If I have one little gripe about our new hometown — and granted, I feel so lucky to be here it seems ridiculously whiny to even mention it at all — it’s that the road riding opportunities are limited.
Continue readingNot Terrain Appropriate
Exhale
Anticipation
For me, one of the best things about being back in Colorado is having four honest-to-God seasons again. In Houston things go from hot and damp to cool and damp with maybe a week of sunny dry weather thrown in in March and November to serve as spring and fall. Leaves in Houston don’t change as much as they get old and fall off. And for the more part, things are green year-round.
Continue readingAn unplanned history lesson
A couple of the peaks coming around on the climb rotation, La Plata and Huron, are nearby but are accessed via an area I’m unfamiliar with, Clear Creek canyon. And since most 14er climbs start with a drive in the dark, we decided it would be a good idea do a little reconnaissance work in the daylight to locate the trailheads and get a sense for the difficulty of the road. The trip would have the added benefit of getting to see the historic mining town of Winfield, which sits near the top of Clear Creek Canyon.
Continue readingI ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
Besides being the year of the global pandemic, 2020 marked two momentous and significantly more positive events in my life. I retired, twice. I checked out of the corporate meat grinder after 35 years and I retired from bike racing after 24 years.
Continue readingMeta
I started this blog thing because I wanted to tell amusing stories about life in Colorado. It’s just meant to be a distraction from the shitshow of reality in which we all currently find ourselves. If a few people visit every now and then and find some interest or comfort in my collection of stories and pictures then I’m satisfied. I don’t have any particular ambition other than to share.
Continue readingEpic, as usual
When you’re new in town it’s important to talk to the locals to get the low down on how things, you know, work. Where are the good restaurants? Who’s your vet? Know a good car mechanic? And when a local asks you to participate in something, no matter what it is, you do it. Hey, want to go for a ride? Sure! We’re hiking tomorrow, you interested? Would love to! Goat yoga? In!
Continue readingHidden Gem
Under the category of ‘it’s a small world’, the lady that we adopted one of our dogs from in Houston just so happens to also have a place near Salida. She and her husband split their time between Texas and Colorado and we’ve stayed in contact with them over the years since we met. They were in town last week and they invited us for a hike up by their place to participate in the time-honored CO tradition of viewing the changing aspens.
The objective for the day was a hike up the little-known (at least to me) Pass Creek trail to Pass Creek lake. It was an eight-mile round trip on a glorious fall day in the mountains.
Continue readingSomewhere over the burning Rainbow
Our house is on Methodist mountain, the northern most peak in the Sangre de Cristo range. Methodist is more of a big green lump than something spectacular like the Sawatch range across the valley or the Sangres further south. Most of the peaks around here are named after Native American chiefs or ivy league colleges so I was curious how Methodist got its name. I did some research (ok, I Googled for 30 minutes) but didn’t turn up anything definitive on the name origin. I like to think that it had something to do with Methodist pioneers who lived in the area performing long-forgotten rituals in the woods, druid pot luck dinners, bingo games and such. But I digress.
Continue readingRolling on the Arkansas Hills
Just north of downtown Salida, at the end of F street is Tenderfoot hill, also known as S mountain because of the big Salida S on it. The Arkansas hills are the rugged hills behind Tenderfoot. Not that impressive to look at but oh lordy, perfect for mountain biking.
Continue reading