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5 Random Things From a Week in Colorado

It’s been a great seven days here in Colorado, so rather than focus just on the weekend, I figured I’d cover the last week’s worth of goodness from the mile-high+ realm.

1) A few days in the mountains

After leaving the US East Coast behind, we headed to the mountains of Colorado for a few days of hiking and enjoying some high altitude relaxing.

With it being low season (super-low season actually), with a bit of searching you could find some pretty good deals out there for renting an apartment/condo that had a full kitchen and all.  The Girl and I went on a few hikes, and I also got in a nice trail run:

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You can see a quick little video I made of that below, using the Karma drone (and a lot of patience).

An early morning mountain trail run in Vail. Filmed with the GoPro Karma. #goprokarma #GoPro

A video posted by Ray Maker (@dcrainmaker) on Nov 3, 2016 at 10:51am PDT

We got a little bit of snow the first night we were there, but the daytime temperatures quickly melted anything that was facing the sun in what seemed to be a matter of minutes.

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Had we thought it through, we might have spent more time in the mountains, but alas, all good things must come to an end.

2) Hanging with our friends

Of course, one of the major reasons we were here in Colorado was to visit with our friends Lauren and Phil (and their new little peanut as well).  You might remember them from visiting us in Paris both last summer, as well as the previous winter.  We had a blast both times, wandering all over France – including the island of Corsica.

Our little ones were each born within three weeks of each other – so both couples were on level playing ground when it came to managing the peanuts.  Oh, and two dogs.  Both of us have a small dog (Lucy came along of course!).

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We did a lot of cooking on the grill, as well as…well…more cooking on the grill.  It was fantastic.

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Plus of course, everything else in this post.  We enjoyed having a pretty low-key trip, no need to rush around and play tourist!  I mean, unless that tourist piece includes trying out all sorts of their favorite food spots.  In which case, mission accomplished.

3) A Ride Across the Plains

On Saturday morning, Phil and I headed out with a small group of his friends (and apparent DCR readers) for a few hour ride across the sunny fields of Colorado.

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The ride lasted a touch under 3 hours long, and just meandered across the almost pancake flat land.  I believe there was one hill, not including the highway overpass.  But that’s what’s so cool about Colorado from a training standpoint.  If you want to go riding into the mountains – then that’s easy to do.  More elevation than you can shake a stick at.

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Meanwhile, if you want to ride the flats (perhaps you’re training for Ironman Florida), then that’s also available to you.  Forever and ever and ever.

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In case you’re wondering about the bike – Phil let me borrow one of his during the stay.  You might remember he borrowed one of mine last summer when he raced the Paris Triathlon with me.

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Oh – and definitely a happy birthday to Jordan, one of the guys on the ride who celebrated getting older this weekend as well.  Don’t worry, he wasn’t cut any slack on the ride.

4) Swim practice continues!

After our bike ride, the girls, the kiddos and us all headed over to the local rec center for another swim session.  We’ve been swimming with The Peanut about once a week or more the last 3 weeks or so.  In general she’s becoming more accepting of the water, especially if the water is warm.  And logically, when it’s cold she’s about as accepting of the aqua-adventures as we are.

This rec center had an awesome Lazy River though, which we all enjoyed floating our way through.  It gave her constant stuff to watch whirl by.

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Oh, and in case you’re wondering, said Lazy River is actually measured:

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I also noted they do a Lazy River walking exercise session on certain days of the week.  I didn’t enquire whether that was downstream or upstream.

5) Getting final GoPro Karma shots

Last but not least, over the last few days I’ve been getting a bunch of shots finalized for review.  This includes not only watches like the Garmin FR35 and Fitbit Charge 2, but also the GoPro Karma in-depth review.  With Karma, that review is sprawling both in content in the review but accompanying videos covering numerous subjects.  Those videos being created as fast as my little (old) MacBook can churn them out.

Many of the videos and shots I did solo, while others I had Phil assist me on.

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For example, we did one just at sunset near the now deserted remains of the control tower for the old Stapleton International Airport. This was the parting shot after we had drained the batteries one final time.

