Curious Souls

Just over a year ago, Ellen and I decided that it was time to escape the oppressive heat wave in Berlin . (This year the high for the upcoming week is a lovely 76. Time to go back?) Ellen had looked up several old friends , including one in Hamburg, Germany. This was our next destination. When we arrived, Anke, our hostess, already had big plans for us. Our first order of business was to travel downtown... by canoe. We learned that Hamburg has an extensive canal network, including more bridges than either Amsterdam or Venice. Vid Link That evening, we were taken to the very swank hotel-top bar: 20up . My favorite part was the view from the restroom... On the way back home we took a stroll through the Reeperbahn past Herbertstraße and learned that you can identify a prostitute by the fanny-pack that they typically wear - not in back - but in front. It's important to keep an eye on the cash. The next day, we decided to learn a bit more about the city and so we jumped o...

First the bike camping and now our very first Urban Assault  - we are on a roll with firsts! We participated in this city wide bicycle scavenger hunt last weekend and boy was it fun! One tip if you do attend: there is a prize at the end for "style." There were lots of good contenders this year.      The ride started and ended in the New Belgium Brewing parking lot and, as is to be expected, involved copious amounts of BEER!     Some "activities" at the ride stops: Diving for cans of New Belgium beer: Video Slip and Slide! Video The best ride end ever: a wet bounce house on a hot day! Video Convinced yet that this is a good time? Sign up next year and ride with us!

Guess what we did last weekend? We went bikepacking! Or, perhaps more accurately, we embarked on our very first sub-24 hour overnight bike camping trip, also known as an  S24O . Video We started from our house in north Fort Collins with our bikes loaded up with gear. The 10.5 miles to Lory State Park involved 6.4 miles of lovely separated bike lanes over relatively flat terrain and then 4.1 miles of almost completely uphill roads with no shoulder. We arrived at the park hot and sweaty to find, coincidentally, my Mom and Dad and some much needed ice water. They claimed  they were out looking at houses but we think they were spying on us... :) We pedaled into the park, locked our bikes at the picnic site across from the trailhead and loaded up our packs. Did I mention that we had to backpack in to our campsite?  We started the entire trip kind of late in the day so we had to move pretty fast to hike the four miles in to the backcountry sites before dark. ...