DCF Winter 2011

Winter 2011-2012

Priceless

HOCKEY

Winter in the High Desert 

Duke City Fit Above It All

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Winter 2011-2012

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From the

Publisher y A D y r e

T s u L A B n O It was a blustery day. Leaves got their chance to fly and jumped on it. Little whirlwinds would form here and there, dancing circles, unchoreographed and spontaneous, the leaves tumbling and spinning in all kinds of colors and all kinds of shapes, flashing in the sunlight.

It was a happy dance. A showy dance.

The leaves, in little hordes, skipped across the street pavement, flipping and twisting, going airborne then tumbling back to earth in gymnastic displays that would’ve made even Nadia Comaneci envious.

(Nadia Comaneci?)

I noticed one leaf that got hung up in the bare branches of a small bush. This, while its dancing, laughing comrades barreled on down the sidewalk, flittering away, leaving the lone leaf behind. It would wave, that leaf, once in a while, stoically it seemed, mechanically, a little flip of a wave every few seconds… a far cry from the gyrating flight that had borne it into its current cage.

Was it sad? I wondered. Did it long to carry on with its buddies, a partying day on the town? Or was it really a loner, eschewing the crowds and marching to the beat of a different drummer?

I considered, momentarily, watching it, going over there and flicking it loose, exerting my moral authority by setting it free. But, even as I contemplated the act, as if to spurn the advances of a mere ground-dwelling mortal, it sprang free suddenly with a gigantic twisting, flipping dismount… soaring high and hanging there, briefly, yet timelessly, suspended, as if by a hidden wire or the hidden hand of God, wavering ever so delicately there, halfway to heaven. Then, with a nod of its nonexistent head and a tossing, twisting backflip, it soared away laughing and singing.

“Catch me if you can,” it seemed to say. “Who is it, really, that needs to be set free?”

And I watched it disappear into the swirling crowd of dancing pranksters as they scampered away down the block and were gone. One among many.

Indistinguishable. Gone forever.

“It really IS a blustery day,” I said to myself.

And I realized that blustery meant more than I had suspected. It meant more than just windy. You cannot have a blustery day without blowing leaves, now can

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you? That doesn’t work. You cannot have blustery without the chill of impending winter, a bit of a shiver running up your spine. You cannot have blustery without the vague uneasy feelings of imminent change.

The winds of autumn are not the pollen-laden promise of growth that comes in the spring. Nor are they the bone-chilling, freezer-wrap cold of winter that sends us scurrying indoors. The winds of autumn lure us outside with their dancing frenzy, their boundless, bouncing energy. They are the final act. An encore of sorts. A last hurrah. An invitation to come and dance one last dance.

For the blustery winds of autumn carry with them more than than the gyrating leaves and the giggling enthusiasm. They are a dance of death, I know, and that makes me a little queasy. Like a funeral parade in New Orleans, replete with gaudily dressed trombone players and saxophonists, these leaves are dancing their way to the graveyard. But unlike that parade, these leaves march to their own final resting places.

They are in for a dramatic change, these leaves, as are we. They once hovered high, solid and secure and able to withstand the buffeting winds on their lofty perches, warmed by the mighty light, creating energy, sustaining life, just a little part of a much bigger thing… of a tree, of a forest, of a continent, of a planet hurtling through space. And that planet itself, in that solar system in that galaxy, was dancing in its own way among thousands of other planets and stars in a cosmic imitation of that little whirlwind of leaves that just played out in my front yard.

Where they once hung up there in the heavens, those leaves, attached and with purpose, they now fly free.

Unencumbered by duty. They fly where they will and touch who they might, dancing all the way. All the way to the end.

I too, I think, should like to dance a last dance when I am finally set free. When duty no longer calls. When my attachment to the firmament is broken. When obligations are obsolete, and MY spot must be freed up for another to grow.

I want to tumble, then. To gyrate and dance. I want to revel in my freedom and soar to the places I’ve only dreamed about.

Is that asking too much? A flittering, final boogie into the unknown beyond? With a laughing “Catch me if you

Ken Orth

can” left tittering on the wind behind?

I think not. The leaves think not.

Oh how rare and wonderful these thoughts are… these thoughts and feelings of a blustery day. A mixed bag of emotions, these. There is a profound joy in the spectacle, and a deep sadness in the finality.

While Pooh tangos with Tigger, Eeyore mourns the inevitable. It is all one story. It is the two sides of the autumnal coin.

I can try, I do try, to listen to this story… the story of a blustery day. It is, like the saga of the Sandia boulders, ancient and wise. But difficult to hear.

www.dukecityfit.com

Duke City Fit It is, like the gurgling commentary of the Rio Grande, ever flowing and timeless. But difficult to understand.

The blustery day is just another of the many, many stories, the many gifts, that our enchanted land has given to me. To us. All I have to do, it seems, is pay just a little bit of attention… all I have to do is to pull myself away from my own issues, my own problems, my own agendas, and let the spirit of this land wash over me.

The stories are always there.

Always.

From the belching of a buffalo to the bark of a prairie dog, the land talks to me.

Last fall, while sitting in my backyard, I heard the familiar “knock, knock, knock” sound of a woodpecker. Familiar, true, but not in my backyard! I located the bird up on my cherry tree and rushed inside to get my camera. I didn’t get any very good pictures, though I was able to identify it later as a “ladderback” woodpecker.

But you know what? In all the excitement and the rush to do what I do, I didn’t listen to what that woodpecker was saying. I didn’t pay attention.

Weeks later, the woodpecker incident long forgotten, I was at the Alameda Greenhouse asking them what I should do about all the dead wood on my cherry tree.

When should I prune it off? In the cold of winter?

As we talked about it, they knew immediately what the problem was… wood boring insects that get under the bark. It happens around here to trees with pitted fruits.

“Have you seen any woodpeckers?” she asked me.

I looked at her, dumbfounded for a moment, and I truly wish I could have seen the look of sheer stupidity that must have slowly graced my ugly mug right then. I don’t know if I did, but I certainly should have smacked myself on the forehead and said, “Gees, what a dummy am I.” Woodpeckers are after bugs, you idiot.

That woodpecker had been telling me, in no uncertain terms, what was wrong with my poor cherry tree. (Or right, depending upon your point of view.) But I didn’t listen. As Paul SImon warned me so many years ago in “Sounds of Silence”… “…people hearing without listening…”

Sooooo… I have vowed to listen more. Not just with my ears, but with my eyes and my heart and my dreams. To the rocks, and the rivers, and the woodpeckers.

And to the blustery days.

Look, I don’t know if I’m gonna go out singing and dancing, but I do know that some do. And I do know that this land, this enchanted land, this land that I love and that I cherish... this land actually aided and abetted that grand last dance of the leaves of which I have spoken. Given the opportunity, those leaves jumped on it.

And given the opportunity, myself, I shall jump on it, too.

Perhaps... well... perhaps it will be on a blustery day.

Winter

Winter

City of Albuquerque

50+ Sports and Fitness Program Classes BFIT2SKI

Trips

Get ready for the winter sport season with our sport specific training class. 6 weeks. 1 class per week for $40 +tax or 2 classes per week for $75 +tax. Begin in January.

Center membership & $9 will cover the cost of transportation for each trip! Space is limited. Pre-payment is required to reserve your space on the van. Leave from the Palo Duro Center. Pre-Register.

Beggining XC Skiing

XC Skiing - Tuesdays

Learn the basics of Cross-Country Skiing.

Tuesday, Jan 3

Intermediate XC Skiing

A refresher for intermediate to advanced skiers.

Friday, January 6

Telemark Ski Lessons

Learn the basics of those beautiful, sweeping ‘tele-turns’! A morning of instruction then the afternoon to practice and free ski. Wednesday, January 4

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Tuesday, Jan 3 & Thursday, Jan 5 311 or TTY 764-6405

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Enjoy the splendor of New Mexico’s back country. Trips are open to intermediate or advanced skiers. Destinations include the Jemez, Manzanos, and Sandias.

Snowshoeing - Wednesdays

Snowshoeing is easy, inexpensive and fun! Destinations include the Jemez, Manzano and Sandia Mountains, depending on snow fall.

Downhill Ski & Snowboard - Thursdays Let us drive. Hit the slopes at Santa Fe ski area.

Valle Caldera

A special trip for XC Skiers and Snowshoers to the beautiful Valles Calderas National Preserve in the Jemez Mountains. Date to be Announced.

Competitions

Fantastic Freeze Fest Downhill Ski & Snowboard & Poker Run

Santa Fe Ski Area, Thursday, February 9

Snowshoe & XC Ski Events & Turkey Bowling

Sandia Peak Ski Area, Wednesday, February 8

Ice Hockey

Outpost Ice Arena, Thursday, February 9

Compete and Meet Games

Pickleball Doubles Tourney Saturday & Sunday, January 14-15 Manzano Mesa Multigenerational Center

The headquarters for the 50+ Sports & Fitness Program is located at the Palo Duro 50+ Sports & Fitness Center at 3351 Monroe NE. Membership costs $13 per year and is valid at all Albuquerque Senior Centers.

cabq.gov/seniors/sports • facebook.com/FitoverFiftyAlbq • FitoverFiftyAlbq.blogspot.com

Winter 2011-2012

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. . . y a d r rough Yeste

Duke City Fit

h T l l o r t S A

Cerrillos Hills Historic Park

Isabel Bearman-Bucher

The group wanders in a loose clump, taking time to read everything, turn in complete circles, taking in the perfect 360, to be quiet, to talk, to admire. To laugh. We follow coyote track and scat, horse clops; we read trail signage, which leads to a bit of gold fever. We squint at rock glitter, search for the color turquoise, understanding on some minute level, the passions of people a hundred years back, so stuck with the heat of hope in rock. After a while, we share our lives, our jobs, because most of us are strangers to each other. Maybe a trouble or two comes out. We pose for pictures, We wildernessspeak, telling of the great places we’ve been, finding connections.

We’re cut of the same cloth; we’re hikers, adventurers, lookers, learners, teachers. We’re members of the New Mexico Mountain Club. Today, it’s a walk into history that begins 30 million years ago with massive eruption and quake, its actions the creators of turquoise, and gold, fueling the mining history of hope of making it rich, with losses, with wars of the 1800’s. We’re walking an area where several thousand used to pan for mineral riches, all gone now but for the 5,000 holes in the ground.

Need to shake off the winter blahs? Blues? Your old uneasy chum ... stress?

Too much sugar? Too much noise? Fill in the blank. This hike is for you.

Cerrillos Hills, an easy five mile go, with just the right amount of up and down, is a 360 cyclorama that stretches maybe to 100 miles on a clear day. The whole of the Rio Grande Valley, mesas and snow-capped mountains, spread in 3-D, like timeless cardboard cutouts, pressed against our New Mexico wild blue yonder.

Your personal blue gives way to the master heart healer, our outside. Your air it’s pure and free. You take long, deep breaths, sorry for those hooked to tanks.

Grasses and cactus, now red with winter stress, stand out in the brown-on-brown scape. Their green chlorophyl has bailed for the winter.

Cerrillos Park? In this writer’s mind, nothing exists like it from the standpoint of learning and superb trail planning in the whole of New Mexico. It’s a wandering museum with mines, made safe by surface fencing, dating to 900 AD. Railings provide great hang-over places to exercise the long gawk.

Time moves slowly, easy in its tardiness. One begins to lay back mentally.

There are no cell phone intrusions, no texting, no to-do list. Historical story plaques and signs continually teach and amaze.

This wonderful park came about through the efforts of the Santa Fe County Open space and Trails program that acquired vast tracts for us under the Archaeological Sites Protection Act. To them, we say, “Thank you very much for your efforts.”

Thirty million years ago, or so, the big bangs of New Mexico began their tantrums. Consider a huge broad-backed beast, roiling and twisting, fueled by thousands of square miles of inner molten indigestion. Vast sections of the earth’s crust were pushed up on either side of a massive X, known as the Rio Grande Rift, creating two huge cracks that intersect near Albuquerque.

