First Gila Ride of 2010

Back in the USA for a month and did my first Gila ride today. I had planned on doing the CDT [Continental Divide Trail] South, but ended up veering off at the actual continental divide and heading up Eighty Mountain...mainly because I didn't want to miss breakfast with my mom. 

This is the start of the dirt climb. The Berg trail was a pirate trail built by one of our local mtn bikers in the early 90s. Now it is part of the Gomez Peak trail system and it connects with CDT. Smells like tobacco probably due to the large amounts of mountain mahogany in the area. 

North and south slopes are big deals in the Southwest. South facing slopes will  be dry and deserty, where as the north slopes will be more lush. Heading up the NE flank of Eighty Mountain with thickets of oak. 

Views to the northwest looking towards the Mogollon range in the far distance. In the foreground is some wild area which isn't easily accessible anymore but used to explore in my CJ-5 when I was a teenager and later in the early 90s by mountain bike. 

Switchback near the top of the Eighty Mountain loop trail. I was able to clean this whole section of trail, but walked the switchback, mainly because I figured it was a good spot for a photo. I suffered on the climb due to the altitude. Living at sea-level, now riding at 7,000 ft. 

A rocky section before the real rocky, steep, and technical section. The Litespeed performed well. My technical skills on stuff like this are a bit rusty, but I did pretty good. I stopped about 10 meters from the end (I didn't know the end of the rocky section was only 10 meters more) to rest my forearms. Getting soft in the old age...but in my defense it was really technical rocky stuff and hard to get restarted on once stopped.

Good ride...it'll get better as I acclimate.

Uberbike; 2009 Rocky Mountain Vertex Team RSL

I bought this frame yesterday. I bought it used from a friend, a Rocky Mountain aficionado. This deal has been in the works for about a year. It is a limited production, Rocky Mountain Vertex Team edition RSL. Super light at 1.25 kilos (2.75 lbs), but made of super strong 40-ton carbonfiber. It was his "spare" RSL frame. He had bought both the Vertex 70 RSL and the Vertex Team RSL, built them both and decided he liked the 70 better (lower modulus carbonfiber gives a gentler ride). 

This bike will be my first carbonfiber mountain bike. I am sold on the strength and ride characteristics of carbon, having been riding a carbon fork on the Merlin for about a year now. The fork completely changed the ride of the Merlin. It improved everything about it. 

It will be built with a XT drivetrain, XT wheels, SID Team fork, Avid BB7 brakes, and other goodies. XT isn't the lightest, but its bomber.

BTW, I still haven't bought a brand-new out-of-the-box bicycle since 1992 when I bought my Bridgestone.

R.I.P. Dennis

Somewhere in New Mexico

 

I don't know much about Dennis Hopper other than I've enjoyed the characters he created on-screen. His creative masterpiece is probably Easy Rider (just learned there is a new version coming out which I think should be against the law) where he directed, acted, and edited the film. I also know that Mr. Hopper was fond of New Mexico. That's cool too. 

One of more disturbing and memorable characters, Frank in Blue Velvet. (Dean Stockwell is good in this scene as well.)

R.I.P. Dennis! 

The Water Tank

Venezuela does not have reliable fresh water supplies. The infrastructure is in a such a state of disrepair, that there is probably a 40% loss through leakage. Condominiums will have large underground water tanks and pumps to serve the building's residents, but even that is sketchy at times. Therefore, years ago, Tania and I bought a large 120 L plastic trash barrel to store water in. This is the way we always had an emergency stash on hand. 

 

We carried our plastic water container from our rental to our purchased home in 2007. Late 2009 and early 2010 has been a year of drought, and there has been daily water rationing for about 6 months. This means the water in our building is turned on only from 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM, 12:00 noon to 2:00 PM, and 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. As a result, we've had to plan all our water-based activities and chores during these times, i.e., take showers, get loads of laundry washed, wash the dishes, etc. Sometimes a shower means using a bucket of water and a sponge. I've never liked bucket showers. I started using a bicycle waterbottle to brush my teeth...same way I do when I go bicycle camping. 

