Hike to Palomas

This morning Dylan and I hiked up to Palomas Peak, well I carried him. We met up with Marc Ripper, Matt L. and Matt B. who were out there climbing. We spent a couple of hours out then gave Marc a ride back into town so he could work while the Matt's climbed a bit longer.

Palomas is a really pretty area on the back side of the Sandias with a moderately long approach. It takes about a half an hour to hike in through some pretty varied vegetation. Open fields, scrub oak, then a section that feels almost like a rain forest, then come the big pine trees in a section that just makes me want to ride a mountain bike, and finally the trudge up the hill through mixed trees and some cactus as the slope faces south in places.

Matt, who was working Entertaining Mike Tyson 5.13b last time I was out came OH so close to sending it today. He fell going to the juggy finger lock that you clip the last bolt off of, though you do have to get to it and readjust on it before you can clip, so a move and a half from sending. Marc Ripper pulled of 2, 5.12-'s, not sure of the names, by 11am. They headed up at 6am from town. Here is a shot of Matt on EMT.

There are these really cool trees along the first section of wall that you come to at Palomas that grow right out of the base of the wall horizontally for several feet that make great benches and such. Dylan had fun play around on one of the smaller ones. Sitting on a rock and leaning back against it.Climbing over it.And trying to crawl under it, though it kind of looks like a cage as well.Later in the evening when Linda got home from work she introduced Dylan to bubbles and he was ecstatic. Video will come in the next post.

A weekend of riding

Had a good weekend.

On Saturday Linda got to spend the Day with Dylan while Chris and I headed out to White Rock to do the Valles Caldera Double Crossing 200km brevet. It starts at the Overlook in White Rock and heads towards Los Alamos and over the caldera, out to Fenton Lake (really pretty out there and I had not ridden that road before) then back to Hwy 4 and down to Jemez Springs. A quick stop for a breakfast burrito at Deb's and mile 70 and back up over the caldera to White Rock by way of Bandalier NM. We got very lucky with the weather as there was a 40% chance of rain and the forcasted winds were 15-20mph. No rain though it did threaten and there were occasional gusts of wind but really nothing too bad. A very pretty ride.

On Sunday I took care of Dylan while Linda rode the Santa Fe Century with Joanna and Doni in just about idea conditions. It was about 80 for the high with little to no wind.

All in all I think we did pretty well for being very under prepared. Not having riden more than 50 miles yet this year and only about 6-7 hundred total in the calendar year. Though I'll addmit I did pay the price trying to stay with 3 racers, 2 had just finished the Tour of the Gila and the third had just won his age group in the AZ state TT championships. Needless to say I blew big at about mile 40 and could no longer get my heart rate above 150, then at about mile 110 event though I still could not raise my heart rate my power output jumped about 50 watts. Kind of wierd but it always seems to happen on long rides.

Linda would have rather climbed on Sunday and I'm glad that we did not, it makes it easier for me to avoid climbing if I don't actually go to a cliff even though I don't bring my shoes. The next couple of weekends it should be easier to avoid climbing since we will be in Hawaii for a wedding and some more time with my parents and sister.

No photos, que malo.

Long Time No Write

OK, so here is the shot of Linda's lip. This was about 3 days after it happened.

So on Saturday the 2nd I rode with Chris and Joanna from town to the Sandia Crest at 10,600 feet, good climb and with the intention of riding back into town. Only problem is is was snowing on us for the last 2-3 miles going up and pouring on us on the way down. Chris put it best,"I was trying to brake and peddle at the same time to stay warm". We called Linda to come and pick us up once we were down off the Crest Rd at the first gas station. Later that afternoon Linda headed out for a ride on the Look 585 Elle that she had been testing out. It is set up with standard 700c wheels instead of the 650c wheels she has on her bike. She forgot the extra spare tube and turned around pretty early and on her way back turning onto a side street her front wheel just skated out from under her. I was not there so I have no idea what happened but it looks as though she caught her upper lip on the stem clamp at the steerer tube or something to get the nice puncture. Needless to say, when she got home her ride was done.

