Mountain Biking With Backcountry Babes

Friday I did a mountain biking clinic in Breckenridge with Backcountry Babes.  They are holding a women's clinic July 7-8 and I got a mini-lesson as I shot an upcoming Explore Colorado segment.  I learned so much in just a couple of hours.

We started on grass, then went on a mini course, then off on a trail.  It was such a fun afternoon of learning and riding.

Hiking & Biking Up A Storm in Beaver Creek

Saturday turned into an all day workout for me at Beaver Creek.  It started at 7:15am when I took off on the Lost Buck Trail.  I headed out on what I thought would be just a nice hike/jog but it turned into a 3 miles hike/run with three hill intervals added in.  There's something about hiking or jogging by a ski slope that just inspired me to run intervals to the top of the hill.

For there it was out on a mountain biking adventure at 9:15am with my guide Laura.  Little did I know that I would be going 14 miles and there would be a crash.  I'm still a pretty novice mountain biker.  I'm a much better road cyclist.  At Beaver Creek we road the Centennial Lift then took off on Cinch to Dally to Village to Village over the Arrowhead.  Somewhere on the Village to Village I bit it going downhill while trying to shoot video.  In Arrowhead we caught the bike trail and then bus back to Beaver Creek for a quick lunch at Spruce Saddle, off of the Centennial Lift.

Laura was up for a hike so she went with me.  We took the Royal Elk Trail to Beaver Lake at an elevation of 9,746 feet.  After a quick break to soak up the beauty of the lake it was back down the Beaver Lake Trail to my hotel The Osprey.  Round trip it was a 6 mile hike.

That's 9 miles on foot and 14 on bike - not bad for a day's workout!

Adventure in Aspen & Snowmass

Today was a fun fitness day with mountainboarding and biking in Snowmass then stand up paddling on the Roaring Fork River in Aspen with a hometown (Greenville, SC) friend.

First for Frank and I was mountainboarding - something I've never heard of let alone try until this trip.  Our instructor Doug was fantastic.  No falls and by end of lesson felt confident on the board.  I'd call it skateboarding on steroids or a summer version of snowboarding on wheels.  Even did what's called "dropping small" which is boarding the small ramp.  Snowmass has camps for kids where they get to do this and adults can try it too.

Next was mountain biking with another fabulous instructor Kevin.  We went up the Elk Camp Gondola then did downhill mountain biking.  The trail system in Aspen/Snowmass covers 50 miles of varying terrain.  I'd never done straight downhill mountain biking.  It's challenging - especially going through the turns and bridges.  In addition to a workout for your legs, core and arms being in the athletic stance on a bike, it's also a workout for your hands since you'll be braking on the way down.





The third outdoor adventure of the day was stand up paddling (SUP) on the Roaring Fork River in Aspen with professional skier Chris Davenport and Aspen Kayak & SUP Academy owner Charlie MacArthur.  This was such a great core workout with amazing scenery.  Plus the water felt great - yes I fell in but we all did!

Tomorrow is a 12.5 mile hike from Aspen to Crested Butte!