Action vs. Talk

Yesterday I felt like sitting around (or lying around) in the living room and watching pay per view movies all day. But I saw the sun out there, bright as usual, and felt like I should get some motion in my day...take some ACTION. I loaded up the bike and headed downto the Rio Grande. El Paso County and the City, unbelievably, are coughing up $30 million to build the Rio Grande Riverpark Trail System. For once I agree with El Paso's use of tax dollars. This city bleeds its citizens, some of the poorest in the nation, for taxes. You can't find decent roads or clean highways, but you can find free services at local hospitals if you are a non citizen, and the city spends millions fighting off a copper smelter that would bring in millions of tax dollars and hundreds of high pay blue collar jobs to the region. But I digress.


The action of getting up and going on the ride paid off. As usual, when I get off my rear and get going, good things happen. Above is a picture of Geococcyx Californianus. The Roadrunner. He was pretty spry so I feel fortunate to have snapped this quick pic before he scooted across the path and into the river bank. These are fairly common desert birds, but I've only seen a few in the past couple of years.


Here's the river near Anthony, NM. I rode 13 miles north from El Paso on the trail to get to this bend. The river meanders through the Mesilla Valley in southern New Mexico, just before turning east and heading 900 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. During Spring and Summer this river is full and rapid in El Paso, swelled with irrigation water released from Elephant Butte, 150 miles north. The region is in a terrible drought right now, as is much of the West. Some friends of mine who farm are very concerned about the future of food production in this region of the country. For those who don't know, this area is one of the top pecan producing areas in the world. Lots of cotton, onions, lettuce, and, of course, long green chile and jalapenos come from here as well.


I love this sign. Every time I see it I think about the time I saw a rattlesnake in Chaparral, NM 7 years ago. It was late evening and the sun was very low on the horizon. I saw a stick, straight as can be, lying in the road. As I drove past it, I realized it was no stick. A lady in her car next to me leaned out and said Machuca lo! Which I think means "run over it." I declined, because I thought it was dead. When I swung the car door open and my boots hit the road, Mr. Rattler curled up quick as an oil change and started rattling in my direction. Back in the car I went, and the lady vamoosed. When I ride my bike past this sign I know that I am at the 20 mile mark and also that I may end up having to make a quick and wide detour at any point.


So what do you eat after a 26 mile bike ride with half of it against a 10 mile an hour headwind? I had 8 ounces of pork shoulder roast, 3 ounces of pico de gallo, 5 stuffed mushrooms, and a cup and a half of homemade coleslaw. About 8 grams of carbohydrates, total. This was a big meal...I had to eat it in portions because I got full pretty quick. But I had to eat it because I hadn't eaten much all day and I don't want to get into a cycle of not eating. I like the short term results of starvation too much...the weight loss is intoxicating but the end result is more fat, more weight, more misery. No thanks!