Friday, August 29, 2014

Stage 5 of the USA Pro Challenge

Last Friday, my hometown of Breckenridge, Colorado, hosted the finish of Stage 5 of the USA Pro Challenge bicycle race that included internationally-known racers that have competed in the Tour de France and other well-known multi-day/week races. By hosting a start or finish, a town or city turns it into an all-day event, with vendor booths and side competitions or demonstrations. So, along with watching the racers come through town, we shopped the vendor booths and entered their contests and observed the pond crossing contest and a stunt bike performance. We also listened to the free Big Head Todd and the Monsters concert at the Riverwalk Center that evening for awhile before walking home. Below are a few photos from the fun day.

The first three photos from the pond crossing contest are from Sharon Trombore. Hubby and I are in the last photo. Competitors tried to bike across a six inch wide wooden plank bridge to get to the other side of the Dredge Pond without falling in the very cold water. As can be seen in the middle photo, one young man even tried it on a unicycle. The winners primarily were local midde-school aged kids.




The next two photos show racers screaming around corners in town, prior to tackling the steep climb up (over 10% grade) Moonstone Road before zooming down Boreas Pass Road back into town and the finish line.



Stage winner Laurent Didier from Luxembourg crossing the finish line.


Monday, August 25, 2014

Canoeing on Lake Dillon

About a week and a half ago, my husband and I took a canoe out of the Frisco Marina and paddled around Lake Dillon, Colorado. It was a beautiful still morning, and we even managed to spot an osprey.





Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Shrine Pass - A Wildflower Wonder

I'm a little behind on posting photos of my outdoor experiences, because I've been too busy having those experiences to sit in front of the computer and compose a post! Anyway, I took a day off from fun today to do chores and errands (and it rained this morning anyway). So, here are some photos of an August 8th "Women With Altitude" hike to Shrine Pass, above the rest area at the top of Vail Pass in Colorado. Even though it was a little late in the season, the wildflowers were still spectacular, as were the views. A beautiful day!


The photo above features some bright pink stalks of Elephant Head flowers, and the one below is of our group (I'm in a purple shirt).



The photo below is of blue Lupines and white Bistort, also called miner's socks, because of their stinky smell. Below are more lupines and red Indian Paintbrush.










Did you see the deer in the next-to-last photo? The last photo is of blue Gentians.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

The Neighborhood Bear

A couple of days ago, a huge black bear visited our neighborhood in the early afternoon. One of the rental homes had their trash can stowed in a shed behind the garage that had a flimsy plywood door with no lock, and the bear figured out how to get in. Neighbors watched as the bear systematically dragged one plastic bag at a time out of the trash can onto the lawn, ripped it open and ate anything remotely edible inside. After a big meal, the bear went for a swim in a nearby pond and lumbered off.

Meanwhile the yard maintenance crew working in the area changed their schedule to work on the other side neighborhood to stay well out of the bear's way. Once it was gone, the crew cleaned up the mess. The rental company was notified, as were the current renters. They moved the trash can into the garage, and the shed will be rebuilt stronger and with a bearproof lock. The bear, in the meantime, was spotted the next day swimming in the pond again, probably after reconnoitering the area, looking for more easy food pickings. We all hope our neighbors are keeping their trash secure, because while it was a beautiful and magnificent animal, we prefer the bear stick to wild food and move out of neighborhood.

Here are some photos my husband took of the bear--with a telephoto lens, of course. In the first photo, that's a large hot tub behind the bear, which gives you an idea of its size.




Tuesday, August 05, 2014

My Moment of Victory Memorialized in National Ski Club Newsletter

In February, I participated in Summit County Colorado's Senior Winter Games. Photographer Stanley Stansfield sent some photos of the event to the National Ski Club Newsletter, and they published a two-page spread in their May newsletter. The article includes a photo of me with arms outstretched celebrating my Gold (first place in my age class, and second place overall) finish in the Short Snowshoe Race of the games. I'm tagged as "an exuberant Beth Groundwater." :-) You can see the photo on Page 15 of the PDF file, which is page 28 of the newsletter HERE.