Snow Bunnies on Copper

To celebrate Valentine's weekend and our belated two year anniversary, Chris drove up to Denver to visit. We spent Friday roaming the Highlands neighborhood (hopefully the neighborhood Chris and I will call home soon), driving around Lakewood, renting ski/snowboard equipment and eventually having a nice dinner. We finished up the night grabbing beers in LoDo at this quaint Irish pub, Nallen's. It was a great place and I plan many more visits to that pub in the future.

Saturday was our big day of fun at Copper Mountain, one of my favorite places to ski. Since Chris had snowboarded before, he rented a board while Nate and I played it safe on skis. We've skiied since we were kids, so flying down the sloaps on skis sounded more fun than crashing every minute on a snowboard. In order to beat the crazy traffic, we left by 6:30am. We arrived at Copper in perfect time and hit the slopes before the crowds came.


The view of Copper's village. It continued to snow all day which was great to have fresh snow.



I was a little worried about my ski performance since I haven't gone in three years, but it was like riding a bike. Although, my thighs would disagree that riding a bike would cause so much soreness.


Posing for a pic...or taking the opportunity to rest?


Trying to stay warm on the ski lift. The temperature was 11 degrees and that's not including the awful wind chill.

Chris was a little entertaining on his board. It was only his second snowboarding experience, but by the end of the day he was more comfortable with the slopes. Chris and Nate switched gear so that Nate could try snowboarding and Chris could try skiing. My brother seemed to pick it up a little quicker. I think any experience on the slopes at an early age is beneficial and probably not being taller than six feet helps too. They switched after one run - Chris looked more comfortable on his board.



When I've thought about snowboarding, I've always envisioned myself scooting down the mountain on my butt or making my way down in an uncontrollable barrel roll. I didn't want to waste a day of skiing to try out snowboarding, but if Nate picked it up that quick I bet I could too. Watching Chris and Nate makes me feel better about snowboarding for our next trip.



I had a blast on Saturday despite the ridiculously cold weather. We ended the day at Pizza Hut - nothing like three medium pizzas to cure all pain and hunger.

The next morning my legs felt like I had a night with Kathy Bates in Misery. We went to IHOP to resolve that pain too...unlimited pancakes, yum.

Scaling Flatirons

Last Saturday was the first Saturday I had off from work, so my brother and I decided to have a little sibling bonding time. We did what everyone in Colorado does on their free time...climb mountains.

We drove up to Boulder, which is only about 45 minutes north of Denver. We went to Boulder's notorious Flatirons and did some hiking. I was surprised by the number of people at the trailhead. There were so many college students...being active. I know Lawrence is an active town, but KU students didn't exactly wake up on the weekends and exercise for fun. We were usually nursing a hangover from the night before by eating at Milton's or grabbing some Juice Stop. Occasionally, we'd walk it off along Mass Street or stand for two hours in line waiting for an early basketball game. I suppose KU students don't have the luxury of a mountain playground in their backyard either.

I had to represent in CU territory - Go Jayhawks! (They were all probably wondering why a "flatlander" was on the trail. Little did they know that I'm BA...kinda)

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Anyway, we decided to conquer Flatiron #2 and followed the trail until Nathan decided to lead us another way. Part of the trail led to an area for rock climbers to practice on the boulders, and boy were there a lot of hippies...I mean rock climbers...practicing. We kept walking past them until it was clear that there was no path, only boulders...to climb. My legs were definitely shaking at that point and wondering why we didn't take a walk around the neighborhood that day instead. But being the trooper that I am, I kept scaling the boulders with Nate to the top of the flatiron.

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Although it's winter, the view was still pretty awesome above the treeline. We were at the halfway point here.

Taking a little break so my knees don't buckle while climbing the boulders. Have I mentioned how the altitude still kicks my ass? (In my defense, Boulder is higher up than Denver and these flatirons are pretty darn high with steep trails.)

Enjoying the view

Finally!

THE view we were climbing for -- The Rocky Mountain Range with all their snowy peaks

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There's the town of Boulder...looked so tiny from up there.

After our afternoon hike, we went to Boulder's downtown on Pearl Street. I absolutely LOVED the area with all the shops and restaurants. I wasn't really in the mood to walk more, but I really enjoyed our little stroll. As you can see...

