A week in the office; a week in the woods [9/16-9/24]

I've been happily unemployed and homeless since June... and luckily still have some savings left in the bank account. Floating around amongst a few friends' couches in Denver has been nice but it's getting boring/lazy... Fortunately(?) my old employers needed a substitute dispatcher for 6 days, so I'm back into the workforce as a productive member of society or something like that. I'd be working in the courier office in Boulder, and what better place to live than the National Forest outside of Nederland for the week?

I found a fantastic campsite a few hundred yards off singletrack not far from town and settled in for the week. It's a great life- wake up to the sunrise every morning, ride about 25minutes of trails on my way into town for a coffee at Happy Trails (my fave coffeeshop in the world) and catching the bus down to Boulder for office duties. After work it's back up the canyon on the bus for about an hour of trail riding, returning to camp with the aid of bike lights. The daylight is short nowadays, so my riding is pretty limited but still super fun.

sunrise from camp

September in the Rockies is my favorite time of year here: the air is crisp, the temps moderate, the aspens and oaks burning with vibrant fall colors. Every year I get a spur of motivation to make the most of the last few delicious days in the hills- and living in the midst of it in a tent for a week is just perfect.

my new neighbors

4 day Mini Tour: Denver > Longs > Ned > Boulder > Denver

My last big push physically before my 3 month summer tour begins- and more importantly I think, a trial run with the 'new' bike and my gear setup. Set up the bike last weekend, packed up on Wed/Thurs and I took a 'vacation' day Friday and hit the road at 7am headed west.

My agenda for the long weekend: bike tour to Longs Peak, hike to the summit of Longs, ride to Nederland and then find my 'puter seat in the courier office on Monday morning.

I elected to climb via Golden Gate Canyon, the most direct route onto the Peak To Peak HW. It is a long, long climb... a few years ago when I was "training" for my first Utah Tour, I tried to climb this road, sans gear. I had to surrender to bowing my head over my bars near the top of the long ascent. Yet today I, smugly, crushed it. 50lbs of gear and I made a steady snail's pace up into the upper edge of the Foothills. Not to brag, but all my training has really paid off! I used to think that working as a courier counted as training. False. Very false. Since early January, you could say I've been sorta focused on training, 5-6 days/wk... running, swimming, weights, yoga, some spin classes, a few weights/spin/yoga (what the hell is that?) and of course many long rides in the mountains made possible by the unseasonably warm and dry winter we had.

So after 16mi of rolling flats and 18mi of of climbs, I finally gained the Peak To Peak HW

From here I headed north on the P2P for ~50mi, undulating between 8K and 9.4Kft  through Nederland, Ward, Allenspark. Shortly prior to the Longs trailhead/camp turnoff, I stopped by Olive Ridge campground and met Roland & Margaret, a retired Swiss couple halfway through their year long RV tour from Buenos Aires to Alaska to NYC! They shared a beer (american Budweiser) as we chatted about my euro tour and art museums near Basel, their hometown.

 
Despite threatening rain clouds all afternoon, I arrived dry at the Longs Peak campground, still closed for the winter, around dusk. Some overnight storms brought rain, lightening and sleet and I packed up camp still encased in ice at 5:30am Saturday morning. 82mi and 9900ft gained my first day out with full gear.

Hit the 7.5mi (each way) Longs trail at 7am on foot and climbed above a beautiful inversion

The weather was spotty; snow flurries w/o accumulation all day. A few times I considered turning back but each time I'd stop to regroup, the clouds would start to break before I was ready to turn tail. And so I kept pushing up and ahead. Until I got through the boulder field and saw a tent, I'd been the only person hiking up this high today.

the "trail" through the boulder field en route to The Keyhole

I pushed through 'The Keyhole' and things started to get far more intense in terms of climbing, altitude and weather. The signs had warned that this was "not a hike" rather a "climb" and I finally began to understand their advice. The backside of The Keyhole was no joke; one wrong slip would send you sliding down into dire consequences!

The Keyhole

The red/yellow bullseye paint marks the "easiest" route to scramble beyond The Keyhole.

Traversed the west ridge and caught up to two Tennessean brothers while ascending "The Trough." Now that I wasn't alone up here in the dicey conditions, all three of us pushed onward through "The Notch" and across "The Narrows." The snow was picking up and starting to accumulate, and the warmer rock faces were beginning to freeze over. Things were getting messy and dangerous. We made it to the very last steep pitch before the Summit Ridge when one of the brothers looked ahead and murmured, "This is stupid."

