Goathead Season

With the second wettest July on record, it's no wonder that this August's goathead crop (Tribulus terrestris L.) is the stuff of legends.  Already the chenopods and amaranths are over my head.  Mentzelia and Psilostrophe are out there along with plenty of cheat grass.

Lizards scurry out of my way as I peddle down the ditch banks, road runners scoot to the side, but the big harvester ants are oblivious of me.  I find myself always on the lookout for ants and take evasive action to avoid hitting them.  At least the mosquitoes and sand flies are less numerous now that things are drying out a bit.

That said, my last outing was the morning after a good thunderstorm.  Sandy areas were hard packed (yeah!) and the water had drained away, but I hit a couple muddy spots near San Lorenzo Ave.  After that, I was kicking up clods all the way to my checkpoint north of Eakes Rd.  I did a quick check of the pulse (110) and of my time (27 minutes), which compares well with 117/26 from a year ago.

I suspect time and pulse could have been better if I hadn't stopped to hack the Metal Horse Ingress portal.  My biking of late has taken to pursuing Ingress portals.  I'm particularly proud of the green fields in the ABQ Botanic Garden, northward to the Rio Grande Nature Center, and into the Aldo Leopold Bosque up to Montano Blvd.  It's a shame Ingress doesn't have a badge for cycling, but my Trekker badge shows that I've walked 364 km (226 miles) while playing the game.  #ftw

Cycling and Ingress

Recently my old colleague Joe Lewis conned me into playing Ingress, an online augmented reality game.  It turns out to be quite addicting, combining features of geocaching, capture the flag, Risk, and the oriental board game Go.  Ingress is ideally suited for walkers, runners, and cyclists.  Get to within 40 m of a "portal" and take actions--hacking, deploying resonators, and/or making modifications.

So I struck out on a windless spring day (hurrah!) to bike 4 miles over to the "Crying Face," a piece of street art.  The opposing faction, the blue Resistance, had made it the focus of a large control field.

The trails were hard-packed, smooth, and free of goatheads.  I made good time and I had my Google Glass with me for easy photography.  The ditches are running full, the early spring weather meaning that farmers need water in their fields.

I used a Jarvis virus to destroy the Crying Face and turned it to the green team, the Enlightenment.  #goodtimes

The Treaddesk

Even though I'm getting regular rides in, one can see the writing on the wall.  Or as they say in Game of Thrones, "Winter is coming."  To combat that season of weather-enforced curtailment of acequia riding, we've converted the treadmill to a treaddesk. 

NordicTrack treadmill with desk

The small plexiglass shelf and hardware cost about $30.  Designed and installed by my friend Kent, it comfortably holds a Kindle, an ASUS tablet, or the Toshiba netbook (pictured). 

Toshiba netbook on the treaddesk

It's very functional, enabling one to read and respond to e-mail, pay bills online, and check-in with social media while getting some steps on the ol' pedometer.  I use it at about 0.6 mph, but expect that to increase as I get more comfortable with the setup. 

Installation detail

A small hole inside the plastic cupholder of the treadmill allows adjustable mounting brackets to hold the plexiglass level.  A touch of SuperGlue locks things in place--we were concerned about vibrations from the treadmill loosening the screws over time. 

The only other adaptation was to get a small Logitech cordless mouse.  Neither the touch pad nor a touchscreen is particularly good for fine control of the cursor while you are moving. 

With all this in place for the season, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this afternoon was warm and sunny.  Instead of a walk, I took a quick ride down to the Rio Grande Nature Center. 

Along the Griegos Acequia heading towards the Nature Center

Fall colors are warming up and some trees are amazing against the bright New Mexico skies. 

Cottonwoods in the Nature Center

 I took a moment to walk in to the viewing area for the pond near the Visitor's Center and saw a few ducks and over a dozen turtles.  The turtles can just be made out sunning themselves on the foreground logs in the full-size version of the photo. 

The pond at the Nature Center

Autumn Rides in the Bosque

The Great Acequia Clean-up

This time of year, the ditches typically look like this:  

The Alameda Interior Drain along North 2nd St.

Bullrushes, grasses, sunflowers, and horsetails happily take in the autumn sunshine along the acequias that are still flowing.  But recently the MRGCD has been making things tidy.  My local drain now looks like this: 

The Alameda Interior Drain adjacent to Matthew

Even the smaller ditches have been cleaned up, but the Alameda Drain requires heavy fuel. 

The Machine

This beast has a 4' scoop and a huge arm enabling it to scour one side on the down sweep and scour the near side on the up sweep.  They've been working for a couple weeks and have turned the corner now to the south. 

