Day 22 - Newsworthy

Day 22 -

Some days we get lucky. Today was one of them. It could be because of the amazing place we are staying, or the amazing people we are meeting, or the new routine Tom and Sam learned, or the fantastic food, or the disciplined practice this afternoon, or the plentiful chocolate milk....

It could also be a little bit because someone else did our work for us tonight. We had an amazing day, and tomorrow starts at 5 AM. Here is the blog for day 22 courtesy of KOAA news channel 5.


Tom here, adding a bit more to explain what we did today, before I forget it all in a wash of new experiences. We slept in as much as the bright morning sun allowed and caught up on our photos and video. After lunch we did some yoga and practiced some new moves and routines until it was time to bicycle to the hospital to do some demonstrations and create strength bracelets with the kids there. From the hospital we moved on to a city park to set up the slacklines and do some demonstrations and teaching slackline until it started to get dark. Then we biked back and got schooled by the robo-pong machine.

YES tour Day 21

Day 21 In which a "short" ride somehow grows into a long ride.

Statistics for the day:
Miles biked : 64.5
Dirt Road miles: 20 (I think)
Pitches climbed: 8
Handstands: at least 7
Flat tires: 3
Chocolate milk: 2 quarts
sore butt cheeks: 8
Water Bottles consumed: I have no idea, but an awful lot.

It seems like more than one day looking back at it. Things started with packing, loading the bikes, and saying goodbye. Not surprisingly, this took longer than we planned. Then we headed off in the "wrong" direction to the Garden of the Gods. There we did a really fun 2 pitch climb up one side of a vertical fin of rock. This climb "Montezuma's revenge" featured lots of nice exposure up Montezuma's Tower. We did some yoga poses on the summit, but I wasn't willing to risk an ugly fall by trying a handstand. After first lunch we were back on the road before noon. At some point in Colorado Springs we had some navigational challenges and got turned around. We knew something was wrong when Pike's Peak was on our left. While slowly crawling up a hill a man stopped and gave us some water. Heading down the other side we realized this road wasn't curving around like we thought it would so we stopped to consult the map and he pulled up with some more food. It is very uplifting to witness the amazing kindness of strangers we have been blessed with along this trip. After some confusion with the map we realized that backtracking a bit was the best option, so we turned the train around and headed back. As we approached Fountain, Sam got a flat back tire. He was smart enough to get it where we could stop at a gas station with water. He patched the hole and drank a quart of chocolate milk , we ate our second lunch, and we were on our way again.

Soon my back tire started getting squishy and it was hard to keep up. I wasn't smart enough to do this where there was shade and water though. We pulled through the cones of a construction site and realized both my back tire and the trailer tire were flat. No wonder it was so hard to keep up. It was a tiny shard of glass in my back tire and a bit of wire in the trailer tire. We cut the last patch in half and patched them up and headed on.

As we got out of "civilization", the shoulders on the road got thinner, but luckily the traffic did too. By now we were all getting a little cooked from the sun (our usual afternoon thunderstorm wasn't hitting us). After another long hill up into the wind we stopped for a break with some slack-barbed-wire walking and sitting as well as handstands in the middle of the road. The cholla cactus were blooming which was nice, but there were also clouds of midges on our legs and biting flies which weren't. We actually looked forward to loading up and pedaling off to get away from the bugs. We dropped the midges, but the flies were able to keep up and bite us while biking.

We turned south onto Meridian, which was a dirt road. Something we didn't realize when planning this route. It was a pretty good dirt road with very little traffic, so we could ride anywhere on it in search of a line without washboards or loose sand. Sometimes this was successful, but I was getting worked by the loose sand. I had a few close calls where the trailer started fish-tailing and my front wheel would just jump back and forth (I was badly back-heavy). Then it happened and the front tire skidded sideways and down I went. Luckily it didn't seem to hurt the gear rack or my bike, just my hands, back, pride, and nerves. This is also about where we were running low on water. It was the low point of the ride for me, hot, sunburned, dusty, parched, bruised and scraped, tired, and on edge. We were all really happy when the road became paved.

We stopped at the first gas station we got to and all drank many water bottles worth of icy water and NUUN (and Sam got another quart of chocolate milk). Glenn, (one of the people we had contacted in Pueblo) wanted to ride out to meet us, but somehow we passed him and then waited for him to come back. We followed him into the downtown area stopping at a fountain cold wet handstands for Jason and Chelsey, and to pick up more escorts for a mini tour downtown. We stopped at the Fountain of Health yoga studio for a tiny acroyoga demo before unloading our bikes and moving into another wonderful and unique place. This time it is an old downtown building with a theater that is converted into apartments.

