 |
Guitar & Pen |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Info | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Thoughts on just about everything from rock-n-roll, sports, kids, to geek speak -- by John Bullock About John Subscribe to this blog  |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Archives | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 September 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Links | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Tuesday, July 27, 2004 |
|
||
|
||
|
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. So one or two of you might know that I didn't write that myself ;) However, it is the best description of my day that I could think of. I was heading down to Colorado Springs and along the way, I saw a motorcycle rider in my rear view mirror coming up on my fairly quickly so I moved over to the slow lane. As he came up on me and next to me he slowed down and was signaling me. I thought he was going to give me the bird or something for not getting over quickly enough. Turns out, he must have been a boy scout when he was younger because he was trying to tell me that I had a very low tire on the driver side. I got off at the very next exit and went to the gas station. Sure enough, the left rear tire was at 17.5 psi (warm) when he should be at least 30 (cold). The gas station did not have an air pump that I could find so I got out my bike bump (good thing I never take it out of the car in the spring/summer) and got to work. It sure takes more work to pump up a car tire than a bike tire. As I was pumping and pumping and pumping, I was wondering why the tire would get so low (I'm pretty good about checking them on a semi-regular basis). I started looking and saw what appeared to be a nail in my tire. I thought, "crap, I can't go driving half way across the state with a nail in my tire". I punched in Honda into the Navigation unit and it told me it was about 18 miles. I get there and they tell me that it is normal wear and tear so it would not be under warranty. Furthermore, it would probably be cheaper to take it somewhere like Discount Tire. It just happens there is a Discount about a 1/4 down the road. I stop in at Discount but it will be at least an hour and a half before they can get to it. He says that if I need it right away, there is another Discount tire a few miles back (where I came from towards the Garden of the Gods exit) that is usually slower. He also indicates there are other shops along the way I could try. I get back in the car and get going before I see a Goodyear. Ahh, they should be able to do it. After waiting 5 minutes to get somebody to talk to me, it turns out it will be at least an hour and a half there as well. Damn! Back in the car and heading down the road I spy a Firestone. Cool, they should surely be able to do it. They have somebody at the desk able to talk to me right away, but guess what??? Yes, it would be at least an hour and a half before they can get to it. By now, I'm thinking of going back to Discount (I know and trust them) but figure I might as well try the other one they recommend. Back in the car once more, I finally find the second Discount Tire. And it even appears they are not busy! Probably means they only have one guy working and it will be an hour and a half. I go in and the guy says they can do it immediately! They have it done in under fifteen minutes. It was only $15 and they will refund that if I buy new tires from them. Sounds like a steal as I always buy my tires from them as I've always been very happy with the service, selection, and quality of the work there (so is half of the state so it can be slow once in a while). So, I'm finally back on the road but the skies are very gray and it looks like rain. There is no way I will get two rides in today, it is already noon, and I'm hoping to get at least one in. After driving a while, it starts raining on me. I'm wondering if the ride just wasn't meant to be. I finally come upon the entrance to Rampart Reservoir, but they want $5.00 to go any further. I'm wondering if I haven't gone too far as the guide book that I just bought, Mountain Biking Colorado's Front Range, didn't say anything about it. I ask the "kid" in the booth if I haven't passed it. He seems very puzzled by my question but says people start the loop from all sorts of places. I'm in luck, as I have $6.00 in my wallet so I fork over the cash and go on ahead. I'm pretty hungry by now so decide to stop and eat at the picnic area. The rain just keeps coming down. After scarfing down lunch, I go and try to find the trailhead that the guide book refers to and decide that I did pass it. I go back past the kid in the booth further down the road where I came from. Finally, a little luck as I find the spot the book is talking about! The ride starts very cold but the rain has stopped (two strokes of luck!). I finally get down to the reservoir and am blown away by the beauty of this place. I can't believe I've never been here before. The water is an emerald green and the trail is outstanding.  There are no large hills to go up or down, just flowing single track around the entire reservoir. Everything is so green and lush. There is moss on everything. I imagine this is what the trails in the Pacific NW must be like.  I wanted to take more pictures, but my camera batteries were getting low. I took two more when I hit some incredible views of Pike's Peak! It would have been easy to stop and take photos every 50 yards as it was SOO gorgeous. I guess next time, I will have to rent helmet cam to record the whole ride.  The rain starts up again a little before the dam. By the time I get to the dam, it is coming down pretty good. I decide it won't last long and keep on going. Although I didn't know it at the time, I was supposed the ride the road across the dam, but I saw a sign marking the trail so figured that must be where I am supposed to go. After going every which way for about 5 miles, getting thoroughly soaked (is has been pouring the whole time) and starting to get cold, I see a pickup coming my way. I put my ego aside, flag him down and ask him if I'm going the right way. Nope, but he offers to take me and my bike there. As it is a company truck (I think it was the water people) with four guys, I think it is safe so take them up on their offer. Good thing as I took quite a detour (I was two-thirds down with the ride when I hit the damn so it would have been a while before I righted myself). They dropped me off back near the "booth boy" where I knew how to get back to the car. I arrived back at the car, very wet, muddy but very happy as I had a great ride. I will take the day off from riding tomorrow. I will spend the AM with the kids and try to clean up my car and bike in the afternoon so I can go to Winter Park on Thursday. Hopefully it goes a little smoother than today! |
|
|
||
|
Monday, July 26, 2004 |
|
||
|
||
|
Just a quick follow-up to my last post. I stumbled across a link that has a map of Pine Valley that shows the entire Buffalo Creek area. I started at Pine Valley, got on Buck Gulch Trail, switched to Skipper Trail, and then took Strawberry Jack Trail back to Pine Valley.
