1. Large sidewalks and bike lanes – are everywhere. Many sidewalks in Boulder have triple lane dividers – a lane for pedestrians and two directional lanes for cyclists. In addition to the many sidewalks, most roads in Boulder have a designated bike lane on the sides. Left turn lanes have markers designating that they are to be shared with bicyclists. Many signs and new green “bike warning zones” alert car drivers to be cautious of the bikers.

2. Bike underpasses – are tunnels that go under main roadways, allowing bikers to bypass stop light intersections and unnecessary road crossings. These underpasses speedup one’s commutes across town or to work and make the ride safer. Though undoubtedly  expensive to build, these passage ways are useful and show Boulder’s commitment to encouraging its citizens to choose bikes over cars.

3. Creek pathways – another way Boulder demonstrates its commitment to cyclists is through its several creek pathways that wind throughout the city, largely unnoticed by car drivers. Following traditional creeks and brooks from Mountain run-off, they provide scenic passageway through the city.

4. CU Bike Stations, Community Cycles – similar to how many automobile owners do not own the tools or equipment to service their vehicles, bicyclists should not be expected to have all the tools or knowledge to repair their rides. The University of Colorado Boulder provides several manned biked stations throughout campus with mechanics that are happy to do repairs, free for students. For non-students, Community Cycles is a co-op of volunteers dedicated to helping spread biking to the masses through low-cost or free bike adoption and repair programs.

5. Bike Parties – make biking fun. Groups like the Thursday Night Cruiser Ride bike through Boulder in large parades of reveling partiers, celebrating using bikes over cars and just having a good time on a Thursday night. Sound system-carrying bike trailers broadcast music along the ride, and most bikes are decked out with flashing lights and bizarre decorations. Several stops during the evening rides provide chances to chat with friends, have a drink and dance to the thumping music.

6. Social Acceptability – is the final important component of Boulder’s bike culture. The more bicyclists that are on the streets, the more people understand your choice of transportation. There even sometimes exists pressures or expectation that you use your bike over your car. Having people understand why you carry a helment with you, and a slightly thicker layer of clothing on cold days, is important.

For these reasons, I love Boulder’s bike-friendly atmosphere and infrastructure, and hope models like Boulder’s can be studied and implemented in other cities around the country.

Lake Tahoe Triathlon. Photo courtesy of Lefrak Photography

One triathlon and I’m hooked. One of my goals I’ve had for a while was to be in some kind of race – I’ve never done any kind of running marathon or bike race. Which is crazy because I love to bike, swim and run and do it just for fun. So this past summer I decided to take the leap and go all in with a full Olympic triathlon – 1 mile swim, 25 miles bike and 7 miles run. It was a ton of fun training for it, and I was lucky to have some friends help me out along the way.

My first pair of clipless pedals and shoes, fancy bike gear!

The most difficult part was learning how to road bike. I had never done any real bike riding before but luckily some awesome Willow Garage co-workers (Scott and Mac) were really into road bike training, and they showed me the ropes. I was able to borrow a nice racing bike, I bought my first clip-less pedals and shoes, and I trained like crazy up the huge hills and mountains behind Palo Alto and throughout San Francisco. Another old friend from Georgia Tech (Alex) got me into some professional after-work riding groups. It was all a steep learning curve!

First day of open water swimming, with Sameer.

Next, I had to master open water swimming. Luckily some other Georgia Tech friends (Sameer and Stephanie) were both living in SF for the summer and were crazy enough to wake up for some 7am swims in the frigid San Francisco bay waters, within eye sight of the Golden Gate Bridge. At first I tried the 52 degree waters without a wet suit, but instantly realized how crazy cold it was. Luckily my roommate was willing to lend me his old surfing wet suit for the summer, another huge savings in potential gear I’d need to buy. That, combined with a dorky looking swim “bonnet”, taught me how to deal with cold water, currents, and the unnerving feeling of not being able to see the bottom. Additionally, I did a great deal of lap training in the Menlo Park community pool.

Finally, I had to tune up my running skills. I convinced an old camp councilor friend who is now a professional triathlon/iron man coach (Nathan) to take me on for a small amount of guidance and coaching. He put together customized training logs, gave me lots of phone advice and taught me the needed methods for building strength fast. His running pace schedules were particularly helpful, making me do track speed training that ultimately prepared me for being able to win, not just finish.