On Sunday the weather looked bad up at El Rito and since Linda did not feel all that gunho we went to the Enchanted Tower instead. Linda climbed really well, getting up Straight on till Morning 5.12c with one hang on her first try but did not get back on it.

On Monday I ordered the camper shell for the truck, a Leer 180, which has the 4 inch or so rise above the cab, better for camping and transporting bikes.

On Tuesday evening my parents drove into town to help watch Dylan while I set for the Jr Regional competiton at the gym. it kind of sucks that when my parents come to town I generally have to work some pretty long hours so I don't get to spend as much time with them as I'd like. Though I know they really come out to see Dylan anyway. My parents got some riding in while I took breaks during the middle of the day when the gym is busy with menbers. My mom test rode the Look and the 48 cm Cervelo R3 at Fat Tire and ended up getting the Look, the same one that Linda crashed on. On Saturday it seemed as though the comp went OK, I left after the morning session and have not had a chance to ask about how the afternoon went.

On Saturday morning Mom, Linda and Joanna rode from Tijeras to the crest and back which is about 40 miles. Then in the afternoon after they were done, Dad, Chris and I did the same ride. We had a nice family dinner out tha evening and may parents left on Sunday morning.

On Sunday we pretty much just hung out and rested, at least that is what I did. Other than finally getting the swam cooler hooked up and some weeds picked up that had been pulled and tearing somemore ivy off of the house, though I did manage to stay in bed till 10:30 which was nice.

Oh to have no shame,

And here is the truck that we are trying to sell, if you know anyone that is looking $6500 OBO

Yes it is late, Weekend Report

I know, I'm late. We had an entertaining weekend and a busy week.

On Friday Dylan and I headed up to Ponderosa, the Sattelite area, to boulder with a guy that is new to town, Jerod (sp?). He is from back east and moved out to ABQ for the climbing, yes there are other places I would choose ahead of NM for climbing, maybe his older brother being here had something to do with it as well. Any way, we had a good time. I managed to do a problem that I'd tried periodically over the years but not managed to do previously. Dylan learned that as you dig down in the dirt it gets colder the deeper you get. It was also our first time out with the new child carrier, Dylan enjoyed it enough to fall asleep in it towards the end of the day out.

On Saturday the family headed to El Rito so Linda could climb with the Gym's adult team that she is a part of. Our group was about 12-15 people, there were 2 guide groups out, each with about 10 climbers and perhapse another 10 climbers as well to go along with 8 dogs. If you've been to El Rito before you'll know that this is a huge number of people to be in the area and there was definately some friction between the groups. Dylan had a good time hanging out with Anna K. aka: Accorn. I did not bring climbing shoes to make sure that I took the day off and Linda came OH so close to sending Pocket Rocket 5.12-, which would have been the first time she had climbed the grade in a day. Oh well, there will be other routes and oppotunites and she still wants to get back to it to finish it off.

On Sunday, I headed up to Palomas Peak to climb with Chris, Jesse and Matt L.. Chris is just starting to climb again after taking a break of a couple of weeks so he was just climbing easy with Jesse. Matt and I did a warm up with them than went to work on a couple of routes on the slab and the franks walls. I'd been wanting to get back to Sanke Dance for OH about 3 years to finish it off since I'd done it with one fall on my second attempt. I hung the draws and the opening crux seemed a lot harder than I remembered and I was no sure I could even start the route. I did find some better beta for the top where I'd fallen off before, so that was encouraging. It seemed as though sending mostly then revolved around doing the boulder problem at the start. I was nervouse starting up it the second time because you don't really have an opportunity to relax before the tough moves begin. I managed to pull the crux much more easily, more like I remembered it feeling then just executing the sequence to the top. It was nice to have sent a route that equals the hardest that I've done, 5.13d and a couple of other people who have done the route have even suggested 5.14a, so at least it should be solid at 5.13d. Snake Dance is a good route with a boulder problem start to a good rest then a serise of moves that gets progressively harder untill you are over the lip of the overhang. Matt was working on Entertaining Mike Tyson 5.13b which is a short, powerful route that I'd wanted to try and do on my first try. With beta from Matt I was able to pull off the flash. EMT is a really fun route that packs a lot into about 25 feet of climbing. All in all a pretty good day of climbing.

