Freetail Brewing, San Antonio

Austin

This Friday I'll be making my first trip back to Austin since 2009.  I hear the city has changed quite a bit since then.  I spent every free moment I had while stationed at Fort Hood for six years in the ATX, and then lived there full time for another year before moving to Colorado.  Going to be awesome to see so many old friends!

Here's the extremely tentative schedule of events in case anyone wants to join me:

Friday AM - Bandera
Friday PM - Burnet Road (Pinthouse, Draught Hourse, Billy's...)

Sat AM - Barton Creek Greenbelt
Sat early Supper - Crown & Anchor
Sat PM - Carousel, Barfly

Sun PM - Austin Hash
Sun PM - Ginny's, Poodle Dog...

Mon PM - kayak Town Lake to see the bats
Mon PM - Whip In

W's

Been a busy week.  Started the new job and I'm currently a single parent for the dog as $100 is in San Antonio all week.  Early mornings are spent with the dog and afternoons are spent running up to the top of the W's.  38 minutes yesterday and 37 minutes today.  Think three hour Ascent pace is around 36 minutes.

Got a call from the Weim Rescue today asking me to vouch for Amanda.  One of the questions they asked was, "Do you think she would be able to adequately exercise the dog?"  You can't imagine how badly I wanted to say she was too slow to exercise a dog, but I was nice.  Maybe.

Sky Pond

Took advantage of my funemployment to visit Rocky Mountain National Park.  Despite living in Colorado for eight years now, I had only been to RMNP once before.  Such a travesty!

Planned on hiking damn near the entire park over two days, but the weather didn't cooperate.  But I did get in a solid hike out to Sky Pond.  A fairly easy eight mile round trip but definitely worth the time if you're looking for a fun, easy day.  Pretty quick trip from the Estes Park side since the trail head is near the Bear Lake TH.

It did take me a long time to cover eight miles, but that's because this guy got in my way:



Thunderstorms ruined the rest of the trip but I did get to finally drive all of Trail Ridge Road and crossed two more breweries off my list - Grand Lake Brewing and The Library in Winter Park.  A guy was actually hit by lightning at the Alpine Visitor Center while I was in the park, so in hindsight a great decision to leave the trails for the breweries.

Oh yeah, I also saw a friggin' moose.  Can you find him?

St Mary's Falls

Saturday was my first run since Hardrock.  Still some soreness around the right knee but nothing too bad.  Six miles with the dog out to St. Mary's Falls and back.

race report

My quick recap on Hardrock is over on Pikes Peak Sports.

It's not that long, but you should grab a beer anyways.  And make sure it's a real beer, not that fake crap favored by the North CRUD panzees.

Thanks to my secretary Liz for this nugget:

no-go on the steeple

Due to lingering issues from Hardrock I will not be participating in this week's steeplechase in Boulder.  This is the first time I've ever withdrawn from the steeple.

Still sore as hell, with some extra stiffness in my right knee.  I'll be working it all out at Rocky Mountain Nat's Park over the next few days.

33:45:04

Pretty good run down in the San Juans and I finally got my 33:xx.  I'll get a report up soon.

Moonlight!

might take a while to get home...

another one for the collection...

7/10 - The Hopster

Gunnison Brewery

Water

Shit!

Funemployed!

No job until July 22nd!

new Laughing Lab logo

Best beer brewed in the state. Luckily only the packaging changed, beer is still the same.

long weekend

Bit behind on the blogging front.  On July 3 we had a pre-Grass It Up drink off at the house.  Good crew.

July 4th had me up on Pikes for some altitude.  Ran the 3/1.  Dropped Amanda off at Elk Park and waited for her slowpoke ass to climb the mountain.  As she was reaching the summit, a tourist noticed her camelbak and asked, "Is that oxygen?"

On Saturday some friends and I made the trip down to bag Mt. Lindsey.  Got a bit sketchy at the top and I had to turn around since the dog couldn't make it.  Quite a few hours above 13000 feet and the dog had the time of her life so it was still a great trip.

Summer Roundup on Sunday.  Good race for me, though I got passed by quite a few peeps at the turnaround...

7/7 - Firestone Double Jack IPA

Guest tap at Colorado Mountain Brewing.

7/6 - Steinlager

Hardrock Splits

Posted my predicted Hardrock splits over on Pikes Peak Sports.  Shooting for a 33:59:59.  And more importantly, a seat at the Miner's Tavern by 4:20PM.

This pic would look good in our bathroom.  Hopefully I'll have one soon...

FYI, there is one yelp review for the Miner's Tavern:

True dive locals bar where hard drinking is the theme. Be sure to wear your big boy pants.  

The bartender, Mikey, is a nice guy, and there are pool tables for your enjoyment. The prices are also pretty decent: I've gotten fairly tipsy for under $15. 

Visitors should be a bit wary of this bar as it has a reputation for fights and uncouth behaviour. I love the kind of bar where I have to hide in a corner, keep my mouth shut, and conceal a weapon.

BT!

Another for the collection

Suck it, Shad...

Front Range

7/3 - Phantom Canyon ESB

New rooftop patio.

Hey bear!

Tues PM - Easy two hours on the Incline and Intemann Trail.

Wed AM - Garden road loop, 6.5 miles in an hour.  While crossing Colorado Ave I looked up and saw this guy about 15 feet away from me.

Tuesday

Back to reality after a long weekend in Wisconsin/Minnesota.  Been a long time since I ate that unhealthy, including a lifetime of cheese.  Good times!

Tues AM - Easy 6.5 miles on the Garden roads.  Got to check out some of the areas that are supposed to flood soon.  Pretty sure my house will be safe no matter how much rain we get, but some folks in the neighborhood are pretty worried.