Blog

Hey. Sorry. Been a while. I am in the process of moving to a new host, probably to be completed this weekend. Look for updates soon. Cold as something very, very cold around these parts these days. Meanwhile, ponder this, brought to you by the good crazies of Boulder:

You bundle up; it’s cold outside. The scarf keeps the drafts out of that ill-fitting collar; the gloves come ever-so-close to covering your wrist, but when you stretch out to reach the bars an annoying half-inch gap forms and exposes bare skin to the cold, but you’re used to it.

So, last Tuesday, Boulder got hit with its first snow of the year. The forecasts were calling for the possibility of “flurries” later on in the day, but the way it went down was that the flakes started falling around noon, and didn’t stop ‘till Wednesday morning.

Wow. (Another) Yankee goes and gets himself killed flying, and now the criminal (yes, criminal, just like his asshole father) Chicago Mayor Daley and Hillary Clinton are yapping about how dangerous these small planes are. CNN’s shitty website ran a poll recently asking the good citizens of the websurfing world if small planes should be “allowed” to fly over densely populated cities, and the majority answered no.

Microsoft Outlook SUCKS!

Today, I got something I’ve been wanting ever since I left a dear old friend behind in New Jersey 18 months ago. Actually, I’ve wanted this thing ever since I acquired “niner three foxtrot”, my old beloved airplane. I wanted an air-to-air shot of the old bird, and today I got one.

Sometimes you look out and it looks like a postcard… I’m motivated by the mountains. For some people it’s the ocean, for me, it’s the mountains.- Scott Moninger It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, I haven’t hiked a step since our Long’s Peak ascent three weeks ago, but rest assured I’m still here and loving every second of Colorado living. Been on a few bike rides, and every time I go I’m awed by the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains’ Front Range. What really hit home for me though, what really smacked me in the face and told me that I’m lucky to be here, was the arrival of the new Colorado Cyclist catalog on Friday. This is a catalog that I used to get regularly back east in my Hoboken apartment, my Glassboro dorm, and my Blackwood home. And when I’d look at the pictures of the models wearing the cycling clothing they’d invariably have these unbelievably beautiful mountain backdrops behind them. I used to wonder who these people were, and what they did to deserve to live and ride amidst such beauty.

OK so the other day I told y’all about the impetus for our attempt on Long’s Peak, and then I fell asleep. Lemme tell ya how the walk went.

What started as a mild curiosity turned into a fascination, and then, a goal: Long’s Peak. It’s got a catchy name, it sounds distant and imposing, and it is. It’s tall, it’s beautiful, it’s scary looking at times, and get this: Brenda & I summited the damned thing this past Tuesday.

Listen up; I wanna tell ya about my friend from work. His name’s Galen, and he just finished second in the Pike’s Peak Marathon, and I’m really kinda flyin’ high on his accomplishment. Yeah that’s right, Pike’s Peak Marathon. A full marathon, all 26.2 miles of it, only you run to the top of a fourteener and back down to the bottom. Roll that one around in your head a while and I’ll wait.

Today Brenda & I hiked to the top of Mount Elbert, the tallest mountain in the state of Colorado. At 14,433’ above sea level, it’s second only to California’s Mount Whitney (by about sixty feet) for tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. Today, we stood on the top of Colorado, and it was a hell of a feeling. Our first “fourteener”. Yeah!

And I’ll scare them all away for you.

Well, shit. This is even better. God damn, when it’s presented like this you just want to cry.

Well said; I wish more people read this site. Please read this:

The Long’s Peak preparations continue, and this weekend it was Mount Audubon (our first thirteener!). Once again, the views were amazing and the hike was a huff-and-puff extravaganza as we neared the summit. As usual, the summit revealed views that made it all worthwhile, and something about the effort and the oneness with nature even causes me to eat rice cakes and fresh fruit – and actually enjoy it – while I’m up there. So this hiking thing is really healthy for me, all ‘round.

Saturday, Brenda & I – along with our friends Bryce and Leslie – hiked to the top of St. Vrain’s Mountain, a 12,000+ summit. It was amazing, the views great and the thin-air experience interesting. All in all, it was a good start in our training regimen…

Floyd Landis won the Tour de France, and Brenda & I hiked our first “12er” in what was a beautiful day. So much to process, I think I need to get out of the house. More later, for sure.

So, Brenda & I headed to Denver today to see the Body Worlds exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. This is an exhibit of real human cadavers that have been “plastinated”, their solidified remains exposed to reveal the amazing complexity and beauty of the human body and its systems. The show is so insanely popular that they sell tickets to the show and have staged fifteen-minute entries. With the show closing next weekend, I was excited that we had tickets for the exhibit today.

Yeah, that’s right, there are trolls guarding the pedestrian bridge over Foothills Parkway just a few hundred yards from my house. This story should give you a good insight to some of the characters that inhabit this fine town of Boulder. I consider these people to be my outdoor pets.

Today marked one year since I moved to Boulder, Colorado. Lots of shit has happened in the last year, and since almost a month has elapsed since I’ve posted a word on this site, I figure I’ll throw down a quick recap.