Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays everyone! For all those with kiddos, get online and check out Santa's progress with NORADS SANTA TRACKER!

Peak Nutrients

Peak Nutrients is now online!! Never heard of it! Check out the Peak Nutrients website and see what they are all about. Their product line includes and the Viva energy drink (Orange Mango is tasty), Digest Plus, Multi Vitamin, Luna Sleep, and Ultra immune. Read up on the amounts of Vitamins they put in, the types of sugar they use, etc. Very interesting.
Super friendly company.

So how did I hear about them and why do I recommend them? This past fall at an endurace race I met a racer through a mutual friend. He mentioned that his father has a company with health products. He gave me a sample of the Energy drink and I took it on one of my work field trips. During this work trip we worked a lot of hours. At one point, I worked 18 hours straight, took a 2 hour nap and then worked another 14. Aside from eating, I sipped on the energy drink throughout the day. Seriously, I wasn't worn out, tired, or even delirious! I came back and mentioned it to Ashleah, who is usually worn out after a day of working with 24 kids (daycare). She tried it for a few days and she was hooked.

Enjoy!!!

For all those snowboarders!

Big news from the Taos Ski Valley!

'Tis the Season

Christmas time already? With all the warm weather we have been having in NM, it has been hard to get into the Christmas spirit. Reminds me of those days when I lived in Los Angeles. Shorts and t-shirts daily you forget that Santa Claus is getting the sled ready. So as to make sure he stops by our pad, Ashleah, Sira and I headed to the mountains to cut our Christmas tree. This years destination was Pecos, NM. Good times were had and we found a tree that takes up a large portion of our living room. Lucky for me, we only hiked about 1/4 mile in. That 1/4 miles seemed like a marathon as I carried the tree out.

Good times had by all, but I think Sira enjoyed it the most. It has been about 2 weeks since she jabbed a stick into her arm so she was itching to get out and burn some energy. Add a little bit of fresh snow and she was just a crazed Vizsla in the forest.

Can you love your bike too much??

So I know it is a struggle during the winter months, because it is tough to get on the bike regularly. However, this guy has gone way too far!




Enough said!!!

Busy October

Yes it's been awhile since I last posted! Partially just lazy and partially because we haven't been around. Every weekend this month has had something going on, so at least with this post you will see a lot of pictures and not much babbling!

First off we headed to Vegas for my brother's wedding. We had a really good time and the wedding was awesome. What can you say about Las Vegas except that it is quite unbelievable. Big, bright and it never stops. I would tell you about it, but, well you know the phrase!!!!!!!!!







Next stop on the October tour was the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. Ok, so we didn't have to drive anywhere, but it still required dealing with a ton of people. If you have never been, starting making your hotel reservations for next year. It is really neat to see.




Another weekend means another function. Ashleah and I drove to Amarillo to celebrate my brother-in-laws 40th Birthday. He was quite surprised! The bonus was that my nephew was playing a baseball game so we got to check that out too.

SURPRISE!!!!!!!


SOMEONE CALL THE FIRE DEPT!!!


FUTURE MAJOR LEAGUER???



Now what you ask? On the road again this evening for a drive up to Denver! Hmm! What's going on in Denver. Oh not much, just something they call the WORLD SERIES!! 8 years of season tickets and now the payoff. We have tickets for Game 3 and Game 5. My brother and parents are going to Game 4. I am so pumped! Ok I know they are down 2 games to 0, but Coors Field Magic is going to help them even the series. We will be sitting in right field just above the scoreboard!


GO ROCKIES!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah I guess since we are there we should probably do some wedding planning.

Keep on truckin . . . . .

Headwaters of Canones Creek

Wednesday's adventure took me to the upper reaches of Canones Creek. Where is Canones Creek? It is just soutwest of Abiququ Reservoir. US Forest Service, Trout Unlimited and NMDGF took off on this hike and leading the pack was my dog Sira!