Alcatraz Challenge: swimming across the SF bay

Stephanie and me at the finish line

To prepare for my first triathlon I thought it would be sweet to do a warm-up race that was also very fitting for my 3-month temporary “tourist” status in San Francisco: the Alcatraz Challenge. It was a 1.5 mile swim from Alcatraz Island across the bay to the city. After that grueling cold swim, we then ran 7 miles across the Golden Gate bridge and back. Stephanie, an long-time triathlete, joined me for my first race. It was a really fun experience, and I placed in the middle of both my age group and overall. My main take-away from that race was that I needed to learn how to have fast transitions – the time it takes to change clothes and gear for the next segment of the race.

Finishing up the swimming segment of the race. Photo courtesy of Lefrak Photography

A month more of training and I was ready for the August triathlon in Lake Tahoe, California. Stephanie again joined me for this race. We ate the huge carb-heavy meal the night before, camped in the state park and at 4am Sunday morning we got up to go to the starting line. At 8am the horn was blown and 400 or so crazy athletes like myself jumped into the 62 degree waters of Lake Tahoe. At this point I was moving back to Boulder and could not borrow my roommates’ wet suit, so I was one of the only people in the whole race bare chested. I was miserably cold. As I was preparing to transition to the bike segment, I was feeling slight hypothermia. I was dizzy, shaking and goose bumped.

The biking segment of the race. Photo courtesy of Lefrak Photography

A minute into the bike segment of the race I dropped my water bottle as I was flying up the grueling rolling hills along the lake. But ten minutes later I was warming up, and finally starting to feel good again. As I started passing people, my confidence improved. I sucked back two Cliffbar Gel Shots. As the fastest athletes started doubling back on the bike route, I realized I was doing pretty good in the race. I got pumped.

Flying back into the final transition stage, I threw on my Vibram 5-finger toe shoes and sped into the woods for the final 7 mile run. I was soon passing people every couple minutes! As the miles rolled away, I stopped holding back. Being my first triathlon, I wasn’t sure how much to pace myself, but now I was passing lots of people. I dug deep and sprinted the last couple miles to the finish line. Completely drained and dead, I was simultaneously invigorated and so crazy excited I had finished it! I was really happy. When I finally got around to looking at my results, I realized I was 20th overall, and 3rd in my age group! (there were 17 people in the guy’s 25-29 age group). I had placed in my first ever triathlon race, and I knew I could do even better with some minor tweaks!

Third place in my age group! Evidently I was suppose to change clothes… Photo courtesy of Lefrak Photography

Despite the rigorous 6 days-a-week training schedule of several hours a day, I am totally hooked on triathlons. Next summer I am planning on doing a half Ironman, as long as I don’t injure myself. Big thanks to everyone who helped and inspired me along the way!

Two crazy dudes Quest and Dave

It was only my first week at the internship in the Bay Area this summer when the company announced we had a four day weekend. I made plans to visit an old friend in LA and Quest happened to be going in the same direction that weekend and offered to rideshare. During the 6 hour trip the other people and the car and I happened to bond really well, and they told me about this music festival they were going to called Lighting in a Bottle. They talked about how excited they were about it the whole trip, and the dubstep shows that were going to be there really excited me. Four hours into the car ride, and by the encouragement of Quest, I announced I was going to ditch my old friend in LA and last minute go to a 4 day music camping festival, completely unprepared.

Camping at Lightning in a Bottle

The decision was an awesome one. Even though I didn’t know anyone initially, our crew of ten bonded into a family and hilarity ensued. The festival was incredible. Art decorated everything. The giant yoga tent offered classes during all daylight hours. Three sound stages provided continuous parties and great electronic/dubstep music all day and night. The vibe was very friendly and laid back. People wore crazy outfits. It was described as a mini-Burning Man. This surprised me – I had never thought I would be one to go to Burning Man but here I was at a mini-BM. Most of the people I was camping with at Lightning in a Bottle were also going to BM. I was intrigued, but there was no way I could go though because the tickets were long since sold out.

El Pulpo Mechanico – by far the coolest art car at Burning Man this year. A giant mobile fully actuated octopus that shot fire out of its tentacles with the music.