The good news is that in many areas, the goatheads are gone, but the bad news is that the ground surface is often churned up and very soft.  I find myself mostly risking the goatheads and riding on hardpacked surfaces.  Some of these are as good as pavement. 

North of Montano aloong the Griegos Interior Drain

The other good news is that my workout frequency is getting much better.  Certainly I'm adapting to retirement with more exercise than last year at this time.

Also, in preparation for a cold and wet winter, the treadmill has been turned into a treaddesk.  More on that in the next installment.

Blog Action Day -- #Inequality

ABQ, the North Valley

I took a bike ride along the acequias of Albuquerque's North Valley late this afternoon.  Armed with a $350 mountain bike and $2000 of digital equipment, I peddled along the centuries old water courses that irrigate the city.

With this year's Blog Action Day topic in mind, I expected to be able to reflect on and photo-document the wealth of the landed gentry in ABQ.  I did not expect that I'd take a turn that would lead me to some of the best street art in the city and some of the dingiest neighborhoods on the "wrong side of the tracks," quite literally.

Fall Goathead Report

Cap'n, Thar be Goatheads!

I've been remiss in blogging about this fall's bike rides.  With temperatures in the low 80s and upper 70s, it's been a great season for late afternoon pedals.  The long shadows make for very pleasant scenery along the ditch banks.

Griegos Acequia

Early August Rides, Part 2

On another cool afternoon with only moderate wind, I was able to ride up the Griegos Interior Drain, where the goatheads were proliferating despite the mowing by the City.  Heavy machinery tracks showed their efforts, but they largely missed the dreaded patches of goatheads.  Fortunately, they haven't yet matured into hard, dry, tire-killing calthrops. 

I then crossed west near Valley Haven Park to briefly follow the Albuquerque Acequia up to the Duranes Lateral.  Fewer goatheads in the shady sections here, but horse nettle and other obnoxious plants were making a start after the recent rains. 

I followed the lateral to Veranda (where the ditch crossing was in poor repair and the water level quite high)...

... and peddled past the Candelaria Nature Center before heading home via the east bank portion of the Paseo del Bosque Trail and thence east on Campbell Rd.  For variety, I used the Campbell to Matthew segment of the Albququerque Acequia to finish things up. 

Early August Rides

The weather has cooled off a bit and that's letting me get out more in the afternoon.  Early in the month I took a ride south, but turned back short of the I-40 underpass by the river.  Rain and wind were bearing down on me.  I followed Duranes to Los Luceros and then the Duranes Acequia to Thomas Village before heading home on Matthew. 

The Lobster Run

Today, after weeks of crazed busy-ness followed by two weeks of total lethargy, I grabbed the ol' lead sled and went for a peddle.  My goal:  the Maine Lobster Truck.  Today they were just 2.5 miles away on High St.

The North Long Loop

Summer is Now

After an early morning set of chores, I headed out the door for a bike ride around quarter 'til eleven.  Inspired by lovely weather, I headed north to knock off the nearly 8 miles of my North Long Loop. 

There were very few walker, joggers or bikers out for such a pleasant Sunday.  The sky was New Mexico blue with only a few high clouds.  The pavement of the bike path showed some large new cracks with nothing was growing in them.  Perhaps thermal expansion from the 90°+ heat?

 The Sisymbrium has been reduced to scattered dry twigs.  Chenopodium and Amaranthus are starting to take hold, but still less than 6" high.  A few tumbleweeds are shaping up.  In some places the Lactuca and others are getting up to 24" tall and crowding the ditch path.  Not a goathead to be seen... yet.

The paths along the acequias losing their firm crust from last winter.  In the last month, the surface has been pounded until areas of fine sand are appearing.  Lots of low gear cranking to get through the deep, soft spots.

Here are a couple navigational videos from the area where the Griegos Lateral splits off the Gallegos Lateral.  After crossing Rio Grande Blvd, you are following the right bank of the Gallegos Lateral.  The first video begins looking back down the Gallegos Lateral and pans to the west where the narrow walkway over the ditch takes you to the very northern most piece of Eakes Rd.

Hop a low gate and peddle south 100 yards and you come to a damaged metal gate with narrow wooden posts to keep out the non-pedestrians.  A little careful work with the handlebars and you can squeeze through.

The South Short Loop

A Calm Friday Evening

No wind, a rarity in spring, but the forecast was for horrific winds at least through Monday.  So I took advantage of the warm, calm air and headed out on my trusty stead. 

The Griegos Acequia Error

Yesterday I had a few minutes between getting back to the house after brunch with Mom and picking up Caro's car at the shop.  I took advantage of the fact that the daily spring winds hadn't started blowing and made for a quick tour of a couple nearby deadend acequia trails.  In the end, I discovered a cartographic error on the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District maps.