We all agreed. One slip, which was increasingly likely, would lead to instant death as you cascaded off the cliffs below. We turned back at 13,900ft, just 350ft below the summit. Wise decision... wiser yet would have had us heading down much sooner. There were no epic views, no grand ski lines, no majestic summit. We were just experiencing it for what it was, but that was perhaps better than running into a trail traffic jam on a bluebird day with people streaming onto the summit.

13,906ft

  The return back to the Keyhole was harder than the climb up because the continuing snow/wind was covering our tracks as well as the painted route markers. And shit was getting slick! We progressed very slowly and cautiously with only a few scares; when the Keyhole came into view all 3 of us let out a howl of relief. The risk had not abated entirely, but the worst was behind us. I made haste down the mountain towards my bike/gear so I could ride back down to the Natl Forest campground 6mi south. The sky was still dropping flakes when I returned to the trailhead at 9400ft, but the storm was breaking up and I let out for the other campground where I knew I'd have the next day for the 'dryer cycle' aka Colorado sunshine!

As I dried, organized and hashed out my gear, I had the realization that this stuff, give or take a few items, will be my only worldly possessions for the next three months halfway around the world. I think I'm comfortable with this prospect... certainly wish I didn't have an apartment full of crap to deal with.

In the afternoon I hit the road again and headed south on the P2P HW for 35mi to camp in the National Forest near where I often go mountain biking. Weather squalls missed me again; 2 out of 3 ain't bad. In the early morning I packed up and rolled into Nederland for a morning coffee before jamming down the canyon to work dispatch duties in the courier office.

After 9 hours in the office, it was back to the road to ride home to Denver through the 'burbs. A very successful 4 day trek! About 175mi on the bike and almost 15mi of high alpine hiking for the long weekend.

my new friend

As my 3 month summer tour approaches, I lucked into a sweet deal on a Surly Long Haul Trucker touring bike via my coworker's girlfriend's brother. Today I finally got over to pick it up and bring it home. It's a 'beaut, my new friend the 'Iceland Machine.' This bike is designed and built especially for touring and I'm stoked to have the right tool for the job this summer. On my previous Utah tours I successfully utilized my old aluminum Bianchi cyclocross frame, but for a journey of this magnitude I wanted something more durable and purpose driven. Now I've got it, for a good price and pristine peace of mind. Thanks, Declan! [photos coming soon]

sunset mountain biking Nederland; 1700ft gained

I was covering dispatching duties in the Boulder office again today; brought the mountain bike along and hopped on the bus up to Nederland after work. I squeezed in about 2.5hrs of trails in the convenient West Magnolia / High School trail system. Actually found some new trails I'd not explored before, which was fun.

The high country aspens are just beginning to send out their buds:

And eventually I found some leftover snow around 8700ft:

Rolled back through the town of Ned around 8pm with plenty of daylight left. Bombed down Boulder Canyon under the full "Super Moon" and treated myself to a post ride dinner of burger n beers at the Mountain Sun brew pub. What a way to spend a Friday night, yes?!?

Boulder Indoor Velodrome night, part II

Thanks to my buddy and former coworker Brian, and the good graces of former Motorola Team rider Keith Harper, the dirty Denver messengers got another go around on the velodrome. Thanks, guys! We tore it up for a few hours on Friday night... fun times indeed

Boulder > 4 Mile Canyon > Gold Hill > Sunshine Canyon: 23mi, 3100ft gained

I had to work in the Boulder office dispatching our bike couriers today so I took the opportunity to get in a quick road bike ride in the mountains after I got out from behind the computer. Started up Boulder Canyon for a few miles, then northwest up 4 Mile Canyon (another classic Boulder area climb.) This area had been devastated by the infamous 4 Mile Fire back in September 2010- burning over 130 homes and making it the most destructive (to man-made structures, anyway) forest fire in Colorado's history. I hadn't been here since the fire occurred and have been wanting to see the aftermath first hand. It's a fun, steep climb located conveniently close to town, gaining about 3000ft in 13mi from Boulder.

The road turns to packed dirt after about 6mi and gets into the thick of the burn area.

Continuing upwards, I reached the historic mining town of Gold Hill at 8100ft. The firefighters luckily saved this little mountain community and its 100+ year old structures from the fire. Just barely, as you'll notice how close the burn came to town. 