The "short" day of downhill biking had grown from around 40 miles to more like 65 with a headwind for much of it as well as blazing hot sun and a good stretch of dirt road. I for one was very glad to get out of the saddle. My shirt and skin was salt and dust caked. We were treated to a healthy and delicious dinner and then we moved into the hot tub on the roof and watched a thunderstorm approach over the city.



YES tour day 21 at SpotAdventures

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Yes Tour: California!

YogaSlacker Dan reporting -

I just finished off my second week of "active recovery", after getting crippling knee pain in Colorado. I've been trying to keep my knee moving a bit and relaxing and letting the injury work itself out. I've almost got basic club juggling down, and my flexibility has increased markedly! Feeling pretty confident this weekend, I decided to make a bid for the summit of Mt. Shasta! I tagged along with my friend Natalie from the UCSB outdoor department, her sister, and 5 of her sisters friends. We wound up in Mt Shasta City preparing to climb about 7000 vertical feet over 6 miles, half of which was on thick snow, in one big push. Just two weeks ago I could barely move my knee, but regular yoga has done wonders. I still had my Kahtoola running crampons, my now worn-out pair of Inov-8 X-Talon 212s and a pair of Drymax socks, so I figured I'd be alright.

The start was mellow but early (7200ft, 1AM), I pushed mostly with my trekking poles and took it easy on my knee, not really knowing what to expect. We hit snow at 9400ft, put on our crampons, and started up the mountain. I had the lightest snowtravel system of the bunch, especially compared to the hard-shell boots that most of the party was wearing. All the way up people commented about my shoes and crampons, which looked (and were!) much more flexible, comfortable, and light than anything else on the mountain. I found that in normal shoes I would have suffered much more from cold feet. My tried-and-tested 212's give my feet plenty of warm blood, to prevent them from getting frostbitten. If the conditions had been less beautiful, I would have thrown on my extra warm pair of wool socks, but there was no need. Also, I can wiggle my toes even in crampons!

We summited with no problems, took a few photos, marveled at the view, and started back down. We met up with the rest of the crew about 200ft down, whowere a bit behind us. Natalie decided to summit again with her sister, who was suffering from wicked bruises from her hard-shell boots. I waited for them to come down, and we glissaded down over 3000ft of gorgeous snowfields. Needless to say, the way down was a bit faster than up, and we wound up back at camp by 4PM. My feet got really wet for the first time (despite the 212's being non-waterproof) during the glissade. Nobody was spared, though, from wet feet. Luckily, now down, my feet didn't stay cold for long.

Day 20 - everything goes to "hail"

Day 20,

we did yoga lots
rock climbed and biked in the rain
yogaslacker fun


Statistics for the day:
pitches climbed: 23
sun salutations and yoga poses: lots
thunderstorm soakings: 1
milk and cookies: lots
coffee: lots
miles biked - off road: ?
on road: 10?
kids fed and put to bed: 2



wet Yogaslacker Tom reporting in. Actually I am dry now, but we all got thoroughly soaked by another afternoon thunderstorm. Last night wasn't much later than any other night, but somehow the morning seemed to come sooner. We got up and assembled in the backyard for a rather rigorous (at least for me) yoga session. Some parts of me that I usually happily ignore got stretched and worked most severely, and I rather suspect that if I wasn't going to be so sore from biking tomorrow, I'd be sore from the yoga. Then the coffee machine got a workout as did lunch. The missing host, Paul returned from a multi-day trail ride and there was much rejoicing.

At a typical leisurely yogaslacker time we biked back to Red Rocks taking a slightly scenic route in the park (more off-road miles with slicks) to the Solar Slab beneath The Whale. We met up with our hosts here who also climbed a bit. We managed to crank out 23 more pitches and dodge one thunderstorm before a direct hit put an end to the climbing for the day. Jason just managed to get off the last climb (a 5.11 slab that would have been nearly impossible in the rain). By the time we got the climbing gear off and stowed the big cold drops were pelting down in a serious way. Some of the Yogaslackers -cough Sam and Jason cough- didn't bring raincoats and got really soaked and chilled, and when it started hailing too, they got painfully pelted.


I have a big visor on my helmet and I don't think I could have seen anything without that, especially when the spray from the front wheel or from the wheel of the bicycle in front hit me. One sort of nice thing about the spray off the road was that it was warmer water. We considered getting out the packrafts to run the gutters but decided it probably wasn't a good idea. Then we all showered and got on dry clothes and were back to human. Now came the hard part of the day, watching the kids. We figured we'd end up hog-tied and hanging upside down getting licked by the dog while Ian and Patrick ate chocolate, but a combination of Chelsey's sweet talking and Sam's chocolate chip cookies kept us safe.



