Running from Tigers, and Other Large Cats: Colorado Came A Calling

Well June and July came and disappeared for me in a blink of an eye. For me, that's not a bad thing, except that I haven't updated this since May. That just means that I have so much to update now in August. I can't just list everything either, because everything I've done since May has been worth writing a whole post about.

June 23: I boarded Airtran Airways for the oxygen-deprived Colorado Rocky Mountains. My good friend from College, Craig Daigle, moved out there early 2009 to get a taste of skiing that beautiful powdered snow. As you can see, he got hooked. Got a job at the same company as me and just enjoys the Colorado lifestyle to the fullest. He has been asking me to come visit him since he moved out there, and I have always had the intentions to, but never pulled the trigger. So I bit the bullet, and signed up for the Loveland Lake to Lake Olympic Triathlon (update coming later) just 50 miles north of where he lives, just so that I would feel committed to planning the trip.

June 24: My first full day in Colorado with Craig, and we had a blast! He cooked me some eggs in the morning, and then we loaded into his Jeep Wrangler and sought out the sites of Colorado. He showed me around Boulder, took me to Starbucks (which they have everywhere out there; it's their Dunkin Donuts), and then met up with one of his rock-climbing friends to do some outdoor rock-climbing in Boulder Creek. The place we decided to climb was about 30 minutes through the creek, and I did not hate a single second of the drive. The drive was on a 2-lane road, with a beautiful flowing, windy river running on one side, and an extremely fun looking (for a joy ride) dirt path for casual mountain bikers and joggers. On the far sides of the river and the path were just cliffs of pure bliss for climbing. When we arrived at the spot we were going to park and hike to the climbing location, we got out, started grabbing or things, then Craig and his friend look at each other: "Did you bring rope?" "No, I thought you did." Needless to say, none of us were going to start climbing without any rope! Back down Boulder Creek. But at least the view was amazing! We went to a climbing store on the way back down to boulder, and Craig grabbed a bunch of climbing gear (including rope!). We ended up climbing at this other location closer to where we now where, of which the name is escaping me, and it was amazing. My first time outdoor rock-climbing and it was better than I imagined. The only "downfall" happened during our hike off-road to the climbing location. We had to hike up this hill that was probably only 30 feet high, and at the top I was completely (and I mean completely) winded. I was huffing and puffing and I thought "I am in pretty good shape, I'm doing an Olympic triathlon here in a few days, am I in trouble?!" At the time we were climbing, and the angle of the cliff, the sun was just in view when you approached the top, so the higher you climbed, the brighter it got, and so it was like climbing up to Heaven. After finishing up a few climbs, Craig and I headed to Golden to take a "short" tour of the Coors Brewing Factory. The "short" tour consisted of us cutting the whole tour, and going straight for the bar on site! They gave you a wrist band with 3 holes on it that represented how many free beers you got. We could try any of the beers Coors Brewing Factory brews, and it was delicious! We would wait in line, grab a beer, and go straight for the line again. By the time we were done with our beers, we would be at the front of the line again, genius! After leaving the factory, we stopped over at Clear Creek to cool off a bit. We stripped down to our (Mom close your eyes) underwear, and just jumped in the creek. The water was absolutely freezing because it was coming down from the Rocky Mountains and the melting snow, but it was quite refreshing as it was so hot out. Later that night we went to the Colorado Rockies game, and they just happened to be playing the Boston Red Sox!! I was so excited when I found this out that I had to buy the tickets and incorporate this into our schedules for the trip. Our seats were the 2nd row FROM the top, which was fine for the view, but terrible for climbing all those stairs at elevation! By the time we got to our seats, which were a good 15 rows above the "purple seats" (signifying a mile above sea-level), I was gassed and had to take a few moments to breathe before starting on my beer (Another one? Yes, of course.). The game was incredible, back-and-forth, extra-innings, 3-home runs from Dustin Pedroia, and the Sox pulled off the win. I brought them some luck, because they had lost the first 2 games in the series.

June 25: This day wasn't as high-intensity "lets do everything" as the day before, but it was a good day for us to enjoy Colorado again and just spend some time together. We drove to Denver to pick up my bike because I decided to rent instead of paying to ship my bike both ways. There was a charity bike race the same day as my race, and so they didn't have any bikes available in my size, and I had to get a bike 1 size to big. I thought this would be okay, and that I was just racing for the experience anyways. We headed up to Loveland to check out the area and check-in for the race. The drive up was amazing, again. The highway was completely straight, but everything on the left hand side of the highway was mountainous and just a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains. Everything along the left hand side was just gorgeous valleys and beautiful land. Skipping ahead to after Loveland, we headed towards the Rocky Mountains towards Estes Park to find our digs for the night. We decided to camp in Estes Park for the night, and it was a great idea. We found this great road off through the mountains, took us 45 minutes to drive up to our location, and then we set-up camp, ate dinner, and then decided to take the Jeep off for some night-off-roading.

June 26: Loveland Lake to Lake Triathlon - Updates Later. After the race, we headed back towards Denver to drop off the bike, and headed back to the Rocky Mountains, met up with another one of his friends for some serious off-roading (don't worry Mike, you don't have to do anything, I know you are tired from your race, just sit and relax, ha!) and then camping at 14,000 feet elevation. Our off-roading took us through some of the most difficult terrain I have ever seen, and their Jeeps handled it like champs! At one point, snow was blocking our path, and we had to find another way around! Unreal for there to be that much snow in June.

June 27: So tired from the previous few days, I obviously had to get up early enough for us to make our appointment on this day, white water rafting in the Rockies! I'm down. Now, I've been white water rafting several times, but they have all been in Maine, in the wide river of the Kennebec. And although the Kennebec sports a cool Class 5 rapid, I had little knowledge for what was coming at me today. The river we rafter on this day was very narrow, very shallow in some spots, and very windy which meant that it was a technical river to navigate, and those rafts are hard to navigate! As a bonus for visiting, Craig and all his friends let me ride in front (or they knew what was coming). Every dip, every turn, every rapid hit me straight in the face with a rush of cold water. I was slipping and sliding up to the front, back to my position, up to the front, and several times I thought I would just slide right off the front. Then it happened. We hit this gnarly rapid and the raft dipped and then shot straight up and launched me far out of the raft. Luckily, I knew how to get back to the raft and knew to use my paddle to help the others help me back in. I was back in the raft in a short time.