Cycling over I-25 in Albuqurque

I'm very blessed living here in Northern New Mexico. The Albuquerque & Santa Fe area is very conducive to running & cycling. There are great running & cycling trails in & around Albuquerque. Santa Fe has great areas to bike outside the city limits, yet God help you if you try to bike inside them.

Now that the New Mexico Rail Runner is open, my favorite weekend activity is to take my bike on the Rail Runner from the Santa Fe 599 stop to the Albuquerque Journal stop West of I-25 on Paseo Del Norte. I then ride my bike from the Journal stop to Paseo Del Norte, then Tramway to Route 66, then north on Highway 14. It's approximately a 70 mile ride from the Rail Runner to my house. The Rail Runner is a dream come true for cyclists & triathletes-well, a dream come true mostly. Has anyone else realized it's a nightmare to get from one side of I-25 to the other on a bicycle?

The overpass of Paseo Del Norte has no bike path & it's a nightmare to ride on that street in traffic. On Paseo Del Norte there's not even a side walk going East bound. Not that a side walk would help, it's illegal for cyclists to ride on sidewalks. Now, I'm not complaining about that particular law I agree cyclists shouldn't ride on sidewalks. But where does that leave us who ride rather than drive to get from one side of I-25 to another? Alameda & San Antonio don't have bike paths to allow safe passage over or under I-25 either. Where does the transportation department expect us on 2 wheels to cross without causing cycling deaths & vehicular road rage? Is there a great crossing I don't know of? If not is there a movement to get something done? If there's not yet a group pushing for a crossing, & anyone else agrees that there needs to be one please tell me. Feel free to email me if your not comfortable posting comments on my blog.

at ease

I was really tense earlier in the day. Today being the day before my 5430 half Iron. I wasn't sure why I was feeling the way I was. Like I'd said in a previous post I don't usually get stressed from races. At bout noon I realized why. This is my first big event since my Silvermn DNF. That DNF really hurt. I wanted to be an Ironman so badly, & had worked so hard. To have DNF'd my Iron really shook me to my core.

If I'd of known at that time that my DNF was going to motivate me to lose 57 pounds I wouldn't of been as upset. But anyway, as soon as I realized why I was tense I calmed down. I know I'm in better shape, I have better equipment, & I'm 57 pounds lighter than at the Silverman. I'm even 37 pounds lighter than my lightest 70.3 weight. I'm back to my normal pre-race self. I looked at the bike course. It's not as hard as the Harvest Moon half or Buffalo Springs 70.3, but not anywhere as easy as Soma or Clearwater 70.3. Even though it's not an easy course I'm still hoping to break my 70.3 best time of 5 hrs 58 miutes.

By the way, at weigh in this morning I as at 200 pounds. So I'll be racing as a Clyde. Barely, but a Clyd non the less. And Boulder Colorado is the most gorgeous place I've ever been. There are bike trails, bike paths, bike lanes, & run trails EVERYWHERE!!! There are clyclists & runners EVERYWHERE! I even found out from a local that the city of Boulder pays peaople to commute by bike!!!! Oh, if only it wasn't so expensive to live here. I'd move here in a second if I could afford it. I'll post more on the area when I return from our trip. I won't return until the 17th. After the 5430 we're going to rent a cabin for a week for my family & my Mom. Should be great fun.

Peace! I'm out.

OUCH!

When I started this blog I thought I would only be adding onto it once every couple weeks. But it's been an exciting week!

My old football coach used to say if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes it'll change. That usually is the case in NM. Unless you are trying to ride a bike home from work during a hail storm dropping grape sized hail with no trees or shelter anywhere! I think that was Gods way of telling me not to leave early from work anymore. Very convincing argument Lord.

If I get bruising on top of my head and on my left ear like I think I will, I'll make sure to post the pictures on the sight.