Topping out around 8300ft above Gold Hill, it was downhill back into Boulder via Sunshine Canyon. I was glad when the bumpy dirt road turned back into pavement so I could open it up safely for the long twisty descent into town.

backside of the Flatirons on the upper left

2 hours; 23 miles and 3100ft of climbing. Another day at the office.

Boulder Velodrome night

My buddy Brian set up an open ride night at the Boulder Indoor Velodrome for a bunch of Denver messengers to come up and try out riding on the track. I'd only ridden a velodrome once before, back in 2002 at the Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis when I worked at Jimmy Johns and was still a relative newcomer to riding a fixed gear. Tonight was a ton of fun- this track is wooden, short laps and steep walls. One of the resident track coaches was on hand to show us the ropes, give some pointers and safety protocols, and generally help decrease the likelihood of us killing ourselves or someone else.

my coworker Rob #08 coming through turn 4

 

I was able to ride my own track bike, here outfitted with drop bars once again. It was a great feeling to get this bike on the track finally! The g-forces in the turns get pretty intense once you get up to sprint speeds- it's a little unnerving to rail it into a 45 degree bank at full speed but feels sublime once you settle into the rhythm and are ready for the muscle strain in the arms and neck.

Denver's big blizzard

Finally got a big storm down here in the city. We've had a number of smaller storms this winter, but nothing major until now. We ended up with almost 2ft of fluffy snow. It started on Thursday afternoon and luckily for me I was scheduled to substitute for my dispatcher in the Boulder office on Friday. (The downside was having to leave the house at 5:45am in order to catch the first bus up to Boulder, figuring it could be a long commute.) So I spent a few hours on the bus but avoided biking all day in the mess.

A few shots of my yard after clearing the snow:

It kept on lightly snowing until late Saturday night, but the roads were fairly cleared up by the time I had to ride for work on Monday morning. The city sure is pretty!

National Western Stock Show festivities

For the past 107 years, Denver has been host to the National Western Stock Show. I've attended it the past couple of years, but after that the event gets a little old for a non-rancher like myself. The elusive goal, though, has been viewing the 'best in show' cow while he's on display in the lobby of the uber-fancy Brown Palace Hotel downtown. (It's another bizarre tradition of the Stock Show.) Finally, I realized my dream this year! As I pedaled up 17th St to drop some deliveries during work I spied the stock trailer outside of the hotel, so I waited around until they carted the steer into the lobby of the fancy hotel. Then I watched while the beast pissed all over the carpet inside his pen. Fantastic.

Elbow Surgery v2.0

The surgeon originally told me that most everyone with the kind of hardware I have in my arm eventually has it removed due to pain and discomfort. I need to have this done before the end of the year in order to avoid paying my insurance deductible all over again. And I'm very eager to see if it helps alleviate the pain I get when lifting or pushing things, pain when I do physical therapy to work on regaining more extension of my elbow, pain when I hit a bump while riding my bike, pain from a bumping my elbow on anything solid, resting it on a table, sleeping on it, reaching for something on a shelf... you get the idea. Pain of a lesser or greater degree from a whole lot of "normal" things I used to take for granted.

Although this is a fully anesthetized operation, it's fairly minor and should be a quick recovery (primarily waiting for the incision to heal up, then back to normal.) I hope the have less pain and sensitivity, be able to work harder on range of motion stretches, and to start lifting weights to regain strength in my left side. I've lost a lot of strength from the injury and the ongoing pain limitations.

Here's my range of motion before the surgery:

flexion is very good, almost back to normal

extension is a problem- this is as straight as I can go

scar from first surgery

....and... things went really smoothly! No significant post-operative pain, a soft splint that allows me to bend my arm some and use my hand fairly effectively. Nice! I even made a batch of chocolate chip cookies in the afternoon. Only took prescription painkiller for the rest of the day, after that I felt ok on my own.

I should be all set to return to work on my bike by Monday.... carefully. I built up my old touring buddy Bianchi cyclocross bike into a winterized urban warrior before the surgery. It's what I'll be riding while my arm heals (and whenever it snows.) Currently set up with narrow knobby tires, mountain bike style flat bar handlebars, brakes and shifters.

1st Snow

Got a few inches of snow last night and today... first of the year. Winter's a-comin'. This storms was particularly beautiful because much of the colorful autumn foliage was still on the trees, bedecked in white fluff. Sadly for the trees, though, the extreme weight of the moisture and leaves led to a massive amount of snapped limbs around town.

Mountain biking outside Boulder

My dispatcher had a couple of days off, which meant that I was on office duty up in Boulder. It being my favorite time of year in the Foothills and emboldened by my recent return to mt. biking, I brought the fatty tire bike up both days and took advantage of being next to some great riding.

