Vail Pass

So the Viscous Bitches ride again. Oh geez, what a day it was. Michael and I had talked about doing the Copper Triangle ride that is coming up in a few weeks. We haven't biked but a few times between us since we finished our Aids Life Cycle Ride in June. Part of the Copper Triangle ride is Vail Pass and neither of us had attempted this. I suggested that we ride from Breckenridge over to Vail Pass & back. He misunderstood me and thought I meant to the town of Vail and back. I'm convinced he's trying to kill me. So we made it over to Vail Pass and I must admit it was easy going from Breck, to Copper & then Vail Pass. Our starting elevation in Breckenridge was 9600ft & at the summit of Vail Pass it is 10,666. Our layoff in training really didn't bother us & we tackled this with no problem. WE ROCK!!!!! So once reaching Vail Pass he was eager to make it to Vail. Well this was super easy since it is all downhill. I knew we would pay for it dearly once we had to come back. We had a great lunch in Vail & one beer to soothe our palate. It started to drizzle and we considered getting some other means of transportation back out of Vail to Breck. Well, the cheapest thing was $300 and we weren't having any part of that. So we sucked it up and started our journey back to Breckenridge. The elevation of the town of Vail is 8200 ft & we had to climb back up Vail Pass where it is 10,666. I'll let all of you do the math. Jesus!!!!! This was the toughest thing we have ever done. 7 days on a bike in California was nothing compared to this climb. It was brutal & the air was oh so thin. We finished our ride in Frisco & took the shuttle back to Breckenridge. Our total ride was 68 miles. So our goal was completed & we laughed about it later as we had dinner. Thank goodness for beer. Really helps numb the pain :)
This isn't the greatest shot, but it is all I have of the summit at Vail Pass. You can see Copper Mountain back in the distance. 10,666 ftWe made it to the summit and now we are starting to go downhill towards Vail. Here is a lake tucked away on the trial.Michael heading down the trail towards Vail. You can see how the trail comes right up to Interstate 70 at this point. Definitely don't like inhaling all of those car fumes. Notice the patch of pines that are dead. It is really sad here in Colorado because the landscape is being changed dramatically. The pine beetle is devouring much of the forests.Destination achieved. Here we are coming into East Vail. We biked another few miles to the main village to have some lunch. I didn't take anymore photo's after this point since everything was uphill. You need all of your balance when climbing a mountain like this.

Hanging Lake

Bevan and I traveled just outside of Glenwood Springs to hike Hanging Lake. The area is located in the White River National Forest. I had seen picture's of Hanging Lake before & heard a lot of people talk about it in the past. I knew this was one hike that I wanted to do. Bevan hiked this trail last year with his co-workers when they had a retreat in Glenwood Springs. The trail is about 2 miles long & fairly easy to moderate I'd say. It is very rocky in spots & you have to pay close attention when you get to certain points or you will easily fall. It took us about 35 minutes to hike this trail & about 25 to get down since we ran down the mountain. The starting elevation is 6,150 & the finish is 7,250. You are treated to breathtaking views once you reach the summit. The lake is crystal clear & you can see all of the fish swimming around. Very cool!

Here is a view from the start of the trail in the White River National Forest.
Seeing moss in Colorado is not something I really expect to see. Here is a beautiful picture of one of the many waterfalls as we hiked to the summit.Another great shot of the canyon as we are just about to the top.
Here is Hanging Lake. It is very small, I'm guessing about 2 to 3 acres. The water is crystal clear.Here is another shot of the water. The picture is deceiving because it looks like it is very shallow in this shot. I would say the actual depth was about 10 to 15 feet.Here I am at the back of the lake under one of the amazing waterfalls.Here is Bevan getting ready to pounce. Another picture of me in the waterfall.

Biking in Breckenridge

Bevan, Brian, Michael & I headed to Breckenridge for a day of road biking. The weather was great except for a little wind. It was a beautiful day overall in the mountains.

Bevan, Michael & Brian headed down the path to Frisco.
Here is Brian before he turned back to head to the condo. He was able to ride about 20 miles which was great considering his knee & leg were hurting.
You look mah-velous. Here I am doing my best Matlock impersonation in that I'm riding while taking a photo. You can see Copper Mountain in the background.
BEER, DOES A BODY GOOD!!!!!! Nothing like a few cold one's after a ride.

Lake Dillon at sunset.
Great picture as we are coming up to Loveland Pass. Elevation at the Continental Divide is 11,990.

Florida July 4th 2007

Bevan and I traveled back to Florida to spend the July 4th holiday with my family. Talk about a nice relaxing trip. I haven't slept so much in quite a while. My body definitely needed the rest since I have been on the go for most of the month of June. We did the usual things, beach, tennis, boating & fed the dolphins.Go Mitchell!!! My nephew Mitchell showing off his bicycling prowess by using no hands.
Here we have 3 generations. My nephew Mitchell, my great niece Savannah & myself on the beach watching the 4th of July fireworks.
Carla, Alan, dad & mom on the beach enjoying the fireworks.
Here are some of the fireworks that Clark brought down. Fireworks were going off everywhere for about an hour on the beach as everyone had their own. They also had a great firework show from the pier that we could see on the beach.

This dolphin was so sweet. She had her baby that she was keeping an eye on, but she loved the attention and food. Here is Bevan and Mitchell giving her some lunch.
Bevan, Mitchell and I taking a swim. The 2 of them would not get back in the water after we saw these huge jelly fish once we got back on the boat. Some of them had tentacles that were 2 feet long. Ouch!!!!
Mitchell & Bevan trying to pet the dolphin.
I had just jumped in the water and was a little nervous about this. The only other time I had swam with a dolphin was in captivity at Sea World. So I'm in the water & this dolphin literally came up right between my legs & popped her head out. Luckily Bevan captured this moment with the camera because I was very surprised as you can see from the expression on my face. She (dolphin) was so sweet & soft. She would take the fish & let you pet her on the head. Amazing day.

Here is Bevan feeding and petting the dolphin.

Here are 2 male dolphins I'm guessing. These guys were huge compared to the mother and baby that we had swam with earlier. You get a good idea about how big they are when they both come out of the water to get some fish. Clark and I think they probably weigh about 600 to 700 pounds.

Here is a neat look at my dads fishing boat. They had just taken it out of the water after our dolphin excursion. The one important thing is to make sure you wash these bad boys after taking them out. You would not believe how corroded something can get in a day on the ocean.
Clark, Alan, Bevan and I spent the day on his boat in Destin. He parked it on the beach and we spent all afternoon hanging out and enjoying the sites.
Here's Clark & Alan as we head for the gulf from the inter coastal. It was a great day on the water.

Here we are making our way out into the gulf from the marina. The video is very shaky, but gives you an idea about how fast the boat will go. I think we were doing about 65mph at this point. Fun, fun!!