About three months ago, Tania and I looked into the possibility of an auxiliary water tank for our condo. I had seen these systems in a friend's apartment in Caracas, so I knew they existed. We started researching and found a complete system; 520 L tank, base, float valve, and a 1/2 HP pump at our local mega-hardware store. Eureka! 

We debated for a week or two, wondering if we could afford it, and if we actually needed it. Finally, frustrated from taking a bucket shower after a bicycle ride one Saturday I decided I was going to spend the money and buy one. There were only three left, so we bought the system and it was delivered where it sat un-installed for another month. 

We finally got the system installed about two weeks ago and boy howdy is it great! We now have water and water pressure, including hot water, on demand during the hours when the building's water is turned off. We open and close the appropriate valves, flip the power switch, and listo! Water as normal!

I Hardly Knew Ya Rocky!

I sold my 2008 Rocky Mountain Vertex Team to a friend a couple of months back. Problem was, the bike was in New Mexico, and we are in Venezuela. Well I went up to New Mexico last weekend for personal reasons, and brought back the bike.

I acquired the frame and fork,on a whim last year, for a good price from the RM sales rep in Vancouver, and actually only rode the it 3 or 4 times last summer, before it went into storage, so I was never really attached to it. To build it, I bought a set of wheels for it (nice American Classics), a Race Face crank, Cane Creek Aheadset, and some Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes. The rest of the parts came from my Litespeed after its extensive overhaul last summer, so it was built fairly cheaply.

Yesterday and today, I got to ride it on trails that I can do in my sleep and focus on the bike instead of the trail. Conclusion...super sweet bike! Climbs like a goat, descends straight and true, corners wonderfully, and is one of the most perfectly balanced mountain bikes I've ridden. The scandium frame smooths out the bumps and vibrations. Definitely a sweet bike!

Riding with a friend this morning who also has a Team issue.

This bike will eventually end up in Kiev, Ukraine where my friend has taken a teaching job at one of our sister schools. I hope it gets a lot of use there. It is a huge improvement on the POS bike he was riding. Everyone deserves to ride a good bicycle.

Now I want to retrofit disc brakes on the Litespeed and Merlin! 

Update: I have a line on a 2009 carbonfiber Vertex Team! Yes! 

Home for a Few Days: Tour of the Gila, Stage 4

I missed stage 3 due to a doctor's appointment, but stage 4 is the Downtown Criterium! The big spectator day! Always loads of fun. 

Started the day by taking my mom and Ed (my mother's husband) to breakfast. We all ordered the same thing...New Mexico style red chile huevos rancheros. Tasty! 

The downtown criterium has always been part of the Tour of the Gila. One year the race directors caved to the pressure of the downtown business people and moved the crit onto the campus of WNMU, but it was a spectator flop and I guess the downtown merchants realized the amount of walk-in business during the race outweighed the normal car traffic business on a Saturday.

That said, the downtown course is quite simple. It is a rectangular course of left hand turns. It starts by going north on a slight uphill on Bullard St, Silver City's main street, then into Turn 1, a left hand onto College Avenue which is also a slight climb. It turns left again, south, onto Cooper Street at the public library, where it is a steeper climb still to 6th street where it crests, then bombs downhill to Market Street, only to climb again to the Grant County Courthouse and turns left again, east, onto a long downhill down Broadway. The racers finally hit turn four at 40+ mph, a 90-degree turn north back onto Bullard and up to the start/finish line to complete the 1 mile circuit.

Let the race spectating begin! I tried to get creative with my little Canon SD-1200IS point-n-shoot camera. I got off a few interesting pics. Most of these are unaltered except a couple have been cropped. I got some interest effects happening just by panning the camera as I took the picture. 

I got some interesting pics. Here are my favorites...

Tune-Town in the Cat 4-5 race. 

 Approaching the Start/Finish line.

Into Turn 1.

Little Shop of Horrors

Charlotte, of El Paso, TX, looking on.

A view of the Pros/Cat1 from David's porch.