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
||
|
Day 3 of vacation is winding down. I decided to ease into my riding vacation today with a bit of a lighter ride. I decided to go to Pine Valley Ranch Park which is in the Buffalo Creek burn area. I had not driven that far west on 285 for quite some time so it was a nice treat to see the area again. It looked very nice with all the moisture we've received during the spring and summer. However, shortly before arriving to Pine Valley, approximately 2 miles before, I rounder a corner and it was very obvious where the fire in 2000 had reached. It was quite amazing for a number of reasons. I have never been to Pine Valley before so I made sure I took quite a few photos. The ride itself was a lot of fun. None of the climbs were too hard (I never got off the bike at all) and the ride never became overly technical. This meant really nice slowing single and double track the whole way. The link above, and others that I have found, that show the map of the area only includes the Jefferson County Open Space. The trail(s) are actually longer and cover more area but as they fall in National Forest, they were not included on the map. A couple of photos from today. The first one is near the start/end where the trail runs along the Platte River. You can see the river is very full and some of the burn area beyond it.  The next photo is from the trail in the middle of the burn area. You really can see how far it goes and the affects it had.  The final photo just shows some of the trail.  I did have one small mishap. I was coming down the mountain, cruising at a decent speed when I hit a deep area of sand that swallowed my front tire and threw me off the bike. That would not have been a problem but I didn't unclip in time so my bike stayed attached to my left foot and banged up the back of my leg. It looks worse than it feels, but there is a nice knot in it. One final thing I noticed on my ride that I have not seen else where, was the large number of chipmunks. It was not uncommon to have them dart out in front of me while I was riding. I'm heading the Springs tomorrow. Wednesday will be a light ride as I will be spending the AM with the kids. I think Thursday will be Winter Park/Fraser as I checked the extended forecast for the area and that looked most promising. Who knows about Friday. I am thinking I might finally do the Colorado Trail (from Waterton Canyon). |
|
|
||
|
Sunday, July 25, 2004 |
|
||
|
||
|
Day one of vacation is over. It's been some great time off already though. Friday night, I met Suzanne and the kids at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Moosehill Cantina, for dinner. Just an FYI for all of you uber geeks, Moosehill is a free wi-fi hotspot. After dinner we stopped at a sporting goods store to try to find a baseball glove for my son as t-ball starts this week! Unfortunately, he is left handed so I have a feeling it is going to be difficult to find one in his size. I refuse to go to Gart Bros. because I've always had awful service and they are very over priced. Time to crack the phone book and start making some calls!
Saturday AM we dropped the kids off at Suzanne's parents house as they were going to take the kids on a day trip and have a sleep over while Suzanne and I went to go see Eric Clapton in concert. After dropping the kids off, we picked up Suzanne's new glasses, went out to breakfast at Le Peep, went to buy me a new suit, then went home to relax before the big night. We went out for Mexican, again!, before the show to a fairly new restaurant very close to home (as close as anything can be to us). It is called El Meson. It is only the third time we've been there (in two weeks) but we really enjoy it. Last time, I was pleasantly shocked to find out that the special of the day was pasole which is one of my favorites but very hard to find in the Denver area. Not the best pasole but it helped satisfy my craving. We planned on taking light rail down to the Pepsi Center for the concert but when we got there and went to buy our tickets, there was a sign saying light rail wasn't going all the way through :( So we got back in the car and headed down. We got there in plenty of time so that Suzanne could do some shopping for Clapton memorabilia. $60 later we were headed to our seats. Suzanne made sure we got to the concert in time for the warm-up band as she had read very good things about them. I guess Eric hand picks his warm-up bands now and he did another excellent job. It was a band call Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Count me as a new fan. These guys did an outstanding job. I will definitely be buying their CD this week! They only played four (longer) songs and then made way for the main attraction. Eric opened with Let It Rain to get the show off to a rocking start. Suzanne and I were up dancing from the first note. Shortly into the second song, the people behind us asked if we were going to be standing the entire concert which Suzanne replied that it was very possible. After some evil glancing blows we reluctantly sat down. Eric played a wide variety of songs. They did a set of several of the blues songs off of his latest album. Of course, towards the end of the show he played several of the classics such as Badge, Cocaine, and Layla. The finale was my all-time favorite Sunshine of your Love. He brought Robert Randolph back out to join him for this song. The show was just a hair under two hours. I woke up this AM and watched Lance Armstrong officially win the Tour de France. He is such an amazing person. I'm just listening to Clapton on the stereo waiting for Suzanne to get ready to leave. We need to get the dogs medicine to help prevent seizures, get the kids, and go find a baseball glove. Sometime grocery shopping and laundry have to get done too. Tonight I need to come up with a plan of attack for the week and decide where and when I am going to ride. Keep watch for more updates and photos. |
|
|
||
|
Friday, July 23, 2004 |
|
||
|
||
|
Both my wife and I are constantly amazed by the kids and their memories. I've half jokingly told her that they do a better job than me remembering things. Turns out that small kids have better memories than parents. At least I have an excuse now.
