Boulder Report

I've got Blues for TV coverage of the 30th Bolder Boulder

30th Bolder Boulder
Originally uploaded by JerryLewis

The Blues Brothers entertained the racers and walkers for the 30th annual Bolder Boulder Memorial Day race ... and I thought I was out of shape! For all the people who wanted to watch the elite race live, however, the blues were real.

This year, in what officials hoped would keep more spectators at Folsom Field for the exciting finish, live TV coverage on Channel 4 was dropped in favor of later, taped delayed airings on Fox Sports. 

Only one problem: The cold rainy day sent many spectators home early, including me. Since there was no news of the TV delay on Bolder Boulder Web site, I hoped to get home to see the elite race on TV. Much to my surprise, the race was not going to be shown until around 8:30 p.m., after the Rockies game. It will be aired again several times throughout the week. Even the Daily Camera sports section got it wrong, reporting that the race would be shown at 6:30 p.m. 

I'm all for "more" coverage so many people can watch the race, but dropping the "live" feed just makes no sense in these days of instant news coverage. After all, yesterday I watched "live" coverage of the Mars landing project team on my laptop on NasaTV. Talk about a business opportunity, how about someone streaming coverage of the race next year on the Internet!

My walking time this year: a sizzling 1:48:10.30. A nice cool morning for all the racers, but a little too chilly to sit around in the stadium very long this year. I wasn't there, but I doubt the crowds were very big for the final elite race finishes.

And for everyone trying to catch the race on TV ... well, catch the replay. By then, you probably know who won, but it's exciting still, isn't it? Not really.

Boulder's Colorado Building

Boulder's Colorado Building
Originally uploaded by JerryLewis

I've often looked over at the Colorado
Building in downtown Boulder, and thought about its 50's-style design. The other night, the light was good, so I took some photos.

With quite a few new buildings coming into downtown Boulder and its landscape changing, it's sort of nice to still have this retro office building.

Storms across Front Range

Storms in Colorado
Originally uploaded by JerryLewis

After hearing about the severe weather in Weld County, I stopped on my way home at the Boulder overlook, and took this photo of storm clouds. That's Boulder Reservoir in bottom left.

Already tonight I have heard of one former employee who's house was damaged by the tornado that hit Windsor and surrounding areas.

Pretty high wind gusts were blowing at the overlook where I took this picture, so you could feel the storm activity in the area.

By the time I got home in south Boulder, some hail started falling, sending me out to grab several pots of flowers we had just potted over the weekend.

Our weather was not nearly as bad as the storm up north. The forces of weather here are, if nothing else, always an interesting story no matter the season.

Louisville Downtown Bridge

Louisville Downtown Bridge
Originally uploaded by JerryLewis

It's my last day of a visit back to my hometown of Louisville, Ky., and I got this shot last night from inside the Louisville Slugger baseball field, home of Louisville Bats, the farm team for the Reds.

In just 12 days, I've watched gas prices rise some 30 cents here with some stations posting $3.99 prices yesterday as oil prices continue to increase. Although a lot of people like to bike here in Louisville, the city is not set up with good bike paths like Boulder, although public bus transportation is pretty strong here.

When I get back to Boulder, I'm getting my own bike out a bit more. There just is no good reason to be burning gas right now if we can avoid it.

Morning at Churchill Downs

Morning at Churchill Downs
Originally uploaded by JerryLewis

It's just a few days after the Derby, and of course all of the talk is about the "triumph and tragedy" of this year's race.

I'm in Louisville and got the chance to walk around on the back side of Churchill Downs, where life goes on readying for the next race day. This was the Tuesday after the Derby, and with no races that day, trainers were working out their horses. These horses get amazing attention from their handlers, with a nice bath in the early morning hours.

They're beautiful animals, they are bred to race and although there will be more debating about synthetic tracks, etc., there's no doubt the sport will continue and hopefully, fewer accidents like the one on Derby Day will take place.