Pics March 28-April 1 April 4, 2007

The old Rocky Mountain News/Denver Newspaper Agency building is looking a little worse for wear lately. They’re tearing it down to make room for the new Denver Justice Center (read: jail) and apparently they’re starting from the bottom, from what I saw when I was biking by last week.

Emily and I biked out to Fox Hollow Golf Course in Lakewood on Saturday. I had to borrow a bike from a co-worker since mine had a broken spoke and was in the shop. It’s apparently a 1978 Fuji something-or-other. It was pretty heavy, but did the job surprisingly well, for a bike that’s older than I am.

We did some bouldering at Carter Lake near Loveland on Sunday after the Salvagetti breakfast ride. Shaun reaggravated his wrist injury and Aaron smashed his hand pretty badly on a rock. I was just fine, but still made funny faces while trying to make tough moves.

A couple photos from the weekend March 21, 2007

From the 45th Annual Denver St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday. Taken from right in front of Union Station on 17th Street.

We were pretty impressed that these people were able to climb these mailboxes and get a better look at the parade.

From left, Marley, Nick and Robb bouldering on the Nose Lunge Block at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs on Saturday afternoon.

A visit to the mecca of bouldering December 11, 2006

I’d have no idea where to put my hand next if Chris wasn’t standing there telling me. Here, I’m trying to traverse about 14 feet to the right. I made it about 10 feet.

I took my first trip to Horsetooth Reservoir, above Fort Collins today, for my first time bouldering. After a full three-hour day of it, my take on bouldering is that it’s more intense, lower to the ground, much harder on the fingers and forearms than sport climbing. (And without harnesses, ropes and other hardware to get in the way.) We worked on five problems, of which I completed three, including the Penny Lunge on the Penny Boulder, a leap off the front side of the rock to a two-hand grab of a giant handhold on top. It took me four tries to finally nail it, after repeatedly flopping butt-first onto the crash pads.

Chris, a chemistry teacher at Fort Collins High School, was a great guide. He’s been climbing for 16 years and has done a lot in that time, spending large chunks of his summer vacations at Horsetooth or at Hueco Tanks. Mild-mannered FCHS math teacher Aaron, also new to bouldering, and I found neither of us had the hand strength to take to bouldering like fish to water. Chris, I think, probably rips phone books in half and crushes full soda cans in his spare time.