A rad shot of the Pro/Cat1 from the roof of the Vacuum Cleaner Center.

The Pro/Cat1 zoom past.

1 more lap.

Crit racing is fun!

Ghost Bike for Dan Potts

Dan Potts was a friend of mine. He was a long time cyclist, older than me, but we'd ridden together off and on for about 20 years. He had just retired from his job at the power company and was out on his bicycle on a spring day in 1999 when he was struck from behind and killed by a minivan driven by a distracted mother. Tragic. 

The Duke City Wheelmen erected the ghost bike on Thursday afternoon, in honor and memory of Dan. Present at the dedication was his wife Lucy, and a hand full of friends and supporters.

  

Stage 3 of the Tour of the Gila is named his honor; the Dan Potts Tyrone Time Trial.  

Home for a Few Days: Tour of the Gila, Stage 2

Showed up at the start of Stage 2 of the Tour of the Gila and my luck would have it, I was walking past the Mellow Johnny's (Team Radio Shack) RV just as Levi, Lance, and Jason came out to check their bikes. 

Johan Bruyneel, Lance Armstrong's long time team manager. Actually I didn't know who this guy was until my sister, who is a huge Lance fan, told me.

 Details of Lance's bike. A long-time friend, a guy who I grew up with, had the responsibility of signing the UPS delivery tag for Lance's three bikes. Two were insured at over $10,000, and the third bike (the TT bike?) was insured at over $30,000.

Lance came out of the RV to tweek the seat of his bike and this is when I said, "Hey Lance...You and I rode together in one of your first races as a pro...down in Lajitas, TX" His reply, "...That is the place where they have a goat as the mayor." That was about all I could get out him, but I guess that's pretty good for a non-reporter. 

I rode with my friend Lonnie in Support 2 where we followed the lead break-away in the Cat 2 race giving them wheels if needed. Lonnie and I used to be THE big dog mountain bikers in town. We had a real friendly rivalry for several years. Now both middle-aged, we enjoyed watching the race from the inside of a Toyota as we talked about the good old days of mountain biking, and  the time we did the Tour of the Gila as Cat 4s twenty years ago, like a couple of geezers...

Most of my pics from Supp 2 are the rear ends of the cyclists...not very appealing. I did manage one decent shot that I was able to crop and get something I liked. This is the break-away group heading down the Mimbres River valley with a dust obscured Cooke's Peak in the background.

The race finished where it began 79 miles later. I saw many friends including Amber and little mellow Kyra waiting for Amber's husband and Kyra's dad, Nathan, racing in the Cat 3 race. I mentored  Nathan when he was 13 years old in mountain biking.

It was an extremely windy stage, but it was great to be back in Silver City and watch it happen.

Home for a Few Days: Post #1

Some pics from my quick trip to New Mexico. These are CCS to IAH. 

 

X-ray scanner at CCS

737-400 coach section

 Over Grand Cayman Island (note the how the clouds are the same outline as the island)

You Know You Have a Crooked Mechanic When...

One day you take the car in to the mechanic you've been using for years for a tune-up, e.g., new plugs, wires, fuel filter, and clean the injectors. After a few thousand kilometers, the car runs terrible. Dissatisfied on the mechanic's work, you go and find a better one...an honest one (impossible?). By word-of-mouth we learned about "Chivo". I told my wife to take the car there to get it road worthy again. Besides having a real diagnostic computer, he seems to be an honest guy. This is what he found in our car's engine from our last "tune-up".

Three of the four spark plugs are of different manufacture. Unbelievable!

The Meeting Place

This is at El Morro on the top of the Cerro climb which goes from about 8 m (26 ft) above sea-level to about 65 meters (212 ft) above sea-level in 1.6 km (1 mile). It is a moderate climb with steepish pitches in places. Usually there are a group of cyclists hanging out in the shade of the little police shed deciding where to ride to next. 

