Some Pics of Big Bend State Park (TX). Good fun!

Gypsum crystals on the Crystal Trail

Resting

Heading to the mine

Contrabando Trail

Coconinos!

Down Freno Canyon

Coconino bike and Mimbres Man jersey

Nice bike!

Fresno Canyon

Water Trail

Water Trail long angle

Mass Mountain Bike Descent to Lordsburg, NM via the Continental Divide Trail

The other day, November 9th, I finally got to do the mass accent to Lordsburg. This is the one ride I was somewhat envious when reading about it from Venezuela. 

We had a group of about 15 leave the parking lot on NM 90 about 25 miles south of Silver City. Our plan was to ride the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail to Lordsburg. I ended up using my back-up bike, my geared Litespeed leaning against the bumper of that Ford pickup because the rear valve on my Coconino started leaking as I was airing up the tire that morning. 

It turned out to be a beautiful day and ride, about 40 miles of dirt, the first half being single track and the other being 2 track dirt roads across the desert. 

The group regroups

Cooke's Peak in the distance

Technical uphill rocky section (walked this section when I should of/could of ridden it)

End of the single track

Into the desert

Lordsburg is to the left of center just below the horizon.

Charging the bull

Hard turn

Skewered

My bike's puny wheels

End of the ride: mediocre food, cold beer

 I really enjoyed the ride. I wasn't as fast as the 29" wheeled bikes, but I didn't care. I wasn't the last to reach Lordsburg, and it is all about the ride and enjoyment. This ride was well worth the wait!

Back at It

I have decided to start blogging again. I was heavy into FaceBook, a real time suck, but I've closed my account because of all the BS and decided I will publish my pics and stories here again. I might go back to using FB some day, but it will be a highly trimmed down version.

In the past my blog served as a diary of sorts, especially when living overseas in Venezuela. I am now back in the USA with my family, not sure if my post will be as interesting or colorful, but I am back in my hometown in New Mexico, we've been back for a little more than year.

The biggest news so far has been moving back to New Mexico, got a new job, new car, and a new bicycle. My new bicycle is probably the biggest deal. I have not had a new new bicycle since 1992. My custom Coconino is hand-built masterpiece by frame-builder Steve Garro (mentioned in other parts of the blog) whom I've known personally for at least 20 years. I am real happy and pleased how the bike turned out. It is an amazing ride.

More on everything later!

Bali Hai

I'll tell you a story...This pic is somewhat of an experiment on my camera's settings. Didn't really capture the image the way I saw it this morning. 

That is Isla Borracha (Drunk Woman Island), about 6 nautical miles NE of the mainland. It is my Bali Hai (if you know anything about old movies). It looked mysterious and beautiful the way the low angle light plays on those valleys. The first time I saw it, I wanted to go there.

One Sunday way back in early 2002, I paddled across in my kayak (Klepper Aerius II), alone, without telling anyone where I was going. It turned out to be a long open-water paddle that crossed a major shipping lane where I had to wait for a container ship to pass so I would not get run over. 

I thought there would be a place where I could buy lunch, like the other islands off the coast, but there was none; just a ramshackle fishing village, and a neat cove where people take their boats to picnic. 

Though I was bonking hard, I needed get back to the mainland, so I got back in the kayak and paddled back in choppy afternoon seas. I obvious made it back safely, but haven't tried that paddle again. 

Anyway, I still look at this island the same way every time I see it. Bali Hai!

Riding Babylonia Again

Today I went out for a ride and tried Babylonia; first time down since my crash. I first rode around El Morro some and took a few pics. 

I always count the ships waiting where I have a theory that more ships waiting means production bottle necks. Since I've been counting, the most I've counted was in the low 30s, and the least was in the high single digits.The number seems to hover between 13 to 20 on average. Today I counted 13 ships waiting to load or unload oil.

A pair of black vultures hanging out. They do this a lot; black vultures pair up and stay close to each other. 

A self-timer shot of descending the Babylonia Trail today was more difficult due to recent heavy rains. The rains have further eroded the slope and carried away rocks in some areas, and deposited more in others.