Linda and Dylan got a call from Ali in the morning to say that she and Paul were taking their daughter, Charley to the Bio Park. Charley is 3 months older than Dylan and we see them ever couple of months, we should try to get together more often as Dylan really like the "older" ladies.

and fish are super interesting as well,

I've finally started to let Dylan control his own food more which naturally leads to a bigger mess at times. Sometimes I wonder if he isn't trying to kill himself with how much he stuffs in his mouth at once. Here he is taking a tiny bit of banana,

On Monday, Linda test rode a nice Look 585 ella to work an home. She really liked how the ride felt but was not so hot on the lack of standover, she does not like to get quite so intimate with the top tube of her frame, so we are still looking. I rode out with Dylan in the trailer to meet Linda and Betty and ride home with them. On the way out I managed to roll the trailer, pretty scarry moment I must admitt, got to be careful of those bridges with 6" steel thresholds that you have to make 90 degree turns off of. The 5 point harness worked great, Dylan didn't budge and the wheels and the handle stick out enough that the actual carrier didn't even touch the ground, but he did get a little scarred, though he willingly got back in after I took him out to check on him and let him walk around a bit.

As further proof to those out there that are concered that he may have been hurt of knocked silly, here is some video that I took later that evening,

OH, PS the new truck arrived today, so if you all know anyone who needs a vehichle, we are looking to sell my old Tacoma 4x4, extended cab, V6, topper included.

Going to the Zoo with JaxonWest

Today was beautiful, sunny and 80 degrees, a great day to go to the Zoo and Dylan is 18 months old. After slathering on sun screen and a few failed attempts at getting the hat to stay we met up with Jason and his boy, Jaxon West. The boys had fun looking at the animals and saying names and making sounds. Dylan was particularly enthralled by the pink flamingos.

While the Rio Grande Zoo is not a petting zoo, that did not stop the boys from trying. Jaxon was almost successful at petting the duck, he's a bit faster than Dylan at this point. Here they are trying to corner the duck.

We fed the kids in the Zoo cafeteria, some fries and chicken tenders to go along with a sandwich and a banana. Jaxon might be more fleet afoot but Dylan would take him down in a chow contest, is that something I should be psyched about?
Afterwards we headed out to the Slate Street Cafe to get some real food for the dads. The place is pretty difficult to find since Slate St is discontinuous, but it is between 5th and 6th st and Lomas and Mountain. The lunch menu is mostly sandwiches and salads. So we got a couple of sandwiches, the food was quite good and the boys ate some more to supplement their lunch. Later Dylan tried on Jaxon's hat, and since we were inside and there was no sun, naturally he made no effort to take it off.

After coming home and taking a nice long nap and running some errands, mom made it home and Dylan had a blast playing with her.

After a good mommy play session he had dinner and was pooped, maybe a bit full as well. I did a weight check and got him at 29.1 lbs dressed so he is probably about 28.5 or more, not bad for 18 months.

All in all it was a fun day for all. Last but not least, here is a shot of what Dylan looks like when mommy is feeding him or he is trying to feed himself.

Tax week and weekend

Well it's been some interesting times since our trip to Hueco.