Yesterday I was riding with my friend Jacques and had just come down the "La Falla" trail and paused here just to see what everyone was going to do next. You can see by the bicycles, the ones pointing right, are all full-suspension free-ride type bikes. These guys are a sub-set of the group of mountain bikers who frequent El Morro. All nice guys with big bikes. The two bikes pointing left on the right of the photo are Jacques' Rocky Mountain and my full-rigid Merlin (I love that bike!). 

The more I look at this photo, the more I like it. I like the crude splicing job I did on it using Photoshop. It makes for a more interesting photograph in my opinion.

Cancellara Attacks on the Hell of the North

I stole this from Gunnar's blog. His commentary is more clever and original, but I think this is one of the most impressive attacks ever I've seen, so I stole it.

Anyway, Cancellara leaves everyone stunned and unable to respond...plus seeing the bikes bounce around on the rough pavement is very cool.

Ciudad Bolivar

I've been in Venezuela as an outsider for 10 years. Its sad to see the country slowly destroyed by greed, ignorance, and stupidity.
I was just in Ciudad Bolivar, the city where I was married, and it has become one big slum. Really, really sad. I love that city, I have connections in that city, but now it is a prime example of a city in decay...a city doing everything wrong. It is a place of so much history and potential that it could be a mini-Paris on the Orinoco.
Sorry no pics...didn't take my camera (stupid me).

Viva Mi Abuela (Grandmother) [updated]

My wife's grandmother died today. She was 92.

This is the woman who raised Tania from about 3 years old. She is the one who instilled values and beliefs in Tania. She is the woman who I went to ask for Tania's hand in marriage.

According to Tania, her abuela was a strong and independent woman who didn't need any help from anyone. In the 1970s, when Tania was a little girl, they lived on a piece of land on the banks of the Orinoco River where they raised chickens and pigs, and grew a few crops. Her abuela was so fierce and strong, she could kill a pig with a single wack of a thick stick between the eyes.

When I got to know her, she was already an old lady, blind, who loved me for taking care of, and being a good husband to her favorite granddaughter. She spoke to me in Spanish like I understood it. She spoke to me about the love of Jesus, and Hugo Chavez. She loved them both. I can't fault her for loving the former, but I think the latter had her fooled.

She was a good woman who lived a long hard life. May she rest in piece.

Viva mi abuela!

[update] I went to the funeral and it was very touching and nice. The whole time I was there, of course everyone is chattering in Spanish, so I withdraw into my own little world and this song kept playing in my head. Tania loves Billy Joe Shaver so I wanted to add this.

Unusual Sightings Today

First day of Spring Break so I went for a bike ride with my friend Daniel. Right out of the gate, just riding along, I broke a spoke. We rode up the hill, down the Acuario Trail, and we rode around El Morro to get to The Rails. We were blocked by a large organized group of young walkers on some kind of event. We turned around and headed back to the Acuario Trail. As I ride, I always glance at the sea to see if anything unusual is going on out there. I saw a ship that didn't look like an oil tanker. We kept riding around the island.

We hike a bike up the Acuario Trail and saw this Uruguayan warship steam past while we were taking a short break. A rare sight for sure. Note; according to Wikipedia, this is ROU 04 (see the 4 on the bow), the General Artigas.

We pedaled up the remainder of the Acuario then up the Falla Trail, across the top and down the Fausto and The Rails. We wrap up the ride fairly early.

Later in the afternoon I head to the bicycle shop to get the broken spoke replaced. When I got back to my building, the watchman was feeding his turtle. Venezuelans call this a morrocoy. Very cool!

My Ride with Lance Armstrong

It was February in the Big Bend country of Texas in 1991. (I would be 30 years old then but a racing age of 31.) I was on Merlin #1 with its rigid fork. I was feeling good and having a good race. I had already passed the 1990 World Downhill Champion, Greg Herbold on the start of the climb. He was suffering. After Herbold, there didn't seem to be many riders in front of me. There were a few up ahead, and I'd do my best to reel them in. I was in the zone, mostly riding alone, enjoying the desert and the ride.

