New Year's Day

Happy New Year! How was your New Year's Eve?  Ours was noisy.  The neighbors were out at midnight firing small arms, some of which were automatic weapons.  Would it ever occur to you to fire a gun into the air in a densely populated area?  It just boggles the mind.  Jim heard something hit the roof, but this morning there were no bullet holes in evidence, and happy we were about that.
We had planned to get the bikes out and do hill repeats today.  However, the scheduled morning delivery time from Lowe's slid until afternoon, so we ended up hiking.  We went out to the Robles trail system and walked rapidly up and down the trails.

 

People mountain bike out here.  I will never be good enough to ride this.  Ever.

 

It was a glorious day in the desert.  We're supposed to have one more warm one before it cools off again. Perhaps tomorrow will be a biking day.

Riding Gates Pass

We rode Gates Pass today.  For me, it was very difficult.  However, here I am at the top.

 

It's hunting season in the Tucson Mountain Park.  It gives me the willies knowing that there are many bow hunters out among the cactus looking for deer.  A wayward arrow would really ruin a person's day.
Other than this paltry offering, I have zippity doo-dah all to say.

More Tucson Mountain Park

We talked about riding this morning, but ultimately wimped out and went for a walk in the desert.  The cool thing was we got to watch one guy make it up a really steep part of the trail.  It's about a 25% grade in places.  Here is a movie of the photos I took of him.  There is really stupid music, so if you're at work, mute.



We headed over to the 36th Street trailhead.  This is the nice part of the trail.

 

A dead saguaro.

 

This is a wash full of grass.  There's a wall at the end of it.

 

Why is this here?  The rocks are mortared, significant effort was required to construct this.

 

Jim was dispatched to see what was on the other side.

 

 

 

On the other side was another sandy wash, but at the level of the top of the wall.  We are well and truly confounded as to why this was constructed.

 

It was a pretty day, fairly overcast, but pleasant.

 

All in all, this is so much better than being in North Dakota.

Starr Pass Trail

Today we hiked the Starr Pass trail.  It was a windy day, but it was just lovely.  There were many mountain bikers out on the trail.  The ocotillos are lush and green.  It's amazing how much they've leafed out in the last few weeks.

 

This is from the top of the climb.

 

I love this view of the three hills.

 

This is a switchback on the trail.  One of these days I want to sit out here with lounge chairs and wait for mountain bikers to ride through here.  I want to see someone ride this.  It's so much worse than it looks in the picture.

 

We covered about four miles.  We were at the top in 40 minutes, it takes longer to go down due to the loose rocks.  I'm pretty happy with that time.  Towards the end the foot was starting to yelp a little, but over all I think I can say I'm better off than I was before surgery.  

Boxing Day in the Desert

Yesterday, which was Christmas, we went back out to Fantasy Island.  It started off well, it was a beautiful day.  Here we are sitting under the branches of a Palo Verde tree.  Its bark is green and is capable of carrying on photosynthesis when the tree has dropped its leaves.  We were happy at that point, with no hint of the troubles ahead.

 

Mountain biking is a fickle sport.  One minute you're having fun, the next minute you're not.  Jim is no longer enjoying his ride.  We're not exactly sure what happened, he was up and then he was in the dirt.  As I have noted before, after picking myself up out of the dirt in Bend, it's difficult to learn from one's errors on a mountain bike because it happens so fast.  This was the secondary point of impact.

 

This was the primary point.  Interestingly enough, there was very little damage to his bike shorts.  That's good, shorts are expensive.

 

So that was yesterday.  Last night was pretty low key, Jim's hip really hurt.  Today, however, was much better than anticipated.
Three pairs of shoes came today.  One was ruled out immediately.  These two are still in the pool for being kept.  I'm hoping the hiking shoes will work out.  My current pair is from 2008, and is reaching end of life.  These are from Patagonia and have a very stiff sole which is good for the local rocks.  Annnnnd, they are not Gortex.

 

Jim is spatchcocking a game hen here.  We were going to do them last night, but the little buggers were still frozen, and neither one of us were really in the mood for an elaborate dinner.  They are now Boxing Day dinner.

 

That's what's happening here.  Here's hoping you have power if you're where it's cold.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!  We hope it's a great day for you all, where ever you are.