(Pick an Octane any Octane!)
The truck issues have been sorted. Apparently the Go Big Rig didn't like some of the CO washboard gravel roads and the battery terminal loosened up a bit. After a few tests, a wire brush, and a wrench the Rig was back on its way again. Bobby and Seth had a smooth uneventful flight from Baltimore to Denver. The Rig is now quite full with Graeme, Bobby, Seth, and myself all traveling in it.
On Wednesday we all geared up and ran the Source of Boulder Creek. This is quite a small creek and would even be considered manky by WV standards. We did find it with quite a bit of flow though, so the manky rocks were well padded. It seemed to fit in with most other CO creeks in that it had little to no actual eddies. The scariest part of this run is the bushes and wood that could be lurking around the next corner. We all made it out relatively unscathed, although my boat did run a few rapids by itself when I tried to get back into it unsucessfully after a scout.
(Seth cleaning up at Golden.)
Wednesday evening we headed down to Golden for the Golden Community Rodeo that Gary & Christy Mullins put on each year. This is a great event that seems to attract a lot of boaters, spectators, and sponsors. I judged for the women and then had fun amping up the crowd during my rides with some sweet old school moves. Bobby threw down with his usual smooth cartwheel style. Graeme was aggressive with his ends, splits, and loops while also trying some of the newer moves. Seth amazed everyone as usual with his huge air and new school moves. Seth tied for biggest air of the night and took down first in the rodeo. Just about everyone in attendance got some great shwag and the after party at Anthony's Pizza was tons of fun as well. I would recommend this event to anyone passing through Golden on a Wednesday in June.
Thursday we all slept in quite late due to the great hospitality of Gary and Christy. We then had a shop visit with Alpenglow in Golden, your local front range Fluid retailer. Graeme, Seth, and I all had a fun playboat session at Golden while also getting a lot of Fluid boats out on the water in the way of demos. Local CO Fluid paddler Deb O'Keefe even made an appearance at the demo. The local response to the boats was great. While we ran the demo and played at the park Bobby went on a marathon creek mission with a bunch of the local rippers. The plan was to run Clear Creek from Lawson to Golden, but the group only made it to Riggermortis Rapid. Only 20+ miles in about 4 hrs!
(Bobby the "Dogg" flying high at Lawson.)
(Seth going for the giant FGM at Lawson.)
(The "Dogg" rockin' the smurf suit in the cold waters of Clear Creek.)
On Friday Graeme, Seth, and Bobby had a session at Golden while I took care of business. Graeme even got interviewed and filmed for the inflight entertainment for Frontier Airlines. After our Golden session we headed up the canyon to play at the Lawson hole. Everyone was getting huge loops and working on all the new moves. After talking tons of photos and video of the crew I got in my boat and had a few fun rides. After only a couple of rides I threw a huge loop and landed wrong on my paddle blade causing serious injury to my shoulder. I'm out of paddling commission for a while and will be having the shoulder looked at in the next day or two. After the Lawson session we headed up to Steamboat Springs for the Yampa Festival. After the long rainy, foggy, and steep drive we couldn't find a place to camp and ended up in one of the many very expensive Steamboat Springs hotels. The beds were plush, the shower divine, and the breakfast was satisfying, so I guess a good stop after all.
(The "Dogg" flying high on the Yampa.)
(Seth taking down the competition in Steamboat.)
Saturday morning we got up quite early to get down to the playhole for a bit of practice. The festival was very low key as usual, but tons of fun on a great feature. Bobby had some amazing controlled thrashings in the hole while Graeme used his strong aggressive style to throw a flurry of moves. Seth again showed everyone how to make freestyle and C-1ing look easy throwing tons of high scoring and big air tricks. Graeme ended up in 4th place while Seth stepped it up and took down 1st.
(Graeme hiking into Upper Fish Creek.)
(The "Dogg" at Fish Creek Falls.)
(The "Dogg" laying the smack down on Fish Creek.)
After the Yampa Rodeo Bobby insisted that we hit up a local classic, Fish Creek. The creek was flowing quite high and Graeme and Bobby decided to run it, while Seth decided to rest after an exhausting day of freestyle action. Graeme and Bobby finished the 3.5 mile upper and lower Fish Creek in about 30 minutes with 4 eddies caught and 1 portage around the dam.
After Fish Creek we drove over to Lyons to camp at the playpark. Sunday morning we woke up and headed over to the playhole in downtown Lyons for the Lyons River Festival. We also meet up with The Famous Leif Anderson, who is on the injured list after bruising some ribs while creeking. Bobby headed off with some locals to run the North Saint Vrain, a 9.5 mile wilderness class 5 run. The first 1/4 was apparently quite eventful for the group, but the "Dogg" styled it and loved the beautiful scenery.
-All Lyons photos by The Famous Leif Anderson-
(Team Go Big: Conner, Tyler, Graeme, Seth, & Coach Bryon.)
(Graeme portaging South African Style, barefoot.)
(Seth works on his football training skills.)
(Graeme working on his paddle tossing skills.)
The team boatercross at Lyons is always a super fun event. This year team Go Big consisted of Graeme, Seth, Tyler, and Connor. The event consisted of pushups, a run with your boat, a short downstream paddle, an upstream gate in a hole, a paddle toss over a slalom gate, another upstream gate, a final hole punch, and a tag off to your teammate. Team Go Big had a hard time with the first leg paddle toss, but finished strong with the overall win.
(Graeme working on his huge airwheels at Lyons.)
(Graeme catching some hangtime in the Lyons hole.)
(Seth showing that you can go huge with only one blade.)
(Judge Bryon sorting out the Pro Class at Lyons.)
The rodeo at Lyons was top notch this year with local rippers and pros alike. The play hole was a bit flushy, but had quick eddy access and gave up big air. Because of my bum shoulder I volunteered to judge the pro class. It ended up being a difficult competition to judge with the flurry of moves being thrown by the top competitors. Basically it came down to Jimmy and Seth battling it out. Jimmy came out on top with a flurry of cleans, supercleans, splits, and big air in his final ride.
Some quality creeks and some playboating action are on tap for the Go Big Rig crew over the course of the next few days. The next major stop will be FIBark on Thursday.
See you on the river- Bryon