One arm extended north and south from Mexico, all the way to Leadville, Colorado, via our Tent Rocks, Los Alamos and Valles Caldera. The other, east and west from Arizona to Oklahoma. Even today, these faults still shake, rattle and roll. Those in the know state “it’s only a matter of time before ...” It’s the true meaning of “King’s X.” The “little hills,” a.k.a. Cerrillos, a product of this volcanic thrashing, sat for eons on its mother lodes of silver, gold and turquoise, until around 900 AD, when pueblo Indians began mining the brilliant green veins thought to be able to ward off evil spirits. Their efforts remain today, as the single grandest, most prehistoric mining operation known in the world. Likewise, Cerrillos turquoise persists as the single largest deposit found in North America. It became a currency of Chaco Canyon, 900 - 1200 AD - the great trading center for thousands of miles.

When the Spanish arrived in 1541, they enslaved the Indians and made them work the mines. Set in gold, Cerrillos turquoise became a precious stone as it found its way to the crowned heads of Spain. Because of their enslavement, the Pueblo revolt occurred in 1680.

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Duke City Fit By 1830, almost 20 years before the California Gold Rush, a rich vein of solid silver was unearthed here and miners flocked to the little towns of Bonanza City (which in Spanish means “rich ore” and “prosperity”) and Carbonateville and Cerrillos. Lead and zinc ore added to the lure, and so by 1879, almost 2,000 people were crammed into the little towns, and some 5,000 holes were excavated , many building on the 900 AD tunnels dug by Indians, who used only stone tools. To add to the rush, miners left Leadville, Colorado, because of violence, preferring the quieter New Mexico site. In the end, over two million dollars worth of the mineral was extracted, and some 22 million in gold. Interest was lost in turquoise.

The richness of the boom and bust of this area added to expressions like “get the lead out.” Little kids were hired to pick through piles of chunk, finding only the lead.

“A basket case,” evolved from the rounded corners of the stretchers that were taken into the tunnels to retrieve the injured. Unfortunately, by World War I, this meant a soldier without limbs.

By the early 1960’s a gravel mine closed, and so did Cerrillos. Fifty years later, the area is waking, but with a different dress. Cerrillos today remains a unique place, with an occasional “big” house stuck up in the hills, a stand-out to the rest of the brown adobe that melds into the environs. It sports a turquoise museum, a B and B, a church..

On lazy afternoons, big old easy-going mutts wander the main street reading news.

The rest of its residents? They’re the ones who prefer to live outside the grid, uneasy about the tide of life moving towards them.

So, at this time, take yourself, your pal of the trail, your family, your dog, and go take a winter hike. And if you want different company, join the New Mexico Mountain Club (www.swcp.com/~nmmc) - a collection of outside-loving folks who put one foot in front of the other on weekends. It’s a great winter learn-and-look kind of experience Don’t forget to visit the Cerrillos cemetery, a few feet from your parked car.

And, since this is a trail that gives time to absorb so much history, and since it’s not an all-day endeavor, treat yourself to a great stop and shop. Wander Madrid, NM, visiting places like the Old Mine Shaft Tavern to have some beers, and a thick hamburger in the uterine dark. Madrid, is shoulder to shoulder on the weekends with Sunday folks, licking ice cream, parking Harley’s, predictably followed by the amiable town mutts who hope for their own kind of gold - a kid who drops his scoop. There’s always the No Pity Café and a host of great artsy places to visit. Some folks sit on the front porch of the used-to-be theater, where American Flags flap and maybe play a game of chess or checkers - weather permitting.

Cerrillos Hills State park is GREAT, from foot falls to Madrid froth.

GETTING THERE: . East on I-40 Exit N. 14 . Follow through Madrid to Cerrillos turnoff, left . Into Cerrillos, Right at the first stop sign to First Street . Over RR tracks and left onto CR 59 Camino Turquesa . Follow signs to Cerrillos State Park

Sometimes, having a good dentist Just makes it easier to smile.

THE HIKE: Watch the signs, it’s easy to get lost . Take the Jane Calvin Sanchez trail . Pass the mine shafts, read, look and then onto Camino Turquesa . Left to Escalante Tr. and go to the top for the highest 6,100 view. . Take the main trail to the fence - sharp left up to Mirador - Here see the great sign that shows all the mountains etc. . Get back on the main trail, it starts up, and then drops into Elkins Canyon . Follow stream bed and take the first right to CR 59A . Left here to Camino Turquesa . Left & visit the cemetery - lots of history here with a view of the town and Sandias . See your car in the parking lot

www.cerrilloshills.org

Cerrillos Hills Historic Park

Cerrillos Village

W Benjamin Ham, DDS

General Dentistry

Madrid

Compassionate, Quality Dental Health Care Tijeras

in the North East Heights

Montgomery at Morris Winter 2011-2012

292-4000 7

Duke City Fit

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Duke City Fit

Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle If your Goal is to Live Dynamically… Don’t Fall Prey to Quick Fixes & Blue Sky Promises!

The New Year is just around the corner and for many of you this magical time of the year will bring motivation for losing weight and getting your fit on!!! And for you fit-n-faithful the New Year will bring inspiration to gear up your eating and training to reach a totally new level of pumped!!! And then there are those of you who would rather deny your health and wellness in the New Year because of your past fitness failures. However I am here to tell you that the New Year is a great time for a fresh start because I have personally witnessed the power of positive energy that the New Year brings. So don’t throw in your towel just yet!!!

With that said, let’s harness the positive energy of the New Year by first focusing on selecting an approach that will help you achieve your personal best in 2012… And if the Mayans were correct this may just be your last chance!!! Ahem.

If your goal is to Live Dynamically in 2012, then you must forget about quick fixes that only offer short term results and blue sky promises… right here and now. The sooner you come to terms with the fact that Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Lifestyle is the closest thing to a secret there is to becoming mentally, physically and spiritually fit, the sooner we can be on our way to realizing your goals. Now I’d like you to say this with me: “Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Lifestyle is the closest thing to a secret there is to becoming mentally, physically and spiritually fit!”

Again “Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Lifestyle is the closest thing to a secret there is to becoming mentally, physically and spiritually fit!” One more time “Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Lifestyle is the closest thing to a secret there is to becoming mentally, physically and spiritually fit!”

Awesome. Now give yourself a nice pat on the back… If I were there I’d high five you!!!

Now that we are on the same page, let’s take an educated look at how I recommend selecting the proper protocol for achieving your goals in 2012 by utilizing the 3 pillars that I base the Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle on.

Three Pillars for Living Dynamically…

Safety, Knowledge and Intensity!

PILLAR 1. SAFETY… Your overall approach must be SAFE! Nutritional approaches must be safe and long term. Nutritional Supplement choices must be safe and functionally healthy. A good rule of thumb… If it sounds too good to be true; It is!!! And your workouts must be safe. There is always a slight risk of minor injuries with exercise even for the most advanced fitness buffs. So when it comes to exercise, Team DB’s Rule is: Feeling the Burn is Good, and Pain is Bad! PILLAR 2. KNOWLEDGE… Your approach must educate in a manner that leaves you with knowledge that you can use to manage your nutrition and exercise programming for the rest of your life. When it comes to education Team DB’s Motto is: No brains, No gains!

PILLAR 3. INTENSITY… Your approach must be to regulate the INTENSITY of your workouts based upon your current level of fitness while respecting your current state of health so that your workouts are productive, yet safe, at the same time. If you get sick to your stomach, throw up, feel dizzy, get light headed, get a headache, are tired for any length of time, or need a nap after your workout, you are probably training above an intensity level that is productive for you. When it comes to overall approach Team DB’s Rule: You should always leave the gym feeling better than you did when you arrived!

Every year millions of people get themselves all psyched up to invest in home gyms or purchase gym memberships. And then they take solemn vows to get on and stay on the perfect workout routine.

They even tell themselves that no matter what, this is the year that they will follow THE diet that is going to finally get them back to a healthy weight. But to no avail. Most of them find their efforts to be short lived. You see, most people never quite get past the psyching-up stage. Even after spending their hard earned cash, they still find it very difficult to make these things happen because their approach is wrong for various reasons.

Winter 2011-2012

I am very blessed to have coached hundreds of successful New Years resolutioners over the past 30 years and Iwould love to make 2012 the year that YOU achieve YOUR personal best.

Hence, I am excited to have the opportunity to introduce you to the course of action that TEAM DB uses to coach our very own clients. An approach that offers inspiration, motivation, education, and coaching to those of you who are interested in taking a proactive approach to achieving a functionally healthy and attractive body.

The Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle…

Dynamic- Vigorous, full of energy, enthusiasm and living with a sense of purpose, being able to both get things started and to see things through!

Fitness- To be healthy, strong and robust… Conditioned!

Lifestyle- Way of life, everyday standard of living, the way one chooses to conduct themselves daily!

What is the Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle?

The Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle is one healthy meal at a time, one productive workout at a time, one great day at a time. It is an approach to living, dynamically, that will integrate into your every day life, and it manifests itself at all levels. The principles of the Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle focus on personal change that involves following a personal nutrition plan consisting of eating healthy clean foods (not dieting), exercising regularly, and making a commitment to sleeping 7-8 hours per night. Living the Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle is a long term investment in your health and well-being that allows for the ebb and flow of life. As you may already know from analyzing your career goals, finances, spiritual walks, and personal relationships, it is the long term investments that we are the most committed to and that will usually yield the best returns. This is exactly why TEAM DB is consistently reminding our clients to focus on the journey and not the destination. If you are living the Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle daily, the results will come as a side effect of the principles that you are following. And living.

How to get started and reasons for staying committed to living a Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle!

1. Come to terms with the fact that you deserve to Look Better, Feel Better, and Live Better… Because you do! So many of you make excuses for being tired, overweight, and out of shape… Let go of them and move on!

2. Become truly committed to eating clean healthy foods, sleeping 7-8 hours per night, and exercising 3-5 times per week. Write down the things that you want to change in your life and how you believe that eating healthy, getting the proper amount of rest, and exercising consistently will affect your life. For example: eating clean healthy foods will increase energy levels and boost metabolic rate… Sleeping 7-8 hours per night also increases energy, strengthens the immune system and rejuvenates you mentally, physically and emotionally…

Exercise reduces stress, contributes to healthy metabolisms while building stronger muscles and healthier bones. There are literally hundreds of benefits for each of these components. Choose your motivators and work on improving them!

3. Forget about the perfect diet, learn to eat healthy and make the effort to make the right choices on a meal to meal basis. Forget about the perfect workout routine, learn from your own body and focus on strengthening your weaknesses. Focus on Change and the benefits that can only come from making positive lifestyle modifications.

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will the new you.

If you are neurotically looking in the mirror or weighing yourself everyday you are only setting yourself up for failure. I encourage my clients to focus on the benefits that come from eating healthy and exercising… increased energy, decreased stress with the ability to handle stress more efficiently, and improved feelings of wellness. In my professional observation, these three very noticeable changes seem to motivate our clients to consistently put forth the effort that it takes to live the Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle!

Dwain Kindelberger has been a Personal Trainer since 1981. He is a graduate of The National Academy of Sports Medicine, and is the owner of Designer Bodies Exclusive Personal Training and Nutrition Management Center.

Visit us on the web at

www.designerbodies.net

The information contained in this article is not meant to treat, diagnose or cure any ailments or diseases. Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or nutrition program.

Continued on Page 11

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Duke City Fit

Chiropractic and the

Immune System

Dr Elaine Adams, DC

It seemed to me this year that summer was never ending. I don’t like the heat so it seemed to me that it was hot forever. Today the chill of winter is in the air and it makes me want to build a fire and drink some hot cider. There is a rumor that we might get some snow so the skiers and snowboarders can head to the mountains. (Don’t forget to see your chiropractor if you do a face plant.)

Along with the winter come a variety of colds and flus. It seems like we all get something in the winter. I wonder what it is about winter that gets colds going. My stepfather used to tell me that I would catch cold if I walked around without my shoes on. Where did that come from? I would respond with “how does the virus get up through my feet?” (I guess I was a little snot even then.)

