Only in Boulder

Only in Boulder do you have not just a group ride, but CYCLOCROSS group ride (complete with two pseudo 20 minute long races), from 8-10 in the morning, when most of the world is at work, AND have it attract a solid 100 riders.



Yep, I got up early this morning so I could meet up with the cyclocross group ride today. Beyond the numbers and the time of day, and all that, the quality of the field is pretty great too. Plenty of pro-riders and former pro-riders all out for a morning spin. I felt pretty good today, even though I had done a couple hill-efforts last night on the road bike. The number of riders on the course, and wide open range of abilities means you are usually stuck behind someone, but I was hoping to not go full-on anyway. At any rate, a good way to start off a Wednesday morning, especially when it means you have to get to work an hour late.



And really, the best point of the title, Only in Boulder, I offer up this fine example;

This one was so good, I had to go around the block after I saw it, to make sure that I got a picture. Sure, who hasn't seen someone that decided to bolt a 2x8 or some other piece of lumber to their car, in place of the factory installed bumper. But a tree!? Chained no less to the car!?Sure, replacing that bumper and/or plastic bumper cover is a ridiculous process and the parts are typically just as insanely priced from the manufacturer. And I understand as much as anyone the absolute joy and feeling of accomplishment of totally "rigging" something together to work, especially when it is "thrifty". But a split tree? For a bumper? On a newer model car?

Of course, now the worst part of this entire situation is that it begs the question; Did he just do this to make his car MORE "Hippy-esque"? I mean, we ARE talking about Boulder, and on a Subaru Outback. Plus the dude/dudette lives IN town. You can't just go into the backyard, find a nice straight tree, and cut it down (usually). This person probably took a trip up the canyon to find a tree, cut it down, split it, neatly cut away the old bumper cover and then chain it in place. Though it's less than perfect being a little short and definitely not level. I don't want to think about it anymore, in case the owner imagines their car is a little more "natural" now. Though I definitely look for the car each morning on the way to work, and it makes me chuckle...