Last Day With S&A (#4) and Browns For Now 02Aug21

In lieu of the Brewery Bikery, S&A,  S&D and Kala & I rode the 30+ miles to Breck for evil pastries and a coffee. Brown and I did a side trip to Broken Compass to make it official. We enjoyed the stellar hazy DDH, cleverly named for us the ColoRAD Bro. Very good.

Sharon Silva 01Aug21

I am a big fan of The Wild Reeds ~ known. My preferred writer & lead in their repertoire is Sharon Silva ~ known. SSS has written solo work ~ less known. There's a YellowSessions.com segment debuting her recent writing ~ less known. Below's the link ~ now known. This is very great work coming from darker spots - I'd love to hear her bigger band arrangements of these but this intro to the new work is strong...

S&A Vist CO #3, And Jim & Mary Join, For Stuff In Summit 30Jul21-01Aug21

Despite cancellation of the Brewery Biker '21 due to rain forecasts, Yohanans and Browns came to Summit to party. We dined Thu on halibut with red curry and spicy bok choy. And we popped the magnum of Edgar's 2013 El Chunker - all tasty.

My killer golf buddy Yoho showed for some game in the thin air. I'm injured, Jim crushed it and Steve was consistent; Breck was awesome again.

Steve & Donna showed up and threw an awesome brunch on the deck. We all decided to bail on activities (like the Bikery or other) due to weather but did party all day with games (Code Names & 500/Euchre) and totties in the PM at the Nest, and some fine paella. With cabin fever jitters we all did get out on a hike from Ute Pass the next day - followed by an abbreviated brew tour at Pug Ryans & Steep. Awesome.

S&A Visit CO #2, And T&L, Hit The Nest 25Jul21-29Jul21

The hits just kept on coming. Kicking off #2, we and S&A rode the lake and enjoyed the Rocky Mtn Youth Sailing Championships where locals dominated. We checked the boat but didn't sail ~ but we did score at Tiki Bar and a very nice day.

T&L Wilke arrived on Sun and we dined on fish tacos with spicy mango salsa. While the boys golfed at Breck with Alex Daggs, a visitor from Seattle, the ladies hiked. We then hit Sauce On The Blue for good Italian and a hike along the Blue River where we observed the big trout.

Of course we drank plenty of great French & US wines over these days - which made early rising for hitting the trail tougher. Yet, after Tom's pacing at the Nest the boys trekked out Mayflower Gulch then up to Gold Hill ridgeline and bushwhacked back to the car. The ladies enjoyed cutthroat mahjong. A great few days with our great friends.

Check The Flows! 28Jul21

I didn't even follow my own mantra of "check the flows" before departing for the Jurassic section of the Blue. There were multiple cars in the lot on arrival but come to find out they were sport rafters and kayakers as the flows were bumped up to ~700cfs (I don't like fishing here >500cfs). So, this made the river much less accessible to me as I was not about to wade to target known lies, much less cross it. I guess downstream Colorado drought emergencies are demanding more water as key reservoirs of Williams Fk and the Green Mtn are being drained to get the Colorado to about ~1200cfs (it was ~400cfs). Short term solution for sure unless we get a big snow year coming up. I did observe green drakes coming off at noon but no rises in otherwise prime dry fly water. My drake nymph did take some fish as did a weighted PMD and the Purple May Reign. I fished from the bank backhand only and I stayed just 2.5hrs on a very hot day but did manage a number of decent 16" browns like these...

Steve & Anne Visit Colorado #1 21Jul21-24Jul21

Old and dear friends, Steve & Anne Gordon, fled the desert heat and visited us in Colorado. We've had a blast thus far hiking the White River NF, auditing music & comedy, debating the state of affairs in the US, playing golf with Yoho @ Flying Horse, dining fine @ Ambli, christening Brian Wilke's new brewery Comet Brews (we even met up with Aidan, Mikyo and Ross & Kat), and otherwise enjoying catching up. Along the way we've drunk many bottle of fine wine. Great start.

Copper & Back With Kala 20Jul21

Kala and I rode the 25 miles to Copper and back pretty swiftly. Do we go on over Fremont Pass ~ nope; do we go on over Vail Pass ~ nope. We hit Angry James for lunch and beer after. Fabulous day among plenty of eBikers.