Some of us seem to get more of those winter ills than others. There is some evidence to suggest that chiropractic may improve your chances to avoid those nasty winter bugs. My patients feel very strongly that this is true, but I wanted to see what I could find to share with you about the evidence that supports that idea.

In 1992, Circulation Journal published an article by Murray, Irwin M. Reardon, et al titled “Sympathetic and immune interactions during dynamic exercise mediation via a beta 2-adrenergic-dependent mechanism”. In this article the authors postulate that the growing body of research evidence suggests that the sympathetic nervous system regulates immune responses in our body. The authors see this regulation as being related to the innervations of the lymphoid tissues in the body. These tissues include organs such as the spleen, the lymph glands and the thymus gland. In this

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article they quoted the Princeton physiologist Dr. Irwin Korr who found that a spinal lesion was a contributing factor in an abnormal immune response. Spinal misalignments were associated with exaggerated sympathetic nervous system activity which releases immune regulatory cells into the blood stream and alters immune function.

These authors postulate that the spinal lesion and an aberration in the immune system response may very well be related.

Ronald Pero, Ph.D. chief of cancer prevention research at New York’s Preventative Medicine Institute and professor of medicine at New York University is one of the most quoted articles that I have seen. Pero’s research in the field of cancer included a study which measured 107 individuals who had received long-term chiropractic care. Dr. Pero’s team turned up some interesting findings. The chiropractic patients had a 200 percent greater immune competence than people who had not received chiropractic care and a 400 percent greater immune competence than people with cancer or serious diseases.

Despite the wide range of ages in this study, the immune competence did not show any decline with age. The immune boost was uniform for the entire group. Pero concluded that chiropractic may very well optimize whatever genetic abilities you have so that you can fully resist serious disease. There were no chemical interventions within this group and with chiropractic care they showed a markedly improved response.

This is a great beginning for chiropractic research. Unfortunately, such studies have not been retested and reevaluated, so the information is slow to reach the public. Wouldn’t it be great if we found that a chiropractic adjustment was as valuable to public health as the much touted flu shot? But, of course, we would need more research along these lines and the funding for such research is very limited.

Another study presented in JMPT in 1991 strengthened the connection between chiropractic and immunology. Patricia Brennan, Ph.D found that improved immune response followed chiropractic treatments. The study demonstrated that “a phagocytic respiratory burst of polymorphonuclear neutrophils and monocytes were enhanced in adults that had been adjusted by chiropractors.“ That is certainly a mouthful, but what does it mean? Basically it means that the “good cells” in the immune system are increased with chiropractic treatment.

One other study that I have seen in connection with chiropractic and the immune system was done in the Research Center at Life Chiropractic University. The researchers in this study took a group of HIV positive patients and adjusted them over a six month time frame. They found that the patients who were adjusted had an increase of 48 % in their CD4 cells (an important immune system component). These measurements were taken at the patient’s independent medical center, where they were under medical supervision for the HIV. The control group (the patient’s who were not adjusted) did not demonstrate this dramatic increase in immune function, but actually experienced a 7.9 % decrease in CD4 cell counts over the same time frame. (Chiro Research Journal 1994). If chiropractic care can have a positive effect on those with an HIV infection, then imagine what it must be able to do for those of us with immune systems that aren’t compromised.

When I was a chiropractic student, we heard about the immune boosting properties of chiropractic, but we didn’t really see it in action until we were in practice. I even participated in a study while I was a research fellow in my chiropractic college which demonstrated an increase in T cell production when a patient was given a thoracic chiropractic adjustment. T Cells are another important component of the immune system and an increase in their production can be another of the underlying reasons that my patients seem to get fewer colds than their friends.

These preliminary studies are very exciting and we hope that someday they will be researched more thoroughly. There are so many avenues that could be better studied, and the beneficiaries are you and me and the prevention of those nasty winter colds, flus and maybe even the pneumonias. With better immune systems we all function better.

So before you hit the slopes, hit your chiropractors table. Remember to wear your slippers so a cold virus doesn’t sneak up your feet. But you can feel safer if you have seen your chiropractor and have done so on a regular basis.

Dr Elaine Adams, DC has been practicing chiropractic for 21 years.

Her clinic, Lifetime Chiropractic, specializes in nutrition and stress reduction. www.lifetimechiropractic.com email: dradams@lifetimechiropractic.com

www.dukecityfit.com

Duke City Fit

Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle 4. Most of us are blessed to wake up each morning with the luxury of making our own choices. We can choose what to eat, what to wear, to exercise or not to exercise. And yet we squander our opportunities by not making good choices. You see where I am going with this already, don’t you? We allow life to just happen instead of making the choices that we know are best for us, for our families and for our futures. Unfortunately many people that come to me for life coaching do so after something earth shattering has happened in their lives. My goal is to motivate you to start making better choices now in an effort to avoid the life shattering events and to encourage you to reach a whole new level of success in everything you do by living the Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle.

Dynamic Rules of Engagement for Success!

1. Capitalize on your abilities to make better choices and then plan for efficiency.

2. Take responsibility for your own actions and hold yourself accountable. If you have a hard time being accountable to yourself, then make yourself accountable to someone that you trust, someone who will have your best interest at heart.

3. Be Proactive… Take a proactive approach to your life and then to achieving your goals. Think things through in a positive manner. Thinking things through is not an excuse for talking yourself out of doing the right things!

4. Practice Daily Visualization… Look at something that might have always been there (i.e. a big belly) and begin to envision what you want to be there instead (i.e. a flat tummy).

5. Set high expectations for yourself and then exceed them!

6. Make a plan, pick your direction and then pursue it with all of your heart!

7. Make everyday Thanksgiving!!! Thank God for His love, your spouse, your children, your home and your job. Thank God for your health, no matter how bad you think it is, it could be worse. And give your best to those around you by sharing your blessings with them!

Winter 2011-2012

Continued From Page 9

Dynamic Life Views for Excelling!

Family… We can not choose the families that we are born into but we can choose to be accepting, loving, and understanding of them even when their views and goals may be different from our own. Accept your family for who they are… Love them unconditionally… And understand that you probably cannot change them, and probably rightly so, because personal change comes from within.

Relationships… Choose friends, dates, and mates with the qualities that you most want to impress upon others. Understand that it is easier to choose friends with the qualities that you most admire and respect rather than trying to change someone after the fact.

Work/Career… Some people choose careers and work chooses others. No matter how much you like or dislike your job be grateful for it! And always do your job to the fullest while doing your best to make a winning work environment for those around you.

Money/Investments… Be careful to invest rather to spend. You can find dozens of places that are trying to get you to spend your money on things that you don’t need rather than investing in the things that you do need. Invest in healthy foods that properly fuel your body and activities that are proactive and can be productive for the future.

Leisure Time… Spend leisure time investing in things of true importance.

Family, friends, neighbors, pets… Taking walks… Having heart felt talks… Giving back to your community. For example; try cutting the grass or picking the weeds of an elderly neighbor when you see their yard is becoming overgrown, or try picking up the trash in a nearby park instead of complaining to municipalities.

So there you have it… A dynamic approach for 2012 that will Inspire, Motivate, Educate, and Coach you to achieve your personal best!

Merry Fitness & A Healthy 2012 from TEAM DB!!!

Questions? Comments?

Email them to: Trainer@DukeCityFit.com

11

Duke City Fit About That Cover ...

n i y e k c Ho ? o c i x e M w e ... Surely N you jest?

Ken Orth

Hockey? In New Mexico? I thought the Scorpions left a long time ago?

They did, but truth be told, they were just the visible tip of a big hockey iceberg here in the Land of Enchantment. What you may not realize is that there is actually a LOT of hockey going on here, particularly in the high desert of Albuquerque. There are lots of leagues, lots of players, lots of coaches, referees, scorekeepers, and PA announcers.

(Well, not lots of PA announcers. A couple. I have a soft spot in my heart for PA announcers…

“Froooooo-zen” and “Are you ready to rumble?”)

Believe it or not, and you should, hockey starts at a very early age here. Say… 4 years old. There are recreational leagues and teams for all ages, girls and boys, from that age on up and through high school. Players, of course, are grouped according to age.

Along the way in those ages, there are also more competitive teams and leagues. These are often referred to as “travel teams”. They travel to other states, particularly Colorado and Arizona, to play games and in tournaments against some stiffer competition. I say “stiffer”, because both of those states have a much bigger pool of players to pull from. They can, if nothing else, get a full and complete roster, while often our New Mexico teams, particularly at the older ages, cannot get enough players to do the same and they compete a little short-handed at times.

But fear not, for what they lack in quantity, they often make up for with heart and determination. Qualities that I like to think are part of their New Mexico heritage. Just a few

t 2011

smanship Tournamen

Champions: Vail Sport

Outpost Ice Arena 9530 Tramway Blvd NE

Public skating in not just one rink, Not just two, But two full hockey rinks Connected by two curling rinks.

That’s a whole lot of ice!

A full one-fifth mile around !

Outpost Arena’s

g

n i t a k S e c I n e se r e v e n You’ve e this before lik 856-7595

High Schoo l hockey in Taos Eldorado E agles v Taos Ice Tigers

Entire Loop Is Open

corner gates are raised

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“There is nothing on ice in the Olympics that you cannot train for here”

www.outposticearena.com

12

www.dukecityfit.com

Duke City Fit weeks ago the Under-18 age group team, the New Mexico Storm, (16, 17, and freshly-minted 18-year-olds) played in a large tournament in Vail, Colorado. Under-manned and perhaps out-talented, they somehow managed to bring home the Championship trophy while playing against teams not only from Colorado, but Utah, Wyoming, and Arizona as well. On top of that championship, they also brought home the “Sportsmanship” trophy, given to the team with the least number of penalty minutes in the tournament. (And that competition wasn’t even close). Now that’s New Mexico hockey!

Speaking of that age group… there is also a high-school hockey league in our fair state. Did you know? This year, it includes 11 teams. Outside of the seven teams in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho… Taos, Santa Fe, and Los Alamos are represented. And this year, for the first time, El Paso has a team in the New Mexico high school league.

The hockey doesn’t stop at that age, however. Far from it. There are adult leagues galore, from recreational and pick-up to competitive and refereed.

Many are coed, and there are a surprising number of women playing.

Additionally, the University of New Mexico Lobos have a very good hockey team. They play at the “club” level (not within the NCAA) against other college club teams. You can catch their games at the Outpost.

And finally, there are the “spectator” hockey teams. Albuquerque currently has two… the Mustangs and the Renegades. These are classified as “Junior” hockey teams. They are amateur players. Most of these players are of college age and are still looking to make it on up into professional or college hockey by showcasing their talents in a junior league. They are motivated and trying pretty darn hard.

Meanwhile, on the cover... that’s a photo from a practice session for the New Mexico Storm up in Santa Fe. Because they have team members from all over the state who have to travel to practice, they split those practices between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The shooter is Kristen Molina. Yep, she’s a she. She has been playing hockey on both boys and all-girls teams since she was 7. She’s currently playing both for Cibola High School and for a girls team out of Colorado Springs. However, since practice time is limited with the Colorado team, she also practices with the U-18 NM Storm team.

The goalie is Dakota Orth. He’s a senior at Eldorado and has been playing since he was eight. He has played for the Eagles all 4 years, and has twice been the New Mexico High School Goalkeeper of the Year. He is also the starting goalkeeper for the NM Storm.

Both Kristen and Dakota have a great deal of passion for the sport of hockey... as do many of the players, evidenced by the fact that they play on more than one team. Practices and games take up a great deal of their free time. So does the travel. But it is what they love to do. Play hockey.

And perhaps not surprisingly, their parents have grown to love hockey, too.

Their children, they say, have grown and learned from their participation.

Physically, mentally, competitively, and cooperatively... they have gained much from hockey. And the bonding time spent together with their kids while on the road is immeasurable.

Both Kristen and Dakota look forward to playing hockey in college.

