Inner City Biking

Turns out I have a bike path near where I live. I looked up its route and discovered that it heads straight to downtown, so I made a trip there to the REI flagship store to pick up some goodies. Sadly the trail is a little long and circuitous to do any pub outings on wheels. It's definitely a pretty trail following Cherry Creek, then the Platte river right through the city below traffic.

Almost Fall Colors for a Ride

So there I was on Thursday and Friday imagining skiing and sliding down snow for the whole weekend. The mountains did get over 2 feet of snow, but sure enough by Sunday it was sunny and 70 degrees. I made use of the beautiful storm aftermath to hit up my favorite ride near the metro area, Indian Creek.

First Snow of the Season

Here's a photo of Breckenridge this morning. The mountains got their first serious dump with up to 2 feet of fresh pow. Don't forget I live only an hour from this town for those of you interested in coming out to visit. I was planning on going mountain biking tomorrow morning, but it looks like I've got the white stuff to contend with. Maybe I'll find a hill and a tube if the snow level drops low enough for the metro area. At the very least we're expecting a couple flakes tomorrow morning outside the apartment.

Trip to Aspen

As shown in this first photo, the trip out to Aspen early Saturday morning brought a pleasant surprise, snow! We've been having some cold weather lately and the leaves are starting to turn, hence the trip out to Aspen to check out the nightlife and do some mountain biking. Having visited many ski towns, I must admit that I wasn't that impressed with the world famous Aspen. It could have been the fact that I wasn’t skiing, but the town seemed more like a place to live than one to visit on vacation. I prefer the plethora of bars, restaurants, and younger crowd that towns like Whistler, Breckenridge, or Tahoe have. Posted below is a chronicle of the trip via photos of yours truly since I wasn't arming the camera too much. Note there aren’t any photos of the town because they can easily be found on google. The first photo is right before the departure on our odyssey through the Snowmass Mountain’s trail system with the next shot of the fall leaves on the trail. The last few shots were taken on the road back to Denver with the first showing off the local rock climbing. The next 2 shots were taken at the 12,000ft Independence pass where I froze while wearing my biking gear.

Scottish Breakfest Tea

This is a recommendation for those out there who like that smoky smell of scotch. Scottish Breakfast tea has the brilliant "offness" that defines the libations produced in the bog landscape of Scotland from the burning of peat. I'm not trying to say this tea is like sipping on a bog, but it definitely has a hint of smoky flavor that makes it oh so tasty. If you're in to coffee without massive amounts of cream, odds are you'll like it. I recommend the Peets’ variety of the tea since it’s easy to access. Japan is my next international stop, but is anyone up for a trip to Scotland?