A Year In Review

With the end of April comes the end of the school year. Over the year I have explored every part of the border, traveled into Mexico and hiked throughout Arizona. Now with summer coming on strong you can follow my new blog Lifeguard4Life Its focus is on lifeguarding through the summer and anything to do with the beach. There is also a live surf report.

My favorite part of the year was hiking in the border area. The desert is harsh and unforgiving. If you turn your back on it even for a moment, it will take from you. Deadly animals, painful plants, dangerous drug traffickers and a killer sun, the desert has them all. Hundreds of people have been killed crossing the border. Being in the same environment and experiencing the same hike is exciting and humbling.

Tucson has a lot to offer to the outdoors. Its weather, and geography is unmatched for desert lovers like myself. The city has so much to offer, the outdoor enthusiast can get lost for years in Tucson's wilderness; never crossing the same path twice.

This will be my last blog post for the school year. I hope that you enjoyed what I had to offer and hopefully I gave you some ideas of places to go yourself.

Magdalena, Sonora Mexico

Photo by Samantha Sais

Friday morning, armed with a camera, a recorder and a spanish translator, Samantha Sais and I traveled into Mexico to witness the art of saddle making.

Located on a narrow street corner in Magdalena, Sonora, a saddle maker tinkers away at leather strips inside the small shop with mexican music playing over the am fm radio in the corner. The end result forming a lavish saddle ready for hard riding.

The store started when David Molina's father started making saddles in the 40s. Since then, the Molina family has been making saddles for every rider. From the serious rancher, to rodeo cowboys.

The saddles take 8 days from start to finish to complete. The majority of them are made from cow hide, but Molina's shop has made them out of everything from shark skin to ostrich hide.

People come from all over the world to buy a saddle from David Molina. For five thousand dollars you can own your own custom saddle that is shaped to you and your horse.

St. Andrews

A doctor and med-students go over a

patients file at St. Andrews

Photo  by David McErlean

This Thursday was the monthly children's health clinic in Nogalas Ariz. The clinic is put on by Saint Andrews church to help the poorer family's of Mexico that are not able to to pay for it themselves. Children from all of Sonora come to the clinic every month to receive a range of health care.

For this month, the clinic invited BorderBeat.net to come and observe the doctors and administrators that volunteers in action.

There was no better feeling than to witness a 5-year-old smiling as they see for the first time after getting their first pair of glasses, or hear for the first time after putting their first pair of hearing aids in.

Each child is given a fluoride treatment. The water in Mexico is not treated with fluoride. Without the fluoride in the water like here in the U.S. people tend to have more dental problems.

After the dental treatments, each patient is taken to the special area that they need and treated. While being treated, parents are given clothes and other necessary items that they will need when returning home.

The clinic sees and treats over 200 kids, new born to 18 years-old, from Mexico.

Photographing the Border

Me photographing water coursed in Southern Arizona
Photo by Karl W Hoffman

The best part about going on photo projects with other photographers is getting some pictures of yourself. Always being the one with the camera, everyone with me has tons of photos. I have noticed that I don't get photos of myself very often. 

After going on a photo project with Karl W Hoffman with Skull Creek Media, I was able to get some photos of myself reporting. 

Karl is a photojournalist who has lived on the border for the last 6 years, photographing and documenting the activities there.

Me photographing water sources in Southern Arizona
Photo by Karl W Hoffman

Thanks for the photos Karl.

Beer Mile

Tucson Unofficial Beer Mile
Friday March 25, 2011

The rules are simple. Run a mile on a track, starting each lap with a beer. Just don't lose your lunch or you will have to run a penalty lap. (Complete set of rules)

Last night at an undisclosed track in Tucson, different sports teams from the area competed in the annual secret event of the Beer Mile. The time was set beforehand. Waiting for a text message 30 minutes before the race, those entered in the race waited by their phones with fellow teammates to receive the location.

With the location set, racers get to the track and set up their transition areas, placing their beers in a line at an easy to reach spot on the track.

