Week 10: Spring break sends

Hi friends! I’m currently wondering where the day went and trying to get resettled after spending the week in various parts of Colorado and Wyoming, skiing and hiking and even getting a last-minute bike ride in! Despite treating this as a “working vacation” and needing to spend large chunks of the week working on thesis things, I am feeling a bit more relaxed and refreshed than I was last week. Here’s a semi-detailed overview of the trip, which has very little to do with 4K, mostly so I can practice my day-to-day blogging skills for this summer :)

We also did two hikes in Cañon City, the first being Tunnel Drive Trail, a nice flat hike along an old irrigation canal alongside the Arkansas River. It was a truly beautiful day, and James (who is a big fan of trains) got a real treat when the excursion train passed below us!

The next day it was a bit colder and even a little snowy, but we ventured out for a hike in the Royal Gorge area. It was pretty cloudy so the views we were promised weren’t quite what I expected but the sight of the river far below us was very beautiful. I accidentally kicked my ankle into a cactus which wasn’t my finest moment but it didn’t injure me too badly.

On St. Patrick’s day I celebrated with an Irish cream mocha and one of the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had before saying goodbye to the Bean Pedaler. We headed north for Winter Park, CO, to join James’ brother and his friends for some skiing. The drive was a bit nerve-wracking because it was snowing and we were ascending a mountain in a Toyota Camry but James handled it like a pro. The place they had rented was very nice and we quickly took advantage of the hot tub once we got settled. I was pretty tired and turned in early to rest up for a full day of skiing on Friday.

I would say I’m a pretty capable skier on the east coast but the mountains out west proved to be a challenge! James was a little worried about slowing me down because he hadn’t skied in 15 years but I was glad to be able to take my time and not be rushed into anything too difficult. It took a while to get used to breathing at 10,000–12,000 feet (4x higher than the tallest point at Seven Springs in PA), skiing in actual powder (instead of skidding across ice) and navigating moguls (which are apparently commonplace on blue trails out west???). At some point in the day we got on a lift with some ski bros who were yelling down to some people sizing up a run below us to “just send it!”, aka go for it! This became a running joke throughout the weekend (“the post office is open, they said you can send it”, etc.). It was silly in the moment but honestly… not a bad mantra to have. We skied almost the entire time the resort was open and by the end of the day I was thoroughly exhausted, but we got some great runs in and saw some amazing views.

On Saturday we got up even earlier to beat the weekend crowds, which ended up being futile because I accidentally grabbed someone else’s helmet and didn’t realize until we were parked at the mountain… oops… We got started an hour later than intended but the crowds actually weren’t too bad. James and I explored some new areas of the mountain and got some more runs in on the trails we really liked the day before. As much as I wanted to stay out all day my legs became so tired I felt like I couldn’t really steer myself very well after a few hours so we called it a day.

After turning in our rentals we headed north again to Cheyenne, WO, to stay with James’s brother for a night. We were blessed with a truly delicious chicken parm and pesto pasta feast (thank you, Mike!!!) and spent the evening catching up before James and Mike fell asleep on the floor– I only managed to stay awake because I was folding laundry.

We managed to get a lot done Sunday morning despite it being a travel day. I was able to wrap up some thesis work I was really anxious to take care of before this week. And, just as I was thinking I was about to go more than a week without riding a bike, a quick mountain bike outing was suggested! I had never been mountain biking before so I was a little nervous about keeping up, especially because the altitude in Cheyenne had me GASPING for breath. I’m not sure that my brief altitude acclimation this week will physically benefit me at all when we bike the Rockies this summer, but at least I’ll be mentally prepared for the biking uphill and feeling like my lungs might explode. I was pretty nervous to ride the trails but they were beginner-friendly and I had a ton of fun. I’ll definitely take advantage of opportunities to mountain bike in the future!

One last thing for this week: the March Madness fundraiser helped me reach my $6,500 goal! Huge thanks to everyone who participated– I’m interested to see who will come out on top of the bracket pool after all these upsets! Since I’m still a few months out from the ride I’ve decided to raise my goal again to $8,000. If you haven’t donated yet and would like to contribute to the Ulman Foundation’s amazing mission, you can read more on my fundraising profile here.

Until next week!

Lauren