One Is the Loneliest Number

Thursday, June 23, 2015

June Yvonne and I rode the chairlift to the top of the mountain and the views were better than expected – they were spectacular.  There were a lot of mountain bikers on the lift with their bikes getting ready to do practice runs for the big cross country race on Saturday and the down hill race on Sunday.  This is reportedly the biggest mountain bike racing event of the year in the western US.  There are pro and amateur classes with a $10,000 prize for the pro class.

 

We visited the chapel at the top of the mountain – very elaborate as you can see.  The restaurant at the top was not open for full service until the weekend when the races start.  So we ate the brown bag lunch we brought with us and bought some water and gator aid from the guy prepping the restaurant for opening day.  At the bottom we hung out at the resort lodge for a while.  Because we are at the Angel Fire RV Resort we can take advantage of the amenities at the main lodge.

 

Our view while eating lunch

Back at camp JY took a nap.  We had intended to go to the RV lodge and listen to the free live entertainment the resorts schedules twice a week – a married couple who have played together for 15 years – guitar and piano.   However it got very windy and started to rain buckets of water for about half an hour.   It finally stopped raining and we made it over to the lodge for the last half hour of the show – it was a very nice evening.  PRC

Friday, June 24, 2016

My dear June Yvonne is at a conference in Santa Fe until Tuesday thus the title of this post –  “One Is The Loneliest Number“.  I drove her to Santa Fe and dropped her off at the hotel were she is meeting other people from around the country and rooming with a Texas woman she has known for many years.  We worked on her presentation for the better part of a day and she is pleased with what she has to present but nervous about presenting it.  She is going to do great and they will be very impressed with her story.

I shopped around for groceries and hardware before I headed back to Angel Fire.  As I was coming into town there was a music festival in progress celebrating the 50th anniversary of the town.  There were live bands, games for the kids along with beer and wine for the adults.  I decided to sit for a while and take in the festivities when some folks from the RV resort recognized me and called me over – I sat with them for about an hour – we traded wild west stories and had some laughs.  Then back to camp. I made myself a wine cooler and sat outside reading until it was to dark to see the words.  I just love sitting outside when there is a cool breeze and a slight chill in the air.

I will head back to Santa Fe early Tuesday morning and will stay at the hotel where June Yvonne’s conference was and stay the night.  We will explore Santa Fe most of Tuesday and all of Wednesday until we head back to Angel Fire. PRC

Saturday, June 25, 2016

I went to the resort early today to watch the bikers head up the mountain on the chairlift with their bikes.  Pretty impressive actually – this race weekend is apparently the premier mountain bike race of the year and draws professional riders from all over country.  This is the 50th anniversary of the ski resort and the 27th anniversary of the bike race so there is a lot going on.

I was talking to a man who’s daughter is practicing for the down hill tomorrow.  I was impressed that she has an $8,000 bike but totally stunned when he said that was a cheap racing bike.  He pointed out a couple of professional bikers and said their bike probably priced out at about $25,000 without the wheels which were carbon fiber and they priced out at about $3,000 per wheel.  Most racer were in full Kevlar body armor – the pro armor is custom made to fit their bodies even custom formed chest plates for the women to accommodate their breasts.  This guys daughter has been competing for 4 years – since she was 13 and now has a sponsor.

There was a little gal in line waiting to get on the lift with her bike and I’d guess her age to be 12 or 13 but she was all decked out with body armor and a pretty expensive looking bike.  There she was all by herself waiting to get on the lift with everyone else.  Her Mon and Dad were watching her just a couple of yards from where we were standing, she got on the lift with 3 men and looked so tiny – the lift carried her away and she never looked back.  Once she was out of site her Mom and Dad hugged each other and walked away to stand in the shade and I can only assume to pray.  This reminded me of our niece and nephews son Vincent who is and avid biker – BMX I think.

There are probably a dozen RV’s in the park with mountain bikes in their pick-up trucks.  The two guys 2 streets over each have three completely  different bikes for different situations.  Each bike has it’s own case. They have completely disassembled and reassembled each one of them to make sure everything is perfect.  They even check and adjust the tension of the each spoke of the wheels.  A couple of days ago they rode the chairlift to the top of the mountain and walked the course down to the finish line.  It took them all day as they took photos, made notes about the soil condition and terrain of each straight away and turn and made laser measurements of each section of the course.  They said as they were coming down they would practice all the turns and banks by running them and getting a mental picture of what to expect and what they were going to do in each place.  They brought all that information back to their RV and studied it and made extensive notes on an enlarged map of the course.  These guys (23 & 25) are professionals with big time sponsors and make a living doing this full time.  If I tried one run down the mountain I would not live long enough to heal.

I was scheduled for a fly fishing clinic at 11:00 so I had to leave and get my equipment ready.  The clinic was scheduled for 2 hours but lasted 3 hours.  We practiced different casts and other basics along with some theory, knot tying along with techniques and equipment.  I was going to fish the rest of the day but it was too windy for a novice like myself to be very effective with casting.  Went back to camp had BBQ’d ribs for dinner, made a couple of wine coolers, read my book for a couple hours outside then came in and wrote this post.  Going to bed z-z-z-z.  I miss June Yvonne.   PRC