On Thursday, I cut out of the office a bit early to catch the 4:40pm bus up to Nederland and got in 2hrs of really fun trails in the West Magnolia zone. My most recent trail day up here ended up with me in the hospital, so it was a victory of sorts to revisit my old trail haunt that I've ridden so many times since moving to Boulder--- 8 years ago. Sadly I forgot to pack the camera, and that's especially sad because it was perhaps the most electric and vibrant neon aspen colors that I've ever seen in my life! Sections of these trails duck through full canopies of young aspens, and it felt like a Disneyland ride to pedal through a fully encompassing tunnel of screaming neon yellow.

Friday I pedaled out from the office up to the Batasso Loop just a couple miles up Boulder Canyon, eager to check out the newly built Benjamin Loop addition. Got a late start, rode slow, and found the new spur to be longer than I'd expected. Luckily I had packed my lights and ended up pedaling the last hour in the darkness. This was my first proper singletrack in pitch black with only a headlight, and it was kinda fun. Kinda nerve wracking as well....


Started off well enough with a nice sunset ride outside of town....

But the last hour turned into this....  (Boulder city lights way down below in the distance!)
Made it home safe and sound, very very carefully.... ~4mi in the pitch black, a mile or two on technical singletrack.

"naked" fixed gear

I've been riding my fixed gear track bike for work with the aid of a front brake all summer while my elbow heals. I've managed to not use the brake even once (I've ridden without a brake for about 10 years now) but it's a nice piece of mind knowing it's there with my weaker left arm. However, the front wheel I was using snapped a spoke today at work, so I put my old track wheel back on and took the brake off. Figure if I can ride a mountain bike for 3 hours on the Colorado Trail, I can do without the brake. Every step closer to my old self feels like a big accomplishment.

City O' City- installing the chandelier

First off, for a much better expose of the finished work at City O' go to Randy's site!

Last of the major work at City O' City is transporting the custom chandelier (and it's 1000+ individual strands of delicate fiber-optics) from the workshop to the restaurant, and then hanging it from the ceiling beam. It was built while hanging from a custom wooden frame, so we modified that to keep everything in place and then late at night trailored it to City O'.

It made the trek without incident, and we had a team of good guys to help move it into place and install it hanging from the ceiling beam above the large community table in the center of the restaurant.

The finished product resplendent in full effect!

View from the table directly underneath the main chandelier- this is only a small portion of the whole apparatus, but you get an idea of just how much tedious work April did to individually hand-build each and every strand of fiber-optic string.

more City O' City work

Some critical crunch-time maneuverings with the City O' City project. With only a week until the scheduled opening day (the restaurant has been closed for 6 weeks during the remodel/expansion) Randy and I were working a week of consecutive all-nighters. Weekends we'd be working in the restaurant space from 7pm until 7am. It was a fun routine to experience the city (and Capitol Hill neighborhood in particular) go through it's transition from daytime to dead of night and then back to life as daybreak came to a pair of weary craftsmen. Weekdays I still had to work at the couriers, and never in my life have I managed to survive (barely) on just a couple hours of sleep a night (and sometimes none at all) for almost 2 weeks straight. We got most everything done, and all of the critical things needed to run a restaurant. Still some finishing touches of various degrees to tackle in the coming week or two.

Some photos of the progress:
This will be the coffee service area behind the orange/brown metal. In front will be one of the large barn-beam countertops I've been working on. The metal in the following pics in the sheet metal skin taken from a 1946 semi-truck trailer that Randy bought from an old junkyard and repurposed here as the interior finishings.

The kitchen bar service area will have the second barn-beam countertop and allow patrons to eat while watching into the open kitchen. The wall light fixtures were also salvaged from an old warehouse and retrofitted with ultra-efficient LED bulbs.

Transporting the finished barn-beam coutnertops from Randy's workshop to the restaurant on the top of his old Volvo wagon. I was terrified that they'd slide off en route, dashing my dozens and dozens of hours of work perfectly finishing the antique wood.

Today I learned to use a cut-router! Safety glasses did their job.

Opening night!!!!

Still need to hang the custom chandelier and matching fiber-optic light fixtures, and a few finishing touches. But all the major things got done, the city health inspectors passed our work and there was a line out the door all night long. And I learned an amazing amount of skills from Randy; this has been one of the most rewarding and interesting opportunities I've had in a long time. I'm very grateful to have had the chance to work on this project.