We arrived around 9pm to pick up our “packets” – a.k.a T-shirt and numbers.
Then we perused the free snack options!  Caribou iced coffee – mmm! Caffeine boost!
180 enegy drink – yeah! Bear Naked granola and yogurt.

There was also REI doing a spin the wheel for a prize and keel handing out single socks! Get a single sock – and then go and find your mate!
If you find your mate you get a free pair of socks.

I’m pretty sure the little brat that ran away when i approached him had my mate …  why let your kids play if you and they are going to ruin it for everyone?
So now…  i have this:

I think it will be the new Ella…  The plight of the lost sole looking for it’s mate! Bwahahahaha! I crack my self up!

The event had 2 “starts” the first one at 10:30 – with the families – no way you could get me to do that. so hubby and i headed over to the bar to meet up with our group!

We were back for the costume contest – some amazing costumes! Fruit of the Loom was our favorite!
Then it started… slowly… up hill…
Hmmm…  We think an up hill start is a bad idea…
But they let it go in waves, which was cool. And the course was mostly closed. We only had to stop at major cross streets!

It was 10 miles through the city with 2 snack stops. Next year – skip the snack stops! Too much of a mess! Although the porta poties were useful..  Albeit creapy in the dark!  Hubby indicated that at least i could hover he had to hope he wasn’t peeing on his shorts! *snort*

We made it through the finish line at about 1:15!!!   It was really an amazing time. There were points where all you could see was a sea of red blinking back lights! Really cool night!

We got our “breakfast” – free burrito and lemonde and then cruised home, quick shower and into bed by 2am! Latest i’ve been up in ages!

Can’t wait for next year – have got to come up with a cool group costume!

I’ve been doing my Friday Bike Experience for a couple weeks now (train with bike to work, bike home) and have noticed a strange trend.

No Helmets.

What is up with that?
Now, when i was 13, yeah, helmets were sooooo uncool. Totally!
But now – Worth looking “dorky” to keep my brain in tact!
I wear my helmet all the time!

But on the train, i am alone. Nary another bike person wears one. Very strange.

Do you wear your helmet?

Sorry mom – didn’t mean to give you a heart attack!

Sunday hubby and I decided to go for a little bike ride. I have been feeling thinner (probably because i am – versus last year at this time) and therefore things that have sat in the closet for ages now fit.

I chose a cute little exercise top with little strapies that matched my shorts. I put suntan lotion on my arms, had hubby do my back – there was a bit exposed in this little number – woohoo me!

We head out, 1/2 way to the bike trail i notice when i “bend” over to reach for the handlebars my fancy little shirt shifts up…  Hmmm…
Wonder if this will be a problem…

Let me tell you – HELL YES it was a problem!
I got a fabulous burn on the Tramp Stamp area of my lower back. Oooofa!
Also got some lovely burns around my strapies cause hubby didn’t do his job – he claims i shifted after he applied the sun screen so i am to blame. I disagree! Of course!

I figure next time i’ll put a sticker or 2 back there and have a temporary tatoo!
Or maybe next time i’ll just wear a longer shirt and sun screen!

We had recently come across some cash from a craig’s list sale that we had forgotten about – wind fall!  (ok, not really, but enough for a bike i thought!)

Hubby laughs at me and some of the numbers i come up with on what I think is a reasonable cost for something.
To me a $50 bike at an auction seemed like what it should cost. There were previously owned, possibly stolen, possibly run over with a truck…  Seemed reasonable to me.

It was my first auction, i don’t do well in barganing situations, but figured i could handle this.
We registered, got our “card” for show when bidding.
And into the bike area we went to check out the goods.
I found 4 or 5 that fit the critera – small enough for me to fit on, in decent shape – we didn’t want to spend a boat load to get it road worthy, and a brand name i had heard of!

As the auction began i was amazed. Seriosuly. It was just like you see on tv, 50, 50 50, do i hear 60, ok 60, can i get 60….

When he started with 50 as the “base” bid i was a little nervous and thought maybe hubby and i should just go…
But then they went down down down to 20 since no-one was bidding. Ok, feelign better.

There were some amazing bikes that went for 10 or 20 and some that hubby and i weren’t really impressed with and those shot up to the 300 mark.
Crazy! I figured it was just that we didn’t have the right knowledge to be talking bikes!

