yep- that's lance armstrong

On Sunday we hosted the sister race to the ski mountaineering race I organized last winter- the power of four mountain bike race.

It's pretty much a bunch of mtn bike and fitness freaks who are up for the challenge of biking 9,000ft of elevation gain over 33 miles. In our inaugural year lance armstrong decided to give it a shot (he's number 57 in the picture, front right).

While lance is often in Aspen, he has a home here and comes quite often, he doesn't always partake in each biking event so we were pretty excited to have him out.

He ended up DNFing (did not finish) after a bad crash on a very technical and rocky part of the course. While it might sound obvious that he would have won , I'm not so sure. It would have been very close between him and his local biking buddy Max. At the half way point Max was only 1.5 mins behind Lance and gaining on him. Yes, Max is an insane athlete.


One interesting fact: Lance was the only athlete who didn't even bring food or water with him. I was at the aid station at the half-way point (where i took a pict of the bridge above) and he just flew right on by. Super human!

real update coming this week

stay tuned for mention of bears, bouncy houses, 100 mile bike race

it's 9:32am...

time for a gratuitous puppy in the parking lot photo! (getting everything set up for Ride for the Cure allllll day and she gets to tag along through venue set up, registration and Riders meeting )

real update coming soon

have a picture of a puppy for now and I'll share about my 4-day backpacking trip after Sunday

like to hike

American Lake on the last day American debt is AAA-rated

One of the many perks of having a furry child is that you have a hiking partner who is stoked and ready to go every minute of the day. Lucy is the rare breed who enjoys her sleep and sleeping in, but even so I could wake her up at 4am say the word "hike" (it's maybe once a year I actually wake up that early for a hike...) and she'd jump out of bed and be seated at the door ready to roll.

Yesterday my little hiking fiend and I went up to American Lake. The trailhead is about a 15min drive from my place in Aspen towards the ghost town of Ashcroft (where I biked to in my previous post). It starts at about 9,500ft and goes up to around 11,500ft. Aside from the awesome scenery at the top/the lake the route up makes you feel like you're on 3 separate hikes all at the same time.

You start in a huge grove of mature Aspen trees and switch-back and forth through them up a moderately steep face for about 2/5ths of the hike. Then, you hit this very short yet steep little section covered with exposed roots and BAM, you're now in an evergreen forest with a completely separate ground cover... it's pretty weird. You go through that type of terrain for another 2/5ths of the trail and the last 1/5th is a combination of a scree field (lots of loose, reasonably-sized rocks) and a few huge meadows brimming with wild flowers that inspired the puppy to frolic like a member of a certain singing Austrian family with a bunch of kids.

Lucy and I loved the hike and were pretty psyched that we were able to keep a very good pace over the entire 6 mile trail (3mi to the lake, 6mi roundtrip). One day I'd like to be able to run it... that one day may have to wait until next summer when I'm (hopefully) fitter though.

You know you want to frolic through this!

Bike to Ashcroft

History, endorphins AND mountains!

Yesterday I rode my newish road bike from my place in central Aspen to the ghost town of Ashcroft. It's one of the more popular places to bike to and is a good little workout.

The ride is beautiful (duh, it's the Rockies) and follows a creek through a valley that spits you out staring at a granite wall known as the Elk Mountain Range. It's here that back in the late 1800s miners thought it'd be a good idea to dig for silver and set up a once-booming mining town. The town booms no more. The only remnants are a few old cabins and mine dumps.

Ride Stats
Starting elevation: about 8000ft
Finishing elevation: about 9500ft
Miles (roundtrip): 22.5mi

I'm Back!

Yes, it's been a while... Last time I posted I was living in Vail and now I'm firmly settled into Aspen with no intention of moving. After my trusty flip phone broke a few days ago I finally got a smartphone and can update this with ease.

So long story short- you can count on me to update this as frequently as I do fun things... Frequently.