As I reached the summit of Tres Cuevas (Three Caves) Hill, I saw Armstrong in his Motorola jersey. He was the buzz all weekend...the new kid...he's really good...some kind of prodigy...When I saw him, I thought to myself, "That's that guy! He's supposed to be really good!" He was just getting back on his bike after fixing a mechanical or flat. I pedaled faster to catch him before he got away.

It was a two track "jeep road" so we rode side-by-side, me left, him right. We exchange greetings, and I asked him if he'd ever gone down Tres Cuevas before. His reply was no. I told him to be careful because it gets really steep.

We did a couple of little stair-steppy drops still side-by-side, and road got steeper still. We soon came up on a guy wearing a Wild Oats team jersey who was obviously a roadie...this guy was flailing...literally. I was still on the left line, Armstrong on the right. We split and passed the guy, going around him on either side.

About a 100 meters ahead was the first switchback. Armstrong told me to take the lead. I lead the way through the hard right-hand turn, popped over a little berm/rock outcropping in the road, and set up for the second switchback coming up, a left-hander. A few meters down from this point is a ranch house on the left with its barn on the right. I knew the road was smoother and improved here so I got into my best aero tuck and took my hands off the brake levers. I maintained this position as long as possible. I couldn't pedal any faster. I must have hit about 40 - 50 mph...fast for a full-rigid XC mountain bike.

The road gets to the desert floor where it is a series of small rolling hills. It was here where I dared to glance behind me and saw Armstrong at least 200 meters behind me. I pedaled like crazy in my biggest gear.

I reached the final check-point at the final major turn of the race. 9 miles to go!

As I went through the check-point I refused water and just wanted to stay ahead of Armstrong. I was hammering hard when Armstrong pulled up next to me. He said, "That was fun! Let's ride in together." I replied, "I can't...my legs are spent...you go ahead." and he did. He dialed it up to the next level and left me in his dust.

The next 7 miles was single-track through the Chihuahua desert. Really beautiful stuff, and all I could do was try and keep Armstrong in my sights, which I did for about two or three miles. The final 2 miles parallels the landing strip and on to the finish line in Lajitas. When I got there, about 2 minutes behind Lance, he was still there talking to someone. I rode through the finish, then coasted over to him, shook his hand and said, "Good race!" He said the same and said thanks for leading him down the hill and that it was fun!

It was one of my better expert category races. I don’t remember my placing…in the top 20 though.

My Bamboo Skewer Box Kite

I haven't built anything creative in quite a while. I used to be famous at my school for my creations. I've built all sorts of stuff from everyday, low-cost materials. Probably the most sophisticated thing I've built is my wind tunnel which really works and is very precise.

Wednesday at school we are having our "Spring Fling" and I am on the kite making team, so I worked with the elementary students on making simple kites.

Back in kite mode got me thinking...

Box kites: Then...I remember my brother having a box kite and I always thought it was cool. I first tried to build one from scratch about 30 years ago, but it didn't work out too well.

Now...On the Fausto Trail on El Morro is a frame to an old box kite that somehow ended up there. Who knows how long its been there, but each time I ride past it, I look at it noting its construction. It is very strong for being around as long as it has, so I've tried to duplicate the design using bamboo skewers used for kabobs.

The prototype...
Yesterday I built a box kite from drinking straws just to see if I could. I built it in about 45 minutes and it worked okay until the drinking straws started bending from the gusts of wind. I decided I could use the same dimensions and build one out of sturdier bamboo skewers. Here's how I did it:

1. I cut off the pointy ends of 12 skewers so each stick is 26 cm.

2. To make the long sticks, I overlapped them about 2 cm for a length of about 50 cm. They were glued and lashed together with cotton string.

3. The cross pieces are also 26 cm, so they cross at 13 cm. I made a little notch at 13 cm then glued and lashed them together with the cotton string, and lathered on more white glue.

4. The long sticks were notched at 6.5 cm from each end and the crossed pieces were glued onto the long pieces. The glue was allow to dry, then reinforced with a paper/white glue gussets.

