Shooting Range/Chili Pepper Challenge

This weekend was my turn. I chose to go for a two-part date. Chris' sister was in town visiting, and this will be the second date she's accompanied us on. I surprised Chris by buying target rounds for his Smith and Wesson M&P .40. He's had for several months now and had yet to shoot it. We decided to head to the Fort Bliss Rod and Gun club to shoot, since I wouldn't need a safety class in order to shoot there (EPCC has a much cheaper shooting range, but I would be required to complete a safety course that's only held on the first Saturday of every month). The weather was beautiful. Chris went and bought targets from the PEx before we left. For the three of us, it cost $30 (seemed a little steep). Chris loved it! It was a little bit too much gun for me, but it was still fun. We were using an old target that was already bullet-riddled so it was hard to see how well we were doing. The 100 rounds I bought went fast!

Part two has been in the works for over a month now, and it turned into a huge bust. I told Chris about this date a couple days ago, just to give him a heads up. I registered us for the Chili Pepper Challenge 20 mile bike tour. I knew we could both complete the distance, but I would want the same courtesy of a heads up for a physical date. Held at the La Vina Winery in La Union, NM, our heat started this morning at 10:30 am. Chris has felt pretty awful the last week, and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to try it last night. This morning he decided to suck it up and go with me (I was going either way since I already paid). I was glad to have him with me. There were over 900 riders participating. We got there a little early to pick up our packets with our numbers and t-shirts. There were all levels of experience from kids up to seasoned road racers. Things were going well for the first couple miles. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was as well. About four miles out it became apparent that Chris was having a lot of difficulty breathing and was pretty miserable overall. We made it to the 5.5 mile marker and turned around to head back. We didn't quite make the 20 miles, but 11 miles isn't too bad for someone that likely has pneumonia. We also found out that Chris' bike is extrememly uncomfortable at anything further than a couple miles. Lessons learned.