Rick & Lori

Sunday, April 26, 2015

April 19, 2015

We made another trip to the cabin from Thursday evening through Sunday and were joined by Rick's sister and brother-in-law Renea and Dawson on Friday evening.

Rick and I did a 20 mile mountain bike ride on Friday afternoon with temps around 50 degrees and a strong west wind. We've been riding in 80s and low 90s recently, so it was uncomfortably cold at times. We rode well and both had some personal best times on segments during the ride. Renea and Dawson met us at The Western Bar for dinner. We had moose drools, green chile cheeseburgers with onion rings, and coconut cream pies. It was delicious as always.

Saturday was also cold and windy, so we decided to skip riding and just do some tourist stuff with our guests. We did some shopping in town at the usual places and had a wonderful late lunch at The Lodge. Snowflakes were falling in town when we headed back to the cabin. Rick and I did a 4 mile hike along some ridge tops in the forest near our subdivision looking for elk and deer antler sheds but were unsuccessful. At least we got a few hours of exercise and got to see lots of beautiful scenery.

This road is very steep but doesn't look it in the picture.

Good place for a rest after a long climb with both riding and pushing the bike up the mountain.

Area of trail where we saw elk on our last trip.

The bikes, Rick, and the trail.

The view from the highest point in our subdivision by the water tank on Saturday.

Rick found a monument marker while we searched a ridge top for elk and deer antler sheds. Too bad we couldn't find any sheds.

The wind was blowing strongly, it was cold, and some snow flakes fell during our unsuccessful but scenic and healthy 4 mile hike.

An alligator juniper tree.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

March 29, 2015

We spent Thursday through Sunday at the cabin with Vince--Amy was too busy with work and school. My birthday had been on Wednesday and Vince's was on Sunday, so it seemed an obvious weekend for a mountain bike trip to the mountains.

The weather had finally warmed up and most of the snow was gone, so we decided to start exploring new trails again in the James Ridge area. We really hit the jackpot on one I'd been wanting to try since last fall. It connects 2 areas we ride frequently, is very scenic and isolated, and is challenging but not overly technical or difficult. We even rode up on a small herd of elk on this trail which has not happened before. There are a number of other trails in this area that we haven't ridden, and I'm looking forward to trying them out too. After the ride, we made our regular trip to The Western Bar for cheese enchiladas/green chile cheeseburgers, Moose Drools, and coconut cream pie.

On Saturday, we rode from Cloudcroft for the first time since last fall and hit our old favorites: the meadow area, single track in Bailey Canyon, Bailey Canyon climb, La Luz Canyon climb, Wofford Lookout climb. It ended up being 20 challenging miles with really nice weather and extremely fatigued legs. We later went to the Lodge for a birthday celebration dinner and got to watch a beautiful sunset from the dining room and eat a great meal and dessert.

Sunday was Vince's birthday, and we only had about 43.5 miles to that point. It's kind of a cyclist tradition to ride your age on your birthday. On a road bike on flat ground, that wouldn't be a huge deal, but that's practically impossible in the mountains on difficult trails averaging 7 or 8 miles per hour. We decided that riding our ages for the weekend would be a sufficient challenge, so we needed some more miles. Against my better judgement, we did a smaller loop from town which included the single track and climbing back up to Cloudcroft via the Old Cloudcroft Highway trail. It is a difficult climb, and it sucks! I crashed near the top from loose rocks and complete fatigue, but we made it back with 51.5 miles for the weekend and 6000' of climbing. We all three set personal records (via Strava) for most of the climbing segments for the weekend. It was probably the best mountain biking I've ever done and was a great way to start the cycling season.

Rest stop at 9200' at Wofford Lookout north of Cloudcroft with Sierra Blanca in the distance

our favorite new trail

nearing the top of the mountain in the 16 Springs Canyon/James Ridge area

perfect day for mountain biking in the 16 Springs Canyon/James Ridge area

Vince and me on our new favorite trail

the bulbs I planted last fall started blooming the morning after we arrived

coconut cream pie and Moose Drool at The Western Bar on Friday night after a 3 hour mountain bike ride

Toby enjoys a nice, warm, sunny window

multiple fallen trees block our favorite single track on Saturday

Wofford Lookout at 9200' with Sierra Blanca in the distance and a little remaining snow

more flowers opening

just after our Sunday mountain bike ride on Vince's birthday

more daffodil pics

more bulbs blooming

Minx doesn't want to leave

Toby doesn't want to leave

sunset from the tower at the Lodge on Saturday night with White Sands in the distance

Sunday, March 15, 2015

March 15, 2015

Vince and Amy joined us for a long weekend at the cabin. The weather forecast wasn't very favorable, but we took the bikes in hopes of getting in some mountain biking. We left the cabin around 11am on Friday with warm cycling clothes and rain jackets. The temperatures were cool but reasonable, the rain showers stayed away, and we got in 21.5 miles in the James Canyon area while staying relatively warm. We headed into town for an early dinner at The Western Bar and some shopping at High Altitude. Our other favorite shops had closed by the time we made our way around.

Saturday was overcast, windy and cooler. We had planned to ride at Cloudcroft, but it had snowed some overnight and was quite cool. I scouted out a route down in the High Rolls/La Luz area, and we left the cabin in a light snow shower and headed down the mountain for warmer temps and some sun. The first 7 miles of our ride was straight downhill, so we knew the trip back up the mountain was going to be tough. To make matters worse, the cool northeast wind was directly in our faces for the climb back. The route turned out to be 20 miles, and we were able to see as wide of a variety of terrain as is possible to see in an 8 mile climb--from desert with ocotillo & agave (exactly like Big Bend) near La Luz to large rocks and cedar (just like Fort Davis) a couple of miles up and finally pine forest when we turned around and headed for the scenic, winding road which cut back across to High Rolls. The pot of green chili stew Saturday night at the cabin really hit the spot.

Sunday started out cool again, and we eventually decided not to ride. The 4900'+ of climbing and almost 42 total miles of mountain biking in cool temperatures had taken their toll. It was another great weekend, and we're already planning the next one and hoping for some warmer weather.