Alcohol tastes like butt in large quanities.

I ushered in this weekend with an AMAZING hangover. Probably the most severe morning, midday and night sickness I have endured since I was an 18 year old freshman at Western State drinking McCormicks vodka straight from the “handle.” Yikes, I am not looking to repeat that anytime soon. However, the friends and location of said hangover shall be repeated sometime very soon. My friend and coworker lives in a loft in downtown Denver about a block from Coors Field. The roof is a great place to entertain and the views of the city are unrivaled.

As for Saturday, I skipped the trip to Durango and made the most of the severe temps in Boulder to pedal the bike. A great ride but I was sorely lacking water and what I did have left in my bottles was not just warm, it was hot. Try refreshing your dry mouth and tongue in, according to my watch, 104-degree weather with hot water. It made me gag. So I took the quickest route to where I knew there was a gas station (in Gunbarrel) and went straight for the ice machine. Dumped tons of cold water on my face and neck and I was back, albeit with a massive brainfreeze. Made it home with even deeper pronounced farmers tan lines and then went to Southern Sun for some chillaxing with Connor and one of his buds.

Today we reconvened for a trip up to Betasso. An accomodating Aussie on the trail helped me try to correct my mystery shifts on three different occasions up the first climb. Pardon the cliche but…GOOD ON YA, mate! He had the touch and I was off again – shifting dillema solved. Rode a couple laps and then my stomach started to come to terms with the fact that a carrot and half a banana was all I had consumed this morning. Well, that and the two cups of coffee I had at home and one more with Connor at Vic’s prior to the ride. Can you say “gut rot?”

White wine and mo’ ridin’

What do you call it when you’re at a work function and you and a co-worker kill two bottles of wine in the span of 2 hours?? Uhhhh…DREAM JOB!…that’s what I call it! We had a party to coincide with the St. Julien Hotel’s LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability) conference on Thursday night. It was rife with some of the most granola-y people in existence but who am I to judge, I’m pretty damn granola myself. Lots of really nice socializing with people in the industry as well as my fellow Metzger peeps (I work with a great group of people) and as mentioned above, lots of drinking. We started the party with probably 25 bottles of wine and by my last count there were like 4 or 5 left. Two of the 25 empties can be attributed to Lauren and I while we checked all of the RSVP’ers in to the event. Did I mention the wine was organic? With this crowd, of course it was. Feeling way better than I would have expected Friday morning, I brought my MTB to work so I could leave for a ride right at 5. 5:15 rolls around and I point it towards Betasso again - I’m loving that trail (see below post). Hopefully this weekend I’ll do a new ride with Steveo somewhere up here or in Golden…what are those road bike things??

Mountain biking for lunch – eat shit and grin!

Hey Boulder people – do yourself a favor and ride Betasso during your lunch hour. It will change your everyday office-monkey experience into a sweat soaked parade, especially if, like me, you wait to “lunch” in the heat of a 2 pm afternoon. This is precisely what I did yesterday. After a tire that needed reseating (thanks U-Bikes!) I headed over to the Creek path past the summer vacation having high schoolers at Eben G. Fine (it’s a must if you’re 17, school’s out, and it’s hot outside to launch a tube into the creek on any given weekday…did it a time or twelve, myself!), and up to where the Creek path hits Canyon. Ride the mellow mountain road about a mile and hit the Boulder Canyon link on the right side of the road. Because Betasso alone is a pretty short ride (only about 3 miles) and you’re pressed for time, it’s best to just go for it up the Boulder link despite it’s grueling grades and loose trail. So up the link I went, still lacking any semblance of handling/climbing skills (they’ll come!) so it was half ride-half hike-a-bike until you reach the gorgeous bit of meadow/singletrack that is Betasso. And that’s where the serious fun sets in!

My only knock against the 29er so far is the wheels – they’re tubeless-ready and as I’m not running tubeless, they seem a little finicky for…you guessed it…tubes. One flat so far, knock on wood (taps crotch) it’s the last for a while.