I figured I would throw a photo up from NM.

I recently went back to New Mexico with the family to visit family and took the bicycle along of course. I don't post much anymore but did get one photo that I am fond of so I decided to put it up here. I rode an old favorite trail of mine called the Quemazon trail that goes from town in Los Alamos up to the Pipeline road which continues up to Pajarito Ski Area or down back into town. I had not riden this trail since the fire in 2000 so I headed up to check it out. I figured the trail would have weathered the fire and aftermath fairly well do to the fact that is comprised of mostly rock on the steeper lower sections. I was correct in this assumption and although the day was really hot and there is not much shade anymore (yet)the ride was fun and as tough as I remember.

A quick ride update

Well I have been getting out a bit lately and this past week I actually got up into the Inner Basin after climbing over a few trees on the Waterline Road. I caught up to Denise, Dan and Doug at the green cabins where they were taking a break and enjoying the water spigot. I got a shot of Denise grinding up the hill with Dan in the background doing the same on there one speeds. Wednesday I decided to head out around Kendrick for a long ride and for the most part found it enjoyable. I did head up one old road in the Pumpkin Fire scare that had an open gate but what I have figured out now is that the lazy Game and Fish guy doing work in there did not close the gate behind him. I rode past the point that I wanted to turn around and got to a section of road that was about a half mile long and just littered with sticks from the fire's aftermath. Needless to say I had a nice little hike a bike and when I got to the other side I discovered the locked gate keeping people off that particular road. I then proceeded to hit highway 180 with a jig jog I was on Hart Prarie Road and then home through Fort Valley. It was not a bad way to spend six hours.

Some more forest roads

Today I headed out for a ride around the Peaks and it turned out to be a pretty nice day. I made sure to stop and take a few photos especially when I saw that Snowbowl still had enough snow in places to actually get a few runs in. The back side of Humphreys looked very ski worthy also with what apparently is a pretty hefty snowpack.

Updating the ride list for the past week

Since it is Everest climbing season right now I decided that an attainable goal at the beginning of the month would be to try and climb the height of Everest on my mountain bike in the month of May. So far I am about 1000 feet away from my goal. I have been getting out a fair amount even with Henry as the newest member of the family. Anne has been working many evening shifts so it allows me to get out even if it is for a short ride. Yesterday I got to go on a long ride (cleaning the house the day before helped my cause) and I found myself down by Mormon Lake and Mormon Mountain and managed to get home right around the 60 mile mark. I really enjoyed my homemade ham and egg rice cakes and nutella/peanut butter rice cakes along the way.

I wrote the previous rambling a few days ago and am planning on heading out for another long dirt road exploration tomorrow. There is something soothing to the soul about these ride that differ from the sweet singletrack rides that abound here. I believe that although physically taxing this type of ride allows for more of a mental clarity due to less of a need to concentrate on the riding and more of opportunity to take in the natural environment. Nonetheless I urge everyone to get out on a bike and enjoy themselves no matter what the distance traveled ends up being.

The dog

Yampa may not get as much attention as she did before Henry came around but she still is pretty spoiled. We are very fortunate to have a shelter dog that is such a great family member. She likes to sit atop her dog house and watch out over the neighborhood.

When I don't have to take on baby duty (doodie)?

I have not have too much motivation lately to post anything new here but today I have a couple of minutes while Henry is sleeping to throw up a few photos of some of the rides I have gotten in lately. I am trying to make the most of the bike time because it is definitely harder to come by these days. My longest ride of the year so far was a whopping 35 miles but there was 4000+ ft. of climbing so I guess that is alright. It consisted of the Elden road, Shultz Pass road and the Ft Valley Trail (Lower Moto). Today I rode up to the bubbling puddle of Orion Spring through a couple of my favorite drainages around Flagstaff. They are really nice now with the water flowing. We were in KC for 5 days so I am slowly shaking the lack of strenuous activity and the abundance of eating off.

Start of the growing season

This year I decided to try a couple of container growing experiments. I found these cool self watering containers that will allow for a bit of veggie gardening that is mobile. I planted already and since the containers have wheels on them I just wheel them into the garage at night and back out to get some sun during the day. I actually only have one so far but it has some arugala, romaine, chives, cilantro and some chard seeds planted in it. A tomato planter of the same variety is one the way with a smaller planter for some misc. things and perhaps some edible flowers. I will periodically update the condition of these plantings until I am eating the deliciousness or it is a total disaster.