It had been awhile since she had been on the trails but she was definitely up for the task. Our hike in was 3.3 miles, but I bet Sira did about 7 as she ran from front to back and sprinted across the valley. Damn I wish I had her energy!
This is such a cool drainage but the hike is rough. 3.3 miles each way and the last mile is straight up (about 1500 ft of climbing). Probably not so bad with a small pack. Unfortunately, we carry about 50 lbs each (gear), just to make it interesting.

Here's a few more pics






We are off to Las Vegas tomorrow for my brother's wedding. Stopping off at Hoover Dam to see the wall of concrete and maybe pick up some Dam Bait!
Hoover Dam Guide: I am your dam guide, Arnie, please don't wander off the dam tour and please take all the dam pictures you want. Now are there any dam questions?
Cousin Eddie: Yeah, where can I get some damn bait?
It has been 11 years since I have been to Sin City. I am expecting to be shocked! Wedding will be awesome--love, family, friends.

You know what else is cool. I get to stop by In-N-Out Burger and Chipotle! I think I burned enough calories this week to warrant a double/double and a big ass burrito! Hmm. Don't forget. Guacamole es exxxtra! Maybe I will stop by a couple of times!

Finally, look at this treasure

Roadrunner PediCab

You have probably noticed that since the Leadville 100, my biking blogs have been non-existent. Lots of work, laziness and just not making the time has added up to almost 2 months off the bike.
So . . . once again I had some time to take off at work, but this time I skipped the weed pulling and instead got on a bike. Which trail? Nope, I hit the streets of downtown Albuquerque to try and make some money. Roadrunner PediCab is a new company and I figured I could give it a try. If nothing else, I might stay in better shape through the winter months.

Damn! Pedaling these bikes is a workout. Oh wait, now add 1 or 2 people on it and the legs get a serious burn. At times, I bet I am dragging around 350 lbs. Little hills seem like a 18% climb and it makes one appreciate all the lightweight technology on my bike.


How did it go. Well I got the workout! Not much money to be made yet, but the bikes are getting a lot of positive comments. Picked up a few riders off the RailRunner and took a few people to and from lunch. Probably need to ride the bike at night during the weekend drink fests.
Not all was lost, this treasure was laying on the street!


That's it for now . . . .
More hiking this week at work and then we are off to Vegas from my brother's wedding.

GO ROCKIES!!!!!!!!!

How About Them Apples!

Our Loot
On Saturday afternoon, Ashleah, Sira and I headed North to Tesuque to pick some apples from a friend's orchard. 1 Hour later we had enough apples to fill 5 boxes. Now you might ask, what are you going to do with all these apples? Pies? Turnovers? Growers Market? Naw! All these apples are for Hard Cider. Asheah and I have been busy making our own wine for our wedding so we thought we would give the grapes a bit of break and try our hand at hard cider. We will let you know how it turns out.

Sira Helping out

Work or Play? at the Butte

This weeks work trip took me back to Elephant Butte Reservior. It had been a few months since I had been there and to be honest I am glad I didn't go in July or August. It is way too hot there during the middle of summer. Hell, this weeks temps were in the 90's. Nothing too exciting, just set some nets to see what kind fo fish we could catch. Lots of down time during our two hour sets, so we did some snorkeling, swimming and fishing. Hmm. Is this still considered a work trip.


Look what I found floating on shore.

Another Day in the mountains

Not much to show for todays work trip. We did 4-wheel into our survey site, but the road was too steep to stop and take pictures. Pucker rating of 4! Maybe tomorrow when we tackle it again.

Only picture today is of Field Work Booty


Pretty cool huh.

Just as in biking, it is amazing the stuff you find.

Truchas Area

More work in the Truchas area brings photos such as Middle Truchas Peak. Took about 2 hours to get to this point on some narly 4 x 4 roads. All worth it though when you do some electrofishing and find one of these.

