Thursday, September 13, 2007

Las Cruces, the secret heaven

In the last 2 years, i been coming back a few times to this very special retreat in the south part of New Mexico. The city of Las Cruces at a elevation of 4000 feet is a secret heaven that not many people know about. It was a population of 75 000 people, many cows and roadrunners, and few rattlesnacks. There is also a pretty nice univeristy, NMSU with a beautifull outdoor 50m pool and a 25m inside pool. The roads are quiet and mostly flat. The scenery is amazing with the majestueuse Orange mountain range east of the city and the rio grande river flowing on the west side of town. Las curces was before a crossing path between texas arizona and mexico but is now a center of agriculture.




There is something special about this place, it feels like home here. It is very hot at the moment and very windy and make for very difficult training conditions. Today was 37 degres and the strong dry wind was definitly testing me on the 3.5h ride.




New Mexico is call The Land of Echantement, well, i do beleive it s a amazing place that as been forgotten over the year and is worth rediscovering. There is many ghost town, the Trinity side where the first ever Atomic bomb was tested 50 years ago?? and also home of the giant White sand missile range. there is even a 10km runnway for the space shuttle to land in case of emergency!!!!!
So here we go, you guys now know my secret training place. If you see a cyclist on the road, it s most likely me or Danny as there is only us on the road..... and a few cars from time to time.... you can also find us near the river or in the Orange mountain range running in the hilly trails and getting the work done. There is a lot of lonely hours of training here and plenty of time to reflect on the why and what so when you show up to races, everything become very clear......i really like it here, this place and the people as been very good to me lately......


today:3.5h z2 ride...hot windy, strong legs

Swim: 8X400m on 5' average 4:32s 4km total..... another meat and potato day!!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Johny, my son races triathlon and we are wondering how you go about finding sponsorship? He is a good racer and wants to be just like you!

Anonymous said...

uhhh is this a travel brochure for New Mexico? I'm on my way!!!

Anonymous said...

I didn't see any pictures of the women's. I agree with Zach. When you decide to hang up the speedo you have a career in front of you with the New Mexico Department of Tourism.

I'm thinking that you can get Paulo's futon put on the registry of historical places.

jonnyo said...

in reply to anonnymous... sponsorship is hard to find and triathlon is very hard to life from if you can;t make enough from prize money. I would suggest to find a bike shop that want to support your son and from there, approche different people as you get good results... but i would recommend to also have a job so you get another source of income outside of triathlon!

good luck!!!
jonathan

Eric Blais said...

Hi Jonathan,

This looks kind of like Tucson, without the mass of peopole. Any good hills tucked away in the mountains?

I have bene looking for a new train ig get away

jonnyo said...

Las Cruces is not a dessert like tuscon, more green and more rain...but it s very nice. no major climb unless you drive 45 minutes to a amazing mountain, hillsborow...even better than mt lemmon, the road here are quiet, nice and beautifull, i like it more than tuscon because it s smaller and not as dangerous!!!