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Plus ones I also did up in the foothills of the mountains:

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Not to mention ones in the mountains themselves.

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The text for the review is largely done, with only video and photo editing remaining.  For those that have followed on Twitter or elsewhere, you’ll know that things aren’t going to end well here.

With that – we’re back on a plane working our way home to France.  Plenty of good stuff sits in the baggage compartment down below as well (we checked six bags, with many gadgets in tow!).  Thanks for reading all!

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21 Comments

  1. Chris O.

    Man, DCR was within 20 miles of me! Glad you enjoyed your time here in CO in our unusually warm weather. Did you happen to hit the Zwift tour event on Sunday in Boulder?

  2. Im no drone expert, but are those lights right? Surely green should be starboard rather than front, and red port not back? Or have GoPro just used green headlights?

  3. John

    As always, envious of your amazing job!! Any idea when you might be posting the Charge 2 review? Potential birthday present for my mum!

  4. Gary

    Is that the Coros LINX helmet you backed on Kickstarter? Can’t wait for mine to ship.

  5. Christopher Hintz

    Nice shot of Buchanan Rex Center in my old hometown of Evergreen. Hope you got a chance to eat at Wildflower.

  6. Nice flying selfie!

    Are you going to do a review of the DJI Mavic Pro?

    I thought the DJI drone would be better for athletes. It’s much smaller and it also can track you while you run or cycle. The GoPro drone on the other hand requires a bigger backpack and it seems to me you have to be idle to best use it.

    Cheers

  7. Gabe

    Are the fenix 5 leaks real?

    • Gabriel Eguia

      ah they are real. they were deleted from 5krunner’s blog.

      some thoughts.

      1) like the new clasps to change bands. ala apple watch
      2) appears to be a sharper screen – link to appelmoessite.files.wordpress.com could just be a photoshop illusion though. touch screen ray? (silence) yes?!
      3) too many fenix 5 variants. yes make the product further confusing.
      4) no charge prongs – magnetic charging? ala apple watch?
      5) no camera/ no LTE – how great if it would be linked to strava.
      6) too similar design to the fenix 3. kind of boring but still better looking than many other fitness trackers.
      7) when does this come out? xmas?

  8. I should also get myself a drone for biking purposes. Haha never thought of it.

  9. Tom

    Im not sure this news will help the review of the Karma

    link to engadget.com

    • Bart

      Indeed not looking to good:
      GoPro Announces Karma Recall and Refund Program:
      link to investor.gopro.com
      Karma Recall and Return Information:
      link to gopro.com

    • Tom

      Its a commendable response to the issue, but with it being just a refund at this time and there being no idea how long it will take to resolve the issue, I wonder how many with wait or will instead go for the DJI Mavik

    • Mike Richie

      You’ve got to wonder, considering the reviews the Karma has gotten (including, I suspect, Ray’s) if they won’t try to rework this device entirely. Selling into the current market could be a disaster that would hurt them more than the recall. It seems that at least some of their problems could be fixed with better software, although the lack of sensors and subpar battery and gps would require new hardware. They’ve only sold 2500 so far (although who knows how many are in the supply chain) so maybe it makes more sense to take the hit now. May make Ray’s review moot, however.

  10. Tom Middelkamp

    Maybe wait a few more years for that move to Colorado after what happened yesterday. A minimum of 4 I would suggest.

  11. Dennis

    Ray,
    Very nice picture of Vail Colorado. I am a former 20 year resident of Vail .
    Next year you might try a bike ride in Vail on the old TT course of Colorado Pro Challenge. The TT course contains a 3.2 mile section of old 2 lane highway in which no cars are allowed…ever. Let me repeat….former 2-lane highway for 3.2 miles with NO CARS. Of course elevation change is about 1200 feet in that 3 miles. Very fast coming back down.
    Thank you
    Dennis

  12. Michael

    Hey Ray! Where in CO were you riding? Maybe link up a Strava file to show locations? Ya gotta love the diversity of CO!