5. The cross pieces make little triangle with legs each 13 cm long. The string which wraps around the frame for stiffness and strength creates a hypotenuse of 18.5 cm on each side. The perimeter around the frame is about 74 cm. The string should be cut at 1 m in length so you can tie it off.

6. The perimeter coincidentally was the was right sized for the little grocery bag I was using without having to cut and retape together. The width of the plastic is 13 cm. I just slipped the plastic over the frame for a snug fit. I used stick glue to glue the plastic on to the frame and string guys. I just eyeballed the width and it seemed right.

7. The bridal is about 75 cm in length tied to two corners; one top, one bottom.

Total weight is probably about 25 grams. I need to confirm that tomorrow.

Anyway...it flys!

Weekend Riding

I've been trying to get some time in the saddle between now and June. Not having the bike handy during my work week makes it difficult, so I have been riding the spinbike at the gym and I have a home elliptical trainer (aka torture device). This weekend I ended up doing two good rides; Saturday I rode about 30 miles, and Sunday about 20 miles. Good fun, feeling good, and losing a little weight which makes the climbing a bit easier.

I took this pic on Saturday. Its been very hazy the last few weeks, probably due to range fires. Its very dry right now.

This is a pic looking down off the Acuaro trail. I've been cleaning this regularly, but today I dabbed (arrgh) on the entrance to the steep part (you can see it as that dark shadow just in front of the white jersey wearing rider).

I tried to get a pic of riders coming off the Fausto switchback, but it took me too long to get my camera out of my jersey pocket, turned on, etc. The pic I was going for was the riders all silhouetted against the sky on the switchback, also due to the hazy air quality right now. (There is that white jersey again.)

Anyway, killer rides!

Inukshuk?

On Sunday's ride I found another monument. This one was small, about 1/2 meter tall.
I don't know what to call them. A friend from Canada suggested to call them "Inukshuk" even though these are found 10 degrees north of the equator instead of 70 degrees north. I like them whatever they are and appreciate whomever is making them.

One of My Favorite Blogs

I started blogging by accident back in 2006. I didn't know much about it, and when I started it I decided to just make it about stuff that I find interesting. I've tried to keep politics out of it (though my emotions have got the best of me a few times) mainly because I think it dangerous considering where I live.

My mom hates my blog. She wishes I'd focus on real writing instead of giving it away for free. She thinks I should write my book(s) instead.

Anyway, about during Christmas break, I started exploring other blogs by pushing the "Next Blog" button at the top of the screen. I guess my default is bicycle blogs because just about every blog I came across is about bicycling. Most were the same.

I repeated this experiment for about three days. Same blogs recycled...I didn't find them very interesting, not interesting enough to go back to until I found 1410 Oakwood. This blog caught my attention immediately because it was different. It was similar to what I've been trying to accomplish...a real eclectic blog with a bicycle slant. Gunnar, the author, seems a real genuine kind of guy. We've become i-friends. I've even learned a bit about classic road bikes by reading his posts.

Anyway, check it out.

My Wife is an Amazing Person!

My wife is an amazing person. She is Venezuelan, a Guanesa from Ciudad Bolivar on the banks of the mighty Orinoco River. She has lived a full life, but not an easy life. Her life is like many who grow up in a developing country; a life of hardship and heartbreak.

My wife has always been one who was driven to improve herself. To improve her lot in life. Never staying still for very long.

When I met her, she was working in the Venezuelan oil service industry as an office assistant.

Before meeting me, her job afforded her to buy a Fiat Uno, a small compact car. She bought this car even though she could not drive. She wanted the car so she could be more mobile and it would improve her life. Her cousin chauffeured her around, much like Driving Miss Daisy. When she needed to learn English to improve her position in the oil service industry, she sold the car to pay her tuition at an English Institute in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

When I met her 9 1/2 years ago, her English was okay, but not perfect. We got/get along fine. We celebrated out 8th wedding anniversary last December. Her English is much improved...my Spanish is still minimal.

