Loretto Chapel

My plans for today was to head to Santa Fe, visit with a friend there, and tour by bicycle. First stop the CGHiggins Candy Shoppe. Plan was to park the car and bike from there.

Weather was being a bit "iffy" this morning. While mt visit at the candy shop, it was sunny/cloudy and calm/breezy. Walking to the car for a calendar, I was breating pretty hard (guess the added altitude was getting to me).

After a cup of coffee and candy purchases, I drove into the plaza area of Santa Fe. Abandoned the plans pf cycling around town. Temp was 37 - a little chilly. The one thing I wanted to see was the spiral staircase at the Loretto Chapel.

I found the chapel and spent the $3 to see the staircase. I will not be able to post a photo for sale as they only allow photos for personal use. Today's photo is the staircase and the read of the chapel.

When I got back to Albuquerque, it was 52 and sunny. A little tired today, so stayed in the room(clouded off again in the afternoon) and rested.

Foothills Trails

After lunch with Jack & Kay, I wanted to check out the foothills singletrack. I had never ridding from the Indian School Rd trailhead.

I thought I would be OK since I have been in town for a week. I tried to ride up Trail 193. Trail surface was a fine, loose gravel. After struggling and waking for 0.1 miles, I rode back to the trailhead.

Tried trail 365. Not so bad. There was some loose gravel, but mostly packed dirt. When you are up in the foothills, the trail slope is very deceiving. Spots where I thought I gonna climb, I was really still descending!

Hopefully, next week I will be able to ride more in the foothills. Only made 1 mile and 20 minutes. Maybe I should start at Bear Canyon, again. I also have the option to ride at Volcanoes (Petroglyph National Monument).

Visitors

A high school and his wife (Jack & Kay Schafer) stopped by to have lunch today. They had been at Lake Havasu City, AZ for a month-long vacation. Jack recently retired and they are looking at places to possible relate (or at least a place to winter).

Great to visit with them.

Shout-Out to Office Depot #581

Saturday morning I was out shopping for tablet computers. Something I could bring on my bicycle for a day trip. Had been talking with a sales associate at Best Buy in Council Bluffs, IA.

It was my impression that they were expecting in Asus tablets with 32 GB storage, Android 4.0 and a new Quad-core processor. I drove to the Albuquerque Best Buy at 55 Hotel Circle.

I was there, in the computer section near the tablets, for over a half hour. I still had not been able to talk with a sales associate. I only saw one associate in the computer area of the stor.

As i left the store, I complained the associate are the door. All I got was a "sorry".

Found an Office Depot (had shopped paper there last year when in town). When I found the tablets, a sales associate quickly came to me to answer my questions. He has one of the Asus tablets that I was looking at.

He was not aware of any new Asus tablets until May or so. With that, I was gonna buy the current model which they have a a good price. As he was getting my table, he talked with another associate and found out that indeed, there would be a new Asus tablet expected in about a month. Gave me the name of the new tablet.

The shout-out because he could have sold me the older model. I might have found out the error (had i purchased the tablet). I might have been happy with the tablet. Then again i might had cussed the associate for selling me a device was not what i wanted.

Thanks for giving me the info I was looking for and not just a sale.

Rio Grande Riverside Trail

Yesterday was a day off the bike. My body needed it. But back on the bike today - I HAD to ride today.

Why, you ask? It was the last day of January and I needed 10.5 miles to break 100 miles for the month (and year-to-date). I decided to continued to explore the trail along the Rio Grange River.

The trail is called the Paseo del Bosque to the Riverside Trail. I parked my car at the Central Ave trailhead. The goal was to complete the trail South from Central Ave.

For almost 7 miles, the trail follow the river. At that point, the trail turns left (East) and is along the South Diversion Channel. The channel arcs to the North. At Bridge St, the trail turns left along the south side of Rio Bravo Blvd.

This took me back to the Riverside Trail. At this time, I was at 11 miles into my ride. It was 5 miles back to Central Ave.

While it was warm (57 degrees) it was a bit chilly because it had been a cloudy day. Back at the room, it was laundry time -- needed to wash my cycling kits.

Today's photo shows my hybrid bike at the junction of South Diversion Channel and a sice channel (the concrete rivers).

OH - and I met my goal. 106 miles year-to-date.

Bike Ride with Cousin Don

A great way to spend a Sunday. Met with my cousin Don (an Albuquerque resident) for brunch at the Range Cafe (on Menaul). From there, we took a bicycle ride to explore.

Our destination was the UNM campus. Yes, its not that far, but then I had ridden the day before, so was not looking for a long ride. We toured campus - Don had not been on campus for a while.

Stopped for hot chocolate/coffee. A little more touring in Nob Hill. Then back to my hotel. Good ride. Nice to have someone to ride with.

North Diversion Channel Trail

Time to explore.

Later breakfast at Village Inn. Another sunny day - into the 40s at noon. Exchanged e-mails with my cousin. We decided on a brunch and bike ride tomorrow 11am-ish. It did not take much time for me to decide to check out the North Diversion Channel trail.

It was a 4 block ride on city streets to get from my hotel to the trail. Surprising, traffic was light. I was concerned as I had to ride a 6-lane (3 in each direction) boulevard.

I started North on the trail. A couple times I stopped to look at my Albuquerque Bicycle Map. Set my goal as riding to the Balloon Fiesta Park.

Had a good ride to the park. With the sun at my back, took most of my photos riding to the park. The photo with this post shows one of the many bridges over channels that feed into the main channel.

I did not pay attention of the slope and wind. When I started riding back South, I found that I was riding into the wind. Glad it was not very strong. Adding to the wind, I saw that feeder channels dropped water against the direction I am traveling. So, any slope of the channel was against me - I was riding up hill!

A good ride, though I could have used an extra layer on the arms and core. The bright sun fooled me - not so warm when out in the open.