When Dan asked me to be a groomsman at his wedding in Miami, Florida, I was excited for a number of reasons: 1) my buddy Dan was getting married to a wonderful woman, Susan; 2) I’d get to see Dan and Susan for the first time in over a year; and 3) for the first time in my life, I’d be visiting the Sunshine State. So in June 2008, I pushed aside my preconceptions about what I heard about Florida (e.g., hurricanes, humidity, flat land, old people, bad drivers) and hopped on a jet to Fort Lauderdale. Continue reading »

I’m already 99% packed and ready to go for the Tour Divide mountain bike race, having managed to do some last-minute testing before heading out to Florida for a wedding. Here are some photos and my gear list (PDF, not entirely complete — there are additional things I packed that aren’t on the list like first aid, tools and toiletries). Continue reading »

Nine days have passed since the Sulphur Springs 100, but I can’t say I’ve been able to reflect too long on that crazy run due to preparing for another upcoming adventure: a 2711-mile mountain bike race from Canada to Mexico called the Tour Divide. A couple weeks ago I submitted a letter of intent: Continue reading »

By completing the Sulphur Springs 100 last weekend, I fulfilled all the running goals I listed at the bottom of the running race log page set in January 2005 (and are duplicated at the bottom of this page). Phew! Most of them were even achieved “on time,” or close. I doubt I could have done so had I been working 45-60 hours/week, which is the beauty of being semi-retired — being able to devote more time to other things of interest and importance to oneself apart from making a living. Continue reading »

I hadn’t posted a full report on April’s Boston Marathon because I was writing one up for Fort Collins Now as part of my (roughly) bi-monthly outdoors column. The article, “Beantown’s Promise,” was just published last Wednesday (May 28, 2008). You can download it here (PDF, 603 KB) or view it online on FCN’s website.

Speaking of backlogs, my next FCN article will be about motorcycling through the Poudre Canyon. I’m working on that article right now.