My first plane journey in 2 years on a work trip to the US. The location happened to be San Francisco & Boulder.

San Francisco

My third visit to SF and every time I am appalled at the homeless / drug problem in Downtown. After landing I enjoyed a traverse of the city, through Golden Gate Park down to Ocean Beach for sunset. Guided by the one and only Mark Nelson (& Sid). Catching the final few minutes of the NFL 49ers vs Green Bay was excellent.

Ocean Beach Sunset - in January

Keeping with the solar theme I ran up Twin Peaks for sunrise. Around the Civic Center, comatose bodies litter the streets and it is a struggle to identify signs of life. That there is a refugee-style setup is, in itself, tragic. Twin Peaks was lovely and a nice hill.

Twin peaks at Sunrise

Boulder

Endurance athletes love Boulder, they say. My stay was extended, for work reasons, and this allowed some excellent opportunities for fun.

Friday

Slightly early finish on Friday and straight out to Flagstaff Road. Boulder nestles against the front range and excellent trails lead to some impressive views. I set out to run Green Mountain. The American’s excelling, as ever, with their naming. On this occasion, it was snowy white.

Saturday

The closest ski resort to Boulder is Eldora. Though it has a reasonable downhill area, I elected for some XC skiing. The Nordic trails at Eldora were surprisingly hilly; probably a net positive ahead of the Engadin Ski Marathon in March.

XC Trails at Eldora

Coincidentally the road to Eldora runs parallel to Magnolia Road, of great fame in Running with the Buffaloes. This dirt road runs for 7.5 miles (15 for the full out and back) rolling through the Colorado plains. I managed a meager 8.5miles. A Bison farm and an intersection with Lazy Drive were highlights.

Sunday

When in Rome. So I went downhill skiing. Colorado has trended toward conglomerates like Epic and Ikon. Having neither of those passes meant the ‘main’ areas were extremely expensive. I tried Loveland which was both a little closer and pleasantly light on the wallet. I found the terrain excellent, especially for skiers right off the fast quad. There were extensive mogul and tree skiing options.

Notes on food

There were too many good food restaurants to list them all, particular highlights were Blackbelly, Upslope, and Illegal Pete’s.

Another notable point was my discovery of the P30 pro-tele-camera. This is very cool and makes me want variable optical zoom. Here’s an example taken at Denver airport.