Mountain Biking: Rubber side down- Ashland Super DSuper D is the raddest thing to hit mountain bike racing since the Tioga disc wheel. A race that’s mostly downhill is, let’s face it, the frosted donut of bike racing. It’s a treat that should be savored. The anticipation of racing one is like standing at the counter, trying to zero in on which [...] […]
- Happy Birthday, bicycleEveryone’s bike has a birthday, but it may be a funny quirk of being a Maverick owner that I sort of celebrate mine. That may be simply because I happen to KNOW my bike’s birthday. Every Maverick comes with its own name, rather than a serial number, and the date it was built. Mine, called Basilisk, [...] […]
- Ashland Super D
- Edgy Veggie
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Front Range mountain lions “not long for this world”
A mountain lion that was part of the Colorado Division of Wildlife study is pictured within the study area, which spanned from Lyons south to Evergreen | Colorado Division of Wildlife
The Colorado Division of Wildlife is halfway through a six-year study tracking mountain lions across the Front Range, including ones that frequent the mountains above Boulder.
There’s all sorts of questions that this kind of study is helping to answer. (For example, it’s not true that mountain lions lay in wait on the edge of suburban neighborhoods because they’ve learned it’s easier to pick off poodles compared to elk.) But one striking thing that the biologists have learned so far is that mountain lions around here are facing long odds for living a long life.
A story in today’s Denver Post follows one particular lion who’s a Boulder County local known as AM06 — a male who wanders his 230-square-mile territory from Nederland to Lyons.
Halfway through a six-year study of cougars in the suburbs — the elk-eating kind, not the bar-hopping divorcees — AM06 is a well-known quantity. At any given moment, researcher Mat Alldredge can print out a terrain map showing the prowling puma’s every move for an entire month.
What they’ve learned is that most lions are not long for this world.
“We have an incredibly low survival rate,” Alldredge said.
Of 40 lions captured and tagged in the study so far, only 18 are alive and on-line. A few may have shed their tags, but most died from car hits, homeowner shootings or starvation.
Read more of the story at DenverPost.com.
Spent too much time in I-70 traffic? How about a little high-speed rail?
Click on image to enlarge.
There’s no question that I-70 is a mess, especially in the early evening on sweet powder days. But what to do?
The Rocky Mountain Rail Authority wants to see Colorado spend $21.1 billion to put in a high-speed rail system from Fort Collins and Pueblo and between Denver International Airport and Eagle County.
The study, which is available at rockymountainrail.org, said the most feasible option for intercity rail in Colorado assumes passengers would pay fares averaging about 35 cents a mile, with one-way trips from downtown Denver to Vail in the Interstate 70 corridor and from Denver to Pueblo in the Interstate 25 corridor, each costing about $40. Read more
Get your bike in gear — tune-up tips for spring
I just cleaned and re-lubed my bike — and added a basket. I’m excited for spring weather!
Happily, the Camera has some bike tune-up tips for spring, including:
Your bicycle’s chain may need a quick lubing with chain oil after a winters rest. Dont over-lube your bike chain, though, since oil can carry grit into the bikes inner workings and cause over wear.
On his Web site, the late bicycle guru Sheldon Brown suggests this technique: Rotate your bikes pedals backward, then oil the top part of your bicycle chain on the side that faces the sprockets with a few drops from a drip-oil can for best results.
Thin-film solar roundup: NREL’s robot compared to a chef, Longmont company scores Chevron test
NREL's robot analyzes thin-film solar technology | photo by Pat Corkery, via NREL
Thin-film solar technology is potentially lighter and more portable than your average solar panel. It’s frequently described as something you can “print” onto building materials or, as in the video I’ve embedded here, as a “label” — peel the backing off and stick it to something. (But, unlike Lisa Frank stickers, it absorbs light, rather than blinding passersby with it.)
It’s been around for a long time, but it’s a challenge to make thin-film solar efficient.
That’s why NREL has built a robot that can not only build thin-film solar but also analyze it:
Green spring cleaning: GOOD tells us how it’s done
Spring cleaning time | Camera file photo
The weather is seesawing between blankets of snow and mind-numbingly beautiful, sunny days. You know what that means — time for some green spring cleaning. GOOD has instructions on how to make a lot of cleaning products so you don’t have to get the bottled stuff with ingredients you can’t pronounce. For example:
Tubs, countertops, and sink scrub. Mix baking soda with a bit of castile soap (like Dr. Bronner’s). You can add an essential oil for fragrance if you’d like. Scrub and rinse.
Read on for more on how to make your own cleaning supplies. Read more
World Water Day: March 22, 2010
Folks, it’s not just Talk Like William Shatner Day — no, it’s also World Water Day. Time to think a little bit about your water use!
Annie Leonard, whose name you might know from “The Story of Stuff,” has a video out about bottled water. True to form, it’s pretty short, packed with stuff your friends might not know about bottled water, and animated. (But she’s not talking like William Shatner.)
(via TreeHugger)
Stewart Udall, fmr. Interior Secretary, dies at age 90
SANTA FE, N.M. — Stewart Udall, who sowed the seeds of the modern environmental movement as secretary of the interior during the 1960s and later became a crusader for victims of radiation exposure from the governments Cold War nuclear programs, died Saturday. He was 90.
Walkable cities: Denver listed behind Los Angeles
What do you think — easier to get around town on foot in Denver or L.A.?
How walkable is Denver? | flickr user jared
Valmont coal plant could close
Valmont's coal plant could close if a new Colorado General Assembly bill passes. | flickr user smazurov
Here’s a bit of a surprise — the Valmont coal plant, which gets an awful lot of attention just for being a coal power plant in Boulder, might close if a new Colorado bill passes. Read more
Fun with snowfall stats for the Denver area
Snow day! Except with more… work.
We’re supposed to get nearly a foot in Boulder today, which is making it a little more difficult for me to do what I need to do today, but if you want to be the really cool kid in the office, here are some NOAA Boulder/Denver area snow stats to bandy about. As we all know, March is the big month for snow, so there’s no sense being surprised at this!
| 2009-2010 | Oct09 | Nov09 | Dec09 | Jan10 | Feb10 | Mar10 | Apr10 | May10 | Jun10 | Total |
| DENVER | 17.2 | 9.3 | 11.1 | 2.6 | *** | *** | *** | *** | *** | 40.2 |
|
Cumulative |
6.2 | 16.9 | 25.6 | 33.3 | 39.6 | 51.3 | 60.4 | 61.7 | T | 61.7 |
|
Monthly |
4.1 | 10.7 | 8.7 | 7.7 | 6.3 | 11.7 | 9.1 | 1.3 |
T |
61.7 |
