Lance in Leadville

James and I decided to drive up to Leadville to see Lance Armstrong ride in the Leadville 100. A grueling 100 mile mountain bike race in which we hear the goal is to finish in under 9 hours. As you may or may not have heard this was his first race since 2005. The Leadville hometown hero held off the world famous challenger to win his 6th straight Leadville 100. We heard someone in the crowd say he is 42 years old. Simply amazing!
Hometown winner Dave Wiens.

The one and only finishes second!

It was quite some time before anyone else made their way to the finish line. After watching the press swarm for a bit, we explored Leadville on foot (with Molly in tow). We stumbled across a cute little pizza place. We were NOT disappointed. They were very friendly and provided a most delectable pizza consumption experience. (They get 2 thumbs up and four paws up for letting us sit outside with Molly) Yes, Molly liked the pizza too.

On the way back to the car, we saw a small crowd hanging out on the sidewalk. Upon further inspection, we noticed they were all waiting in front of the "Ugly Cookie" which had a sign that read, "Sold Out of Cookies - will reopen at 2:40) With a loyal fan base like that, we had to give it a try. Mmmmmmmmm.... Can the Leadville culinary experience get any better? We'll have to make another trip to find out. We headed out shortly after the cookies.

I was really impressed by all the mountain bikers. One guy collapsed after he finished and had to have 2 guys help him to the first aid station as he literally couldn't walk. I told James he needs to try to ride it next year. He responded, "You'd have to let me buy a sweet mountain bike first!" We'll see...

Here are some other pictures from the day. Happy weekend to everyone!

Help!

We have been trying to sell our house back in St. Louis for a few months. We are renting a small house in Denver until we can sell our house. If you could send us some positive thoughts and prayers, we would really appreciate it!! We found out that a house down the street is now the cheapest in our neighborhood because the owner defaulted on the mortgage. Ahh.... at this point we really just want to sell it. Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers! We would love to be able to move a little closer to my school, especially by winter.

Wow, He Did It!

Before the ride




During and after the ride




On Sunday before heading home we went on a hike near Breckenridge. James' friend Joe came to Colorado and we were able to spend the weekend with him.

James completed the Copper Mountain Triangle. He said he had a great time most of the way until the Vail pass because it had an elevation gain of about 3000 feet alone. He said it was rough and it was near the end of the ride. It was neat to see him coming through the finish line. I was impressed with how many girls I saw finish the ride. Maybe I'll give it a try next year.

We just love the mountains especially when it is close to 30 degrees cooler than Denver. The mountains remind us to take time to enjoy the little things in life. Apparently many other people enjoyed the mountains this past weekend because we were stuck on I-70 for many hours on Sunday. We got frustrated but reminded ourselves that there could be worse places to be stuck in traffic. At least it was cool with amazing views.

I am a little sad that summer is coming to an end. Today I went to my new classroom to begin the process of organizing it for the upcoming year. I was very overwhelmed as I stood in the middle of the room trying to figure out where to place everything. Moving and starting over has definitely not been easy. At times it has been so frustrating dealing with all of the little things like getting our cars registered in CO, finding new doctors, getting lost numerous times while driving, and signing up for new services for the house. I am sure that after some time things will calm down and we will feel more at home.