After packing up camp, I made my way up to the visitor's center again before continuing down the other side of the mountains. The construction wasn't a problem at all so it wasn't long until I made it out of the park with a battery well overcharged by all the coasting down the hill.
The way to Denver passed through Boulder and it being one of those iconic university towns, I wanted to stop quickly and see it. I figured it would be a good opportunity for breakfast too. The breakfast joint I found was great fun and was reminiscent of Haight St. All sorts of random decor, people wearing hippie clothes and a menu that would give Sam a run for his money. I ended up having a Faggedabouit crepe which was almost like an eggplant parm in crepe form. Quite good.
I would have stayed longer, but I had a game to see, so I hopped back in the car and headed for the city. I didn't want to park near the ballpark because it would be expensive and it would make more sense to park between the park and my hostel so that I wouldn't have to move the car. I found a garage on the edge of downtown and even though it was pretty empty, I didn't think too much about it since it was the weekend.
Since it would be much faster riding my bike to the game, I packed up everything I needed to watch the game into a bag and then unloaded my bike and set off. Going to the bottom of the garage, I started breaking SCREEEECH. I had forgotten about all the dirt caked onto my bike from the drive. As soon as I hit my brakes, they dug into the dirt and rocks which cause my rims to get a ripped up. Crap! Back at the car, I pulled out some water and paper towels and started to asses the damage. It didn't look good, but the bike was ridable, so after cleaning it up, I took off for the game.
The game itself was pretty enjoyable. The Cubbies were in town so there were a bunch of Cubs fans but even with that support, the Rockies won 6-3. I know this may seem weird given that it's a newer style park, but I really wasn't too impressed with it. Sure, it had a nice view of the mountains and a purple row of seats in the upper deck marking the mile high line, but it just didn't seem to have much in the way of character. It was just too similar to all these new ballparks and didn't have much to make it stand out. Sure, it's definitely better than all the 60's monstrosities that used to be around the major leagues, but it just didn't speak to me.
After the game, I made my way back to the car to get my stuff for the night. When I got to the garage, the gate was down and all the doors were locked. Ummm ok. Looking around it seems that the garage wasn't supposed to be open today but they probably had it open when I drove in because they were doing open houses for the condos in the adjoining building. So, I couldn't get anything for the night, although I was sure that my car would be safe :-)
I figured there wasn't much I could do so I just went to the hostel. It was by far the worst hostel I've ever been in. It was a dive! Most of the mattresses were just air mattresses, everything was dirty, the water was barely running in the shower. It was bad, but I was just crashing there for the night so it was manageable.
I wanted to get the dirt off my bike so I went to the store and bought some WD-40 and started cleaning away using the WD-40 as a solvent. After about an hour and half of work, my bike was much cleaner although my chain lube was packed away so I couldn't lube up the drive train properly. It's good for now.
For dinner, I found a nice mexican place and enjoyed some hominy soup a sandwich and some Fat Tire beer. I thought it would be my last chance to enjoy the great beer that sponsors the Tour De Fat and all forms of cycling. Of course, I found some later in Chicago, but that's a story for later.
After dinner, I took a nice walk through the park. The sky was clear, but it was so hazy, hardly anything was visible. So different than the mountains!
No comments :
Post a Comment