Only in New Mexico

So the word on the frame is it should be replaced. Enough about that.

The rest of my parents trip out was good. On Saturday we did some shopping around for new bikes for the ladies, nothing firm but they liked how the Orbea Diva looked. We may even have talked them into getting a compact crank instead of a triple. Right now it is looking like Orbea, Look, Cannondale(maybe), Trek(maybe) or possibly custom(WaltWorks?). On Sunday Linda and mom rode up S 14 which is actually NM 337 now, the name changed several years ago but the cycling community still refers to it by its old labeling. Mom rode Linda's bike which has a triple and was hers prior to giving it to Linda and Linda rode Betty's bike which has a standard double on it and had no issues which helps in the quest to get rid of the triple. Later in the day Dad, Chris and I rode the west side or volcanoes loop, the first time I've been out that way this year. The road that used to go west out to a stop sign and back east from the main direction of Paseo del Volcan has been repaved and straightened and the stop eliminated which is nice.

Dylan misses Grandpa or at least really likes saying his name in Cantonese, which is Yeah-Yeah, the end is kind of clipped so it is not quite like Yeah! but close.

Today in the front yard we saw a Road Runner and it was teaching Dylan poor table manners. The video gets shaky at the end but the thing in his/her beak is a small mouse. The mouse seems plenty dead if you ask me and the bird is just playing with it while eating.

Well if you were eating and that did not set well with you, I'm sorry but it was interesting anyway. Apparently a road runner will eat just about anything it can catch by running up to it and stabbing it's prey with it's beak.

The shoulder is feeling better which is good since as of now Chris and I are planning to head back to Socorro to try and finish off his project this weekend.

Stone Age is having a competition this Saturday for the USAC as a local and for the new college climbing leauge...Say what, climbing is now some sort of college sport. Apparently so, where was this while I was in school? Setting for the competiton will provide a little test for my shoulder although I will be protecting it and trying to avoid anything that will obviously put a lot of stress on it.

Bio Park with Popo and Yeah-Yeah

Well, The new camera came in on Wednesday and I've had teh opportunity to use it some and check out some of the features. Some are pretty cool, like being able to preview the effect of over exposing or under exposing a shot and choosing how you want it to look or how different white balance settings look. Bad is the back lighting feature which is supposed to make shady faces with bright backgrounds come out without blowing the background out which it still does and the faces end up looking whiter than normal. I guess that could be good if you're trying to show that you are sick or something. Being able to take video is nice as we have never had a camer with a video feature, just show how old our other point and shoot was since they pretty much all can take some amount of video now.

My parents are in town so yesterday the three of us took Dylan out to the Bio Park, Zoo, Aquarium and Botanical Gardens with a train that connects them. He had a blast pushing his charriot around the Zoo and he enjoyed the train but the tunnels made him pretty nervous.

After the Bio Park my dad and I went for a quick ride and saddly he crashed when someones off leash (actually the dog was on a leash but the owner was not holding the other end) little 15 pound dog cut right in front of him while on the bike path taking out the front wheel of the bike he was on. He was lucky in some ways in that he was about to go between some concrete posts to keep cars from driving on the path which the bike hit and he some how avoided which limited his road rash to just his elbow but it means that the top tube of my Cervelo R3 took quite a blow. He can't be all that bad off as he is out right now with mom ansd Chris' wife, Joanna on a 30 mile ride, but on a different bike as the Cervelo needs to get looked at.

Here is a sideways shot of Dylan looking pretty happy with himself after summiting a pint sized boulder at the Botanical Gardens.

Now Dylan is trying to break one of the large ants that hang at the Bio Park in a place called the childrens fantasy garden, sort of like Alice in Wonderland when she is small, or Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

My mom is a model train fan so we had to check out the model trains the have at the Botanical Gardens.

Well that is long winded enough for now but with 2 extra sets of hands around hopefully I'll be able to get another post up this weekend.

Weekend report 09-03-16

On Friday since the weather was bad Chris, Curran, Dylan and I headed over to John and Carolyn's house to climb on their wall. Carolyn has a really sweet personal training studio with a climbing wall so we spent about 2 hours having a good session. Dylan played with all the personal training equipment and John's dog, Soulame (sp?).