Hockey Information Outpost Ice Arena (Albuquerque)

www.outposticearena.com

Blades Multiplex Arenas (Rio Rancho)

www.bladesnm.com

New Mexico Ice Hockey: (ABQ Rec and high school)

www.nmice.org

NM Amateur Hockey Assoc: www.nmaha.org (Rio Rancho Rec and high school) Land of Enchantment Hockey (High school administration)

www/usahockey.com/land_of_enchan47

NM Hockey (Adult non-check league)

www.nmhockey.com

Hockey 30/30 league (Over-30 no check or slapshot)

www.dickkuenzer.com

UNM Lobo Hockey

www.unmlobohockey.com

Winter 2011-2012

13

Duke City Fit D e p r e s s io n W or r y

An g s t

Anxiety I was laying some wood in the fireplace the other day (wintertime does have some advantages) when I suddenly became aware of the wood that I was using. It had a knotty, gangly look to it. A tight, gray, smooth bark.

It was wood from a fig tree, believe it or not. I had never used it in the fireplace before. As I laid the pieces systematically out on the grate a wave of nostalgia came over me. A sadness. And I sat back on my heels and looked more closely at the wood. Or rather, I looked through the wood, kinda staring off into nowhere. Into another time and place.

I felt overwhelmed all of a sudden, sitting there on the floor in my living room, all alone on a gray winter day.

That fig tree had been so alive for so long… ever since we moved into this house so many years ago. It had thrived over there, on the side of the house, alone and undaunted by the heat.

But last winter, do you remember?, we had a frigid blast when it got down to 15 below and stayed there for a few days. That blast had done more than bust a few sprinkler lines. It had done in my fig tree.

Killed it.

Now, realistically, I wasn’t ever all that attached to that fig tree, strange-looking thing that it was. But I guess maybe it stood for something… something a little deeper than I realized, for I certainly dropped into a funk at the thought of burning it up.

Perhaps it was because it reminded me vaguely, strangely, of my dad and that one autumn when he’d been forced to cut down our backyard apple tree. That was back in Nebraska. He was much too manly to express any emotions about it to us kids, but it had bothered him, I know. As it had also bothered his dad, my grandpa. He loved to make applesauce from those apples, every year, and he realized to his dismay, I guess, then, that he would do it no more.

They’re both gone now, my dad and my grandpa. And the apple tree. And the fig tree. And I thought about all that, sitting there on the floor, and tears came to my eyes.

Gone.

I cried a little bit that day. I felt sorry for myself.

Eventually I put on a melancholy Moody Blues album and made some awful tasting hot tea and sat on the floor, before the fire, contemplating life. I got myself thoroughly depressed, and I wallowed in it for a while, making myself feel as bad as I could make myself feel.

There’s nothing like a good depression to make you

14

appreciate life, now is there?

A few days later I was talking with my health guru, Karl Thomas…

“Let’s talk about depression this time,” I had told him.

“Can we do that? Can we do a story about depression? It’s wintertime, gray and cold. More people get depressed in the winter. Did they ever come into your health food store looking for some way to battle depression?”

“Oh yeah,” he said, “All the time. It’s not uncommon at all, especially in the winter.”

So… we talked about depression.

First off, he told me, we need to get something straight.

Depression can be a very serious thing. Major depression… clinical depression… depression that lasts for extended periods, has been diagnosed by a physician, and/or is debilitating, making you unable to function… that type of depression is NOT what we are talking about here. That can and should be dealt with by a medical professional.

No, the type of depression we are dealing with, what we CAN deal with, is the more typical “down-in-the-dumps” that we all experience from time to time. Not that it isn’t very real and very difficult, it certainly can be, but it hasn’t left us curled up in a ball in the closet. Yet. (Which reminds me, by the way, of a guy I knew who said he had sure fire way to cure anxiety… he would stand on his head in a closet and smoke a cigar. He said you can’t stay depressed doing that. Come to think of it, it’d probably work on hiccups, too. But neither Karl nor I can endorse or recommend this strategy.)

The way Karl used to look at it was that those seriously depressed people were not likely to be willing and able to come into a health food store for assistance. Likewise, if you are willing and able to put up with a story like this, you are probably not in the throes of clinical depression.

Although, if you are reading this in a closet with a flashlight, all bets are off.

Just to be clear about this distinction, we’re going to use a different descriptor word to refer to the “down-in-thedumps” feelings that we’ve all experienced now and again to differing degrees. We’re going to use the word “anxiety”.

It’s what most people are talking about when they say “depression”. You say poh-tay-toh, I say poh-tah-toh.

Anyway, the symptoms of anxiety, many of which are similar to depression, can include fatigue, decreased sex drive, hard to concentrate, hard to sleep, and lack of interest. These feelings can, and often do, have very real physical causes. Let’s face it, our brains, which are at

Ken Orth and Karl Thomas

least ostensibly generating these feelings, are very much physical organs themselves and are subject to issues similar to other physical organs in our bodies… they get overworked, under-nourished, beat-up, and tired.

ADRENALS So, like analyzing the problems of an automobile, we start with the most pervasive and usual causes. With Karl, that always boils down to the adrenal glands. Your adrenals… my adrenals… all of our adrenals are probably over-worked, undernourished, and plain ol’ pooped out.

When you consider that the adrenal glands generate a whole host of hormones that keep our bodies and minds in balance, it’s easy to see that these problems could have a big impact on our emotional state.

Here’s a good test for all you coffee drinkers to see what kind of state your adrenals are in. It’s an easy self test.

About 2 hours before bedtime one night, have yourself a good cup of caffeinated coffee. If then, at bedtime, two hours later, you are able to nod off and go to sleep… something is amiss. There is enough caffeine in a normal cup of coffee to keep you up for about 4 hours. The caffeine triggers your adrenals to pump out hormones, and if they’re working right, you should be up for 4 hours. So if you’re sleeping in 2, that ain’t right. Your adrenals are malfunctioning. It’s the same thing during the day at work.

If that cup of coffee at 9 finds you drowsy and needing another at 11… well…

Don’t worry about it. You’re in good company. But you should start building those adrenals back up.

For immediate help, get some adrenal tissue supplements.

I have used, and Karl recommends, Adrenegizer Capsules.

Use 2 or 3 a day for about 60 days.

Meanwhile, start taking Pantothenic Acid capsules.

(Vitamin B5). They are inexpensive and help the adrenals regenerate themselves. But it takes about 60 days for the effects to be felt, thus the tissue supplements in the meantime. 500 mg per day from here on out. I use the “now” brand from Sunflower market. Also, adrenal-wise, ginseng has been shown to be useful… as an extract or as a tea. Siberian ginseng is the best, but hard to find. Korean or Chinese will do. Don’t use American ginseng pH LEVEL Another aspect of Americans in general that comes into play here is our pH level. That’s the measure of acidity/ alkalinity in our systems. Most of us are too acidic. This

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Duke City Fit is mainly a result of our diets… too much refined sugar and flour, and not enough raw vegetables. When our systems get too acidic it screws up a host of things, including our adrenals. Also, our ability to absorb and use certain minerals and vitamins. This can have a cascading effect that might well end up with us on our heads in the closet.

It is easy to test your pH level. Get some pH test strips and check your saliva daily.

Too acidic? Me too. We gotta get more alkaline… cut down on sugars and up the fresh fruit and veggies. My wife has added a spoonful of Redmond Clay Powder to her daily morning carrot juice and regimen. The clay powder is highly alkaline and has the added benefit of settling down her digestive tract. After trying several different clay powders, Redmond is the clay powder of choice.

(I personally, am not a carrot juice kinda guy, but I do, periodically use Redmond clay powder. Most often, to settle a queasy stomach. It is pure magic in that regard. But also, I use it topically now and again on cuts.)

OTHER After getting to work on your adrenals and pH levels, or better yet, while you are so engaged, there are several other things you can do. One major thing is to try to reduce stress.

“Hah! If I could do that,” I hear you say, “I wouldn’t have to worry about depression or anxiety or whatever it is in the first place.”

And you’d be right.

But there are real, physical things we can do that have been proven to help reduce stress levels. One of them, strangely enough, is to relax… and nothing says “relax” like a soothing cup of herbal tea right before bed. Chamomile is the age-old tea of choice in this regard (and I can still clearly remember hearing about how Peter Rabbit’s mom gave him Chamomile tea after his stressful run-in with Mr. McGregor in the old man’s garden).

Peppermint tea is good, too. As are some of the commercial blends “Sleepy Time” and “Nighty Night”.

I tend to alternate, periodically, between Chamomile and Sleepy Time. And, I have to say, that when I do one or the other, I usually don’t stay awake long enough to figure out which one works best. Whatcha gonna do?

Karl also thinks that essential oils are very effective in relaxing people. In diffusers… or… Karl swears that a little lavender oil on your pillowcase and you’ll sleep like a baby.

In my case, my wife just might strangle me for smelling like some unknown hussy, so it might be best to keep everybody informed of your experiments.

And speaking of defending yourself from late night attacks, exercise is also a great reliever of stress. Of course, defending yourself in the middle of the night is not really the type of exercise we’re talking about, and probably wouldn’t be real effective at stress relief. But regular, daily exercise should be a “must do” on everybody’s list. Particularly people prone to anxiety and stress. It just might be your body saying “Hey, give me a little help here.”

Even just a brisk walk, 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back, in the evening, can and will do wonders. In so many ways. Its easy and effective and inexpensive. Get on it.

For those people not on meds, and inclined to try herbal, natural supplements, Karl recommends two: Kava Kava or St John’s Wort. With these types of supplements, as teas or capsules, you should do some research and discuss their use with a specialist. They do not mix well with medications. And many Americans tend to think that if a little of something is good, then a lot is better. This is not the case with herbals, and particularly not the case with these.

And finally, my favorite among our strategies, (I like to save the best for last)… laughter. That’s right, plain ol’ unadulterated laughter. (Heck, if you want to adulterate it, go for it.)

Laughter is, indeed, the best medicine. Studies of all kinds have shown this to be true.

Laughter helps the immune system, relaxes the body, triggers the release of endorphins, and helps your heart. It may even be more of a cure-all than the wonderfully magic clay powder.

So add more laughter to your life. Do it. Plan it, think it, do it. Rent and watch comedies instead of dramas. Even stupid ones. Get yourself smiling and laughing. A natural side effect of this one is that this can’t help but get those around you smiling and laughing, too.

See?, you’re not only helping yourself, but those around you. Spread the health!

Having wrapped up my talk with Karl, the ideas for a story spinning through my head, I headed home. There, I came face to face with a small stack of wood, there in front of my fireplace. The fig tree wood. I looked at it, somberly. Then, an idea popped into my head, and I smiled the small beginning of a smile.

Piece by piece I carefully built a fire in the fireplace and got it going, watching as the flames licked up the wood and grew into a real fire. Then I slipped outside, into the backyard, and stared up at the chimney. There, placidly, peacefully, the smoke rolled up and out of the chimney and into the gray sky of a winter’s day where it eventually mingled with the clouds. I smiled bigger and started chuckling. The fig tree, I knew, had spent its life there, on the side of my house, reaching. Reaching up. Ever. Always. Trying to reach the sky. Trying to reach the clouds. And here, now, on this gray winter day, it was finally getting there. It was finally reaching the clouds!

I smiled and I laughed and I pointed and a couple tears came to my eyes. Anybody who saw me there would’ve thought I was nuts. Nobody would understand, I thought. But I understood. All the world’s a circle. And the fig tree was finally going home.

Winter 2011-2012

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Rufous Hummingbird When the cold winds blow, she puffs up and acts tough. It’s not just an act.

Sandia Storm Clouds It is time to get down from this mountain, take the camera and go on home.

Cabezon Sunset It’s a prehistoric land, formed by fire. Only the strong survive.

Duke City Fit

The editor at work. It’s a hard job, but somebody’s got to do it. Sure beats selling ads.

Pino Trail Flowers Deep in the Pino Canyon by a stream, summertime lasts just a little longer.