As i was watching some of those great bikes go for 30 i decided to jump in the ring so I had hubby star bidding on a trek. I didn’t really remeber seeing in and i can’t see far without my glasses, so it looked ok…  We eded up at the $75 dollar mark for a trek…  I figured even a low end trek would cost over 300 so we should ok.

We got that bike and put it on the car and came back for round 2. They were coming up on one of the other bikes i had marked as an I want. A mongoose.
Seems maybe we picked poorly cause not many people bidded with us and we were able to grab that puppy for the $50 mark – which was what i had thought we could.

I was a little nervouls that i had wasted some of our “wind fall” on something not usable. Hubby was excited by the whole process.

Sunday I looked around for a bike shop to check our winnings out. I ended up chosing the one that was open on sundays! Who knew bike shops were like hair dressers?

They took both bikes and checked them out. The trek i figured would be a boat load, it was ditry and the seat was a wreck…  Turns out that was the winner! A little chain lube and a new “used” seat and for $16.50 plus tax i had a rideable machine! WOOHOO! Yeah me!

The back up bike- the one that should have been the perfrect one, alas was not to be. The rear tire was more of an oval, the handle bars would a might off center nad basically it would need a $100 overhaul…  That little puppy is now sitting in the garage awaiting a time when we feel the need to fix it up and sell it on craig’s list!

All in all i was pretty pleased with ourselves! I got a brand name bike, that’s light – pretty sure i can lift it over my head, and rideable!!

On our way home we stopped by the other version of our houses (the much more expensive version) to see an updated closet option. alas the person manning the model had no idea what we were talking about. We had gotten this info from the builder, but couldn’t remember all the details. I had asked him at an HOA meeting about blowing out the wall and he said they had done that over at this version.

Current closet situation: 2 small closets, “his” and “hers”.
Obviously “hers” has more stuff in it and needs more of “his” space.
Solution: blow out the wall between, have it done via out of sight to look fabulous and allow “hers” to take over most of the space!
I love it!

Dad? Do you feel a trip out west coming on???

After that stop in we attempted to use technology (IPhone maps) and find a quicker way home than the way we knew…  It eventually worked out ok, only a couple turn arounds, and some new fun routes found! Love it!

We spent the afternoon having adult beverages in the sunshine on the roof and then watched movies – Wanted and Traitor. Wanted was awesome, Traitor,  not so much.

Sunday was supposed to be a day in the mountains using our ski pass that we paid too much for and haven’t used enough…  alas we learned that it was spring break the crowds were insane and the snow was crap… So – Denver here we come!

I spent the morning going over our tour books, and using AAA.com to make my trip tik, and just pawing over my maps. I LOVE MAPS! I drive hubby crazy that i like maps so much. I always want one of our current location on the wall and he just hates it! Must be something from my dad!

Eventually I had all 7 days planned out. 1800 miles. 28 hours of driving. 3 national parks, at a minimum. 4 states. I am so excited!

I left it up to hubby to decide how we would spend our time sunday outside.
A bike ride was decided. Luckily i have been doing spinning at least once a week, so hopping on the old 2 wheeler didn’t kill me!
We had a great ride – about 14 miles. Not bad for us!

We rode down the bike path close to our house, through some parks, past Six Flags, invesco field, the aquarium and more. It’s great how many bike paths there are in denver!
I of course forgot the sun block on my arms… sigh… Very sexy tan lines to start off the summer, let me tell you!

We also stopped in at REI and spend our dividend – $7.30 burnin a hole in my pocket – and our members only 20% off coupon. Oh yeah!
i decided to get some wheel and seat locks. These nifty screws that only turn one way, so you can lock just your frame and no-one can just come grab your wheels or seat. Woohoo!

We returned home to another fabulous afternoon of adult beverages and dip on the roof. We relaxed till about 4 when we got ready for our night out to see the Mammoth play.
And it was dollar hot dog night! WOOHOO!!  (i’ll let you know now, i won’t be doing that again – my tummy boycotted it profusely!)
The game was amazing! It is now my most favorite sport! Fun to watch, exciting, they fights, and for the guys – they have hoochies for cheer leaders!

It was a really great weekend!