Countin' Cougars in Colorado

So here I am in Boulder, Colorado, for the first time in my life, and direct from another Arizona Desert Camp.

My Colorado Schedule

I've already been treated to a couple of nights at the home of the Bike Friday Club of Denver leaders Tom and Dianna McDermott, who took me cougar spotting at the local Whole Paycheck on the first day. Cougar spotting? Git thee with the times or, for those too lazy to click:

Cougar – an older woman who sexually pursues men at least eight years her junior.[12] The term has been used in (American) TV series, advertising and film. The 2007 film Cougar Club was dedicated to the subject. It is also featured in the recurring Saturday Night Live sketch "Cougar Den".

There was only one possible sighting - a woman in a baby pink Chanel-cut suit, big glasses, blonde hair, beige pumps. Let's say, the kind of outfit you would not ride a bicycle in except for a Bond poster. "At 46, your qualify as a cougar you put on that flapper dress," said my hostess Dianna - "but the bike shoes would kill it. No date."





I bonded with this couple over a supersized packet of Kettle Chips which left the three of us swearing never to touch another one until sometime tomorrow. I also marveled at their languid lapcats - two pedigree Rag Dolls that flop about like Ty Beanie Babies.

We then headed to Fort Collins where we checked out local bike shops Full Cycle and Cycologist. I asked the owners/managers if they sold folding bikes. "No - not that we wouldn't," came the very polite reply, which could well be the Colorado equivalent of the "we feel that folding bikes aren't real bikes" I got from some Australian bike shops. I'm almost embarrassed to call myself Australian with some of the crap I heard downunder.

"People are very friendly and laid back here," said Dianne, a transplant from Philly. "It's refreshing, although the knocking off early to go biking when you're trying to do business takes a bit of getting use to."

Colorado is full of legendary destinations - Boulder, Aspen, Vale, Steamboat Springs, Telluride where Tom Cruise supposedly has a house, Breckenridge ... no wonder people want to relocate here. And leave too.

"I'm leaving because I'm weary of the attitude, the sense of entitlement ruining Boulder," said a friend heading for the Pacific Northwest, which has its own burgeoning yuppiedom = people buying back their hippiedom.

We tooled around on our bikes and just missed out on a tour of the New Belgium Brewery, which closes at 3pm - possibly to dissuade happy hour alesuckers. Instead, we toured the bike racks outside, loaded with employee cruisers emblazoned with the Brewery decal.

Finally it was time to head south west to Boulder, where I met with my second host, Bike Friday Club of Boulder leader Jeff and AK Butterworth and the outgoing incumbent, Jeff Buechler. What a wonderful celebration we had at a restaurant called Sherpa. Jeff's wife AK works for AeroGrow, a company that makes tabletop hydroponic, grow-lighted herb gardens. Predictably, they sell like hot cakes in New York and LA where you are separated from the fecund soil by a thick layer of concrete.

Today I managed to score a squeeze-me-in consult with the famous Bike Fit Guru Andy Pruitt, who works with Lance et al. I've blogged about my crunchy knees and I am hoping he'll just tell me it's old age. My plan is to film him and share his insights with the Bike Friday community. Stand by.