The only black cloud, literally, was the fact the weather in the mountains wasn't great for any hiking or mountain climbing. Originally I had planned on heading to Kenosha Pass to mountain bike and then hike Mount Massive but both Saturday and Sunday had storms forecast in the early morning. Thunderstorms are a daily occurrence in the mountains but usually don't roll in until around 1:30-2:00 PM. I decided to nix my high country aspirations, which ended up being the right move (though had I shlumped it down to Aspen/Crested Butte area I probably would have been ok).
Friday was the glorious 4th of July, the say where we celebrate the Declaration of Independence being signed for two days. I started off by hitting up the huge network of mountain bike trails in Nederland. The West Magnolia Trailhead opens up tons of fun rides, mostly fast singletrack with a few mixed technical aspects and lots of steep dirt roads to climb. There's also abandoned mines, ghost towns and hippie communes hiding in the woods so there's always something to see. One can easily enjoy 4-5 hours of riding without encountering the same trail twice. I rode well but felt I wasn't on my A-game (more on this later).On the drive back to Boulder, I had one of those moments we all secretly hope for; summoning a cop on demand to deal with an idiot motorist. A jerk motorcycle rider was honking his horn at me as I drove 25 MPH through town-- the posted speed limit. Anyone who has been to Nederland knows the cops enforce this with ridiculous efficiency (plus it's only a short section of town) so I wasn't about to speed up for some punk on a crotch rocket. Predictably, the dude decides to pass me on a double-yellow and catch up to his other motorcycle friend in front of me. Bad call--because of course, the cops were waiting (and on the 4th of July weekend, what worse time to try an illegal maneuver!) As the cop pulled up to the two bikers, the guy who hadn't done ANYTHING wrong shot away at about 80 MPH up the canyon and the cop followed him. His buddy (the guy who passed me) did the honorable thing and sped away in the opposite direction. I don't know what happened in the end, but both bikes had license plates that the cop had more than enough time to get down--plus the cop cars have cameras in them in Nederland. I don't care either way but it was sort of fun to watch the drama unfold.
On the night of the 4th, Sheila came over to watch fireworks from my balcony and enjoy some good and relatively healthy food. As the ultimate guy sacrifice, I allowed Sheila to watch as much "What Not to Wear" as she liked, since I don't think she has whatever cable station it is on at her house (Lifetime?) When the fireworks finally started, we migrated out to a field near my apartment since trees were blocking the balcony view. Good stuff with the exception of the 600 mosquito bites.
When the sun goes down, the nerds come out. I've been working on my fun little NES completion project at night. Thursday and Friday saw me take care of Bionic Commando, a game that is actually much better than I remember. Not only does it have unique and intuitive gameplay, the "light-action RPG" elements give it something of an epic feel. And how can you not love a game where your final enemy is a towering, shirtless Adolf Hitler whom you defeat by shooting in the face with a bazooka? The graphic description of watching Hitler's face "explod", complete with bloody gore, is probably the most graphic display of violence on the normally family-friendly NES.
Next on the gaming hit-list was Castlevania 3, a big project since fully completing the game requires one to playthrough it all with 4 different character set-ups. As much of a classic as CV3 is, the spirit companions are mostly extraneous except for a few rare instances. It's also a tough game, more difficult than the previous two NES games in the series. After a weekend of playing here and there, I'm at the next-to-last stage with all four possible scenarios (solo and paired with either Syfa, Grant or Alucard). Outside of a few tedious stage sections (IE waiting for blocks to drop from the sky to form a staircase) it's an excellent game. Saturday was ultra-productive. I changed the oil in my car, cleaned up a bit around the house, took Xanadu for a long walk and deep-cleaned my bike. I headed out to Heil Ranch for a ride in the evening but heavy rain hit just as I got to the trailhead. I'm not opposed to riding in the rain but here in the dry climate, riding wet trails really trashes them. I headed home, played a little Castlevania 3 and relaxed.
Sunday I got an early start by riding Walker Ranch in the morning. I was excited to get out because I've been reading a book called Mastering Mountain Bike Skills that has really helped my riding. This time I was armed with my A game as well as an awareness of improvements I need to make in my riding style. Don't hit the brakes in a turn, it makes the bike stand up. Lay off the brakes and let the bike flow and only brake on straight sections. Keep the upper body relaxed and hit jumps with more speed. Go back and re-try sections you don't get through cleanly. Lean forward a bit on steep, rocky climbs if your front tire is getting bounced. And so on. Overall, I was very happy with my riding--I was more aggressive and relaxed at the same time. I retried some sections to get them faster or with more finesse. The only hiccup was flubbing a tricky drop that I had nailed for first time the last time I rode Walker. The drop in question has two main lines, a "chicken line" to the left which I had done dozens of times and a more gutsy "right-down-the-middle" line (which I've gotten down once). It was starting to rain and the rock was slick so before I could even set up the line, my bike slid off-line and I had a minor wipeout. No big deal though, since any technical riding in the rain isn't a great idea. As I finished the mile-long climb out, lightning began to close in and the bellows of thunder were a great motivator. The rain was getting heavy and I felt bad for the dozens of people I had seen out on the trail who were still in it.
I got back home to Boulder, where it was sunny and bright despite the storms raging just above town. I caught the end of the impressive Nadal-Federererererer match at Wimbledon, then spent the rest of the evening organizing my gear and watching Manny Ramirez and the Red Sox sit there with their bats on their shoulders while a weak Yankees team made 'em look bad. I noodled a bit on the guitar, enjoyed some quality Jones soda and called it a night.
It makes me look forward to that moment in time when I have a "real" vacation!
