24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

As some of you know we went to the 24-hours in the Old Pueblo endurance mountain bike race this weekend, this race has a deep history because this was the first race Andrea ever came with me to and did support for me. I did not race it this year but I did do a pano for the start up and I have linked it below, let me know what you think. I will be using this for an example for my company Panomersion...

http://www.azpanovision360.com/24_HOP/Panomersion_24_HOP.html

Raptor Bird of Prey

Today as I got into the truck to run an errand the dogs barked kind of funny and I looked over in my neighbor's yard and sitting there was what I believe to be a Peregrine Falcon but I am not sure, I think this is a young one because the colors are not quite as dark as the ones I have researched online...well if anyone out there knows their birds feel free to chime in...

If this is a young Peregrine Falcon you are looking at the fastest animal on earth clocked at speeds of up to 276 miles per hour. The high speeds are reached usually in a free fall dive where the falcon kills its prey by closing its talons and hitting the bird mid-air and usually kills it instantly, the Peregine Falcon then circles around again in mid air and catches the prey. If it is still alive it will "peck" its spine killing the bird. Follow the link below and you will see what happens next.

Interestingly enough we see these birds all the time flying above our house and near the mountain. We have to be especially careful when the bunnies are playing because once one landed on the fence right above velvet as Andrea cleaned her cage. Needless to say these birds are protected under law (this one is tagged as you may notice in the pictures) and they are not afraid of humans, case and point here as I watched this bird eating for some time and even though you can see he was watching me, he never flew off.

http://www.azpanovision360.com/Raptor_bird_of_prey/index.html

Fitness Week-End Review

OK so this year I vowed to get on my bike more (my pedal bike although I did vow to get on the M/C more too) and my folks gave us a cool little GPS fitness device the Garmin Forerunner 305 that allows you to track your fitness activity week by week so today I am blogging about it in hopes that it may keep me motivated to continue.

Andrea: WK 1-25-09 to 1/31/09
Bike:
Total Distance 50.0 Miles
Time: 4:02:19.32
Total Calories: 2573
Total Climbing: 2146 ft

YTD:
Total Distance: 93.53 Miles
Time: 9:08:57.52
Total Calories: 5440
Total Climbing: 5454 ft

Run:
None (Injured Plantar Fascia)

YTD:
Total Distance: 9.06 Miles
Time: 2:21:06.03
Total Calories: 986
Total Climbing: 1209 ft

Aaron: WK 1-25-09 to 1/31/09
Bike:
Total Distance: 75.43 Miles
Time: 4:59:47.66
Total Calories: 5061
Total Climbing: 3273 ft

YTD:
Total Distance: 180.63
Time: 13:04:43.29
Total Calories: 12,335
Total Climbing: 11,392 ft

Run:
Total Distance: 6.5 miles
Total Time: 1:08:45.74
Total Calories: 845
Climbing: 0 (ran on the treadmill)

YTD
Total Distance: 30.41
Time: 6:05:05.45
Total Calories: 4286
Climbing: 2057