Apparently, I have plenty of energy after a long hike up a flatiron or maybe I can't resist a ride on a pig when I have the chance.

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I had lots of fun in Boulder and hope to have many more trips back to the great college town.

Don't worry, Lawrence, you will always have a bigger place in my heart.

Runner's Itch

After being stagnate on my running/work-out schedule and having too much downtime, I have decided to register for a race. Obviously, I will officially register for the race when I have the funds to do so. In the meantime, I will begin training for a 10k in Boulder. I think that is a fair start for my out-of-shape legs. I have been going on long walks lately, but now it's time to up the ante. Here's a link to the race info. If you're interested in coming out to Denver that weekend and running alongside me in Boulder, then let me know.

http://bolderboulder.com/site3.aspx

It took me some time to find the right race during the right time. Many of the races around Colorado are marathons or half marathons through the mountains. I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment yet. As I was searching for the right race, I decided to check out Denver's Track and Field Club Web site, thinking they would have the most available information on future races in the area. Boy, did I find some interesting information and was a little surprised by the club's members.

http://www.denvertrackclub.org/Site/CMTFC.html

Does anyone else feel even more out of shape after seeing this home page? Looks like 'Ol George could kick my ass in a 10k. Glad to know that gram and gramps will be in the better wave than me in Boulder. Crap.

I'm telling you, the people in Colorado are freakishly fit and very intimidating...no matter what age.

Soothe Your Soul

I think we all get in various music crazes -- where we listen to a particular type of genre or maybe an artist for an extended period of time. Well, my latest craze is Adele. She is my favorite artist right now, and her voice is so soothing. Her latest album "19" has been playing in my car stereo since my move to Denver.

I love how music can alter any mood, and it's especially exciting to see how the artist pairs the song with a visual. After checking out Rachel's blog, http://www.whoopsiarted.blogspot.com/, it reminded me of an Adele music video. I absolutely love this song and can't seem to take my eyes off the screen whenever this video is playing. Check it out for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz7vGW2_5c0&feature=related

Despite the morbid background to it all, the song is still so beautiful. I absolutely recommend her debut album for all you loving a little London soul-searching music.

There's nothin' I can't do with a race car

Last Saturday was competition day at the ice track in Georgetown, CO. I didn't have to be at work until 6pm so I made a morning and afternoon out of it. After sitting in ski traffic for way too long, I finally made it to the lake. There was a much bigger crowd that day - many competitors and spectators. The crowd was the type that preferred playing motor sports rather than hitting the slopes on the weekends...lots of carharts and camo overalls...good 'ol boys with their toys and their dogs.



The lake is pretty spacious. Half of it was used for racing and the other half is used for ice fishing. I wonder how relaxing a day of ice fishing is when you have motors roaring the background? Here's a video of the surrounding footage to give you an idea of the atmosphere.



In case your curious about the actual competition part...

There were several divisions in the competition: Rubbers, Studs and Cheaters (sounds like a bad movie on Skinemax.) They broke the Studs and Cheaters into men and women divisions. I missed the women's racing, but wasn't too disappointed...call me sexist. The Rubbers are just the regular 4-wheel drive cars racing, which was nothing too special. There were lots of Subarus racing since they had there own competition that day. The Studs are two-seater Jeeps with metal studs on their wheels. The hundreds of studs on each tire helped with traction and looked like small bolts hammered into the rubber. The Cheaters are like the Jeeps but are lower to the ground and have larger motors. The difference will be very clear in the videos. The Cheaters first race with studs on their tires then for the last race they replace their tires with these.



It was a pretty cold day due to the wind and the ice kicked up from the Jeeps didn't feel too good on my face. I had to do what was necessary to get some good video though, which meant getting as close as possible. Check out my footage and let me know what you think. And may I remind you that I got to ride in one of the Jeeps the day before.



The Cheaters racing this time around.



Here's a video of more badass racing.

The lake was pretty difficult to walk on since it wasn't a smooth, icy surface. In order to have cars on the lake, they make sure the ice is 12 inches thick. You'll see from the photo how the lake froze in waves. I managed not to slip once.