Since being married, she continues her quest to improve herself...First it was getting Microsoft certified to keep her resume' up to date. Then it was going to a local 3-year university and getting a degree in English which she did.

She took a little course on decorative gelatin desserts. Her desserts are popular at family gatherings.

She tried culinary school, but didn't like the chefs yelling at her and the other students, and decided it was too stressful of profession. She did get a good deal on some killer German-made knives.

Lately she has decided to pursue a career in nursing. She is now attending classes to become a nurse's assistant, and perhaps she will continue to become a full-fledged nurse. She seems to enjoy it, and I am very proud of her.

The latest thing she is pursuing is cake making and decorating. She is learning to how to make cakes and icing from scratch and to decorate them professionally. She has the idea of making this a side-business some day. This past week she bought pans, measuring cups, and the various tools needed to make a professional quality cake, and she made her first cake. The assignment was to decorate the cake with a simple illustration worthy of a children's birthday party. She chose Hello Kitty.
We cut the cake on Friday and we nibbled around Hello Kitty's face all weekend. She wanted to save the face to show her sisters. She's a funny woman.

I love my wife...big time!

mimbresman.com

mimbresman.com is in the works.

Jose Hernandez

Jose was killed this morning on his way to work. Jose was riding a bicycle to school this morning when he was smashed and ripped to shreds by something big. It was a hit and run and there wasn't much left of Jose of what I have heard. A gruesome death.

Who was Jose? He was one of the day watchmen at our school. I didn't know him really, but he was usually the man who greeting me in the morning when I arrived to the building. He always said "Buenos dias!" and I think he meant it.

We have had somewhat of a revolving door of security guards at our school. The security company doesn't pay much, and the job is tedious. But Jose didn't seem to mind. He occupied himself by going beyond his job description and actually helped several of us teachers when we needed it. Just yesterday, he helped Daniel and I unload some sacks of soil for a campus beautification project that Daniel and his environmental science class is doing.

It seems that Jose died alone. This afternoon we went to the funeral home to pay our condolences to his family. The funeral home was empty, apparently there was a change of plans and his remains were in the morgue at the local hospital. No wake or funeral for Jose. No family member were to be found. His remains will be buried tomorrow in a local cemetery. I just want people to know that he existed and he seemed an honest and kind guy. A commodity that seems rare in these times in Venezuela.

Full Rigid Merlin

For the longest time I walked this section of trail. If I was still in my 20's, probably no hesitation, I used to ride down stuff way more technical, but now pushing 50, I am a little more cautious. About a month ago I looked at it and it wasn't quite as hairy as it used to be. I decided I could do it. Now I do it routinely, but dab free (putting a foot down) has only been in the last two runs down it. I still approach it with respect. Could lose teeth or skin on this if not careful.

Yeehaw!

The Monument Maker

These things sprout up like mushrooms...
Today went for a ride and was happy to see the "monument maker" back at it. This time he or she made a delicate tower. About a meter in height, with a nice selection of rocks. Bravo!

Tour Divide Prep (post 3)

This week I hit the gym and the Internet. Rode the SpinBike, lifted weights, walked, and generally enjoyed myself. On the Internet, I ordered some more gear that I may or may not need. I have already reached that point where I don't want to spend any more money, but I still need the packs. I'm on the list for packs.

I am really getting jazzed about this. I've become obsessed with a map of the United States that is posted in the hallway of the school. I look at the route and imagine the landscape as I pedal south. This is going to be a great adventure.

Shelter for the Tour Divide

I've been fretting these kind of things. Trying to be light, but want to stay fairly comfortable. I've toured with bivy sack and a tent. The tent is a more comfortable option but heavier and having to deal with it after riding all day. Been doing some on-line research and shopping, and I think I found a good compromise. The Nemo Gogo. I just ordered one. This will be the ultimate test for one.

I also ordered a new sleeping bag since my light bag is 30 years old. I ordered a Mountain Hardware UltraLamina 45+, plus a Thermarest NeoAir.

So hopefully my shelter problems are solved. Everything is very high quality, very light and compact, and somewhat expensive...nuts!