A month later I was slacklining at a silent disco in a park during the day in San Francisco, and some strangers randomly came up and offered to sell me their Burning Man ticket at face value. A month later my internship ended and I was moving back to Boulder with all my belongings in my car. But this time I made a week long pit stop to Burning Man and had the time of my life. Camping in a desert for 7 days, being completely self sufficient along with my camp of 8 other friends, seeing all the freedom of expression – it was pretty incredible. Its hard to explain the experience. Impossible really. But every day was a new adventure. The 60,000 person city that is built for just that week really does work amazingly well. Everyone freely gives without using money – I was skeptical but it happens. Everyone is super friendly, fun, crazy. There isn’t judging of who you are. The parties are grand. Its funny where life takes you.

Ironically, just one month earlier I officially became a Colorado resident.

The life’s journey continues with yet another adventure to a new and far away land – the Bay Area of San Francisco for an internship – after having just moved to Boulder, Colorado 8 months earlier. I am sad to miss the wonderful summers in Boulder and say goodbye so soon to all my wonderful new friends in Colorado, but am excited to experience the crazy land of California. Ironically, just one month earlier I officially became a Colorado resident.

An uneventful picture of the apartment

I’ve found a small apartment with two chill roommates and a dog in Mountain View, two blocks from Google Headquarters, but in a low-rent area. Rent in Silicon Valley is crazy expensive, I “lucked out” with a room for $650 a month. My roommates are really interesting, even though some might call them crazy. They are spiritual in the sense that they have alters and candles in our house and talk to dead people. They told me they are training to be witches.

Hanging Out With 2 Robots

My internship is at Willow Garage, a world famous robotics company that is on the cutting edge of person-sized in-home robots. They build the PR2, a sweet research platform robot that can do crazy things like fold laundry, clear off tables, pick up poop and walk dogs. It’s also a really plush job: the company is independently funded by a Google founder and isn’t really profit driven. Four chefs server 3 free organice meals a day to us, work out instructors come twice a week for on-site exercise sessions and employees have a lot of freedom to work on the research problems of their choice.

Top roping Caustic Cock, 5.11b

The rocks were very red

This year’s Spring Break was enjoyed in the incredible red canyons and deserts outside Las Vegas, NV. The CU Alpine club, a whopping ~30 of us, spent our week craging, multi-pitch trad climbing , slack lining and camping. It was a great experience and my first time climbing there!

Our Car's Crew

Great times were had all around – the whole group was fun to hang out with. At nights we enjoyed camp fires, our rest day was spent showering in Cesar’s Palace’s pools (for free) and out last night was spent at a Casino in downtown Las Vegas. All you can eat buffet’s are best after a long week’s climb.

A Destroyed Tent

There was a casualty on the trip though: high desert winds ripped apart several of our group’s tents, including mine:

Alabama license plate: Colorado snow

My first winter in Boulder has been an exciting experience of arctic adventure for this southern Alabama boy – my first powder ski day, my first snow shoe hike, my first traction device peak and my first ice climbing trip! I can proudly say I got the full Rocky Mountain winter experience.

Sking

Skiing at Abasin with Brittany and Eli

My first Double Black runs with Christina at Breckenridge!

This winter I learned to ski for the first time in my life, buying the Vail Resorts 5 Mountain Epic season pass. Some friends took me on my first ski day at Arapahoe Basin resort early in the season, when only blue and black runs were open. Read: no bunny slopes or beginner green slopes. I flailed on the medium difficulty green runs for a while but quickly got the hang of. As the season comes to an end for the year I can proudly say I got a total of 11 days of skiing in, including the resorts Abasin, Keystone, Breckenridge, Vail, Beaver Creek and Eldora. I learned skiing quickly, too: our last trip out we spent the whole day on black and double black runs, tearing up moguls and some impressive (albeit dangerous) speeds.

Snow Shoeing

Matt, Autumn, and I snow shoeing in Rocky Mountains National Park

Another new experience for me this winter was going hiking in snow shoes in the Rockies. We borrowed and rented snow shoes and in one day did 9.3 miles through deep snow up Andrews Tarn Trail, starting at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was fun, more exhausting than regular hiking, and beautiful to see the forrest tranquil, white, and frozen.

Another hike up Bear Peak, the highest point in Boulder county, gave my friend Ian and me a chance to try out our new snow and ice traction devices. They are easier to hike in than full fledge snow shoes and are better when the ice trail has already been partially flattened by other hikers.

Ice Climbing

Ouray Ice Park: the beginner area with lots of Alpine Club ropes up

Dave on ice.

The University of Colorado Alpine Club organized an ice climbing trip to Ouray ice park in southern Colorado. Its this crazy little town that sprays water every night in a small canyon to make tons of artificial ice to climb in. It hosts an internationally acclaimed ice climbing festival every year.

