Colorado

Over the last month I have managed to spend some quality time almost daily on my local Colorado singletrack. Whether running, hiking or mountain biking; dirt, rocks or snow; Boulder, Rocky Mountain National Park, or Vail, I have brought my DROID X camera along for all of my daily excursions.

After a long cold winter, seeing and feeling the dirt and rock of the trail again is more than welcome. The subtle seasonal changes around the trail are barely noticeable from day to day. Seeing the snow line rapidly recede on the Indian Peaks from the summit of Green Mountain or running alongside Boulder creek's churning roar, the magnitude is more profound. I thought I would post some of the better shots from the trail.

The shots today are from a snow hike/run Lisa and I did from the Bear Lake area in Rocky Mountain National Park. The trailhead sits at 9100' and was covered by several feet of snow on this mid-June weekend. We made it up to around 10,300 to catch the sunset before running and glissading back down to the car, just in the nick of time.




Running and post-holing along tree-tops sticking out of the snow contrasted with the dry 90 degree day we left behind in Boulder, 5,000 feet below...

Colorado Trails: Boulder

One of the great things about being a trail runner in Boulder is the close proximity "in town" to Mt Sanitas and the multiple 8,000' peaks in Boulder Mountain Park. Today's shots are from recent Boulder area runs and rides. Guest stars are Lisa Matwijiw and multisporter fellow DreamCrusher teammate Slater Fletcher who is staying with us this summer.


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Lyons Outdoor Games

Multisport racing is a selfish pursuit. To give back, I volunteered at the Lyons Outdoor Games, representing my team sponsors Epic, nuun and Keen. I manned a spot on the St Vrain river with the Water Safety crew, without incident. Over the course of an hour I watched some of the nations top kayak and canoe paddlers blast through the rapids at a blistering pace, with almost zero effort shown on their face. (Hey, that rhymes!)

It was tough to watch and not actually compete. It looked like fun and the course was manageable for someone with my skill. Watching true legendary masters like Gary Lacy, Spencer Lacy and DART-nuun teammate Jeremy Rodgers was "instructional" to say the least.

Geoff Roes video

Joel Wolpert has produced a fantastic video with another look at the ultra-simplified lives of today's top ultrarunners. Previously Joel shot">a story about the winter training of Boulder's Tony Krupicka. This time the subject is Geoff Roes, who has never lost a 100 mile race. This weekend Geoff returns to the Western States 100 facing a stacked field as the returning champion. Will he keep his crown?

Philippines

Manila, Bacuit Archipelago, El Nido, Palawan Island...













Getting to El Nido isn't easy. We flew from Hong Kong to Manila, then took a cab to a small "airport" (that the cab drivers did not know existed) to catch a small plane to Palawan Island. We landed on a dirt airstrip and began a week-long adventure of island-hopping, mosquito-swatting and secret cove-finding!

More quick snapshots that I will add to and edit later:

Hong Kong

Hong Kong was incredible. Far beyond what I had imagined. Fortunately we had the advice of ex-pat pro adventure racer/race director extraordiaire Ryan Blair! Without Ryan, there is no way we could have done and seen so much in such little time. Some highlights were hiking to The Peak at night, running across Lamma Island, and enjoying the nighttime skyline from the water as we took the ferry back to Hong Kong from Lamma.







Some quick snapshots that I'll add to and edit later:









Seriously?