Danger: Cottonwood Seeds Ahead

I am "training" for a half marathon at the end of August in Albuquerque. "Training" apparently means cross training on a bike or hiking. I can not seem get myself back into a groove or regular pattern of running again. I am riding a fair bit and getting in some hikes and occasional backpack trips, so I am not in too bad condition, in general. But running is different for me, much harder. I enjoy it, but it is not something I take to without willpower.

I enjoy one run, and then just can't get back to it for a longer run. I will flog myself a lot in the coming weeks and get myself almost ready and then suck it up on race day and get through the two hours somehow. It's a good profile, nothing steep uphill.

Yesterday I convince myself to get out for a 40 minute run.

I am living close to the Animas River, a river that is actually NOT dammed, and runs free. (Who would have thought that we forgot to dam up a river?) The small rivers around here are home to lot's of cottonwood trees. Cottonwood trees each spew out millions of seeds, that are shrouded in soft "cotton-y" parachutes that they float away on. These weigh almost nothing and float everywhere this time of year. They land on your bbq, on your clothes drying on the clothes line, on your beer bottle, all over your car, etc. Everywhere.

As I am running, a cotton seed is floating along the street at head height. It is going by my head, when at the last second either the wind shifts, or I am sucking wind so bad that is creates a vortex, or whatever, the cottonball changes direction 90 degrees, veers toward my head and somehow divebombs into my mouth.

There it manages to go straight through into the back of my throat, landing on my gag button and wrapping thousands of tiny strands of cotton around the gag point. I thought it would land on my tongue and I could spit it out and continue, but no, before I realize what's happening, it somehow it makes it all the way through to my throat. My eyes are already filled with sweat, and with this very uncomfortable situation I cough, gag, spit, snarl, tears well up into my eyes, froth is coming out my nostrils, I'm gasping for breath, trying not to puke, then trying to puke, then trying to reach in and root around to get it out, continuously gasping for air as I do. I've got my arm submerged into my mouth up to about the elbow trying to get it out. Now I am running, gagging, spitting, hurling, crying, tears have welled up in my eyes, snot is pushing aside the froth and careening out my nostrils, and through the tears, sweat, salt and burning sunlight I peer through squinting eyelids, and what do I see, but a crew of oil and gas field workers loading themselves up into a 1 ton pickup with dualies. They have all stopped, put down down toolboxes, and are frozen in time, watching me, staring at this crazy idiot yuppie from back east and wondering why anyone would do such a thing to themselves.

Good question I think, managing one last huge gobstopper removing, throat-clearing, cough-puke-spit. Good question. I pick up the pace to put some distance between me and the oilmen. I don't think that particular cottonwood seed will come to fruition.

All Sizzle No Steak

Here in the high desert, late July and all of August is referred to as "monsoon season". All day it is HOT and sunny, but DRY. Then in the afternoon, there is often a furious build of clouds, wind, lightning and thunder. Sometimes I will be watching the sun set from the front porch, and the storm will build up, and I'll see maybe 100 lightning bolts followed by thunder.

Typically it builds up and looks like it will rain and rain and rain. But then nothing. All sizzle no steak, as they say.

Last night it came. RAIN. It pounded and came down for like 10 minutes. The wind roared, lightning flashed brilliantly and thunder cracked again and again. The temperature dropped from 95F (33C) to 65F (15C). A great show. The wind was so strong that it blew down the flue and blew out the hot water heater pilot. After so long without rain, I expected to see plenty of water in a bucket I put out (and weighted down so it wouldn't blow away). I went out this morning, not even 1/4 inch (6mm).

Welcome to monsoon season.

Rio Grande National Forest

60 miles (100k) north of Aztec and 25 miles (40k) east is the Rio Grande National Forest. Unfortunately, unless you have 4 wheel drive and huge clearance, you need to take paved roads, which wind around the mountain passes totaling over 200 miles (320k). I ask a lot of my little Honda, but we went with the pavement.

My Favorite Iron Woman

Congratulations Rachel Saks. Multi-time half Iron Woman (that's not ridiculous enough to do half irons?) Rachel Saks not only completed her first full Iron yesterday, but she kicked its ass! 

SWIM BIKE RUN OVERALL
53:47 6:04:31 4:12:49 11:23:06

Imagine after almost an hour of swimming, and then you hop on your bike and ride over 100 miles (160K) then at some point you think, "All I have to do now is run a marathon". 

http://ironman.com/events/ironman/austria/?show=tracker&rid=159&year=2008

I knew she could do it, but I am still IMPRESSED.

When I met Rachel, it was just prior to doing an AIDS ride fundraiser in Alaska. I learned Rachel was a fast swimmer and that she had recently run a marathon. She was still riding her 50 lb (23kilo) Schwinn bike that she had in high school. After returning from Alaska, I went to her house to re-assemble her bike after shipping and hang out one night. I noticed the front derailleur was cockeyed, and said "Shoot, it looks like your derailleur got bent in shipping. It won't shift onto the big ring without some tinkering. Not sure if I can fix it."

"Oh that?", she said. "I don't really like to go fast, so I don't shift that much. Never really use it". 

12,000 feet of elevation gain or whatever the number was, and she doesn't even need a full range of gears. 

I guess she is going fast now. Way to go Rachel!

How does 282 MPG sound to you?

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/vw-282-mpg-1-one-liter-car-production-2010.php
Volkswagen to make limited edition of 1Liter car. This looks kind of interesting.