Our trip there was extremely fun. Imagine 30 young college climbers crammed into a 9 person lodge rental and the ensuing party. We spent two days actually climbing in the ice park, where I learned how to use crampons, mountaineering boots and ice axes. I didn’t lead any routes (most everyone did top rope) but I did practice placing ice screws. The trip also included a luxurious visit to the local hot springs.

What a winter.

Other highlights of the trip were taking a day hike to “La Mesa de la Mula” with an old timer EPC veteran Frank Sarat. We hiked by a magnificently old oak tree (“Centenary Encino”) that was surprising to find in the middle of a desert. Beyond that we explored the mines that produce a mineral used for making bathroom tiles, among other things. Then we took the old donkey trail towards Monterrey that was used before the age of cars. It was an insightful tour of EPC history.

While at Potrero Chico I made the time to do some major updates to my pet project potrerochico.org. Its now a very popular tourist site for the area and during the high season gets about a 1400 hits per month. I have really enjoyed giving back to the Hidalgo/Potrero area through the creation of free online info on visiting the area. I’ve put a lot of research into it.

Finally, it was amazing to see tons of old friends including Hexar, Mara, Yugene, Lucy, Ali, Bere, Miguel, Cesar, Ana, Diego, Dario, Carlos, Maria, Gallo and Luly!

Arrow of flour marking Hashing running trail

This summer in Atlanta my friend Sean Kolk got me involved with the international running club “Hash House Harriers“, or simply “Hashing”. More commonly referred to as a drinking club with a running problem, its a great group of crazy people who weekly disguise exercise as a fun social gathering. There are various clubs who meet at different times a week with different rules, but generally a Hashing group meets once a week, runs about 4 to 5 miles, and ends at a cheap bar/restaurant. Sweaty and exhausted, hilarity ensues as drinks are served and running mishaps are shared.

And mishaps there are. Not only is Hashing running through both urban and forested areas, but it is also a chase of 1 or 2 leaders who mark a trail. They get a 5 minute head start and leave markers along the way – usually consisting of flour arrows, chalk, or toilet paper hung on shrubbery. Path deceptions, double backs and “checks” delay the fastest runners, while giving the slower members of the group a chance to catch up. The goal in theory is to catch the two leaders, or “hares”, but really no one cares and everyone is just there to have a good time.

My particular club that I was involved with was the Atlanta Moonlite H4 club, which met on Mondays. The spunky leader Sandy, an energetic grandmother, ensured that depraved hilarity was always guaranteed. Be warned that humor can get dirty.

These are minimalist shoes I wear - Vibram KSOs

Another major aspect of this summer’s running adventures in Atlanta was my experimentation with minimalist shoes and barefoot running. I bought a used pair of Vibram 5-Fingers and thoroughly enjoyed the liberating feeling of running near-barefoot. While taking a while to break into and train my feet, I quickly found myself running better than ever before. I suffered less back pains and felt more nimble. My stride and mid-foot strike became more natural and less flat-footed. I even went so far as to play with running barefoot, though I did push myself too far and pull a tendon.

I highly recommend getting involved with a hashing group, located around the world, if you seek motivation to run more while have fun. And you should do your research on minimalist shoe running – there is a growing school of thought that simpler shoes are better.

My farewell to Mexico

This blog started as a Mexican adventure blog, and thus a good-bye to Mexico seems appropriate. I actually left 2 weeks ago, but the impact the trip has had on me still lingers. I spent a total of 6 months living in Mexico before running out of money – not too bad considering most people would scoff at the idea of taking a 6 month vacation, saying it would be impossible for them. Its very possible, and it was an amazing trip. Despite being there in a time of unusually bad violence and terrorism, my life in Mexico was a ton of fun and an eye opener for me. Although now I’m living the “normal” life in Atlanta and working at an office 9-5, I see everything somewhat different than before.

My Two Main Take-Aways:

Consumerism - I’ve always heard this word thrown around about Americans, but I never really understood it. I don’t want to be snobby and sound like an “anti-consumer”, but we American buy a lot of crap. A lot of unneeded crap. Seeing everyone live happily with so little is inspiring. Sure, a lot of Mexicans would love to be able to buy all the crap Americans can buy, but not having those things didn’t make them miserable or unhappy. Turns out, half the things we buy isn’t that necessary, even though people would make you think it is. Most notable things that I find weird here in America: carpet, zip lock bags, paper towels, air conditioning, heating, clothes dryers, and not-old cars.

