Thanksgiving In New Mexico; Haulling Rock

The before and after we unloaded one load of rocks...

No matter how I actually feel about the details of Thanksgiving and what it truly means I do enjoy the excuse to travel and visit family.  For 2009 I spent the great Turkey day in New Mexico at my mom’s house.  It’s been a great time.  My mom hasn’t wasted any time replacing my brother, Javier, and I after we moved out.  She’s taken to being a foster parent with all the effort and enthusiasm she had while raising us. So aside from seeing my brother and mom I get to meet a new, albeit temporary, addition to our family. I’m proud of my mom, and am happy that others are sharing in the experience of growing up with the strong, creative, and powerful influence of such a beautiful woman.

Gripworks or missing toes.

So for Turkey Day Javi and I moved some rock for my mom.  This doesn’t sound like a big project but trust me, mom needs a lot of rocks and she uses phrases such as “as big as possible” and “high density.” So I spent the day feeling like part of a giggling two man chain gang hauling rocks all over northern New Mexico.  This is hard considering I’m a cyclist, and well, we’re famous for a lack of upper body strength.  So it was a lot of locked arms and clean and jerk movements. But I did have one thing on my side.  I had just got some Ironclad (Ironclad Cycling) gear I was going to use strictly for racing and training but the good thing about getting cycling clothes from a construction company is that you can actually use them more for what they’re intended for.

My Ironclad gear of choice happened to be a base layer for the cold, compression socks to help with my still sore injured ankle and a set of Gripworx gloves.  These things are serious.  Like Spidey climbing walls serious, they have a textured palm that you could hold on to a warm stick of butter with. Perfect for a person hauling large wet rocks around with complete lack of the proper muscle structure to be doing so.  Ohh yeah and they also grip a beer really well.

Gripworks Grippin' a Beer... The way it should be!