how does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?

Yesterday I was at the Mile High Music Festival watching Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi be their typical amazing selves when I noticed some people (a girl and a guy) dancing to my left. They really struck me... I can't describe it other than to say they were some of the happiest people I'd ever seen. The expressions on their faces in turn made me so happy I wanted to go up and hug them. Not a single care in the world between them... Naturally, we were at a music festival, so you're probably thinking they were just completely stoned or hammered drunk, and not likely to make it home safely. If you guessed the former, you would be partially correct. They were dancing barefoot, guy shirtless with thick dreadlocks halfway down his back, girl in hippie skirt and simple fabric top, hemp necklaces, using a hula-hoop, etc. But that's not the point. You could see in their faces a simple joy. And they weren't weekend hippies like most of the people there (you know, the ones obviously wearing their token tie-dyed shirt or patchouli dress, the one that mom doesn't know about). This was the real thing. To make this couple even more amazing was the fact that both of them could have been models of some kind. The girl was drop dead gorgeous (no make-up, no need for that) and the dude would probably have made more than his fair share of billboards. But by the looks of them, you would know that they gave that stuff up long ago. I felt like there was something to learn from them. They had figured out how to let go and be content. Maybe they were from around Denver, but I didn't get that impression. It made me wonder what it would take for me to completely let go and just take off. To wander but not be lost. To learn to let the wind carry me wherever. How different would the US be if people didn't have such permanent things; jobs, houses, 401(k)'s, routines...? People sometimes say that they had plans to do X or become Y but then life got in the way. I think that's crap; worry and fear got in the way. It made me wonder what it would be like to travel until I ran out of money, then get a job there to fund the next adventure, repeat. There are a lot of different professions I think it would be interesting to try out for a few months and then move on. I guess that's not how it works these days. But maybe it should in some places. It made me think about some of my happier moments. In general (and maybe it was just the atmosphere my mind was wandering in but...) some of the funnest times of my life have been at music festivals or concerts. It's a toss-up right now, but the anticipation for a show is about the same as the anticipation for a perfect powder day on skis. If Phish books a summer tour next year, I'm going to try my hardest to be there for as many shows as possible. On the surface it might sound selfish or hedonistic to drop out of society or something like that, but it just seems like the right thing to do. There's a time and a place for things, and maybe next summer will be that for a road trip for me.

Pushing beyond the beyond

The last couple weeks I've been trying to push myself beyond physical limits. There are a few reasons for this.

1. I have a 100km / 62 mi bike ride coming up in September for charity. I've ridden most of the pieces of the ride in the past but haven't put them all together in one sitting before, so I want to be ready for that.
   
2. (more compelling) Ski season is coming back around soon. Seriously, there's a cold rain outside right now. Snow was in the forecast for Chicago Basin this weekend. It'll be here soon.

After the Massive run, I've been wondering how far I could push beyond what I thought my limit was in various physical activities. To that end, I started this little run by riding NCAR two days in a row. Last year it would take my legs a day or two to recover from riding NCAR, but I actually felt like I rode better on Friday than I did on Thursday. Noted improvement from last year #1.

After taking the weekend off, I remembered that I had a 5k race to run on Wednesday. Having never previously run a 5k competitively, I wasn't sure what kind of time I could finish in. Last year I recorded runs at a consistent 10 min/mile pace in preparation for my 10k portion of the Boulder marathon, but this was a shorter distance, so I hoped to keep it under 30 minutes. My run on Monday night (as a warm up for the race) was a comfortable 9 min/mile pace. With that in mind I hoped to finish sub-27 minutes but wasn't sure what I could do beyond that. As it turns out I came in at just above an 8 min/mile, 25:04. [Despite this time, which I was proud of, I still ran the slowest of the 8 of us from my office. My coworkers are freaking thoroughbreds.] Noted improvement from last year #2.

Thursday, the day after the race, instead of taking a rest day we decided to make an attack on Flagstaff during our weekly lunch ride. For those of you not living in Boulder, Flagstaff Road is one of the steepest roads in town and is noted for being as extremely difficult ride. I believe it is the steepest paved road in Boulder... certain portions of it, at least. Our climb from the office gained nearly 2,000' in 7 miles. I honestly didn't think I would make it, given the shape of my calves and shins after the race, but after the first overlook things get a lot easier and we all did very well. I've ridden to the first overlook before but this was my first time continuing towards the top. Although we didn't go all the way to the top, it was still a great ride, and much more than I thought I was going to be able to do. In my head I moved my hypothetical cycling limit a little further into the distance beyond the previous marker I crossed with that ride.

After Friday morning's 6:15 lifting session it was more or less decided that since I hadn't completely obliterated my legs so far, I should take on another challenge during lunch. NCAR became the objective with Darren riding his single speed. My legs were pretty worn out from the previous two days, but I still put in a decent enough ride and had some left in the tank for a sprint-like finish. [Darren still beat Trey, Denis and I on his damned single speed, which I'm taking as proof he has a 3rd lung or is some kind of outer-space cardio experiment.]

I had to take yesterday off but decided to test my new cycling limit today with Trey. After riding to Jamestown on Memorial Day we thought it was time to give Lefthand Canyon a try... all the way to Ward. Given this is a ride professional triathletes and cycling teams use for training, I honestly did not think I would make it to the top, but wanted to see just where the breaking point was. We knew the 16th mile was going to be brutal, but as we passed mile marker 10, 11, 12, etc. it seemed we would both have enough left to finish. Climbing 3,000' from the mouth of the canyon was definitely tough (especially that half mile beyond Sawmill road!), but as we stood on the shoulder of the Peak to Peak highway above Ward we both could have continued further. I was shocked and proud as hell. For the second time this week I moved my hypothetical cycling limit a little further into the distance. That has become a fun little game :) We discussed heading up to Brainard Lake from there and having the option to ascend 8000' in total, completely self-propelled from our doorsteps, to the summit of a 13er like Mount Audubon. That really got the mental wheels spinning... I think this is just going to have to happen. Considering a huge majority of North America lies below 8000', climbing 8000' in one day from my doorstep would be completely bad ass. Boulder County is truly a special place. I feel like I'm finally getting to the point where I can take advantage of all it has to offer.

I'm not sure what's on the agenda this week, but I hope to continue testing limits and blowing past them. All of this has been recorded on my trailguru page... which I might soon be replacing with a Garmin watch due to consistent inaccuracies... time will tell.