Raymond's Blog

Government Trail

rchafin — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 01:49:43 +0000

I wanted to post a few details from my big mountain bike ride last week in Colorado. I had read a lot about this trail, and was unsure how/if I was going to handle it. As you can see from the Garmin details, the first bit was a rather steep climb. At the top of the first climb (2.5 miles), and not knowing exactly what was ahead of me, I was seriously considering turning back. Living at sea level makes riding at 9,000 ft challenging, but my recent riding regiment had proved to be enough to let me continue. The next couple miles were a blast, lots of technical stuff, and a break from the climbing. However, the impending climb in the middle of the trail was the crux of the whole trail. Easily one of the most technical climbs I have had to negotiate, and long enough to test my endurance. Sadly, I wasn’t able to clean the whole climb, but I did stop within sight of the top, and the final few rocks. After that, it was all gravy. Beautiful cruising through aspen forests, and finally a wicked fast decent traversing down the Buttermilk ski slopes and back into the town of Aspen. Really a gorgeous trail, and now I have a mark to beat when I get back.

Looking back over the crux climb:

Cruising through high altitude Aspen Forests…

And the view before the scorching downhill…

This Morning’s Workout 8-12-10

rchafin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:15:01 +0000

Ext. Loop 8-12-10 by rchafin at Garmin Connect – Details.

So, Im trying to embed my morning ride as a blog post just to see how it goes. My new bike computer should allow me to show the data plots in my blog, and I thought that might be a neat addition. Click the View Details link for more info!

Under Construction

rchafin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:16:41 +0000

As you might have guessed, I’m going through some adjustments to the site. This is a much more complicated, but ultimately nicer design than I have experience with in the past. So over the next week or so, you can watch me slowly evolve this site into its final product. The end result should be easier for me to update, and more enjoyable for others to view images and read blog posts. Till then…..

Sicilian Sunrise

rchafin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:10:52 +0000

Fishing and the tanker…

rchafin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:10:09 +0000

Dramatic Sky

rchafin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:09:18 +0000

The Milazzo Harbor

rchafin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:08:28 +0000

The dingy..

rchafin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:07:33 +0000

The Catch…

rchafin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:06:38 +0000

Every morning in Milazzo, many fisherman board their small 12ft boats and venture out into the coastal area to bring back the island’s most boutiful natural resource…..deliciously fresh fish. Here a fishman, just back from his morning routine, displays his catch for the locals to browse and select their dinner. At this particular moment, the fisherman is arranging fresh squid.

The fisherman…

rchafin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:02:45 +0000

A little backstory…I really love people photography, but I have a tough time approaching strangers with my camera. It’s a tough mental hurdle to get over, and I battle it and loose just about every time I have a camera in my hand. This time, I got up the courage to ask this old sicilian fisherman if I could take his picture. Despite the language difficulty, he immediately knew what I wanted, and immediately smiled, adjusted his shirt, stood as tall as he could, and put his best face on for my camera. Its not one of my more amazing photos, but it easily rises to the top of my personal collection.