Being Relaxed – “tranquilo” was a word I was told a lot by friends – “chill”. Take your time. There’s no hurry. Let’s sit down, chat for a while, then get back to doing nothing. I loved the culture of people just walking down the street to neighbors and visiting unannounced. Visitors were always welcomed and long conversations would always ensue. Americans have a tendency to need to be “doing” something – visiting some place, playing some game, or doing some other activity. Mexicans can just chill, tell jokes, and trade stories. Forget watches and schedules. Just relax.

Sure, there are some problems with Mexico and differences that I don’t like. Spending half a year in a less developed country can be stressful at times, as everything is harder to get done and takes a lot of work to communicate. But I am not regretful. I leave Mexico with pretty good understanding of Spanish, lots of Mexican friends, and incredible stories.  Muchas gracias mis amigos!

Double padlocks on gate entrance to our house

It was 1pm on a weekday afternoon, sunny and beautiful. My new house mate and I needed to buy some food but we were out of cash, so we were talking down the street to the nearest ATM, talking in Spanish. We were in front of a public library that is in the park. It was my first time in the area, my first day in my new rented room. Suddenly, two dudes who I hadn’t noticed starting demanding of us something in Spanish. They both flashed hand guns tucked in their pants under their jacket. I shuddered at the thought of a loaded gun, without a holster, being shoved into someone’s pants – it could totally misfire and shoot its owner. I wish it had.

I was very confused in this moment. At first I thought they were friends of my house mate and I looked to him to see what was up. He looked very frustrated and was arguing with them. The two assailants were young, probably both in their teens, and seemed new to this robbing thing. When I finally realized that in fact we were being robbed, I was frustrated too. My Spanish isn’t half bad now, enough to get me killed, and I started arguing with them in Spanish too. I said “really?” “is this a joke?”. The dude flashed his gun again, which was a small little silver revolver pistol and looked almost toy-like. I asked him exactly that “es un juguete?”. The dude pulled it out of his pants and pointed it at me. This was my first time in my life, in all my travels, of being robbed, so I didn’t know the protocol for this stuff. He demanded my money and phone. I showed him my money clip with a bank and credit card but no cash, and told him he didn’t want it. I then handed him my brand spanking new, top of the line Android Smartphone and felt a weird thud in my stomach – that thing is worth $470 USD.

I now carry 2 phones at all times - this old phone as well as my smartphone. If I get robbed again my hope is that I can give them this phone instead.

My friend, who was talking to the other dude with gun, turned to me and said it was time to go. My friend wanted to keep walking in the same direction, towards the ATM, but the two dudes said we couldn’t and had to return. I still didn’t believe I had just lost my beloved gadget. I kept thinking they would give it back in a second. I hoped that the police would show up any second now and serve justice. Or that I could pull my concealed carry 40-caliber handgun out of pants, turn around, and serve my own justice – but alas, I left that in the United States where it is legal. Here in Mexico things are safer without guns.

I asked my friend what just happened. He was pissed. I asked him what he had lost – nothing he told me. He had lied to his dude and said he didn’t have a phone on him; instead he had emptied the phone charger out of his other pocket and explained that it was valueless. He was in the same boat as me – we were both out of cash and walking to the ATM.

In a final thought of helpless frustration, I turned around and saw the two dudes way down the street getting into their pick-up truck parked on the side of the road. One spotted me looking back in frustration, and made a territorial/threatening body stance – one that says “What are you looking at, bit**?” I quickly turned back around. I felt an urge to run back to our house and lock two pad locks on our front gate, and the two locks on the front door. But my friend didn’t seem to feel the need to do so, and we just walked back to the house in sullen moods. I suppose if we had run, we would have even drawn more attention to ourselves from our new hoodie amigos.

So that was my first day of officially living in Monterrey. And I’m still here a month later. I wanted to talk more about other aspects of life here, like my observations of how people act and go about their lives in a “dangerous” city – but this post is far long enough. Still, I’ll wrap up by showing a few pictures of my new place where I’m living. Its not half bad, except it has no kitchen per-se. It has a fridge and microwave, but strangely no kitchen sink, counters, stove, or any other modern kitchen appliance. The microwave sits on top of a covered set of clothes washer/dryer machines… the machines aren’t hooked up to the water or drainage so they are unusable. See images below.