White Mesa Windmill A relic. A monument.

An old man still standing, waiting for the next wind

Duke City Fit DR JASON ON RUNNING

30-Minute Cardio Fat-Buster

Dr Jason Karp, PhD

Whether you are a lawyer, a businessman or woman, or a professional athlete, we all want to make the best use of our workout time. So, how can you make your cardio workouts more efficient and obtain the greatest fat-burning benefit in the least amount of time? Research has shown that the intensity of exercise, rather than its volume and frequency, is more important for improving and maintaining fitness. High-intensity exercise is also great for burning fat, as it keeps your metabolic rate elevated for hours after your workout. Gone are the days of 15 or 20 minutes of steady-state cardio on the elliptical trainer or stationary bike at an intensity easy enough to allow you to read this magazine. If you want to lose fat, that’s not going to cut it. Ignore those “fat-burning zones” written on the panels of cardio machines. If you focus your efforts and make your workouts count, you can lose a significant amount of fat in just 30 minutes for each workout.

TEMPO WORKOUTS Tempo workouts are performed at the intensity corresponding to your lactate threshold, an important physiological variable that demarcates the transition between exercise that generates energy almost purely aerobically and exercise that includes energy generated from both aerobic and oxygen-independent (anaerobic) metabolism.

While you use both fat and carbohydrates for energy during exercise, these two fuels provide that energy on a sliding scale—as you increase your intensity up to your lactate threshold, the contribution from fat decreases while the contribution from carbohydrates increases. When you exercise at an intensity above your lactate threshold, you use only carbohydrates.

Since tempo workouts are performed at the highest intensity you can maintain aerobically, these workouts are great for burning fat. Although the percentage of calories from fat is small when exercising at or slightly below your lactate threshold intensity, the total number of calories burned per minute is much higher than at a lower intensity.

Research has shown that exercising at or slightly below your lactate threshold intensity elicits the highest rate of fat use. And since these workouts are aerobic, fatigue is minimal, so you can complete other quality calorie-burning workouts during the week.

You can use any piece of cardio equipment in your gym for tempo workouts. To get the most from tempo workouts, they should be performed at the intensity corresponding to your lactate threshold. For unfit people, this intensity is approximately 75 percent maximum heart rate. If you’re more aerobically fit, it’s about 80 to 85 percent max heart rate. Subjectively, these workouts should feel “comfortably hard.” Warm up for 5 minutes, exercise for 20 minutes at your lactate threshold intensity, and cool-down for 5 minutes.

INTERVALS In the 1960s, famous Swedish physiologist Per-Olaf Åstrand discovered that by breaking a set amount of work up into smaller segments or intervals, you can perform the whole set of work at a higher intensity. Interval workouts alternate high-intensity work periods with low-intensity recovery periods. There are four variables that can be manipulated within an interval workout: time (or distance) of each work period, intensity of each work period, time of each recovery period, and number of repetitions.

Intervals give you the best fitness bang for your buck. They target your cardiovascular system and increase the maximum rate at which you can consume oxygen (VO2max) by increasing your stroke volume (the volume of blood your heart pumps with each beat) and your cardiac output (the volume of blood your heart pumps each minute).

A study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that subjects burned more calories during interval cycling (15 x 2 minutes at 100% VO2max with 2 minutes rest) compared to continuous cycling (60 minutes at 50% VO2max), and they also burned more calories during the 24 hours following the exercise. Other studies, in which subjects ran instead of cycled, have used different interval workouts (e.g., 6 x 3 minutes at 90% VO2max with 3 minutes recovery at 30% VO2max or 20 x 1 minute at 105% VO2max with 2 minutes rest) and different continuous runs (e.g., 36 minutes at 60% VO2max or 30 minutes at 70% VO2max), but still found that the interval workout resulted in a higher post-workout metabolic rate.

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Dr. Jason Karp is a nationally-recognized running coach, award-winning personal trainer, and owner of RunCoachJason.com, a state-of-the-science running coaching and personal training company. The 2011 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, he holds a Ph.D. in exercise physiology and is founder and coach of REVO2LT

You can do interval workouts on a treadmill, bike, rowing machine, or outside on a running track. After a 10-minute warm-up, run, cycle, or row for 3 minutes at 90 to 95 percent of your maximum heart rate with recovery periods equal to or slightly less than the time of the work period. Repeat each hard-easy cycle 3 to 4 times.

PYRAMIDS AND LADDERS Pyramids and ladders are specific types of interval workouts. For pyramids, you increase the length of the hard periods followed by a decrease in their length. Thus, the intervals get progressively harder before getting progressively easier. For ladders, you continue to increase the length of the hard periods so the workout gets progressively harder. For sample workouts, see below: Strategies to Burn Fat. So, if you want to look leaner than you ever have before, try these 30-minute cardio fat-busting workouts and remember that high-intensity exercise burns more calories both during and after your workouts.

STRATEGIES TO BURN FAT Include a warm-up and cool-down before and after each workout.

LT = lactate threshold; HR = heart rate.

TEMPO WORKOUT 20 minutes at LT intensity 4 x 5 minutes at LT intensity with 1:00 recovery CARDIO INTERVALS 4 x 3 minutes at 95% max HR with 3 minutes recovery 3 x 4 minutes at 95% max HR with 3 minutes recovery PYRAMIDS 1 minute, 2 mins, 3 mins, 4 mins, 3 mins, 2 mins, 1 min: - hard with equal time as recovery 2 minutes, 4 mins, 5 mins, 4 mins, 2 mins: - hard with 3 minutes recovery LADDERS 1 minute, 2 mins, 3 mins, 4 mins, 5 mins: hard with equal time as recovery 2 sets of sprints [30 sec, 1 min, 1:30, 2 mins: hard with 2 mins recovery]

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19

Duke City Fit

Runner’s

High Noon If you are a runner, or a biker... or even a nordic blader... occasionally there is an outing that is different. An adventure. And there is a funny thing about these... over time, the stories from the participants often seem to diverge. Ah, memory. . .

This is my story, as I recall it, all these many years later.

And I’m sticking to it...

Frankly, I feel betrayed. Maybe like a Tea Party guy finding out Sarah Palin is funneling campaign contributions to the Wind Energy people. If I knew James was going to go sideways now, I would have kept notes.

Central Avenue in Albuquerque runs some 25 miles from the far west side to the east side of town. As we know the east end is populated with family and chain restaurants, budget motels, RV and mobile home businesses, army surplus stores, pay-day loan companies and ad hoc dating services.

At the city’s boundary, the landscape changes dramatically from pavement to rolling pinon and juniper hills and national forest. The wide expanse of concrete and city quickly funnels into a canyon where Central Avenue becomes fabled Route 66. At some places in Tijeras Canyon, the Sandia Mountains to the north are no more than a couple of hundred yards from the Manzano Mountains to the south.

Route 66, with its wide shoulders, scenery and limited traffic, is a popular route for runners, cyclists, and drivers wanting a quick exit from the city. A few miles further east is the little village of Carnuel. There are no businesses, many of the homes are several hundred of years old, and one gets the feeling this could be a replica of a New Mexico village circa 1820.

Several years ago Jeff James and I were out for our weekly long run on Route 66. We were just past Carnuel, running on the shoulder and facing traffic, when a car suddenly veered off the road heading straight at us.

James picked up a handful of roadside rocks and with the car closing fast started yelling and throwing his makeshift weapons. Just yards from us, the car slammed to a stop and the driver and three companions jumped out. The driver, whose sensibilities regarding our personal space and his property were egocentric, but clear: “You hit my car, and now I’m going to kill you.”

My high school biology and psychology teachers were wrong; when faced with the real prospect of dying right here and right now, quivering in our Nikes, there was a third alternative to ‘fight’ or ‘flight’... to wit... ‘freeze’.

Fortunately, but frankly not surprisingly, I was able to marshal needed mental and physical composure quite quickly. By nature calm in crisis and possessing innate dispute resolution skills, I took charge. I suggested to the driver that James probably didn’t have time to consider that there may have been good reasons to run us over

20

and, I would be happy to consider them. He offered up, considering the circumstances, a very reasonable explanation: “I dropped my cigarette on the floor mat and swerved while picking it up. I didn’t even see you and wasn’t trying to hit you. But then you guys started throwing rocks. So, now I’m going to kill you”.

Fortunately for Jeff, I stayed in the moment, asking myself: what would Buddha do?

Empathy!

“I understand completely. Both my parents smoked, and they were always dropping cigarettes on the floor and they, too, never tried to hit anybody. But even if you had, the greater good was served with your action. You probably saved your car and companions from fiery destruction. You are a hero. And James will gladly pay for any damage to your car. ” He seemed to like the “hero” and “pay for” part and calmed down a bit, and allowed that the whole affair could have been just an unfortunate misunderstanding.

James, totally gripped with fear, was curled, fetal-like, just off the road. His only sign of life was the steady stream of mouth drool. Now, bless his heart, he was trying to stand, and in his own way, help, by stuffing the remaining rocks into his shorts. Everybody was glad to see him disarming, even though his unilateral détente was rather embarrassing to witness.

Although everybody was still a little twitchy, it was starting to look like things might end in a win-win scenario when a guy in a passing car stopped just long enough to yell: “You boys in Spandex look like you’re in a bad way. I have a .357 at home. I’ll get it, drive straight back and help you out”.

Cigarette Man thought Vigilante Man had unfairly profiled him by siding with Spandex Boys after only cursory fact-finding and legally insufficient due diligence.

Fortunately, Cigarette Man also heard the .357 part so an immediate exit strategy became a priority.

Sensing the moment ripe for reconciliation, I stuck out my hand in friendship, told CM that my companion underappreciated a man’s duty to prevent a possible four-alarm fire and I would vouch for James’ enrollment in anger management classes. CM discussed outcomes with his accessories before-the-fact, returned, shook my hand, got in his car, and left.

Not two minutes later, Johnny Law drove up, lights and sirens blazing and blasting. Vigilante Man had apparently stopped and told Johnny Law about our troubles. I explained what had happened and told Johnny we had

by Gordon Sargent resolved our differences with Cigarette Man and crew, and we really didn’t need any further assistance.

Johnny, probably weighing the time that it takes to fill out a short incident report versus full-on homicide paperwork, opted to play it safe, and provided us with safe passage out of his jurisdiction.

Running back to James’ house we discussed the pros and cons about sharing our adventure with the wives. We decided any hee-hawing, manly-man, raconteuring would likely result in the wives banning their little Spandex buckaroos from venturing again too far from home. So we swore an oath of silence.

I hold promises sacred. However, my story must now be told. James has, for whatever personal, emotional, or financial considerations, broken the vow. Believe it or not, and you shouldn’t, he has told the story somewhat differently: “Gordon told me to pick up rocks and protect him. I was prepared to start a two-pronged offensive, but he was, for all practical purposes, missing in action. I heard the little thumb-sucker from the bushes screaming like a choking squirrel: ‘Please don’t kill me. I know what you mean, my parents smoked, my sister smokes, everybody in my family smokes but me.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against smoking.

In fact, just today I told James, you know, the guy that was actually throwing the rocks, that I was going to start smoking. I think guys that smoke are cool.

No, no you misunderstand, I’m not flirting with you.

Here, take my water bottle and ATM card… pin #3792.

Please don’t hurt me. I have to help out at the soup kitchen as soon as I get back. See, that proves I’m a good guy.

If you want to kill somebody, kill James. He threw the rocks, and against my advice. And here in New Mexico it’s justifiable to defend yourself and kill somebody who threatens you, especially if you’re smoking and driving and most especially when you’re trying to prevent a forest fire.

Please don’t kill me. You had every right to be where you were, James is from Australia and they drive on the wrong side, so he unjustifiably overreacted. Please don’t hurt me! ...’ “ James also claims I never attempted to shake hands; Cigarette Man was merely trying to steady me before I fainted.

Professionals tell me that revisionists like James often actually end up believing their own self-serving fabrications.