A Change in Scenery

After so many weeks in the Valle Vidal, it is nice to see some other parts of the state. Doing some Rio Grande cutthroat work in Northern New Mexico. Many of these places have never been surveyed before so it is cool to get back there and see what fish are present.





More to come. . . .

18 days

When I last posted, I mentioned that I would be heading to the Valle Vidal for an extended work trip, with a side trip to Leadville for the Leadville 100 bike race. Ok so let me catch you up on my adventures:

First off, the Leadville 100 went off and I again failed to make it to the finish line. 1000 competitors, including returning champs and Tour de France winner and Leadville newcomer Floyd Landis. My race started fine with the peleton being lead out for about 5 miles. I feel great, the air is crisp and I am riding alongside Kara Durland, giving her SS a push every now and then to keep her from spinning madly. Ok it's time to Climb St. Kevins. Hmm. My legs feel a little weird but at least the crowds aren't bad and I can climb without having to trackstand too much. I climb slow but that is normal for me. I hit the first aid station at 10 miles and the legs are still weak. Ok time to downhill the pavement. Oh no. I am hurting on the downhill. That is when I pretty much knew I was in for a long day. To keep the story short I pretty much suffered from mile 10 until mile 60. I had the lungs and the desire but the legs just weren't there. I could recover on the flats and downhills (Powerline is always fun), but the climbs were just slow (even slower than normal). Cramping throughout my legs (even is areas I didn't know would cramp) made it worse. Thus when I came down from Columbine, I was removed from the race (due to missing the last cutoff). Very bummed and disappointed because I felt I was ready. Only thing I can think of is that all the field work I had been doing for the previous 3 weeks had zapped me. However, on another note, my buddies Scott Daub and Dax Massey rode strong and kicked ass. Scott finished in 8 hrs 28 min and Dax cruised through the finish line in 7 hrs 57 min. Incredible.

Did I see Floyd on the course? Yup. Both him and Dave Weins flew by my at the Twin Lakes checkpoint (their mile 60, my mile 40). Both were cruising. Dave ended up beating Floyd by about two minutes and finished the 100 miles in 6 hrs 58 minutes.
Want to see more pictures from Leadville. Check out UltraRob's blog!


Ok so now back to the Valle Vidal. Restoration work started when I returned from Leadville and we put in some serious hours. I was responsible for neutralizing the chemical we put in the water, which required hourly samples and adjustments to our dispersal tanks. Working overnight and sometimes during the days, I was routinely putting in 12-20 hour days. Check out Peak Nutrients! My buddies dad makes this stuff. The Energy formula gives you a lift like you wouldn't believe, and it actually doesn't taste bad!

Late night work is rough, but the sunrise scenery is spectacular!



However that is not the exciting part of the work trip. Most exciting was the bear situation. Shuree campgrounds are very popular with fishermen and campers, however their carelessness has gotten the bears into trouble. Knowing that their is food, trash and other goodies left out, the bears routinely wonder through camp and check things out. Normally it isn't a big deal, however we did have one bear chew on a co-workers tent (2 nights in a row) and take a swipe at mine. Unfortunately, this bear had to be put down as a result of his aggressiveness. Another bear would make it to camp as well, but he would just sniff. Usually a couple of yells or shrieks (in my case), would scare him back into the trees.

Tough to see but look at the mud/claw marks on my tent



Mr. Bear hanging out in the creek doing some fishing


So the Valle work is done (for now). Next, we will return to see if our removal was successful. If all goes well, we will re-stock Native Rio Grande Cutthroat trout into Comanche Creek. If non-natives still remain, we will start over and do the removals again.

Ok! So now that I back in Rio Rancho, I find out that I have way too many hours. I am told to take some time off. Hmm. Not a bad deal right. Well . . . . I have a ton of house chores to do. Mainly getting rid of weeds, placing flagstone, and cutting back shrubs.

Weed pile. It's now tripled in size!!!!


Help . . . . . this is much harder than work!!!!!!!!!