We had quite an adventure over the weekend. After work on Friday we drove down toward Colorado Springs and then over toward Cañon City and just a bit past that to our campsite for the weekend. We were joining a group of close to 150 others with the primary goal of whitewater rafting Saturday morning and afternoon. Nothing terribly exciting happened the rest of Friday, but that was definitely made up for on Saturday.

I will admit that I was a bit nervous of the actual rafting for a few reasons. First, my ankle was injured a couple weeks ago and is not back to 100%, or even close really. Second, the Arkansas River is the highest it’s been in over ten years due to a huge snow pack that is now melting. Third, I had never rafted before and wasn’t really sure what I was getting into. Add this all on top of the fact that the original section we were supposed to raft, Royal Gorge, was closed due to the extreme conditions.

So instead of doing the Royal Gorge section, we did a section called Bighorn Sheep Canyon, which is typically rated at class II/III (out of six classes) but due to the conditions was more like III/IV. Our group of six was fortunate to be led by one of the owners of the company, who has been rafting the Arkansas for years. That’s not to say that all of their guides aren’t great, but I felt added comfort in knowing that we were in especially good hands.

The trip started off easy enough, as we learned the commands the guide would call out the rest of the day when going through more advanced rapids with names like Shark’s Tooth, Double Dip, and Kamikaze. The first big rapid we ran into was called Three Rock Falls, and our plan was to stay on the left side of the river to avoid the namesake three large rocks. But as I soon learned, not everything goes as planned and we actually ended on the far right side. Our guide said that we probably came the closest to flipping possible without actually going overboard.

From that point on the guide felt we were capable enough of having some fun and hitting some of the bigger stuff along the way. He said that sometimes he gets very timid groups who want to avoid everything possible, but our group was all for going after the big stuff. So the rest of the day was spent steering into the heart of the rapids and having a blast! We never lost anyone out of our boat, despite it slowly leaking air and taking on water at times. However, we did get to see three other boats flip and participated in the rescue of those sent swimming.

I really enjoyed rafting even more than I thought I would, had no problems with my ankle, and cannot wait until we can do it again. Since this year is such a good year to do so, perhaps we will take another trip later in the summer back to the Arkansas for round two. If we do, I will be sure to bring my camera even if I can’t take it on the boat. I regret not having any photos from our weekend this time, but will be on the lookout for other group members sharing theirs.

I thought I was completely past this, but I hurt my stupid ankle again last night. The culprit this time was hockey once again, but I didn’t even make it into the game. I was skating around the rink during warm-ups when I suddenly lost my edge when circling behind the net. I slid on my butt into the boards, and my foot actually hit a gap in the boards left by an open door. It didn’t hurt at first, but as I continued skating around I quickly realized that the damage was done. I wasn’t able to play a single shift in the game and I am back on crutches again today.

These injuries have been going on since last February, and I’m really sick of it. The only positive thing is that I’m working from home yet again. I really don’t want to go into the office on crutches, that seems like a huge pain. Keep your fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.

Kim took a flight out to Utah this morning, and since I’m not joining her on this trip like I did last year, I decided to take my bike on the light rail with me this morning. Since I can only take the bike with me on days I’ll be using the light rail for both ways of the commute, I haven’t really done it too many times. However for my trip home today I’m considering skipping the train and biking the full 20+ miles home. I’ve mapped out a ride combining two bike trails to make it nearly all the way to our house. I’m just not sure if this is too much to do after work figuring that I’ll be in jeans and a polo shirt still. I guess it will depend on how I feel as the day nears its end.

Update: I only made it about half way before getting on a train for the rest of the ride. It was a little hotter out than I originally thought. Next time if I decide to do this I should be prepared with a change of clothes at least.

We had another game in our summer hockey league the other night, and once again another loss. That’s three in a row for those who haven’t been keeping track. Though it’s true that we are still learning to play as a team, I would have figured that some things would have started clicking by now. Many people are blaming it on our goalie, but besides our second game we’ve only scored one goal per game. If were going to win any games it’s almost guaranteed that we need to score more than once. Honestly, we looked as outplayed as the Penguins did against the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup finals, which ended last night with Detroit taking the cup back to “hockey town” once again.

