Colorado Springs, CO
U.S. Olympic Training Center!
The next few days were spent mingling with Luke, and his roomies, Donavan, Ariel, Tony, and Chad. The day after I arrived, I slept in (of course) and once I finally got up, I wandered over to the U.S. Olympic Training Center, which is where Luke spends most of his days. He's going to school on a triathlete scholarship at UCCS and thus trains. A lot. Winning a junior National Championship doesn't happen by accident...
The O.T.C. is a pretty intense place, but very cool. It just exudes fitness. It was like a giant college campus devoted to one thing: winning at Olympic sports. I got there around 10am to meet Luke for breakfast after his morning workout. We both chowed down and I met some of his training buddies. I had brought my computer along and spent much of the day blogging on the O.T.C's wifi network. I watched some tennis and soccer too.
Luke eventually came back from another work out and we lunched there again. I packed up my stuff eventually and checked out the rest of the public places of the O.T.C., including the museum and theater. They have a lot of older artifacts and such from previous games, like an old bobsled and a lot of medals. I seem to remember feeling inadequate as I walked past all the winningness. They were closing down so I took my cue and walked back to the house.
Donavan was home when I got back there and he wanted to show me around a little. We went to an old public school turned brewery called Ivywild and had some brews. I got a flight sampler, and he got something else cold and brewtastic. It was still early evening by that point and the two of us ventured off to another hole-in-the-wall bar and got another beer.
Luke eventually came back from another work out and we lunched there again. I packed up my stuff eventually and checked out the rest of the public places of the O.T.C., including the museum and theater. They have a lot of older artifacts and such from previous games, like an old bobsled and a lot of medals. I seem to remember feeling inadequate as I walked past all the winningness. They were closing down so I took my cue and walked back to the house.
Donavan was home when I got back there and he wanted to show me around a little. We went to an old public school turned brewery called Ivywild and had some brews. I got a flight sampler, and he got something else cold and brewtastic. It was still early evening by that point and the two of us ventured off to another hole-in-the-wall bar and got another beer.
Donavan and I talked a lot about his company Yobel International and the Yobel Market. He was a really interesting dude and I wish I had had more time to hang out with him. Just another excuse to go back to Colorado!
Thursday was mainly a lazy, blogging kind of day. That night though, we ordered pizza from Dominos and Luke and I walked to go and get it. We spent the rest of the night watching episodes of Modern Family and generally hanging out. It was really nice to have a comfy place to be for a few days and I spent a good deal of it catching up on the blog and planning the next big leg of the trip, which was indeed very big. I had less than two weeks to make it from Colorado Springs to East Tennessee for Ted and Carrie's wedding.
Friday, Ariel and I drove off to WalMart to get some things, school stuff for him, food things for me. There are two WalMarts about equally far from the house but Ariel wanted to go to the less ghetto one. Interestingly enough, I rode past the ghetto one he mentioned when I was riding out of town. I didn't blame him after seeing it. That night the guys were playing Halo, Call of Duty and Mario Kart. I joined for a few games and then decided to completely rebuild my front wheel. Those few spoke nipples I broke the week before in and around Steam Boat were replaced then, but I knew it was only a matter of time before more would start breaking. The deciding factor was that Luke had a truing stand and a bunch of other bike tools, so I just spent the night doing that. I didn't get to sleep until about 2am at least. A good way to be prepared for a big ride the next day...
Saturday morning came really early thanks to the neighbor's dog that started barking at like 6am and didn't stop for hours. Cause? Hot air balloons everywhere! One of them almost hit the house upon landing in the near-by park. Chad had been up making banana (maybe zucchini) bread and I had some for breakfast before I reluctantly said goodbye, packed my bike and started heading East.
Thursday was mainly a lazy, blogging kind of day. That night though, we ordered pizza from Dominos and Luke and I walked to go and get it. We spent the rest of the night watching episodes of Modern Family and generally hanging out. It was really nice to have a comfy place to be for a few days and I spent a good deal of it catching up on the blog and planning the next big leg of the trip, which was indeed very big. I had less than two weeks to make it from Colorado Springs to East Tennessee for Ted and Carrie's wedding.
Friday, Ariel and I drove off to WalMart to get some things, school stuff for him, food things for me. There are two WalMarts about equally far from the house but Ariel wanted to go to the less ghetto one. Interestingly enough, I rode past the ghetto one he mentioned when I was riding out of town. I didn't blame him after seeing it. That night the guys were playing Halo, Call of Duty and Mario Kart. I joined for a few games and then decided to completely rebuild my front wheel. Those few spoke nipples I broke the week before in and around Steam Boat were replaced then, but I knew it was only a matter of time before more would start breaking. The deciding factor was that Luke had a truing stand and a bunch of other bike tools, so I just spent the night doing that. I didn't get to sleep until about 2am at least. A good way to be prepared for a big ride the next day...
Saturday morning came really early thanks to the neighbor's dog that started barking at like 6am and didn't stop for hours. Cause? Hot air balloons everywhere! One of them almost hit the house upon landing in the near-by park. Chad had been up making banana (maybe zucchini) bread and I had some for breakfast before I reluctantly said goodbye, packed my bike and started heading East.
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