Don't Make Change too Complicated: Just Begin!




Monday, October 19, 2009

Fall Frolic in Northern NM-Women Riding Well

This is Diane Nelson reporting from the front lines of Northern New Mexico as Cece was sidelined with asthma and had to miss the ride! As you can tell from the pic, it was a beautiful day! I'm not quite sure how I got the sky to watercolor itself in when I copied the pic to Cece...but I like it! LOL We all met at Paseo and I-25 on this glorious fall morning and caravaned the 70 or so miles to the Cities of Gold Casino at Pojauque NM for the start of our 40 or so mile bike trip in the hills of northern Santa Fe. We had a great, albeit inadvertent 6 mile warm -up ride by taking a wrong turn out of the casino...luckily for us, the road dead ended...or we might never have known to turn around and we might STILL be wandering the hills north of Santa Fe! We were a happy group despite this precarious detour!
Finally, we got ourselves on the right track and started along the High Road to Taos..passing through Nambe, enjoying fall foliage, rock formations and mountain vistas along the way and then turning west to Chimayo....meeting some rollers into and out of Chimayo, and then a wonderful long downhill to Espanola. We passed through "the scenic metropolis" of Espanola and then into Los Alamos Highway past the Santa Clara Pueblo and then into a fierce headwind that kept this little group that I was in down to speeds under 10 mph! This part of the ride was reminiscent of the TNT training rides that Cece and I endured from the endless spring winds (Spring? 32 degrees with 20 mph winds? you call that spring Diane? You are an optimist! LOL ...cece here....with her 2 cents...maybe 4!).....only these winds were much warmer and easier to endure! We rode past San Ildefonso Pueblo and then onto State Road 502 again and then the homestretch back to the casino.
After a quick change of clothes, the group met up at Gabriel's New Mexico Restaurant near the Sante Fe Opera for a late lunch, including fresh guacamole made table side that was the best I have EVER tasted! After a wonderful meal, we headed back on 1-25 to return to Albuquerque. To me, there is nothing better than spending a beautiful day on a bicycle! It was truly a fall frolic , with lots of beautiful scenery, fellowship and fun!
Diane



Cross Training for the Day of the Tread: Queen of Hearts

Having been unable to go on the Fall Frolic ride into Northern NM on Saturday due to illness, I have asked my friend Diane to be a guest blogger for us and tell us about the ride! I did hear that they had a few rollers and took a 5 mile detour by mistake...but everyone was laughing and giggling about it and it seemed like everyone had a blast! More info coming.

Women Riding Well has decided to go to the Day of the Tread as a deck of cards! (See side link to the Day of the Tread! ) The women would be the Queen of Hearts...the men in our lives the King of Hearts...and our coach...the Joker! We had a series of painting sessions at Margie's beautiful home and had a wonderful time.! Patti decided this was "cross training" for the ride...doing something different that was perhaps a bit out of our comfort zones, but that would make you stronger and more fluent at what you loved doing! Or at least.... we will be beautiful!

It was a bright and sunny day, with lots of talk and fun and food and discussion about what colors to use and exactly how we would paint our jerseys for the ride! Fun was had by all!

See slide show below!

Crosstraining