Bad Crash

Lately I haven't been writing much. It seems everyday the routine is much the same. My son Benjamin keeps growing and learning new stuff and that's pretty cool. 

Today was May Day - Labor Day and I went out for a bike ride. Did my usual out and back warm-up ride, then was going to head up El Cerro when I recognized a bunch of my bicycling friends hanging out at a Eazy-Up at the base of the hill. Jim Burke was playing the guitar, they had work stands set up to adjust your bike, it was a cool hangout. Darren has been buying bikes off e-bay and getting them shipped down. Today he had a Specialized Stumpjumper Expert full suspension. He offered for me to check it out. I hadn't ridden a geared bike in a while so I decided to go up The Rails and Fausto trails, then across the top of El Morro, then go down on The Babylonia trail.

All went well to a point. The bike handled well and climbed super. It was nice having gears to basically cruise up The Rails. Going up Fausto was about the same as on my single speed rigid Merlin. It went up pretty easy. The bike was light enough to haul up the hike-a-bike section. 

Where  my ride/plan fell apart quickly was on the Babylonia descent. This technical trail is steep, loose, and technical. At the drop-in, I nearly lost it, the fork diving too much and nearly lost control of the bike into a bush. The front end kept doing the same thing; squishing and wallowing. I could not control the bike. At one point halfway down, I laid the bike over (common mistake) but got back on quickly and kept heading down. The next section was the trickiest, the trail is steep with an erosion gully dipping across the trail with some large embedded rocks in the trail at a dogleg turn. I didn't make it. Instead, the front end got crossed up and I kept going down the trail where I did kind of a slow motion Pete Rose-like slide into the ground...unfortunately those large, firmly attached rocks were there to stop my face. I hit with a lot of momentum on with the left side of my face. My sunglasses went flying off and felt my teeth impact the rock through my lip.

The first thing I did was check if my teeth were still there, or loose, or broken. All good. Then my glasses...thought I lost the left lens but instead just gouged them deeply on the upper part of the rim and lens. I sat there for a few seconds, picked myself up and then picked up the bike. It seemed okay. 

Doh!

I got back on, somewhat in shock, and flailed down the trail successfully not crashing. I get to the tent and when everyone saw me, their faces got real grave. Apparently my glasses cut my forehead above my left eyebrow and I had quite a bit of blood on my face. After a minute trying explain what happened, I had to sit down. I was feeling very light headed. Don't know if it was shock or a mild concussion, but I sat there for a while listening to Jim's singing and guitar playing. 

Jim Burke

I think I'll stick to riding my full-rigid Merlin. Love that bike! 

Pandion haliaetus

This osprey (Pandion haliaetus) has been hanging out lately. According to Wikipedia, the osprey here in South America are non-breeding migrants.

So I guess he is just here for vacation. 
Link: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

Clouds on the Sea

Always when I ride my bike, I try and take time to really appreciate where I am. Now carrying a camera all the time, gives me the opportunity to try and capture some of the things I see and experience when riding. Yesterday I was doing usual ride, and noticed the cloud reflections on the sea. I thought that was pretty cool. 

Coragyps atratus brasiliensis

a.k.a. zamuro (Venezuela) or black vulture (USA). Not as big as its cousin the turkey vulture, these are quite common on El Morro here in Anzoategui, Venezuela. Their wings are also shorter and broader than turkey vulture, therefore they don't soar as gracefully as a TV; there is a lot more flapping of wings and more perching.

Saw these guys at my usual spot on El Morro while mountain biking this morning.

El Morro Fun

Did a fun bicycle ride this morning. Rode to the top of El Morro via "La Pared" ("The Wall"), which is very steep as the name implies. I rode to this ridgeline and paused for a few minutes. This is a SE view from El Morro. 

Lecheria and its high-rise condos. The long coastline is mostly Playa Lido (our condo is one block off of Playa Lido), and the beach on the other side of the causeway is Playa Muerta (named because it doesn't get much wave action).

Ride Pic of the Day

Ride pic of the day: assessing the morning's catch.

Pelecanus occidentalis

These are brown pelicans, Pelecanus occidentalis, which were shadowing a couple of fishing boats in Bahia Barcelona. Though they don't look like it, these guys are some of the most graceful birds in the sky!

