June 21st - Blue River Century
The Blue River Century is an event organized to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
A 100 mile bicycle ride with the Continental Divide as a backdrop. Add some beautiful weather, and it is a wonderful event!
My friend Marie was the organizer of this event and put out a call for volunteers. Many of her friends, myself included, gladly agreed to help out.
The weekend started off on Friday morning by picking up supplies at Marie's house. From there, it was (almost) constantly being on the move. Well, I did have a quick drink while waiting at one point. ;)
A few of us setup the registration packet booth and handed out the schwag to all the eager riders.
Afterwards, we scrambled to prep up the aid station supplies, load up the trucks with supplies (pick up truck owners are popular people for events like this. :D). I think we went to bed at 11pm.
The following morning, a few us were setting up by 5 am. I'm a morning person, but that is early even by my standards! Much scrambling to get setup and everything into place.
At ~7:30 am, I drove to the aid station location. Five us then setup the supplies for the bicyclists.
I must say, with the perfect weather, beautiful location and enjoyable company, it was a great way to spend a Saturday. The bicyclists were fun to talk to and seemed to really appreciate all the goodies set up for them.
While working the aid station, I saw a gentleman walking down the bike path. He had a light pack, nylon pants, trail runners and stashed trekking poles. The thru-hiker "uniform". Looking at all the snow on the divide, I figured he was a CDT hiker doing a lower alternate route.
Working on this hunch, I asked the hiker if he was thru-hiking the CDT. Sure enough, he was! He was a bit surprised. I introduced myself as "Paul Mags"...and he smiled. He "knew" me for online discussion groups and my entries in the Yogi's Handbook.
After talking to Colter about trail for a while (and offering him oranges, brownies, bananas, etc) he headed back on his journey. I am happy with my life; but seeing a fellow long distance hiker always makes me have that wanderlust again!
After a few hours of handing out food, we broke down the aid station. I headed to other jobs to fill and finally relaxed a bit by enjoy FREE beer for the volunteers. Ah...beer. Beer is good!
Finally, the all riders came in. The last of the chores were done. All th equipment was packed up and celebrated at a local bar and grill. And at 10:30 PM? I collapsed..along with almost everyone else.
Sunday morning, "slept in" until 7:30am. Packed up one last load of items to bring back to Boulder and called it a weekend.
A wonderful, busy and fun experience. As I told Marie, I look forward to helping out again next year!
All the photos
A 100 mile bicycle ride with the Continental Divide as a backdrop. Add some beautiful weather, and it is a wonderful event!
My friend Marie was the organizer of this event and put out a call for volunteers. Many of her friends, myself included, gladly agreed to help out.
The weekend started off on Friday morning by picking up supplies at Marie's house. From there, it was (almost) constantly being on the move. Well, I did have a quick drink while waiting at one point. ;)
A few of us setup the registration packet booth and handed out the schwag to all the eager riders.
Afterwards, we scrambled to prep up the aid station supplies, load up the trucks with supplies (pick up truck owners are popular people for events like this. :D). I think we went to bed at 11pm.
The following morning, a few us were setting up by 5 am. I'm a morning person, but that is early even by my standards! Much scrambling to get setup and everything into place.
At ~7:30 am, I drove to the aid station location. Five us then setup the supplies for the bicyclists.
I must say, with the perfect weather, beautiful location and enjoyable company, it was a great way to spend a Saturday. The bicyclists were fun to talk to and seemed to really appreciate all the goodies set up for them.
While working the aid station, I saw a gentleman walking down the bike path. He had a light pack, nylon pants, trail runners and stashed trekking poles. The thru-hiker "uniform". Looking at all the snow on the divide, I figured he was a CDT hiker doing a lower alternate route.
Working on this hunch, I asked the hiker if he was thru-hiking the CDT. Sure enough, he was! He was a bit surprised. I introduced myself as "Paul Mags"...and he smiled. He "knew" me for online discussion groups and my entries in the Yogi's Handbook.
After talking to Colter about trail for a while (and offering him oranges, brownies, bananas, etc) he headed back on his journey. I am happy with my life; but seeing a fellow long distance hiker always makes me have that wanderlust again!
Sunday morning, "slept in" until 7:30am. Packed up one last load of items to bring back to Boulder and called it a weekend.
A wonderful, busy and fun experience. As I told Marie, I look forward to helping out again next year!
All the photos
posted by Paul Mags at 8:24 AM
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