Colorado-based freelance journalist
Tom looked me in the eye. “I was going to text you: ‘No Lycra’.” We were gearing up in the parking lot of Pila Mountain Resort in Aosta, Italy, which is to say that the mountain bikers I was with were pulling on their body armor, shin guards and full-face helmets. And I was putting […]
MoreThe rocks had gotten bigger, I decided. That was right before I crashed. It was the afternoon of my 31st birthday, and I was out chasing two fast girls on fast bikes off the backside of Le Tour ski resort in France, into Trient, Switzerland. I had done that descent a couple of times, but […]
MoreIt’s more than just a workout, it’s a lesson. It starts with a warm-up. We set our bodies in motion for the first time in the day, and our hearts beat quicker and quicker, preparing for the challenge ahead. We know there will be hardship, so we savor this gentle prelude. When the first interval […]
MoreSometime in early August I was up in Winter Park attempting to pre-ride the course for a XC race. I was turned around somewhere between Winter Park and Fraser, having gotten my printed directions out for about the 7th or 8th time, and I had backtracked along a steep forest service road 2-3x already looking […]
MoreI get in these moods sometimes.
One came upon me recently while I was out on a ride, alone with my thoughts. I had had a couple of bad falls in the past week and it seemed like I kept spilling on the same side, making the same mistakes. I was feeling shaky on the dirt, like I had lost something important but didn’t even know what it was.
I was up close to the top of the Nelson Loop at Hall Ranch. The clouds had rolled in and covered up what had been a beautiful sunny afternoon. I heard thunder in the distance and inside me the weather turned too.
MoreWhen Steve and I first moved from Aspen to Boulder almost two years ago, I was still learning how to mountain bike. For our first ride in Boulder, I picked Walker Ranch based off of trail descriptions I read on the Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance website. I had no real concept of what an “advanced” […]
More“You can’t hold on to people any more than you can hold on to a cool breeze on a hot day, or a break of sunshine in the clouds that warms your bare skin. A real connection between two individuals is a natural phenomenon not unlike the 360-degree view of from the top of one […]
MoreA couple weeks ago I decided to enter myself into the Crested Butte 40 on a whim. I’d never ridden 40 miles up to that point and I knew it would be a long 40 on some of Colorado’s “best” (read: tough) singletrack. There was no sport race, just Open Women’s meaning I’d be racing […]
MoreSometimes you don’t so much as conquer that mountain, as you just keep going a little bit further every time that voice inside you tries to tell you to turn around. Sometimes you push on more dumbly than heroically, with nothing but the certainty that when and if you make it you’ll be glad you […]
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Gloria Liu 