Let's hope that they do a few things right. Make it plug in. Make it easy to park under some solar panels and charge it up. Make it easy to add more batteries. Add a tow hitch so you can pull a small trailer (canoe/kayak, bikes, groceries for a family). Do not engineer it fall apart like so many of the current VWs are doing (windows quit working, headrests fall off, etc. they lost reliability along the way)

But as a commuter car - 282 MPG sounds preety sweet.

The Cat Doctor

OK so people want to know what is happening with Brad and housesitting for two cats. These two are outdoor cats, they come and go as they please and usually they hang outside. When people are hanging out, especially when there is food, they get right in the middle of everything. They are cats.
I'm not a cat person, but these two are pretty decent. The long haired brown one, the one that likes to split for overnight trips and does a lot more wandering than the short haired one recently came down with either a torn third eyelid from a fight, or has a tumor growing on his third eyelid.
So Brad had to figure out how to capture the cat and get it to the vet. When it came in the cat door Sunday night I was tempted to block their cat door exit. I did not because you know that they would pay me back taking a crap somewhere in the house. (They are cats)
Typically when I wake up, the cats are asleep, Jumper the injured one in a window sill, and Kona the slug, either on my bed or on whatever clean clothes he can find to shed on while he sleeps (he is a cat).
So when I got up Monday, there was Jumper snoozing away on the sill. Ha - I have outsmarted him! I blocked off the exit, and got ready to get the cat into the cat carrier. I knew he would NOT like that. He did not. After a little conversation he agreed to go in backwards.
We made it to the vet, him swearing at me nonstop, howling, crying, snarling. Then I had to take him out and hold onto him while the vet uses tweezers on his third eyelid to troubleshoot. You can imagine how that went. Pissed Off Cat.
So now I get to play cat doctor. 4x/day he needs eye drops. 2x/day he needs to swallow a pill. A boy or a dog will swallow a pill by loading it inside something good like cheese or peanut butter. A cat will not. You must capture the cat, hold on while it scratches you and get it to open wide, get the pill in there, gently get the trap shut, and then hang on until it swallows the pill. After a few attempts, the cat will succumb to your stubbornness and swallow it instead of spitting it out. But not without getting a good scratch in as it jumps away. Then I just have to put drops in the eyeball. He shuts the lid tight and refuses to open it to let the drops in. Eventually he opens his eyes to see if I am still there with the evil eye dropper bottle...
Kona the slug gets jealous that Jumper is getting so much attention. So I have to pick him up and pretend to put drops in his eyes too. That makes it better somehow. He is a cat.

Party on the Rez

Happy 4th of July. Happy Canada Day,eh! Down with the Brits! Loaded up for a test run of bike camping over the 4th. The test is to see if I can load up with camping gear, bike stuff, ride to a wilderness area 80 miles away (125 K) and camp for a night or two and ride back.

Packing list includes all the standard stuff for camping (tent, sleeping bag, stove, water pump, tequila flask, etc) plus road stuff like tubes, pump, Gu, extra water, etc.  This all added up fast and I had to do without some stuff I would have taken. You'll note I did not leave behind my Reef Sandals. I go nowhere without them.

It was 97F or so  (about 100 C, kidding! About 33 C) and there was no escaping the sun. I drank roughly 1 liter / 10 miles (16K), so I drank 8 liters of water before I got off the bike. Then drank another 2 or so. 

 

I got "mapquested" by google maps...My directions did not correspond to the road names in Ignacio, CO. The people I asked for directions did not know what roads I was looking for (there were not a lot of roads in the area). Anyhow, although I put in 75-80 rolling miles I did not get as far north as I wanted and got pushed west. I was too cooked to wander off on side roads for 10 miles at a time to see if it would lead me where I wanted. 

Test run was medium successful. I can load the bike to ride to nearby wilderness areas. Hike in and camp and return safely. No car. No I.C.E. needed. The bike rode like it was made of wet spaghetti. And it was hard work. I have serioius respect for those bike tourists that you see all loaded up and grinding up a long hill.

Headed out via Navajo Dam Road. 15 or so miles (25K) of steep rollers. All going east. Lesson learned. I know that the wind here is driven by heat from the sun. That means an easterly breeze picks up in the morning and then it switches to westerly in the afternoon. My route took me due east on steep rollers with a decent head wind. If I ride this road again, I will not sleep in since "I have all day to ride". I will get outta bed and beat the head winds. 

The San Juan River was dammed to create Navajo Lake. This is classic I.C.E. Central. (I.C.E. = Internal Combustion Engine) The bigger your engine the more fun you have. I have not bothered to spend time there yet, but I admit it is gorgeous. If you take away the jet skis I might stop by.

The water stays cold and the river that runs downhill is supposed to be one of the premier trout fisheries in the Southwest. I will be back to check out the fishing.

View looking down at the river below the dam. 

San Juan Campus

In the heart of Oil and Gas Country is the San Juan campus. The college, to some degree, responds to local economy and provides programs and training for what is going on there.  

In this area, oil and gas provide 90% of income. Oil and gas require a lot of instrumentation.

So San Juan College has an excellent electronic instrumentation program. The renewable energy core classes lean on the instrumentation classes for some of the coursework. 

Additionally students have put up panels on campus when the $$ are available. These panels are hooked into the local grid, and they also do stuff like power the golf carts that are used by the facilities folks to get around the campus. Security, landscapers, etc use solar powered silent carts to scoot around.

Water tower. You MTB Bikers and especially Alexis should note the mtb bike trail. Here. There. All Over. 

Might as well make the array look good.