Well, that sums up my latest Saturday in Colorado. Guess it's not the typical weekend for a 24-year-old, but I had a great time.

Now, my parents know what to look forward to on their visit in February. Maybe I could talk Grandma Sue in giving my dad a ride around the lake. Haha!

P.S. The title is a quote from Days of Thunder.

Tatonka

After my ice racing experience, I decided to stop at Lookout Mountain on my way back to Denver. Last time I stopped there with Chris and my brother we didn't see much. This afternoon was different though.

There were lots of tatonka (as the Sioux would say in Dances with Wolves.) Buffalo - for all you non-Native Americans or haters of Kevin Costner films.



I was surprised by the dainty fence that separated me from these beasts. Especially, when one large buf charged the fence and the whole thing leaned toward me. All of us spectators jumped back and I avoided taking more photos with my arm through the fence.





This guy became Friend #5 that afternoon. I plan to visit him again soon since he's behind bars.

(Friend #4 is Grandma Sue from the ice track.)

Go Speed Racer!

Last Friday I had the day off from work, so I decided to take a long drive out west into the mountains. About an hour into my drive on I-70, I noticed the most unusual sight to my left.

Several dozen cars were driving on a large frozen lake. Since I had nothing on my agenda for the afternoon, I took the next exit and found my way to this icy playground. Once I parked my little Civic, I began talking to an older woman who was sitting in a lawn chair in front of her RV watching all the action. She informed me about the ice racing club that hosts these events through January and February. Fridays are "fun days" for the club while Saturdays and Sundays are competition days. On the "fun days" anyone who has a 4-wheel drive car can come out on the lake for $5 and drive on the tracks. The lake has three tracks set up with orange cones so there is plenty of room for horseplay. Many of the cars were fishtailing and sliding all over the course. There were a few SUVs that putted around the cones...I'm assuming tourists stopping by to have a little fun before hitting the slopes.

The older woman was very nice and talkative. She told me how her family races every weekend during the season. Apparently her son, his wife and herself race a couple of Jeeps. At that moment several Jeeps roared on the ice making quite the entrance. She pointed out the white Jeep flying around the corner and said, "That's my son, there. He's practicing for tomorrow's race." We made a little more small talk before I walked down onto the frozen lake to get a closer look at all the action.

Before I knew it, the woman came up behind me and asked, "Do you want to ride?" My ear-to-ear grin probably said it all, but I confirmed with a "Uh, yea!" I didn't even know what I was getting to ride in, but I didn't care. Grandma Sue (as I learned later on) led me to the white Jeep and shoved a helmet in my hands. She yelled at the tall guy behind the steering wheel, "Hey Mike! She's going to ride with you on the next run." I introduced myself and I swear my voice squeaked, "I'm Rebecca. I just moved here." Not sure why I had to let him know that I was knew to Colorado, but I think my enthusiasm got the best of me by yelling random factoids.

I climbed into the Jeep while it waited in line with the others. After securing my helmet, I reached for the seatbelt. Ha! There was only a lap belt. Silly me was reaching for a harness strap or something that would secure me in a rollover. Grandma Sue said rollovers happen sometimes, but they're no big deal. I believe her words were, "They just push 'em back up and go race again if they can." I suppose knowing all of this just added to my adrenaline which was racing through my veins already. Before it was our turn, Mike's wife took my camera to capture my big moment.

The ride itself...AWESOME! I was on cloud nine the entire time. WAY better than any go-cart or roller coaster. Mike didn't go easy on the "new girl" either, which I was very happy about. I wanted him to focus on what he had to do to win the race tomorrow...and give me the ride of my life. Here are a few photos of my ride.

Best. Car. Ride. Ever.

Not sure if you could see my death grip on the roll bar in any of the turns. I suppose I was second-guessing whether or not I heard the seat belt "click". It's difficult to explain how thrilling the ride was, but I definitely recommend checking out Georgetown if you are ever visiting Colorado in January or February...even if you don't get a Jeep ride with a local.

I really needed a day like that since I moved out here. I was SO happy that afternoon.

If you're interested in seeing what the club is all about, here is a link to their Website.

Our Gang Ice Racing

The videos are great (although I will post videos from Saturday's competition soon.)