Here is a shot that Carolyn took with her phone of Dylan and Soulame playing with extra holds that are not on the wall yet.

Next is another phone shot of Dylan just hanging around, though after a couple times of hanging on till he lets go he realizes that falling is more fun and he just lets go right away. You can also see their wall, nice bulge out the center and curving slightly overhung walls on either side.

On Saturday Linda finally started to ride some longer distances, though only 35 miles this time. She commutes to work on her bike once or twice a week 15 miles each way, but if she wants to have fun on the Triple By-Pass in CO this July she needs to get some longer rides in. Otherwise 120 miles and 3 mountain passes is just not going to be enjoyable no matter how nice the weather and scenery.

Next up, they don't make stuff like they used to. Dylan sporting a 30 year old onesie, those of you who know how old I am , know what that means.

On Sunday I headed out to Socorro with Chris. We started at Spook Canyon where after warming up Chris dogged up Ride the Lightning 5.13- to hang draws and figure things out for me. Thanks to his work, he had already done the route several years ago, I was able to climb it on my first go. Then we headed over to North Wall which was pretty cold, but that was a good thing. We got on a route that Chris bolted about 7 years ago and has not been climbed yet. We both made good progress in 2 attempts each. I managed it with one fall and Chris with just a couple, so I'm optimistic that it will go down next time out.

New camera and climbing with John

Last weekend we all enjoyed a day in Socorro climbing, no pictures though.

We just purchased a new point and shot camera to replace Linda's Canon power shot that bit the dust, the thing would not even turn on with new batteries. It was probably 5 years old, so it was probably time for a new one anyway.

On Wednesday Dylan and I got out climbing with our friend John Kear a local guide who is not in town all that much so we try to get out with him when we can. We check out Fat City which is a bouldering area in the foothills. I had never been before and it was a nice change of pace. A handful of nice problems, nothing all that hard and one really interesting face.

Here is a shot of John on the cool crystal face, apparently the boulder broke along a pegmatite band so the whole face is quartz crystals.

Next up for you Dylan fans, here is Dylan showing his team colors courtesy of Auntie Joy and Uncle Chris, while contemplating some grass.

Today Dylan and I just got back from an hour long ride along the Rio Grande bike path and now Linda is home spoiling him.

Dylan has been walking more often but still prefers to crawl since he is a lot faster on all fours. That will change eventually I'm sure.

Now we are in trouble

Well, over the last month or so Dylan has taken a few steps about once a week. Today on the other hand was different. We were both able to encourage him to walk a bit so we are counting today as the day he started to walk.

It's about time 16 1/2 months. Though a lot of people say it is good to crawl for along time or that it is easier before they can walk. I think I tend to believe the second statment a bit more.

On another note, on Tuesday Dylan and I went for a 20+ mile bike ride. Well actually he just sat in his trailer and played with his toys while babbling away. It is always nice to be able to get out and be active with the kid.

Happy March

Well the weekend was pretty good.

On Saturday I made itout to Ponderosa with Chris and Danny to do some bouldering. Chris and I both managed to repeat a Jon Cardwell problem, Soft Fluffy Bunnies V8/9, named for the images Jon tried to carry in his head to not be intimidated by the two tiered landing.

Here is a sot of Chris on the start of the problem, the straight up from where he is is a good V6

Here is a shot of me starting the upper postion of the problem. This is one of the best lines at Ponderosa, about 20 feet long and really good movement.


On Sunday the family made it out to Wite Rock and the Playground. Dylam had a blast playing in the dirt at the base of the wall while mom and dad climbed with Betty. Linda and Betty both managed to do Unrelenting Nines on their first try on top-rope. Unrelenting is a great slightly overhung route, very steep for Wite Rock, and one of the harder classic lines starting with big moves on jugs then a steep finger crack to some face climbing at the top.


Last here is a photo of Dylan that I took last early last month that I think is kind of funny.




Dylan is all about Ball-ball and has been for a month or more, so this is the sports section which for some reason always has an image or two of a basketball on the cover.


Hope everyones March got off to a great start over the weekend.