Saturday we went out for a little bike ride that eventually took up most of our day. We headed out around 11 with a quick stop for some breakfast/lunch at Einstein Brothers. From there it was my goal to make it out to the Cherry Creek Reservoir and State Park by following the Cherry Creek trail. Along the way there we made a couple of quick stops at the Cherry Creek farmer’s market and later at the bike shop so we could get our bikes looked at and adjusted for the first time since buying them a couple of months ago.

Around 3:30 or so we finally made it out to the reservoir. I’ve often seen the dam walls that create the reservoir, but I had never actually seen the water before. I was surprised to find a fairly large sized body of water complete with a beach area, and a marina that offers rentals of all sorts. Now that we know this is so close to our house, we’ll definitely be back to enjoy it more often.

Now that we made it all the way out it was time to make the trip back. I wanted to mix it up though and take a route different than what we used to get there. I consulted a local bike map that I have to route us back along a few different streets and the Highland Canal trail. We only made one wrong move which probably added a couple of miles, but overall this route was just as enjoyable as the way out.

We stopped for a couple of drinks and dinner as we got closer to home at a place called Reiver’s, which is just on the opposite side of Wash Park from where we live. The menu was full of many good looking sandwiches, and the two we tried were definitely tasty. I’m sure we will head back that way in the future after a long bike ride or possibly just a short ride across the park.

Kim estimated our distance at thirty-two miles, and after mapping it out online she wasn’t too far off! The route I drew out measures at thirty and a half miles, and I think I got most of it pretty much exactly as we followed. I guess that would help explain why I’m fairly sore in the legs today. And I also have some pretty good sunburn on my upper arms and the tops of my knees. It was all worth it though, at least I think so.

Our second game of summer hockey went better than the first, but it still provided another loss for our team. This time it was just a 6-5 loss, and we easily could have won the game if we played the whole game like we did in the third period. I scored one of our five goals and likely should have had an assist or two. I’m sure once we all adjust to playing with each other we will start doing well. Hopefully some more things start clicking in our next game.

Last night, Kim resumed playing volleyball over in Wash Park. Her and a small group of friends played in a league at the park last summer, and they are back at it again this year. Since I don’t consider myself to be very good at volleyball, and that whole ankle injury thing, I don’t play but I have resumed my role as team coach. This role is also known as the guy who sits on the side and drinks beer the whole time. I encourage everyone to try it, it really is a good time!

I attend my first Rockies game of the season last night, along with Kim and some of her coworkers. We sat in the row of purple seats that is exactly one mile high, and enjoyed a relatively exciting game especially toward the end. With the team’s record currently at 18-28, a win is not something to be expected, but we were all hoping for one. Going into the ninth inning the Giants were up 4-3 and they added a couple more runs. Many people left the game thinking it was over, but the Rockies quickly added two run in the bottom of the ninth. Even though they still ended up losing 6-5, it was quite an exciting finish. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch more games as the season goes along.

Saturday morning I went for a hike with a small group of people from work. The guy who put it all together is a very experienced hiker, and he has created a program for the summer culminating with a hike of Mount Elbert, one of the many 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado. Though I don’t think I’ll be able to attend any of the other group hikes, I am hoping to hike a bunch this summer, including at least one 14er. So his knowledge will definitely help when I have any questions arise.

Back to Saturday, we hiked on the Ben Tyler trail for around 5 miles round-trip. As this was the first hike in the series, it’s the easiest on the schedule, but still provided enough challenges to make it interesting. The toughest thing that I found was hiking on the snow that we encountered. We crossed over a creek, around our halfway mark, and onto a north facing slope. This was still covered in snow and quite slippery as you could imagine. It was a great first hike filled with varying terrain. I can’t wait to get back out in the coming weekends.

Another season of men’s league hockey started last night. Due to the Monkees lack of interest in the summer league, I’ve joined another team at a rink I’ve never played at before. A couple of guys from the old team put this team together and asked me to play on it. It was nice being back out on the ice after taking weeks off. This league is one division lower than what I played in last, so it’s a bit slower, but there is still enough talent to make it interesting.

We had sixteen guys show up for our first game, so it was hard to get into the flow of the game. We ended up with four forward lines, which is the equivalent of what we had on our varsity high school team. A little bit much for men’s league hockey. I guess it was too much for the whole team, as we ended up losing 4-1 after never really finding the groove. Hopefully less people show up for the next game and we have better results.