Anyway, I wanted to set the record straight.

www.dukecityfit.com

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21

Uncle KC’s KC’s Corner Corner

Duke City Fit

The

Pino Trail Wants You! Looking back on it later, the big mistake he made on that hike came at about the three mile mark. Admittedly, there had been several smaller mistakes prior to that, but nothing anybody would figure was all that serious. Not potentially life-threatening anyway. Nothing that couldn’t have been corrected.

But there, sitting by the little stream that crossed through the trail, listening to it gurgle as streams are wont to do, almost laughing, light and happy as it bounced over rocks and logs, it was hard to recognize the potential danger in the mistake he was about to make. The bone-headed decision.

These mountains, these Sandia Mountains, he knew, could be very unforgiving of any mistake… a stupid mistake or an honest mistake or a simple failure to pay attention… it really doesn’t matter much to them. A screwup is a screw-up, and if it happens at the wrong place or the wrong time, it might very well be the last mistake you ever make.

Or not.

Sometimes they’ll let it slide. Ignore it. And in those cases you learn nothing about how close you came to the edge. How dangerously close.

Other times, there’ll be a slap on the wrist, a kick in the butt. It might be a broken bone or a leg full of cactus spines or a case of pneumonia from a bone-chilling, freezing rain… Whatever form the message might take, the wise man sees it for what it is. A lesson. A signal. A warning. A warning that this time you came awfully close to the line or maybe crossed it and next time you might not be so lucky as to escape with just a warning. In fact, you might not escape at all.

But be that as it may, on that particular day by that particular stream, he didn’t act particularly wise. He made a mistake. A bone-headed mistake.

It all started, innocently enough, on a warm, clear, fall morning. The mountains beckoned. A few clouds hung over the crest, far to the north, but otherwise it was a most beauteous day. A good day for a stroll in the foothills.

So he threw on his hiking boots and tossed his little day pack into the car, along with his camera, a couple bottles of water, and an apple. He was a veteran hiker. He was old and wise, at least by his accounting. He had even written a couple stories on the ins and outs of hiking. He had created a checklist. He knew what he should take and why.

But this was not going to be a real “hike”. This was going to be a leisurely stroll out of the Elena Gallegos picnic area. A picture-taking mission. After all the recent rains, he

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was pretty sure that there would be wild flowers in abundance, there for the snapping. And lots of fresh air. It would warm the cockles of his heart.

And indeed, it did.

He headed out on the Pino Trail, one of the few in the Sandias that he had never hiked before. It headed straight east over a vast expanse of foothill desert, working its way up, ever so gently, towards the mountains in the distance. It dipped through wide, shallow arroyos and skirted around boulders and monstrous chollas. Desert finches and pinion jays flitted around. Little daisy-like flowers of yellow and purple and white strained toward the sun, grasping for life and glory in the few days allotted them.

Soon enough, about a mile in he reckoned, the trail changed, though it seemed to take him a little while to notice it and it surprised him when he did. He was suddenly in the trees. A winding, twisting gentle uphill hike through a forest. It was mostly evergreens, junipers of some kind, he figured, but he also noticed the long needles of the ponderosas and their stately trunks, and then more and more of the puzzle-piece leaves of the sugar maples… many of them going orange and even into deep red.

The canopy overhead obscured much of the sky much of the time and he walked in the cool shade, but still warm from his steady uphill climb. He shed his outer layer cotton t-shirt, damp with sweat, leaving on the long-sleeve underarmor synthetic thing he’d worn beneath it. He tucked the tail of the t-shirt into the back of his belt, to dangle there and, theoretically, dry a little. As he did, a squirrel chattered loudly at him, perturbed, he supposed, by this uninvited visitor dallying in his foyer.

“Move along!” the squirrel seemed to be saying. “No loitering here. Don’t make me come over there and throw a pine cone at you.”

Smiling, he moved along.

Now and again, he found himself wandering through small glades of aspens. He liked aspens. He had to stand for a while, leaning back, to gaze up at the leaves dancing far above… yellow and gold flashing in the sunlight. The lines

of a song came to him and he found himself singing before he even realized what he was doing…

Did you ever take a walk through the forest?

Stop and dream a while among the trees You can look up through the leaves right straight to heaven You can almost hear the voice of God in each and every breeze…

Eventually, amidst the trees and his wandering thoughts, he came upon a stream which crossed the trail and gurgled off downhill into the canyon below. This was THE stream, as noted by the guidebook, he remembered. It was a waypoint. A landmark. So he plopped himself down and opened up his pack to reconnoiter just what he had and where he was at.

The stream, the guidebook told him, was a little over 3 miles in. The entire Pino Trail, to where it met the Crest Trail up at the top, was only 4.5 miles! Dang, he was almost there. From that junction, according to some guesswork from the simple map he had, it was only an easy 2 miles along the crest to get over to the top of the Tram.

He could ride the tram down and get somebody to pick him up at the bottom.

Why not? He was already halfway there.

Well, for one thing, he didn’t have hardly anything with him. One more quart of water and an apple. The bag of candy and the windbreaker that were normally in there had been pulled out and tossed into the biking pack weeks ago for the White Mesa trip. They’d never made it back in.

www.dukecityfit.com

Duke City Fit He looked up at the patches of sky he could see through the trees. There were clouds, dark clouds even, but they were over there on the crest where they’d been all day, and they hadn’t moved a bit. A few other clouds drifted here and there, but nothing much.

He pulled out his cell phone. No service here, but the time was only one o’clock.

With even a slow, dallying pace, he should be able to make it to the tram by 3. A beverage there, and a bite to eat, and by golly that’d be a pretty good day’s hike.

Sure beat going back down the way he came.

“Sold,” he thought. “To the tram or bust.”

And he headed on up the trail, whistling. It was, in retrospect, not the brightest decision he ever made.

The last mile of the Pino Trail, he found, goes up. Up. That’s Up with a capital “U”.

It zig-zagged through side canyons, but ever always emerged back out onto the main Pino Canyon. Eventually.

Once in a while there were magnificent views back down the length of the canyon to the foothills and Albuquerque beyond.

He’d stop briefly to enjoy the view and snap a picture, but he didn’t dally long. He had a goal and he wanted to keep up the pace.

What he didn’t notice, or realize, evidently, was the tremendous amount of energy he was expending while pushing himself up those final 5 switchbacks. The calories he was burning. The fuel he was using up. The thing was, his tank was about empty. And there were no Stop-N-Go’s along this route.

In fact, as he finally emerged out onto

Winter 2011-2012

the Crest Trail and the expansive views it had out over the flatlands to the east toward Moriarty and Edgewood, he was marveling at how alone he was. Not a soul within miles, he thought. “I’ve got the Sandias all to myself.”

As he took a left, north, along the Crest Trail, winding through a big open meadow of sagebrush and wildflowers, he congratulated himself on having successfully made the top. The last two miles to the tram should be a cakewalk. He was home free.

Wrong.

Guess again, fat boy.

To his dismay, the trail did not go up and run northward, levelly and smoothly along the crest. Instead, it descended to the east and down into the trees, sometimes pretty steeply over rock faces and through muddy patches. Every step down, he knew, was one he would have to make back up, and there were quite a few of them.

Still, it was a nice trail, if not what he’d expected. It wandered through the forest, blanketed with the leaves of the aspens and maples. He stopped at one point and listened to the “knock, knock, knock” of a woodpecker. Staring around, he finally located it by the bobbing red patch of feathers on its head, a patch that would have been easier to spot had the forest not been so dim. And growing dimmer.

Dimmer?

With a bit of alarm, he looked up through the trees, where he could, and noticed the growing cloud cover overhead. Dark clouds.

Threatening clouds. He noticed too, that it was getting much cooler. Glancing around, a little shaken, he pulled back on his t-shirt,

still damp. Great. But at least it was another layer. Time to get a move on, he thought.

Time to step up the pace.

The trail hit a junction, right at the wilderness boundary sign and fence, with the Tree Spring and 10K Trails. They both descended the east side. They were both well marked. Unfortunately, the Crest Trail, the one he was trying to stay on, was not.

He figured it pretty much had to be the remaining option, a smaller trail that headed up straight west. That had to be it. Didn’t it?

Surely so.

Trepidation. That’s what he felt as a cold wind started blowing down the trail, straight into his face. The trail veered up to the northwest. And up. And up. And up. He had to stop, now, quite often, to rest, briefly, leaning against a tree. He was afraid to sit down lest his tired legs refuse to get him back up again.

There was a smell of rain in the air, and he could swear he heard the occasional splat of a raindrop in the leaves above. Or was that his tired imagination? It would be a cold rain, he knew. A freezing rain.

He pushed himself onward and upward.

Ever upward. Climbing. His legs were beginning to complain, his thighs and calves threatening to cramp. He looked around at the dark forest and tried to figure out what he would do when the freezing rain finally came. Push on?, he thought. Push on and try to stay warm by burning calories and hope to make it to the tram before hypothermia laid him out? Or hole up somewhere, attempting to find some kind of shelter, hoping that it would let up before nightfall?

Bad choices, both.

Somewhere then, in this dismal reverie,

he heard… what?… through his foggy brain he stopped and listened… a chainsaw?

A chainsaw! Distant but distinct.

He tried to step up the pace, but there was nothing left. The best he could do was drag one foot out and put it up in front of the other. Again, and again. That foot. Now that foot. Come on, you can do it.

Finally, up ahead, a family of four with two young girls leading the way appeared out of the trees, strolling down the trail.

“You’re almost there,” the mother said to him, a look of concern on her face.

“I think he hiked all the way up,” he heard her say quietly to her daughters after they’d passed him by.

“Yeah, I did,” he mumbled, though he wasn’t sure they heard him. “Yes I did.”

I must really look like a mess, he thought to himself.

At the stairs that led up to the back of the tram, he was very, very glad that there was a sturdy railing. He had to pull himself up, step by step. He didn’t think he could have made it otherwise.

EPILOGUE The mountains, sometimes, will forgive a mistake. Sometimes.

They forgave me that day. The day I hiked the Pino Trail.

As they had a friend of mine a while back, they looked at me and said, “Not today. We’re not going to take you today.”

“But don’t push your luck.”

I’m an older and wiser man now. At least, I am by my accounting.

Directions & Info on Page 28

23

Duke City Fit The Great

Bob Julyan

Sandia Snowshoe Race To some fast and fit winter athletes it’s a race, but to most of participants it’s really just a fun romp in the snow.

It’s the annual Sandia Mountains Snowshoe Race, to be held this year Saturday, January 21. At 10 a.m. approximately 150 snowshoers, from teens to octogenarians, will begin clomping into the forest following a marked 3.2-mile (5K) course. Some will be wearing sleek racing snowshoes, a few the old-fashioned wood and leather kind. Style doesn’t count.

Skill isn’t important either, because as the old adage says, if you can walk, you can snowshoe.

The event is organized each year to benefit Friends of the Sandia Mountains, a non-profit, volunteer organization working closely with the U.S. Forest Service. The Friends maintain trails and picnic areas in the Sandia Mountains, as well as remove hundreds of dead and hazardous trees and paint Forest Service signs throughout the Sandia Ranger District. The Snowshoe Race is the Friends’ only fundraiser of the year.

REI has supported the event each year, including serving as registration headquarters and renting snowshoes, while Heart and Sole provides awards to male and female first prize winners. All age category winners also receive prizes.

Registration opens Dec. 1; additional information and a registration form is available at: www.sandiasnowshoe.com.

Registration is $30 until January 8, $45 after. Registration includes refreshments, including coffee and hot cocoa, and a commemorative T-shirt. The event is limited to 150 participants, and has filled up every year.

24

www.dukecityfit.com

Duke City Fit

Biking Placitas in Winter There’s a gem of a mountain bike trail system, close to Albuquerque, that is relatively unknown to mountain bikers. It’s in the foothills of the northern Sandia Mountains, in Placitas. Hikers may know this area for the Piedra Lisa trailhead, but if you tell a mountain biker there are trails in the Placitas foothills, most will respond, “I’ve never been there.”

