Third Flatiron

We finally made it up the Third Flatiron! Our previous attempts were hindered by automotive troubles and bad weather. We climbed the East Face North Side route today, under and then to the left of the 'U' in the giant "CU" painted on the rock. There were a bunch of other people on the rock, but like any Flatiron, it's such a huge rock that there's plenty of room to spread out. The weather was gorgeous and we had a really great climb.

South Arapaho

One of our goals this summer was to hike the Arapaho traverse: from the Fourth of July trailhead up to South Arapaho peak, across a class 3 ridge for about a half mile to North Arapaho peak, and back. Snow was not in our plans.

On Saturday we (Dan, Laurel, Evan, Dan) headed out in Evan's astro-van to attempt the traverse. We knew there had been some snow in the mountains this week but I didn't expect such deep drifts. They seemed worst over the trail so we headed off trail straight up a broad gully towards the ridge. The hike was tough. Where we could, we rock-hopped on scree exposed above the snow. At times though, there was just snow, and no telling how deep beneath the surface the next rock might be.

We summited after four hours and decided to try the traverse another day. Running down through the snow was much more funner than the hike up. Aside from the smashed knees and shins.


The other thing that got smashed was our camera, so not too many photos.

2009 Boulder Half Marathon

When Laurel ran the Boulder Half Marathon last year, I told her there's no way I would ever run for over 2 hours. That became my goal for this year, and I made it -- my first half marathon in 1:56:28! It's supposed to be a 13.1 mile race but I think it was a bit longer. Laurel hurt her foot a few weeks ago so she didn't run this year's race. She wanted to do the Marathon anyway... maybe next year. Some pictures and official results.

Buffalo Bicycle Classic

We got free hats!

A few months ago Sean asked us to ride the Buffalo Bicycle Classic with him. Our plan was to do the 50 mile ride. A few days ago I found out if you ride the Century all the way to Ft. Collins and got your bib punched, you could get a free hat when you got back to the finish line. That was reason enough for me! So we rode our first Century today -- 100 miles.

I think around 2500 people registered to ride and all but 4 had road bikes or hybrids. I rode my mountain bike and on the ride I saw only 2 other people on mountain bikes. There was one woman on a single-speed -- crazy! On the way back I saw her stopped at an aid station changing out her front chainring.

The aid stations were amazing. Apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, watermelon, pretzels, graham crackers, Oreos, Rice Krispie bars, granola bars, cakes, bagels (with peanut butter, Nutella, or cheese), PBJ sandwiches, Gatorade, water, other sports drinks, ... One aid station had pizza and barbecue! We stopped at every one for 10-15 minutes.

And that was just food along the course, every 10 miles or so. Back at the finish line there was pasta and free beer and more dessert goodies!

Despite all our stops we managed to finish the ride in 8 hours 30 minutes. And now our butts are very sore.

Check out the route and pics of Laurel, Sean, and Dan at Carter Lake.

2nd Flatiron, Southeast Ridge

We did a great climb today. The Southeast Ridge of the 2nd Flatiron ascends for 5-6 pitches to the top of the South Block. The views from the summit ridge were spectacular -- soooo much more rock left to climb in this neighborhood!


Along the way there was a cool arch in the rock. We climbed through and then on top of it.


The climb was rated a 5.7 so of course I had to find a few 5.9 moves. At one point where you were supposed to go left to avoid an overhang I went straight up. Then shortly after you were supposed to go left to avoid the next overhang; I went right to avoid it instead.

Laurel and me on the summit with the Third Flatiron in the background

Heil Ranch Mountain Biking

Heil Ranch is a large parcel of open space north of Boulder with miles of hiking and biking trails. Within the past two years one of the trails was recently extended up to the town of Lyons.


When we hiked on some of the trails in January we thought they would be easy enough for us to ride. Today was a day to find out. It took an hour to bike 10 miles up to the trailhead this morning. (See our whole route.)

From the trailhead we climbed uphill for another hour on the rocky Wapiti trail. Thunder rumbled in the distance -- the clouds to the south did not look good. We decided to continue on, since the trail would eventually turn north and away from the storms.

We began our descent into the valley on a 1-mile section of the Wild Turkey trail, then picked up the 5.5 mile Picture Rock trail that would take us to Lyons. This last trail was the newly-constructed one. It seemed much more technical and rocky than the trails we had already ridden.

We felt occasional raindrops but there were never showers. It was nice to have cloud cover during the hotter parts of the day. The consistent downhills began to tire our palms, so it was fortunate that the last few miles of trail were fairly smooth. Three hours after starting on the trails we were back to the road.

Once in Lyons we took a short break then headed home on roads. Biking on 36 wasn't too bad. We made it home five and a half hours after we left.

Townhouse

We're under contract for a townhouse in Boulder. The inspection was Monday--still ironing out details.