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
||
|
I gleamed this off another blog that I read but thought it was so funny that I would publish it here for everyone else to enjoy. Apparently Microsoft has run out of things to buy.
|
|
|
||
|
Thursday, July 22, 2004 |
|
||
|
||
|
Can't really say much more than what it already says ;)
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
||
|
Two items of note today:
|
|
|
||
|
Tuesday, July 20, 2004 |
|
||
|
||
|
Last week, the school held the yearly goal setting conferences for the students. That meant there was no school on Thursday and Friday. I took the day off on Thursday to watch and be with the kids. After the conferences in the AM, I took the kids hiking at Waterton Canyon. This was the first time they had been to Waterton. We stopped for lunch shortly before the midway point.: They also got to throw rocks into the river:  I think the highlight were the deer we were so close to at the end of the hike. Unfortunatley I had two very tired children and we were racing to beat a thunderstorm back to the car so we didn't get any photos. However, do look forward to more photos in future posts. We signed the kids up for (more) ballet and t-ball today. Then in the fall, it is (even more) ballet again and basketball. I bet you can guess which child is doing which activity... |
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
||
|
Today is a bit of a personal milestone/anniversary for me. It has been six months since I gave up chewing tobacco and became nicotine free! I will celebrate after work by riding Deer Creek Canyon. Next week is more vacation so look forward to more biking photos. Not sure where I will end up yet, but am hoping to take a day trip to Winter Park...
Ride on. |
|
|
||
|
Tuesday, July 13, 2004 |
|
Monday, July 12, 2004 |
|
||
|
||
|
I'm not sure if it is a bad omen or not, but my son got in trouble his first week in kindergarten. Apparently he was not listening to the teacher and was using his pencil as a light saber so got a seat right next to his teacher. When Suzanne picked up the kids, his teacher just looked as Suzanne, pointed at the boy, and said "this one....". This is not a surprise to anyone that knows him. For goal setting conferences this week, we actually had listed "paying attention" and "listening" as two things we want to work on this year. I'm sure it will be a topic of discussion come Thursday.
BTW, Suzanne and I are very annoyed with the school already for two things. One is that in none of the communications and calendars, that we have received from the district and school, did it indicate that Thursday and Friday the school would be closed. Nothing like a weeks notice. The second issue was that our son would have left school if it wasn't for one of the other parent's that knew him. When he was dropped off at kindergarten by his Kindie Enrichment teacher, he got confused and went outside looking for his Mommy. His teacher didn't notice and it was lucky that our friend saw him leaving the school grounds and retrieved him before he got too far. Something to chat about on Thursday as well. I think the teacher has a little goal setting of her own to do as well (watching my children!). |
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
||
|
Jeez, aren't we watching too much TV already? Now they are going to give us the ability to watch TV on our phones. | |
|
||
|
|
Tuesday, July 06, 2004 |
|
||
|
||
|
Today was the kids first day of kindergarten! In the AM we took them to the see their Kindie Enrichment classroom and teacher. We showed up just in time to go visit the potty. When we returned back to the classroom, the kids hunted for Starburst candies Mrs. Reynolds hid throughout the room. They had to practice counting the candies before they got to eat them. Next was story time and then we went out to breakfast at Gunther Toody's. We went home for a short while before going back to school to see their new Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Boser, and their new class room. After unloading all their school supplies, and meeting their teacher, we had some cookies and lemonade before heading home again. I did get one really good photo of them this AM before they had a chance to get all messed up!
|
|
|
||
|
|
Friday, July 02, 2004 |
|
||
|
||
|
Happy Independence Day to everyone! Here are some fireworks for you to enjoy. | |
|
||