The Thin Blue Ride - Part 2 Day 39 - Breckenridge, CO (Rest Day)

Thursday, July 18th, 2019

Ride Report: None (Planned Rest Day)  And I shall entertain no complaints from the peanut gallery, having ridden for 8 straight days to get here.  So, all you peanuts out there read on at your own risk.  On to other matters.

Kelsy and Parker (KnP) showed up yesterday evening at about 1845 (That's 6:45 PM National Guard Time - ask somebody on active duty) having arrived from Palmer Lake, CO.  It was about a 3 hour drive, they took the scenic route and avoided I-70.

And in a bit of an unusual move, I've elected to take the day of from blogging.  Calm down, calm down.  That was the bad news.  The good news is that I've located a ghost writer to handle today's duties for me.  From this point forward, I'm blameless...

I'm a big proponent of food.  Thus I recommended we find a local breakfast place to start our day off right.  Never mind the detour that delayed our breakfast.  We stopped by a local bike shop to get Delta's derailleur tuned up.  Having just meet Delta I can't make any judgments yet, however, he seemed happy to go in for a spa day.

Here we are at Bread + Salt.  Dad got pancakes with real maple syrup.  I was able to snag a sample and it was delish.  

Next on the agenda was getting the week's laundry done.  Mom put my usual laundry practices to shame.  We had several strategically sorted loads all with different temperatures.  I heard a scoff at the inability to adjust the intensity of the clean provided.  No gentle cycles here!  I refrained from telling her I have a pants and shirts load... all washed on cold.  :|  Once our four individual loads were started we went for a stroll around downtown Frisco, CO.  

Here's Dad looking.... touristy?  He claims this is his tourist face and asks the reader to enlarge the picture to view his "scrunched up nose," somehow this is imperative to the tourist motif.   

  

Following the laundry we were back to The Rig for a "break."  Breaks seem to be required 2-3 times per day here on The Thin Blue Ride.  Parker and I have no complaints regarding these breaks.  It feels nice to spend time away from the work grind doing nothing and enjoying each other's company.

Here is Dad taking nap number 1.  Nap number 2 was prevented by typical rest day chores, there was grumbling but no foul language was heard.

After a break from chores we headed off to Copper Mountain to try out the Alpine Coaster.

Here we are at the base of Copper Mountain, ready for adventure.

Come to find out that Copper Mountain is home to the longest Alpine Coaster in North America at 5800 feet with 10% grades.   Most of my father's avid readers will be used to % grades being used to define the agony of a mountain climb.  However, this 10% was pure fun!  We roared down the mountain, it was a blast.  Little to no breaks were used by all.  Below we'll start with everyone's mug shot prior to the ride:

Here I am, ready to ride!

Here's my handsome husband looking cool at first glance - backwards hat, Ray-Bans, right out of a B.O.B. song.  For the older readers in the crowd feel free to look that up for a shot of pop culture.  I will say the ticket clutched in his hand takes the cool factor down by 2.

Here's Dad on his way up.  Having listened to the aforementioned song he is now a backward hat kind of guy - got to fit in with the hype.  ;)

Yes even Sasquatch was spotted today.  However, now knowing the origins of the legend he seems to be pretty fair from home...

For those in the Cary Clan who will all be wondering (and will likely not be surprised) - Mom did not ride the Alpine Coaster.  There was mild prodding and convincing tried by the rest of us.  However, we all agreed given her prior "luck" with family adventures it was better she sit this one out. (See: nearly drowning on a rafting trip, riding a bike into a 6 foot hole while mountain biking, etc.) 

Following the Alpine Coaster we headed over to Breck (that's Breckenridge for those not privy to Colorado lingo) to "stroll" around main street.  It's very important that all ambulation be referred to as strolling.  Any mention of "hike" or "walk" causes instant low back pain for Dad. *insert eye roll*

Here we all are ready to explore Breck.  

The water is HIGH everywhere here.  Props to Dad for the gorgeous pic.  The flowers are prominent around these Colorado mountain towns and their colors are so vivid mom and I can't get over it.

I may have been the devil's advocate for the pick below.  Mom couldn't believe I was instigating this set up.  What can I say... If you can't beat em, join em.

Here's Dad kissing another statue.  Can't remember the guys name but he found a 11 lb gold nugget and this is the statue in homage of him.  The plaque states rubbing the nugget is good luck.  The rest of us felt comfortable with that type of statue interaction.

Downtown Breck is full of the standard tourist shops, local artist and jewelry shops, lots of t-shirts vendors, and homemade ice cream shops (yes we partook - recall I love food).

We came across this LARGE bear.  It e came across with signs stating you COULD sit on it.

Surprisingly the bear gave Dad a kiss as he approached.

After Dad's back was thoroughly tired from our trek *correction* stroll around Breck we headed back to The Rig.  The evening has consisted of picking up Delta from the spa, organizing ourselves for tomorrow's ride over Hoosier Pass, and eating Mom's delicious sweet and sour chicken.  Dinner was eaten at The Rig's dinning table with view of the mountains.

I'll pass the blog back over to Dad and see if it reaches the standard for his regular readers.  Wish me luck on the mountain pass tomorrow, having never done one I'm not sure how difficult it will be.  Needless to say the downhill will make it all worth it - that's what us riders live for. :P

Till next time.   

(Author's post script: Like I said - blameless.  I may need to explain further the concept of "ghost writer".)