Dressed in costumes to intimidate the other competitors, 20 athletes stand at the starting line, armed with 3 beers at their feet while holding one steadily in their hand. Fingers idly wait on the pop top, just waiting to pull the trigger and start the race.

The official timer counts down. Three. Two. One. GO!

The sound of 20 cans opening together fills the air, then silence as the athletes begin to chug. Seconds pass and the first racers are off. With a toss of their empty can, they sprint into gear and charge around the dark track with something to prove.

Coming back into the transition area, the first racers reach for their second beer. Starting to feel the effects, some racers stall drinking so they don't lose it; avoiding the end penalty lap. The leaders are still looking at record setting pace.

As the third lap comes, racers start quickly adding penalty laps. Laying on the grass, the race track becomes for only the serious racers.

A triathlete finishes his last beer and run his last lap. In a full dead sprint, he is set to win by a long shot as long as he can keep it together. He crosses the finish line with an official time of 7:04. Second fastest time in Tucson according to the Beermile.com records book.

It was a challenging event with no right way to train for it. Look out for next years official Tucson Beer Mile charity fund raiser.

All competitors were 21 years old or older. Please drink responsibly. Always use a designated driver.

First Triathlon

This weekend I raced in my first triathlon at the Lake Havasu Triathlon put on by Tucson Racing. There were close to 200 collegiate athletes from Arizona, Utah and Colorado competing in the olympic distance race; 1500 meter swim, 40 kilometer bike, and 10 kilometer run.

Good job to all the Tricats that competed this weekend.

Tricat Mens Results
Ua 11:49:15

Luke Mcguire (2:11:30.6)

James Magras (2:21:00.3)

Nicholas Ahrendt (2:25:03.2)

David Mcerlean (2:25:43.7)

Clay Pierce (2:25:57.0)

Travis Burkel (2:33:44.6)

Greg York (2:34:49.5)

Phillip Lewis (2:35:37.9)

Nathan Hill (2:36:04.5)

Phillip Valine (2:40:19.4)

Mike Shufeld (2:45:59.4)

Jared Lujan (3:21:52.8)

Tricat Womens Results

Ua 13:00:48

Zara Guinard-bachman (2:26:55.6)

Heather Roesly (2:34:03.6)

Kristina Solheim (2:38:02.2)

Ali Connell (2:40:22.2)

Briana Nute (2:41:24.3)

Erin Leonard (2:50:35.0)

Christiie Scott (2:54:09.9)

Sara Sanchez (3:00:32.0)

Fair Wheel Tuesday Ride

For those of you that are looking for a great ride with some great people, look at the Tuesday Fair Wheel Ride. Every tuesday morning, a group of riders leave from University Boulevard in the morning and go 35 miles out to Gates Pass and back.

Riders abilities range from the fastest people in town to the average biker. As long as you are willing to ride, you will feel welcome when you show up. Just beware that if your not on top of your game, you might get run over when the pack picks up the pace so slower riders should hang back.

The ride leaves and heads west down University. At Main the ride turns left towards 6th street. From there they head west on 6th to Grande and head south until Ajo. This part of the ride is very relaxed and a good warm up pace. Turn right on Ajo and get ready to ride.

Once the ride reaches Ajo, it takes off and charges to Kinney Road. The front pack is hard to stay with. If you are able to stay with them its a great accomplishment for us average riders. I made it to the MCDonalds on the corner of Ajo and Kinney for the first time this week, after weeks of doing the ride.

Don't worry if you lose the main pack. You wont be the only one. There are tons of people that will be right behind you to finish the ride with.

Turn right at Kinney and head towards gates pass. The group heads to McCain Loop before going up and over Gates Pass.

The ride is a great way to start the day. Its usually around two hours to do the entire route. To join, be in front of Starbucks before the time it leaves, 7 a.m. right now but will change with the change in sunrise. Don't be intimidated by all the experience that surrounds you. Everyone has to start somewhere before they get good. Its a great way to learn from experience and get really fast.