Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Flickr
I'm joining the Flickr world. I've had a free account for a while, but I just upgraded to a Pro account. You can check out my Flickr photos here.
Backpacking - Twin Crater Lakes
I had never been to the Rawah Wilderness before last weekend. The reason we ended up there for a backpacking trip was because I looked on a map and found some lakes to check out. The destination: Twin Crater Lakes.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Back to the Canyon
Recently my request for a backcountry permit in the Grand Canyon was granted, so we're going back in October with a couple friends. We're hiking down to Deer Creek Falls, which is a place we went to on my raft trip. While we were there on the raft trip, we saw a couple backpackers and I thought that would be a really cool place to hike down to. I'm totally excited.
We're going to hike down one day, hang out the next, and then take a couple days to hike out. Since our permit is good for Monday-Thursday in the canyon, we also have a weekend on either end to take a nice leisurely road trip there and back. We're going to try to hit some other parks like Bryce and Zion. We're open to suggestions if anyone knows of some cool things to see in that area.
We're going to hike down one day, hang out the next, and then take a couple days to hike out. Since our permit is good for Monday-Thursday in the canyon, we also have a weekend on either end to take a nice leisurely road trip there and back. We're going to try to hit some other parks like Bryce and Zion. We're open to suggestions if anyone knows of some cool things to see in that area.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Home for the holidays
Christine and I just booked plane tickets to come home for Thanksgiving. We'll be there 11/18 (late) - until 11/24. Ah, vacation in Ohio in November. Dreamy.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
SAG'n
I was Christine's personal SAG (supplies an gear) vehicle yesterday during the Triple Bypass. I had a cooler full of cold drinks and a bag full of gear to keep her ready for any weather. I also had my own gear so I could ride along with her as much as possible.
I dropped her off at the start area early in the morning and then drove down I-70 to the Georgetown aid station. From Georgetown I geared up and and rode the opposite direction on the course until I found her. I ended up making it almost all the way up to Echo Lake before we crossed paths. We rode down into Idaho Springs and on to Georgetown together. After a bite to eat in Georgetown, we continued west.
When I did the ride a couple years ago, I remember the stretch from Idaho Springs to Loveland ski resort being a tiring uphill drag and I wanted to ride as much of that as possible with Christine. After leaving Georgetown, the route follows along some bike paths and frontage roads for a while before getting onto the shoulder of I-70. I rode almost up to I-70 with her and then turned around so I could get the car and meet her at Loveland resort. I would have loved to ride the whole way to Loveland with her, but that would mean I'd eventually have to ride back on I-70 alone and it didn't seem like a good idea.
The timing worked out well because Christine got to the ski resort a minute or two after I parked the car. I got back on my bike and rode with her up to the top of Loveland Pass. They had a camera man up there, so hopefully there will be a good picture of us together. I said goodbye to her atop Loveland Pass met her again briefly at the Summit County High School Aid Station before driving up to the top of Vail Pass. I hopped on my bike again on Vail Pass and rode down to meet Christine at Copper Mountain.
Of the 3 passes Vail is the easiest, but after almost 100 miles of riding, it's plenty hard. It's a great feeling to pull into the Vail Pass aid station because you know you've ridden about 100 miles, and the remaining 20 miles are all downhill. I said goodbye to Christine one final time and then met her at the finish.
At the end of the day, I had actually ridden 80 miles in between shuttling the car and riding with Christine.
I dropped her off at the start area early in the morning and then drove down I-70 to the Georgetown aid station. From Georgetown I geared up and and rode the opposite direction on the course until I found her. I ended up making it almost all the way up to Echo Lake before we crossed paths. We rode down into Idaho Springs and on to Georgetown together. After a bite to eat in Georgetown, we continued west.
When I did the ride a couple years ago, I remember the stretch from Idaho Springs to Loveland ski resort being a tiring uphill drag and I wanted to ride as much of that as possible with Christine. After leaving Georgetown, the route follows along some bike paths and frontage roads for a while before getting onto the shoulder of I-70. I rode almost up to I-70 with her and then turned around so I could get the car and meet her at Loveland resort. I would have loved to ride the whole way to Loveland with her, but that would mean I'd eventually have to ride back on I-70 alone and it didn't seem like a good idea.
The timing worked out well because Christine got to the ski resort a minute or two after I parked the car. I got back on my bike and rode with her up to the top of Loveland Pass. They had a camera man up there, so hopefully there will be a good picture of us together. I said goodbye to her atop Loveland Pass met her again briefly at the Summit County High School Aid Station before driving up to the top of Vail Pass. I hopped on my bike again on Vail Pass and rode down to meet Christine at Copper Mountain.
Of the 3 passes Vail is the easiest, but after almost 100 miles of riding, it's plenty hard. It's a great feeling to pull into the Vail Pass aid station because you know you've ridden about 100 miles, and the remaining 20 miles are all downhill. I said goodbye to Christine one final time and then met her at the finish.
At the end of the day, I had actually ridden 80 miles in between shuttling the car and riding with Christine.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Third times a charm
Christine rode the Triple Bypass today, start to finish. She dug deep into her suitcase of courage to conquer this very difficult course, and I'm proud of her for taking it on..
Christine got her hot new Blue Sky kit earlier this week:
Even after 120 miles and 10,310 feet of climbing, she still looks amazingly chipper:
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