“Placitas” [foothills] is a great place for winter riding.

These trails are similar to the Albuquerque foothills trails, but different. There are two general areas of trails, which are connected, and the entire system can be ridden if one is looking for a longer, more challenging ride. The “upper” trails are quite grueling with lots of rocks and rubble, a few longish climbs and some shorter, steeper ones. The “lower” trails have almost no rocks or rubble and the climbing is not nearly as steep. The scenery here is colorful and offers excellent views to the west of mesas and Cabezon Peak. When the East Mountains are closed for winter with snow and mud, the foothills keep us riding and in shape.

Exit I-25 at the Placitas exit and head east toward the village. About half a mile past the Homestead Village shopping center [home of “The Merc” grocery store, et al.], on the south side of the Highway 165, is Forest Road (FR) 445. FR 445 is a dirt road that actually loops through the lower foothills back to the highway. Turn into this west end of FR 445 and you will be in a dirt parking lot. The trail, for either the lower or upper ride, starts here.

For the lower trails, follow the trail out of the parking lot, through the barbed wire fence, then take your first hard right turn. You will be heading south on the trail.

Now just keep riding and exploring any side trails you wish. You may end up riding the old power line 2 track, or continue in and out of drainages twisting and winding around on single track. Eventually, you will come back

Winter 2011-2012

to FR 445. Then you can decide whether to ride that, or look for more single track – which definitely is available.

For the upper trails, start the same way from the parking lot, but instead of turning south after passing through the barbed wire fence, continue east. You will come to FR 445, near the Strip Mine Trailhead. Or, drive past the western-most end of FR 445 to the eastern end of FR 445, turn in there and drive to the Strip Mine Trailhead. There is a sign designating the trailhead. Follow the Strip Mine Trail east. Just before the Wilderness Boundary sign, the trail forks left. Follow that a short distance to fence line where the trail will turn left. It will take you up and down, through a small drainage or two and down the fun and fast “White Mesa Replica” trail – a downhill section of white trail (maybe gypsum?) that is reminiscent of the White Mesa trails. Cross the bridge at the bottom & continue on the single track back to the Strip Mine Trailhead.

FR 445 and the strip mines can be seen on the Sandia Mountain Wilderness map. The riding is between the east and west sides of FR 445 (remember, FR 445 is a loop road) and east of it to the Wilderness Boundary [no bikes in the wilderness, please], south to the Sandia Pueblo boundary and north to Highway 165.

Of course, there are a number of criss-crossing trails, connector trails, parallel trails, etc., in the Placitas foothills. But, you can’t get lost. So, when you want someplace else to mountain bike in winter, go to Placitas, turn on your adventure gene and go explore. Have fun!

After your ride, stop in at the Placitas Café or The Merc’s deli (at Homestead Village shopping center) for a good lunch.

Don’t forget these other areas for winter mountain biking: White Mesa, Corrales Bosque, Albuquerque Bosque, all of which have been previously described in this publication. Happy Trails.

Becky Johnston

25

Duke City Fit

Bikes, Buddies, and the

Bosque Trail

Ken Orth

?

Camels

Here’s the deal

… when you finally get a warm day, especially amidst a string of cold ones, you kinda gotta jump

on it. If you can.

I had such a day.

I was sitting in the coffee shop looking out the window at the mountains and the blue sky. I was supposed to be writing a story. But it was so dang nice out there!

Joe Diaz had forewarned me a few days ago that this was going to happen. There was a high slipping in from the Texas panhandle or something. Just for a day. Highs near 60.

I looked at the sunshine outside and I looked at the blank piece of paper in front of me. And I looked outside again.

“To heck with it,” I muttered, pulling out my phone. My wife was off work this day… perhaps I could catch her before she got gone.

“Let’s go biking,” I said, without much preamble. “It’s so nice out.”

“Okay,” she said. “Where and when?”

“Good question,” I replied. “Meet me at home and we’ll figure it out.”

The Bosque Trail, we decided. Neither of us had ever taken it all the way. It is among the premier paved biking trails in the city… in the state… in the entire southwest. It runs over 16 miles through the heart of Albuquerque alongside the grand river itself, without once ever having to cross a street. How cool is that? It is level and scenic and… well… I hate to have to admit it, but we’ve never done it all.

Until now.

Unsure of how long, time-wise, it would actually take (I do tend to dilly-dally), we decided to do it one way. That meant, of course, that we had to use two cars, leaving one at the end point. In our case, that would be down south where the river and the trail hit Rio Bravo Boulevard. A quick google got me directions to the parking lot and picnic ground, and we left our van there.

Then, a quick drive up I-25, with our bikes, to Alameda and over to the river, and we were ready to hit the trail… a little over an hour after I first called her. The big parking lot south of Alameda had about 10 cars in it on this weekday. The one at Rio Bravo had one, and it was a city parks vehicle.

There wouldn’t be a whole lot of traffic on the Bosque Trail this day.

My wife, when she bikes, likes to “go”.

Go. She puts on the headphones, gets into gear, and pedals. It’s the exercise she likes. The wind in her face. The “going”.

I, on the other hand, am more of a lightweight biker. I’m in no hurry. The bike is a means to an end. It is a way to get me around from here to there, comfortably and relatively easily.

26

Scenically. And, I get some much needed exercise in the process. That’s nice, but I’m taking my time. There are things to see. I want to see it, and breathe it, and feel it. Hear it. Live it.

Which is to say, I dilly-dally.

On the Bosque Trail, the cottonwoods and oaks line the river side of the trail.

They are old and big. Barren of leaves now, the branches are gnarly. Twisted and swollen-jointed, they are like ancient fingers, arthritic and reaching for something.

Something up there.

Speaking of “up there”, a big black bird perches near the top of one of the taller trees. It’s a raven. Jet black. Stark against the crystal blue sky, it is apparent that it is not trying to hide, or lay low. Not a chance. It is big and bold and obvious up there.

I think maybe he is making a statement of some kind. “I am here, and I am watching you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m watching you, too,” I mutter as I hop back on the pedals.

There is something very serene about the bosque. The fallen leaves blanket the ground now… a thick comforter, soft and moist underfoot if you wander off the confines of the pavement. This is where the river used to flood with some kind of regularity back in the day… back before the dams and the dikes.

The “river jacks” lay silent testimony to those bygone days. Monuments, they be. Monuments made of massive steel girders and snaking cables. Rusted. Old. Decaying, in their own slow way, much like the mounds of damp leaves that are piling up in the niches they’ve made.

I like the river jacks, for some reason. They are just… so… preposterous. The brain children of brilliant men, they were planned and built and placed, in massive numbers in massive projects to control the effects of the Rio Grand when it became unruly.

And then, perhaps before most of them could have had any impact whatsoever, they were rendered obsolete by the construction of upstream dams. They never got much of a chance to do what it was they were designed and built to do. They were supposed to divert, slow, impede the destructive progress of floating, rushing logs and trees. Think of it. They were built to withstand the onslaught of mighty floods.

But the floods don’t come. Not anymore.

Like an elevator to nowhere, the river jacks are remnants of a civilization that passed them by.

Instead of fighting floods, they stand up to the wind and the rain and the occasional raven. And that’s it. They are old and useless.

But big and bad and solid. Enigmas, really.

They are artwork now. History.

I pat one of the girders. I lean my bike up against it. The wind makes a strange whistling

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Duke City Fit noise as it whips through the knotted cables where they join the steel beams. I whistle with it, trying to find the pitch. And then it is gone.

Do you know, I actually said good-bye to the river jack? Keep up the good work. I hope you get to hang around for another hundred years. Perhaps, one day, you’ll even actually get a real flood.

There are occasional sandy paths that lead off the pavement and down toward the river through the trees and the river jacks. I take one, and parking my bike near the river, I scramble down the bank and out across some drying mud to a big sand bar.

There are all kinds of bird tracks and deer tracks and I even spot the hand-like prints of a raccoon. Looking at the imprint of small fingers and thumb, I am reminded of the ranger in Yellowstone who told me that raccoons had learned to unzip tent zippers with those little hands. No tent zippers here. But I wonder how they might fare with screw tops on plastic soda bottles? Those we got.

There is an unusual bird noise of some kind and I look around to find it’s source.

There are a couple of sandhill cranes standing in the shallows way downstream.

Conversing, I suppose. It tickles me to think that I’m seeing all of this right here in the heart of the Duke City. All of this, and not another soul in sight. Not up or down the river, as far as I can see.

Back out on the paved trail, however, there are people now and then. It’s a pretty popular trail, particularly on weekends. Bikers, skaters, joggers, baby carriages. But “popular” is a relative term. I often go several minutes or miles before I roll past a couple old guys on recumbent bikes going the opposite direction. I usually say “howdy”, and most of them answer back with some pleasantry, but some, like the river jacks, are silent. Headphones on, most of them. And I wonder if the river jacks are hearing something else, too.

The trail cuts right by several landmark institutions along its length. We stop and wander into the Rio Grande Nature Center where we chat with the volunteers and watch the turtles sunning themselves in the lagoon. A yellow school bus pulls up and starts disgorging a stream of chattering grade-school kids, so we opt to move along.

As we bike our way south toward I-40, the interstate, where it crosses over the river, obvious and ominous in its immensity, we first come to a junction with an east-west trail. The east direction winds its way under the bridge and into Old Town, and the western path goes up and over the new pedestrian bridge over the Rio Grande right alongside and to the north of I-40. It’s that weird looking orange bridge that isn’t level. We detour up and over it, just for the heck of it, the river view to one side and the tractor-trailers of the interstate roaring by on the other. It’s kind of a weird place, and induces a bit of a strange sensation like mild vertigo.

Going back down and under I-40, we soon pass another turn-off to Old Town.

We pause there, gazing longingly up it, knowing there is a great coffee shop/ pastry shop just up the way there.

“Next time,” we tell each other. “Next time we’ll give ourselves more time.”

We cruise past the back side of the zoo, and the aquarium, and eventually Tingley Beach where the little train chugs by, parallel to the trail for a short while, full of kids and tourists and an engineer with a big red bandana around his neck and an engineers cap tall on his head. He waves and toots his horn and the kids wave and we wave back and the sun seems to smile just a little more brightly on the Duke City.

To the south side of town the trail becomes much less travelled. In fact, south of the Bridge Street bridge, we encounter only one other person on the trail all the way to Rio Bravo. There are houses and strange businesses to the east, with fences and dogs and purposes we often could not fathom. One was evident enough though… a storage yard for hundreds and hundreds of porta-potties, lined up like so many ancient robots from a Star Wars set.

Continued on Next Page, Page 28

Winter 2011-2012

Rio Rancho 896-4700 909 36th Place SE

Albuquerque HighDesertBicycles.com

842-8260 8110 Louisiana NE

2401 Jefferson NE • Albuquerque, NM 87111 (505) 884-8012 • www.libertygym.com 27

Duke City Fit www.suntoucher.com

Bikes, Buddies, and the

Bosque Trail

Year-Round Instruction

Rock Climbing & Guided Ascents

Continued From Page 26

Rock I: Jan 21, Feb 12, Mar 24 Rock II: Jan 24-25

Back-Country & Ski Mountaineering

New Mexico and Colorado Dates From January thru April Mention this Ad & Receive

10 % Off

Your next Suntoucher Outing

Call for registration info:

(505) 400-2529

The Pino Trail Ski lifts

Tram

N

Tree Spring Trail

Crest Trail

Cienega Trail

Pino Trail Elena Gallegos

Crest Trail Canoncito Trail

Duke City Fit Editor: Ken Orth

Copy Editor: P Joan Orth, RN

Editor@dukecityfit.com (505) 291-0070

Printed by Vanguard Printing

Duke City Fit is solely owned and published by Duke City Fit, LLC. It is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December. Copyright © 2009 by Duke City Fit. All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or in whole without written permission is prohibited. Opinions and expressions of fact within articles are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. Specifically, the editor and publisher are not liable for actions taken in response to any article. Readers are encouraged to use common sense and consult with a professional before attempting any potentially harmful activity.

