With a brilliant weekend of instruction and some entertaining times in Shelburne it was time to head out to Colorado for the Teva Games in Vail and to see what Homesteak Creek had in store for us this year. I came out here last year for the first time to race and definitely had a great time so it was time to repeat the exercise.
As usual my planning of this trip had been somewhat lax and with a couple of quick phone calls and a last minute flight bookings it was time to head. Thanks to Mike, Amber and Ashley for carting me to Logan at the last minute. Magically, Eugene and Andrew actually managed to make it to Denver in time to pick me up at Midnight after having left Idaho that morning and things were looking good.
Arriving late at night was not helpful for finding a decent bite to eat but after almost 9 hours even a Whopper will suffice. Memorial day saw the Bolder Boulder Run and a fly-by for and a huge stadium full of very fit people that had just gone for a 10K jog. A friend of mine, Kira, and her sister Lilly were there for the run. No slouch, Lilly managed 134 out of 20,000. After a short detour through downtown Boulder thanks to Kira’s horrible sense of direction we managed to work up to the steeps on Boulder Creek just out of town. Having not met up with My boat yet I was in a play boat for this short and steep creek run that was going to put us in close quarters with a few trees and some great tight drops. That said the Super Star actually works quite well for creeking.
Some late night Frisbee action saw one of the crew off to the Hospital for 5 stitches above his eye. Now while I would never usually claim something like this, it was my throw that forced him to quicly turn straight into the pole. Classic home movie stuff right there.
Driving over the hills the next day was great as in the valleys it was raining steadily, as you climbed it slowly turned to sleet then snow. With Homesteak being at almost 9000 feet the first few runs we freaking freezing but well worth the effort of dragging the boat up the hill. Several runs we taken and the lines we pretty much the same as last year with very similar water levels. The Creek race is tomorrow and hopefully with one more run in the morning to ge the gear wet all will go well. the field is strong but hopefully with some smooth lines and a little luck things should go well.
We have video to follow but in the meantime I’m just heading off to bed.
Over and Out from day one of the Teva Mountain Games.