We found out that it snowed in ABQ Easter morning which is weird and then again on Friday. I took Dylan out to play in it and he loved it, waving his hands around at the big fat snow flakes. What is going on, snow twice in April and once after taxes were due. Speaking of taxes we actually got some back this year and filed federal on the 13th and mailed state on...the 15th, we never seem to be able to get our act together sooner. Linda got really sick on Tuesday night and through Wednesday. On Friday Dylan and I went out to lunch with Chris, Joanna and Trinity for pizza and Dylan proved he could put it away, 3 pieces by himself. On Thursday Dylan took a couple of shuffling steps backwards for the first time which was pretty cool to see. OH and I don't remember when but we got some real shoes for Dylan this past week as well, fake Crocs and some velcro tennis shoes.

On Saturday the Shreadfest, a bouldering competition at U-mound (a local bouldering area) was held. I rode my bike up from the gym with a couple of others and Linda competed. Dylan hung out with several "older" ladies and had a blast playing with a cell phone and locking it out, I don't know if Anna has managed to unlock it yet. The event started with a clean up and some trail building and then moved on to climbing. It was cool enough to actually be good temps for pulling down which is a rarity for the foothills in April. Linda climbed well repeating a couple of problems that she can't always do and ended up in 1st place among women! Afterwards there was food and a raffle of prizes, everyone got something with prizes left over. All in all it was a good event put on by Stone Age Climbing Gym, Suntoucher Mountain Guides and Fat Tire Cycles.

On Sunday we headed to Diablo Canyon with John and Carolyn. John managed to do Ventarete which is really fun and I got on a route that Bryan Pletta bolted several years ago but had yet to be climbed. I managed to figure out the moves pretty quickly and sent it for the First Ascent on my second try. The route has some god 5.11 climbing surrounding a V7ish boulder problem crux. Dylan had a blast with Soulame, John and Carolyn's dog, petting her and watching her snap at bees and just in general being a 10 month old dog all be it a very large one.

Here is a shot of Dylan eating Linda's lunch at Diablo Canyon.

Eating a waffle with dad before bedtime.

Brushing teeth with mom just before bed.

Weekend at Hueco

The trip to Hueco Tanks was pretty good. We stayed at a Hawthorne Inn and Suites, got a pretty good room rate. The hotel had a great hot breakfast with waffles, eggs, potatos and some meat along with everything else you'd expect from a normal hotel breakfast.

On Saturday we went out on a tour with everyone, Mike T, Lori, Chris and Treva, Jake, JC, Vino and Dane. We started out at the Maze where everyone gave Jiggsaw Puzzle a load of tries with a few sends. Then we headed up to Flower Power which several people got on. I did Je Suis Wedge which is one move to a difficult nut crunching mantle and Pirrelli which is another mantle. Next up was Moonshine Roof which Linda spent some time working on with everyone. We finished the day off at Meddle Detector which I managed to repeat, great problem with big moves on big holds out a 45 degree overhang. Dylan was very good all day, just playing and having a blast. The wind picked up towards the end of the day as is usual for the time of year and was pretty brutal as we were walking out. Dylan only managed to nap once we were back in the car driving to the hotel.

On Sunday we stayed on North Mountain and met up with everyone at the Warm-up boulder an quickly headed to Asylum Crack which is fun except that the crux is not lowering yourself into the boulder behind the problem halfway up. I finished off a project that I started a few years ago which is a low start to a V2 to the right of Asylum Crack and is possibly an FA though I doubt it because it is on North, it's not that hard and it is listed as a project in the guide book, but who knows. Anyway, it is really fun and somewhat intimidating as the crux section comes with the same boulder that you have to avoid on Asylum looming behind you if you blow it. Next we headed to Donkey Head which is a problem that Linda had done in the past but it took a lot of work. She managed to repeat it this time in just a few tries. We left a little early so that Dylan could get a good nap in, leaving the park at about 3 in the afternoon, Dylan napped all the way to Socorro, a good 3hr+ away, only waking up to glare at the boarder patrol check point guard.

We made it home a resonable time after stopping in Socorro for dinner and to let Dylan walk around a bit. Yesterday the busy weekend showed as Dylan took another 3 hour nap in the afternoon.

Here are some shots of Dylan as we are getting ready to thead to the car,

And walking to the car to head home.