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Outdoors

You can get to Telluride from Bristol, RI, and vice versa.

Odysseas, 2d Beach Telluride Inside... and Out has been East for nearly a month, mostly with Susan's parents in Hackensack, NJ. Among the side trips while we've been here, we were recently in Great Barrington, MA with Susan's aunt and cousin, then on to Providence, RI to share some time with new friends, the Pavlides family. Three year old Odysseas is one of my favorite people in the world, and I thought he would be interested in seeing how sailboats are built.

Hence our visit to Shannon Yachts in Bristol, RI, just a half hour down the road from Providence.

How does Telluride fit into this picture? Well, it's like this:

10 October, 2011 /

by Emily Brendler Shoff

There are some things in life that you just have to bow down and give thanks for, even if you’ve never had an interest in praying before. For me, it’s my friend Molly and Avalanche Ranch.

Molly Presses Cider with the Kids Molly and her family’s ranch just outside of Carbondale is one of those places where the stars have aligned, and a river runs through it. It’s right at the base of Mt. Sopris and nestled in the foothills along the Crystal River, has just the right blend of farmland and mountain topography. When I first visited it on a weekend away from Colorado College, I wanted to cry. I missed my family in Baltimore, and my heart felt frozen with pain. But more than anything, I couldn’t believe that Molly had grown up here. My god, to think, she got to see this everyday?!

09 October, 2011 /

 

Downhill, Fall Tilt It's like "Breaking Away" but with gravity to ramp up the action. Just ask Gary Dye, who helped design and build the bike trails  in Mountain Village.

In the early 1990s, Gary started biking in high school in Grand Junction. In 1997, he moved to the Telluride region, settling in Mountain Village, where he was mostly a cross-country rider and endurance race until he found downhill riding and racing in 2004ish. Rising to the top, so to speak, over the past  years, Gary became a competitive downhill and Super D racer, winning a state championship in the latter. (For the unitiated, Super D is a mass start downfall with longer and less technical descents than plain vanilla downhill.) For the past three years  – and here's the punch line – Gary competed in Mountain Village's Fall Tilt, finishing 2nd in the Solo Open category in last year's race.

For those not quite ready to exchange bikes for skis, Mountain Village has your back. The third annual Fall Tilt returns to the San Juan Mountains Friday, September 30 (for training) and Saturday, October 1 (for the competition).

25 September, 2011 /

  It's always fun - for me anyway! - to get up before sunrise and check out the turquoise twilight of impending dawn. This week we witness the slender crescent of a waning September Moon as it moves through the constellation of Leo...

24 September, 2011 /

 

Late Summer in the mountains. After weeks of rain any time of the day, we've got a forecast of brilliant sunny weather for a few days. What to do?

The answer for my friend Todd Hoffman and me: a motorcycle guy trip. First we thought we'd head for the Utah desert, but it looked like it might be a bit warm, so we elected to stay in the high country. Mostly familiar, but always changing and the roads were made for riding bikes.

The destinations were easy, and the ways to get there, endless. We spent three nights on the road in Aspen, Denver and Gunnison. But the rides- not the shortest way to get to any of them. I met Todd at his place 3 miles up a gravel road outside of Ridgway. A gravel road is just a warm-up for my BMW F650GS. Todd was riding his recently rebuilt 1972 Norton Commando, a beautiful bike (I offered to be the baggage car with my new Caribou hard cases), especially if you're riding light.

30 August, 2011 /

By J James McTigue

There are sports fans and there are cycling fans.

To watch their coveted team, the former drive to games, wear their team’s colors and tailgate in the parking lot.

To watch their beloved cycling heroes, the latter bike 10 miles up a closed mountain pass, (or camp out the night before), wear costumes, (or at times just their skivies), and also tailgate, but at 12,000 feet.

At least this was the case Wednesday on Cottonwood and Independence Passes during the US Pro Cycling Challenge.

Fans The US Pro Cycling Tour has come to Colorado, bringing the state’s cycling fanatics to the streets—literally. The group is usually relegated to watching professional cycling in the privacy of their own homes, or a nearby bar, (probably owned by a Swiss), that has Versus, the only station stateside that seems to broadcast the sport.

This week, it has all changed. The international cycling community is watching the world’s best cyclists compete throughout the Rocky Mountains via television, while American fans are camped on mountain passes, drinking mimosas and running beside the racers.

The inaugural stage race began Monday in Colorado Springs and will end Sunday in Denver. It consists of a Prologue and six stages, for a total of seven days of competition. The seven days include two individual time trials, and a total of 509 miles with 29,036 vertical feet of climbing.

25 August, 2011 /

by Jon Lovekin

Moonrise The Red Sox won the world series in 2004. This was an historic event and especially significant for long suffering Boston baseball fans. Meanwhile, within the southwest plains of Colorado other significant events were about to occur as well. Tonight was a full lunar eclipse, a spectacular sight anywhere but this night was going to be special. The excitement was building while driving to the Commanche National Grasslands south of La Junta, Colorado. The view port from there was going to be wonderful and all the camera gear was stashed in the truck.  The light haze of front range cities is visible to the north but is greatly diminished under the vast, clear portal that exists on these high plains.

The gap gate off the county road was barely discernible within the fence line. No road was visible beyond it. Careful study of maps indicated that an access road into the national grasslands existed along the other fence perpendicular to the gate. The early summer winds had buried that fence and whatever road lay beside it under four feet of tumble weeds. There was no other access through the cactus and rock outcrops at this point. Taking a deep breath, and gearing down, the truck munched its way through the debris. There wasn't going to be a crowd out here!

 

20 August, 2011 /

by Eric Palumbo

"Figuring out who you are is the whole point of the human experience." - Anna Quindlen

Hiking pic Last month I packed into the northern terminus of the Colorado Trail (CT) in Denver, intent on backpacking to Durango over the ensuing four weeks. It was the culmination of months of dreaming, planning and conditioning.

Until a year ago I hadn't backpacked since the Boy Scouts. Then I met a girl (isn't that how it always happens) who rekindled my love for the outdoors. While hiking on Kenosha pass last year, we met a guy who was thru-hiking the CT. He joined us at our campsite for dinner where we shared grape soda and he shared his experiences.

17 August, 2011 /

If any of you are up around midnight over the next few days, take a look at bright planet Jupiter as it rises above the eastern horizon. It's brilliant beauty far outshines any other point of light in the night sky - except the...

16 August, 2011 /