The 40th Parallel

I'm getting to like Boulder quite a bit.When first I arrived the snow was abundant,blanketing most of the area,especially the hills and trails.

Now it's a little like spring with temps in the mid to high 60's.

A much more temperate climate than Steamboat,not as bitterly cold.

Boulder lies in a wide basin beneath Flagstaff Mountain just a few miles east of the continental divide and about 30 miles NW of Denver.

The 40th parallel(40 degrees north latitude) runs through Boulder and can be easily recognized as Basline Road today.

World class rock climbing abounds here,especially in Eldorado Canyon.

Boulder itself is surrounded by over 36,000 acres of recreational space.

The Boulder International Film Festival is held in February,along with the SHoot Out 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival,in which flimmakers are challenged to make a short film within 24 hours using in-camera editing techniques only.

The shootout is just one of those things that keep Boulder cool....

...and speaking of cool,or in this case Kuhl,...

...this Kuhl Kore sweater now is one of the best items I own.

I originally got a pair of their Rebel Jeans,which turned out to be the best pair of pants I have bought.

They're practically indestructible.

But on a visit to the Kuhl HQ in Salt Lake City,brothers Kevin and Tim gave me one of their Kore sweaters to try.

It's a thermal wrap is what it really is.I love it.For a 6:30 am 40º hike,it keeps the heat inside and the cold out.

On the way down when the sun has warmed everything up,sling it on a pack,it's so light you won't even know it's there.

It's a great wind stopper for riding on the bike also.Should be part of every long distance riders gear IMHO.

Chief Niwot,a tribal leader of the Arapho,lived at the site of Boulder,where in 1858 he uttered his legendry curse,"People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay,and their staying will be the undoing of the beauty".

Murph

THE YEAR IN REVIEW WRAP UP......on with the show.

Arches NP Moab UT Oct 2010

As I looked through my albums of 2010,I tried to put up the images that reflected the places I visited and people that I met,but it`s very hard to condense it down to a few posts.

Plus in places like Death Valley and Utah the vista changes daily,really a beautiful part of the country.Of course,that also depends on the time of year.I think i`ll pass on June-August in DV.100° temps are not my thing.

Arches NP Moab October 2010

Monument Valley UT Oct 2010

Monument Valley UT Oct 2010.

Monument Valley UT.Oct,2010.

S.I.T.S. syndrome(stuck in the sand) Death Valley Sept 2010.This wouldn`t of happened if I had a sidecar rig.

Road to The Salt.Bonneville UT Sept 2010

Mexican Hat UT October 2010

Off in the distance by the Joshua Tree in the middle of the pic is a U2 shrine,which was the question in the "Where Am I" contest I ran in December.Only one person figured it out,which was one more than I thought it would be.It`s not something thats widely known about.Quite a few know of the shrine,but very few know of it`s actual location.

The Mormon Missile was back on the salt this year.

Gopi Shastri at the Mike Cook Shootout in October doing a piece for the Discovery Channel.

Bonneville Salt Flats Sept 2010.

Sweet Guzzi

Drool.....

Double drool.....

Bonneville was a blast in 2010.The only event that I didn`t go to was Speedweek,all the rest I was at,either working as crew with one of the competitors,or working at as event staff.Hopfully I get to make it this year too,but there maybe a different venue looming on the horizon.

TR was a great guy to make friends with.

He works all the Speed Events from August thru October,staying in his Mini-Winne,his `76 Winnabago at the "Bend".Thats where I had set up camp also,at times in between events we were the only two out there by the Salt.

" `Scuse me,ya dropped sumpthin".

One of TR`s jobs is to drive the course daily and look for debris,stuff that`s either fallen off or exploded off the cars and various machines hurtling down the track at speeds in excess of three hundred miles an hour.The man`s got "Hawk Eyes",he can see something as small as a 1/4 inch metal screw driving along in his car.Some of the stuff he`s picked up is unbelievable.There`s the $40 titanium bolt,bits of a magnesium blower,a few oil lines,and this:

At 200  mph on a bike,these`ll ruin your day.

At 300 mph+ in a streamliner,any one of these small pieces of debris could be fatal to a driver.At those speeds tires are extremly hot,it doesn`t take much to pop one.

This troopy was obviously going in for repairs,after having been trashed in Iraq.

Got it?.....riiiight on.

So as another new year starts,many new roads lie ahead to journey on.

At this time i`m not quite sure where that may be,but year two on the bike is a place that I never really though i`d be.

Another place I find myself in,where at the time it was very hard to see past is two years sober on the 17th of this month.Amazing when I think back at all the wonderful things that have happened by quitting drinking that had zero chance of ever being realised while drunk.But at the time,there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel,in fact there was NO tunnel,just a black hole swallowing me up.

I`m not a religious person but I have a lot to be thankful for.

In the next post thanks to Kriega U.S.,contest #2 will have a 1st place prize of a Kriega 10,a $70 value.

I have two of these on my bike attached to the top of the panniers.

They`re 100% waterproof and indestructible.They have a removeable inner liner that can be taken out and washed in case of spills.They`re also modular,so you can piece together a system to suit your own needs or the type of bike you ride.

For more info log on to Kriega U.S.

or call Scott at 480 782 9300.

Murph