Duke City Fit encourages your submission of articles, photographs, comments, criticisms, and ideas. All submissions will be considered for publication. Recommended article length is 800 to 1200 words. We reserve the right to edit all submitted materials.

Materials will not be returned. Advertising is accepted at the discretion of the publisher.

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When we emerge out into the little city park where we left our van hours earlier, a whole mix of emotions seem to roll over us both, reminiscent of the vertigo back on the orange bridge. We are relieved to have reached the end, but saddened that it is over. Such a strange and wonderful mix of things we have seen and felt on our journey along the bosque this day.

We have followed the Grand River through the heart of our city. We have seen our city from a perspective that is like no other. A view, truly, that we could hardly have imagined. A series of views. A running panorama.

Here’s what I will say about the bosque trail… it’s a pretty darn cool trail. If you haven’t done it, you owe it to yourself. If you have, it’s time to do it again. It should be on the bucket list. We’ve got a real treasure here. Just down the road. Just down the river.

The

10K Trail

Crest Trail

Who knew?

And in one place there is a veritable mountain of old, junked cars, rising up to the east. At first it appears to be a hill with cars on it. But as we get closer we discover that the hill itself is made of junked cars. We gawk at it. A mountain of cars and a forest of porta-potties. Strange days indeed.

Most peculiar momma.

The last mile or two of the trail south to Rio Bravo is nice and serene and is the only part of the trail that is actually in the trees. In many places, the sky is obscured by the canopy of branches overhead. It is quiet and a little dark and a little ominous.

I notice that my wife is not riding ahead now, but instead, is alongside me. I think we both appreciate the company.

Pino Trail Wants You!

If You’re Going

Continued From Page 23

The Pino Trail is a wonderful, varied trail that provides a good alternative to the La Luz Trail as a west face access to the Crest Trail. It is accessed out of the Elena Gallegos Picnic Area (Tramway Blvd north of Academy to Simms, then west to Area). Permit fee required, $3. Go all the way back to the most eastern parking lot. The Pino Trail heads straight east. There is a drinking fountain at the trailhead.

The Pino Trail to the Crest Trail is about 4.5 miles. The first 2 miles are an easy incline. It crosses a stream at about the 3 mile mark. Then it gets more serious uphill, crossing to the north side of the canyon. There are five switchbacks right before the last climb to the top.

From the junction with the Crest Trail, there are several alternatives. The easiest is back down the way you came. All the other alternatives require a second car or someone to come pick you up.

One is the Cienega Trail, directly across from the Pino. It descends the east side through a nice forest about 2 miles to the Cienega Springs picnic area and parking lot.

Piece of cake and nice hike, but a longer drive to come get you.

A second is to continue on north to the Tram about 3 miles on the Crest Trail. Do not be deceived, the trail is NOT on the crest. It descends a ways to the east and then works its way back up. After about 1 mile, at the wilderness boundary, it hits a junction with the Tree Spring and 10K Trails. The Crest Trail heads straight west and then north. Up. There is hot chocolate or cold beer at the tram if and when you get there, depending upon your mood. Take the Tram down and have somebody meet you at the bottom.

The Pino and its connections are strenuous trails. You’re getting way back in there with no quick way out, so plan accordingly. Have all of your “long day hike” paraphernalia with you including plenty of water, extra clothes, and food. A GPS or map & compass would be good. Pay attention to the clouds. Storms can come up fast.

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Duke City Fit

Winter 2011-2012

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Duke City Fit

Calendar of Events

December January February

2011-2012

Events in Red require Pre-Registration

Ongoing Yoga With a View, $15, 9-10:30am, Every Sunday morning Open Space Visitor Center 6500 Coors NW, Yoga in a beautiful setting Kimberly 897-8831 Qigong in the Park, Saturdays & Sundays 9-10am: every Saturday at Altura Park located at Hannett and Morningside NE, Every Sunday at Robinson Park at 8th & Central, Qigong practice for all, Loretta 681-1924 qigonginthepark.com Birds of New Mexico, wildlife art oils on canvas, Free, Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors NW, art show by Paul Rodenhauser, (through Dec 31), Joshua Willis 897-8831 Church of Beethoven, Adults $15/ Students $10/Kids $5, Sundays at 10:30am sharp, not church & more than Beethoven, chamber music & poetry, arrive early for free espresso bar, 1715 5th St NW 505-234-4611 www.churchofbeethoven.org Rio Grande Nature Center Bird Walks, Free, 9am, Saturdays & Sundays, join a naturalist for a quiet bird walk, preregister, 344-7240 Rio Grande Nature Center Nature Walks, Free, 1pm Sundays, an insightful nature tour of the bosque, preregister, 344-7240 High Desert Bicycles Group Ride, Free, 9-10:30am every Saturday, 909 36th Place SE in Rio Rancho, bring bike (or rent one) & join the group, 896-4700

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NM Volunteers for the Outdoors, Save a trail in the NM outdoors, learn new skills with cool tools and “rub shoulders” with forest rangers.

Enjoy the camaraderie of new friends and be part of preserving outdoor recreation by helping to build and maintain a wide variety of trails. 884-1991 www.nmvfo.org

New Mexico Touring Society Bike Rides, join together with other recreational bikers of all ages for daily planned rides, 237-9700 nmts.org Water Exercise Classes, Weekdays, $2.50, City of ABQ Indoor Pools at Valley Pool 761-4086; West Mesa Aquatic Center 836-8718, Morn & evening classes

Los Poblanos Fields Community Farm, Free, City of Albuquerque, 6804 4th St NW, 345-4580 Los Altos Skate Park, Free, City of Albuquerque , 8am-11pm, 10140 Lomas NE, Largest skate park in the southwest Tower Skate Park, Free, City of Albuquerque , 7am-11pm, 86th & Tower on west side, brand new state of the art skate park Botanical Gardens River of Lights, A Holiday Light Festival since 1997, $8 adults & $4 kids, 6-9pm, walkthru dazzling light display, 2601 Central NW, runs through Dec 30, 768-2000

Open Bowling All the Time At Sandia Bowl, we’re all about having fun with your family and friends. Come on in and bowl a few games with a burger and a beverage... our snack bar is top notch.

Calvary Skate Park, Free, 9am10pm, 4001 Osuna NE, Parent must sign waiver, bladers & skateboarders only, adjacent game room, 344-0880 x201, ww.calvarysk8park.org

And our full-service lounge, well, it’s the neighborhood place to be! Join us for the game on our big screen TV, or just hang out while the kids bowl.

Finally, don’t forget, it’s bowl til you drop on Tuesday afternoons for just 5 bucks!

Family, Friends, Good Times at

Sandia Bowl 293-5675

11342 Lexington NE Albuquerque, NM 87112

www.sandiabowl.com

December 10 Twilight Hike on a Full Moon Night, Free ($3 Parking), Dusk, Call for time & date, Rio Grande Nature Center 2901 Candelaria NW, 3447240 December 11 Run Rudolph Run, 5K run/walk to benefit Joy Junction, $10 and $10 toy, 9am, Hoffmantown Church parking lot (Harper and Ventura) Kenneth Ortiz 505-314-0417

www.dukecityfit.com

Duke City Fit Climate Reality Project, Free, 2pm, presentation aimed to inspire global action to solve the climate crisis, Free, Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors NW, Joshua Willis 897-8831 climaterealityproject.org

February 7 Twilight Hike on a Full Moon Night, Free ($3 Parking), Dusk, tentative date - Call for time & date, Rio Grande Nature Center 2901 Candelaria NW, 344-7240

December 15 Watermelon Mountain Jug Band, Free, 6pm, Taylor Ranch Library, True to the original 1920s jug bands of the South, their music comes alive with washboard, jug, kazoo, washtub bass, spoons, guitar and banjo, 5700 Bogart NW, 897-8816

February 11 Cupids Chase 5K, 10am, run with your heart supporting Community Options at Balloon Fiesta Park, register at 8am / race at 10am, go to active.com & key in “cupids chase albuquerque” 505-265-7936

December 17 Open Space Volunteer Orientation, Free, 10am-1:30pm, Trail Watch and Adopt-An-Open-Space training, Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors NW, pre-register 897-8865 December 18 Mandala Creation, Free, 10:30am, Participate in creating 20’ diameter mandala from organic materials, contributions welcome, Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors NW, pre-register 897-8831 Wolf Meet and Greet, Wangai wolf fund, Free, 12:30pm, up close and personal with these beautiful animals, Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors NW, info: 897-8831 December 22 Winter Solstice, shortest day of the year, the sun is directly over the tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemishpere, days will be getting longer from here on out

January 4 Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, Free Day, 9am-5pm, 2000 Mountain Road NW, A free day at the museum! Do a lot of walking.

243-7255 www.cabq.gov/museum

January 22 9th Annual Sandia Mountain Snowshoe Race, 10am, $30, 3.2 mile traverse from the Crest thru Cibola National Forest, Register at: REI 1550 Mercantile NE, www.sandiasnowshoe.com

January 8 Bosque Wild Sunday Morning Hike, Free, 9am, Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors NW, 1.5 hour guided walk in Bosque, max 20 people, Pre-register suggested 8978831

February 12 Sweetheart Run 2012 10K/5K, a loving run along the Rio Grande, go to active.com & key in “Sweetheart Run” 299-3521 February 18 29th Annual Mt Taylor Quadrathlon, Grants, NM, See ad pg 24, New Mexico’s premier winter sports event, www.mttaylorquad.org

January 9 Twilight Hike on a Full Moon Night, Free ($3 Parking), Dusk, tentative date - Call for time & date, Rio Grande Nature Center 2901 Candelaria NW, 344-7240

February 1 Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, Free Day, 9am-5pm, 2000 Mountain Road NW, A free day at the museum! Do a lot of walking.

243-7255 www.cabq.gov/museum

March 4 Bosque Wild Sunday Morning Hike, Free, 9am, Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors NW, 1.5 hour guided walk in Bosque, max 20 people, Pre-register suggested 8978831

January 14 Winter Bird & Bat Festival, Free ($3 Parking), 10am-4pm, Rio Grande Nature Center 2901 Candelaria NW, Shows/crafts/walks/ animals, 344-7240

February 5 Bosque Wild Sunday Morning Hike, Free, 9am, Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors NW, 1.5 hour guided walk in Bosque, max 20 people, Pre-register 897-8831

March 7 Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, Free Day, 9am-5pm, 2000 Mountain Road NW, A free day at the museum! Do a lot of walking.

243-7255 www.cabq.gov/museum

January 1 Egg Nog Jog 2012,12 noon, $18 includes t-shirt ($6 no shirt) , 4 mi run & 2 mi walk, noncompetitive annual Albuquerque iconic event, run by Gil Duran, 4th & Guadalupe Trail (south of Smiths) contact Heart&Sole Sports 884-5300

Duke City Fit

January 3 History of The Rolling Stones in 75 Minutes, Free, 6:30pm, a multimedia history of the bad boys of rock and roll, The Rolling Stones, Esther Bone Library in Rio Rancho 950 Pinetree Road SE, 891-5012 x3128

Go to www.DukeCityFit.com

Winter 2011-2012

Superbowl “Touchdown for the Homeless” 10K/5K Run, 11am, celebrate the big day & back in time for the game, go to active.com & key in “Superbowl Touchdown” 299-3521

IS ON THE WEB and click on “Latest Issue”

March 8 Twilight Hike on a Full Moon Night, Free ($3 Parking), Dusk, tentative date - Call for time & date, Rio Grande Nature Center 2901 Candelaria NW, 344-7240 March 17 Bicycle Traffic Skills 101, Free, 9am-4:30pm, bike safety on Albuquerque roads including maintenance, fit, and rules, Julian Butt 505-898-2279 March 18 Shamrock Shuffle, 10K/5K, 8:30am, Rio Rancho aquatic Center, go to active.com & key in “Shamrock Shuffle” 299-3521

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