The North Long Loop

The spring weather was glorious after work today.  I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a long ride to the north before dinner.  Armed with Glass, I took plenty of photos and videos.  As Google Glass sync's with their photo service, I'll include them below.  Here's the map.

There is Water

The acequias have begun flowing, a sign of the return of life to the Valley after a dry, cold winter.  I peddled my favorite route up the Alameda Drain and over to the Rio Grande Nature Center, then down the Bosque Trail to Campbell and home.  Below is the view of the Albuquerque Acequia as it flows just north of Matthew. 

Spring Has Sprung

Temperatures climbed into the 60s this past weekend, so Caro and I dusted off the bikes and hit the trails.  Her tricycle was in fine shape, but my tires both needed a good pumping.  Last fall's goatheads had taken their toll.

We were testing the "pavement only" route from our house to the Flying Star north of Griegos on Rio Grande Blvd.  Here's the route map from Map My Ride:

It's 4.7 miles round trip on the bike path or low traffic side streets (mostly San Isidro).  There was a few hundred feet on Candelaria and another leg on Griegos from San Isidro to Rio Grande.  The video below #throughglass shows the bike lane on Candelaria as we approach the Rio Grande Animal Clinic.

On the way back we turned early off of Griegos and got away from the traffic by detouring past Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.  In retrospect, it's probably better to take the little bit of gravel ditch-bank road between Griegos and Dietz Place NE, which brings you up to the back of the Flying Star.  That would let you miss the traffic signal and congestion at Griegos and Rio Grande.  

Here's the view as we finish up on the bike path next to the Alameda Drain.

In a side note, a third party is offering Google Glass-like wearable cameras designed just for cyclists.  Not sure what that brings to the party that a GoPro doesn't.  Hide and watch. 

Goatheads, Meet Glass

With amazing alacrity Google shipped my Glass overnight, arriving Tuesday morning.  I've gradually been coming up to speed with them, figuring out how to fit them over my Rx glasses and control them.  Today the weather turned nice and I was brave enough to hit the bike trail with my Borg explants.

There's a lot of road noise from gravel, chains, gears shifting, and the wind, but over all, it gives you a good impression of what biking along side the Alameda Drain via the Matthew-Campbell bike path looks like at this time of year. 

Glass definitely doesn't impede vision and is not distracting (contrary to what the California Highway Patrol thinks).  As I wear them over my normal glasses, that may be affecting their angle of view--I found that they tending to have a somewhat downward center of view.  To get tree tops in view required tilting my head back noticeably.

This was my first public use of Glass outside of the office.  I zipped past another cyclist right at the corner of Campbell and the bike path at the very end of the video.  We passed so quickly that I'm pretty certain she didn't notice my Glass.

The Goathead Report

Finally, we've had a serious freeze in the Near North Valley and that's it for the annuals.  Amazingly, after all the rain in September, there really weren't that many goatheads out there on the bike paths this fall. 

Wait... ah, say what? 

Let me back up and explain the rationale for this blog.  I've been walking and biking the ditch banks and acequias of Albuquerque for almost 30 years.  There are hidden treasures for the adventurous hiker or biker.  Now, armed with Google Glass, I'm going to start recording the routes, the distances, the sights and sounds, the ditch bank conditions for those who would like to explore this surprisingly remote inner city sanctuary.  The waterworks of the North Valley represent a direct tie to irrigation systems used by local farmers, 19th century farmers, 18th century settlers, all the way back to the Conquistadors, and before... the Native American farmers from time immemorial. 

Now then, on to the goatheads, Tribulus terrestris L., a member of the Zygophyllaceae, which includes the widely known Creosote Bush, Larrea tridentata (DC) Coville.  Goatheads are familiar to bicyclists in the southwest due to the many flattened tires and lame dogs caused by their fruits, which form a calthrop with serious 1/4" projections.  Goatheads are a seasonal problem in the North Valley where I bike, but a little kevlar and lots of green goop in the inner tubes plus a good tire pump get me by. 

Stand by for this weekend's first Google Glass report.  For now, here are a couple photos from the last two week's rides, taken with my Droid.

 

From the Bosque Bike Path north of the I-40 underpass.

 

The Matthew-Campbell bike path.

 

The best Sandhill Crane watching in the city, part of the Rio Grande Nature Center on Candelaria.  This field is north of Veranda, one block north of Candelaria where the residents feed the cranes, making them almost tame.

 

The Griegos Lateral, dry in November.  Between Griegos and Candelaria.

 

The Griegos Lateral just east of Veranda.  The crane watch fields are to the right but better viewing is from Veranda, which can be reached from this acequia via any of several small bridges to the west bank and then a cut in the fence to the street itself.

 

The cottonwoods at the entrance to Matthew Meadow where I begin my rides.