Beautiful Day!

Actual video from 5/21/11 concert

Well, for the most part anyway.  Eric and I wanted to get a long road ride in with a fair amount of climbing.  I barely rode my bikes in the last two weeks as I needed some time for recovery and then got pretty sick.  We rode up to Golden to climb Golden Gate Canyon as high as we could before weather hit.  Our climb ended at about 8,600 feet when we ran into 45mph winds and a wall of snow.  Yes, that is right, it was snowing.  Back down to Golden for a quick coffee to warm up from the descent.  Temps were warm and the rest of the ride was pretty uneventful.  It felt good to be back on the bike even though I felt sluggish the first few hours.

Michael scored tickets for the U2 360 concert Saturday night at Invesco (where the Broncos try to play football).  They were General Admission, so they were cheaper than most of the tickets available.  Why, I don't know.  We were able to get pretty close to the stage.  Two of Michael's friends went with us, and they had some sort of VIP pass that enabled them to a party inside the stadium.  The passes did not have names on them, so when they got back, they handed them off to us.  We got a hand stamp and headed in for a quick beer.  Apparently the stamp was our "ticket" to go to a inner section close to the stage.  Sweet.  The Fray (couldn't care less) opened for U2, so we took advantage of our stamps.  We ended up getting within about 15 ft of the stage by the time the show started.  

The sun set on an amazing spring Denver evening just before U2 was to take the stage. U2 went all out for this show/tour.  The stage was huge and took up about 40 yards of the field.  Setup took 4 days and required 54 semi trucks to move everything for the stage.  It looked like 4 claws and housed all of the sound equipment and lighting equipment.  They played for about 2 hours and it was amazing.  Denver Post's story.

Set list

Main Set: Even Better Than The Real Thing, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Elevation, Until the End of the World, All I Want Is You, Stay, Beautiful Day - Here Comes the Sun, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Please, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone
Encore(s): One, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow - Where the Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender 

The Edge

Bono on a moving platform

 

Adam Clayton on bass with Bono with the light up mic

Front Range 60

Above photo courtesy of Ben

Mt. Falcon and Lair O' the Bear

Last nights ride was the first time I rode both of these trails as an out and back.  Both Lair O' the Bear and Mt. Falcon are probably 2 of my 4 favorite Front Range trails.  The temperature was nice even though it was a little cloudy.  Ride time was 2:40, and I did not even need lights!  All winter long I anticipated days like yesterday.  I even saw signs of local wildlife.  On the road between the two trails I stopped to watch a herd of 12 huge elk grazing on the side of the road.  I even saw large mountain lion tracks at LOB.  Hopefully he did not see me.....

Ride data