Icterus nigrogularis

South American yellow oriole Icterus nigrogularis seen on this morning's ride. 

Garro!

Team Mutant founder.

photo credit: Team Mutant (circa 1988)

 
Coconino master builder

Mimbres Man copyright 2010

The Mockingbird and The Ship

Took this pic yesterday when riding. Cropped it, and it turned out okay.

Leucippus fallax richmondi

On my morning ride came across this little buffy hummingbird, Leucippus fallax richmondi, just sitting on this bush. I was able to get a bit closer and get a decent shot (considering the camera).

Sicalis flaveola

These birds, the saffron finch (Sicalis flaveola),  are very common. I see them all the time and always want to get a photo of one. Saw a mating pair as I rode today. They were picking gravel and stayed fairly close to the trail and I was able to get a few shots. Was wishing I had the G11 instead of my usual SD1200IS.

Tropidurus hispidus

On my birthday bike ride this morning. Saw this little guy catching some sun. My friend Gunnar Berg did a web-search and identified it as a Tropidurus hispidus also known as a "lava lizard". This is the closest I've ever been allowed to get to one.  Very cool!

Riding in Big Bend National Park, Texas; 1997 & 1998

 Back in 1997, 1998, and 1999 for Christmas and New Years, I toured the Big Bend region solo. In 1997 I went out of desperation and sadness, 1998 I went for jubilation, and 1999 I went for Y2K. Big Bend is one of my favorite spots in the world and these trips confirmed that. I have a special bond with the place. I haven't been there in post 9-11 America and I'm sure its changed some.

Today we were cleaning out the file cabinet, purging old papers that didn't need to be in there any more and I came across these photos. I took these on my 1998 trip, a completion of the 1997 trip. 

I took a similar pic in 1997 at the Black Gap road junction and I wanted to repeat to see how I changed in one year. In 1997 I was still mourning the death of my dad and failure of my business. I was fed up with everyone in my family, especially after a fiasco during the Thankgiving holiday, so when I got my Christmas break (I was teaching again) I drove the 6 hours to Silver City, still had the key to my brother's house, so I got in and got my camping gear stored there, made a sandwich, got a Coke, and left without seeing anyone.


It was cold; a arctic cold front had settled in the Southwest and I was still in my mucks when I left Silver City. I didn't take off my cold weather gear until I got to Las Cruces. Its a 12 hour drive from Silver City to Terlingua and I got there right when Desert Sports was closing. My friend Mike Long was surprised to see me and invited me for Christmas dinner (it was Dec. 24) with his parents. They were full-time RVers and we drove down to Lajitas and 7 people were crammed into a 5th wheel travel trailer. It was cozy but really good!

The next day, Christmas day, I headed to the park. I got to the visitor's center 5 minutes before closing (at 12:00 noon) and got my back country permits, loaded my bike with gear and took off. Each day was something different. Riding was cold. It was spitting snow a lot, and I did not have a tent to hunker down in. All I had was a bivy sac and my sleeping bag. Anyway I met all sorts of characters and people in the desert. It was really therapeutic and I feel I was healed of my funk while riding my bike.

On the last day, I rode up the Black Gap road to get back to the VC and my car. When riding up the Black Gap road, it kept climbing and getting into more and more remote country. I starting thinking of "The Heart of Darkness". This thought just kept coming to me and I kind of started freaking a bit. Finally I reached a pass made a turn and got off the Black Gap road and headed back to the highway where I could ride to the VC.

When I got back to Desert Sports, I told Mike of my trip. I told him about "The Heart of Darkness" and his jaw just dropped. He said something like, "Boy if there's anyone who needs to live down here, its you! You're tuned into this place. That is exactly was we call that place, "The Heart of Darkness". Trippy!

I finished up that 1997 trip across the border in Mexico where I camped and in the morning met a little girl named Marina and her little sister Serina. In 1998, I met them again, took them Christmas gifts in my panniers and was invited to stay with the family for a couple of days and nights. It was really neat. They heated their home with a tiny stove made from car rims. They were proud they had running water.