any skill level, I will agree if you qualify

that with someone truly rides serious off-road mountain bike trails. I know, and have ridden with a lot of people who "mountain bike" that have no business what so ever on this trail. It's a lot of fun for serious riders like

myself but if you're a recreational/casual rider this trail will hurt you ... badly.

I thought the extremely low elevation compared to Albuquerque would really help

me, and probably would have

, but that was over-

shadowed by the heat and the lac

k of water. So I will have to try it again in a cooler season.

The whole trip to AZ was great. Not terrible traffic,

except on Friday evening on the way down I was juxtaposed to some of the most annoying fast lane drivers who, literally, no matter what would not move to the slow lane. Had a very good time with Carol and Stephen, as always. Tried a new restaurant right after we got there, Filibertos Mexican Food. We have one in ABQ but we had not tried it yet. The burrito was amazing!! The temp was 100 degrees as we pulled into town. When we got to their house sitting on the deck at 9:00 it was still 90 degrees.

Saturday after the ride I refueled with some breakfast then we chilled for a while then headed to the pool at the community club in Carol's complex. Beautiful facilities. Nice, very quiet gym with good equipment so I decided to add an upper body workout to the lower body workout of the earlier bike ride. Then to the pool, then the hot tub. I could get used to that life!!! I stayed in the sun just long enough to feel it later. I know what they say about laying in the sun but ..... Im' going to be out in it so why not get some color so I don't burn so easily.

Steaks on the grill Saturday night with Greek salad, etc. Great meal with great people. Sunday Stephen did not have to work but he agreed to go to where he worked. He was giving us the grand tour of the Phoenix Zoo. We started off by feeding stingrays. HOW COOL!!! Then to see all the lovely fauna and the exhibits. The savanna exhibit that you can overlook while eating lunch or on a stop on the zoo train. Of course Jodi and I spent a bit of extra time at the reptile area looking at rattlesnakes. And we also took our time with the apes, being close relatives of ours .... er, MINE I mean.

Monday the drive home was amazing. We cut a northwest path out of Phoenix instead of heading straight north on the interstate (I-17). We headed to Payson. Neither of us had any idea that saguaro cacti grew so prolifically that they are the dominant species as you drive through the low lands and the rolling hills. Then as we climbed the vegetation changed and became more green and thick and slowly the temp started coming down. In fact, beyond Payson at the Mogollon Rim section of the Coconino Nat'l Forest Jodi almost put on a sweatshirt it was so cool. This whole section is begging me to head back that way with 2 wheels AND 2 hiking boots. We found another great restaurant there the Red Onion Grill. GREAT grilled chicken sandwich. The rest of the trip was very uneventful but lovely.

READY FOR THE NEXT ADVENTURE!!!

What's happening lately

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.

Bad weather in Springfield

I'm a week late, sorry. Mother Nature did not cooperate with our zoo plans last week in Missouri. We awoke Saturday to pretty heavy rain and storms. St Louis was under a winter weather warning expecting around 3" of snow. I wanted to see the zoo but not that badly.

Besides, our semi-urgency was because Jonathan had been talking about moving to Albuquerque with us. He has fallen more deeply in like with his apartment and the convenience of living right downtown where he can walk to everything except work. So he will probably be in Springfield until he graduates. We should make enough trips to see the zoo no problem.

Sunday morning we awoke to even colder, with ice on the car and the sidewalks. We were lucky that there was none on the roads. We had an easy uneventful 13 hour ride home but it was cold and very windy not seeing any real sunshine until we got west of Amarillo.

Jodi's Aunt Carol was waiting on us when we got home. She is once again driving from Arizona to Canada. Her brother had health issues so she drove his car home and is flying back. We're looking forward to when we can visit her in Phoenix.

Visiting Jonathan in Missouri

Sitting in the coffee shop at Missouri State University while our son Jonathan is in class this morning. Very chilly walk from his house. Rainy, windy nasty weather here. "Feels like" temp is 23 this morning. Brrr.

Great to be here t o see him though, been way too long since Labor Day. That was the last time we saw him.

Today just bum around town, do a little shopping at his work, Bass Pro Shops, visit his favorite book store, etc and eat lunch at Chicago Cheesesteak Company and who knows from there.

Tomorrow the plan is to head to the St Louis Zoo if the weather improves just a little bit!!