Tomorrow we ride to Pueblo, and I get the TRAILER OF DOOM! (but it is mostly downhill).
Here is a video on important yogslackers life skills:

Day 19, life on the line

Jason here:

Miles biking: less than 1 mile
Distance walked on the line: almost 1 mile

As advertised on our flyer, from 12-4 today we hung out in Monument Park. We had two slacklines set up, and a bunch of rugs laying around for Acro play. We were by ourselves for the first 45 minutes (no one ever seems to want to show up for these sorts of things right when they start) so we ammused ourselves. Soon though, people were milling about and woman from the class last night showed up with her son and his friend. The slacklining instruction began.

Over the next 3 hours, people came and went, some staying for only thirty minutes, and some staying for 4 hours. A 16 year old wrestler named Justin got so addicted to the line that he stayed till we broke everything down. By the end, he was standing up from sitting down, switching knees at will, doing arm balances,and balancing on the line for minutes at a time.

Everyone did really well, and some of our students from the Acro class did repeat performances of the sequence they'd learned last night, and it was quite impressive.

We passed out samples of Java Juice, U-hydration, and Raw Rev bars, and were treated to some more of the wonderful peanut butter cookies from last night's post acro picnic.

In between teaching people how to unlock their balance potential, Chelsey practiced about 5000 handstands, Tom worked on advanced arm balances on the line, Sam drank more milk, and I lay around eating cookies and dried apricots.

At 5PM the thunderstorms came up, so we took down the lines and biked the grueling 6 blocks back to the house. There we played with the dog, climbed into the treehouse, and did dangerous things on the kids zipline until we nearly killed Tom.

Just another great rest day.

Day 18 The Sky opened up Again....

Chelsey Here:

Today,while biking to Red Rocks here in Colorado Springs we thought of some new statistics to report on. For example, in addition to our miles, handstands, climbs and sun salutations we will now be reporting on the gallons of milk that Sam has consumed thus far, the amount of times Jason has lost his buff, sunglasses.. general belongings and the amount of times I attempt handstands over the amount of times I succeed (Tom has not been with us long enough for a statistic of his own, however it won't be long).
Miles:22
Handstands:3
Climbs: 21
Gallons of Milk: 5
Lost belongings by Jason: 15
Chelsey's handstand attempt: 30/3

We are making way in our 1080 miles and our goals of doing 108 everything. Today we calculated that we are about half way through our miles, river miles and climbs. I am pretty sure that we will surpass our handstands, sun salutations and walks across the slackline. We have about three more weeks left of this amazing tour, we are feeling very fortunate and grateful for how our bodies have been holding up and for all of our amazing hosts!

We are now in Colorado Springs staying with friend Stephanie. Her and her family live in this amazing house that was built in 1901. We are on the third floor, which is proving to be a work out (I am wondering if we can count that as part of our trail miles?). It is complete with stainglass windows, beautiful wood floors and a history that can be felt. This morning we woke up to americanos and Jason's Egg Surprise. He once again took everything there was in the fridge, cooked it up and it became not only edible, but delicious. Stephanie topped it off with a delicious smoothie. By noon thirty (a classic yogaslacker departure time) we were on our bikes in search of good, fun climbing. After adding some much needed off road miles on to our total mileage, we found Ripple wall in Red Rocks. We were able to crank out 21 climbs total before the lightning started to strike a little to close for comfort. Jason made it to the top of a climb just as the drizzle turned into a solid down pour. Wet sandstone equals sketchy climbing. We raced each other home, up and down the "double over head" hill climbs. An hour later, after some pineapple and acro play time we were on our bikes again racing back to Red Rocks. This time around, thanks to everyone at the Bija Studio and Stephanie, we were able to teach an acro yoga class in the company of some amazing scenery. The sky had opened up for us. In 2 hours we were able to teach these strong yogis and yoginis a full acro flow.

We ended with some much needed thai massages for our strong bases. By sunset we were passing around homemade chocolate chip coconut cookies, chocolate covered walnuts, and hummus and crackers. In true yogaslackers form we played hard outside until the moon took the sun's place. For the second time, we raced back to the house hitting green lights the whole way home. We are all now happy and full off of homemade pizza and rhubarb crisp. Once again, I am very grateful for all of our amazing hosts and all of the amazing people we have met along the way. Thank you so much for your energy, your spirit and love. We feel very lucky to do what we love and share it with others. Beads of Courage has been an awesome opportunity for us to pass on our energy to those who are less fortunate as well, thank you for helping us make it happen!

YES our Day 18 at SpotAdventures

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YES Tour Day 17

Yogaslacker Tom reporting - (since this was my first day, they said I should write the blog entry). After driving from Flagstaff the previous day and arriving after midnight, I was a little groggy in the morning. That was soon cleared up with some fabulous hospitality in the form of pancakes. Sam was pretty excited that I have a hardtail bicycle and thus can attach the trailer to it, but he took pity on me and decided not to make me take it (I think he was worried about breaking me on my first day). While we were loading and packing the bikes they realized I had knobby tires and said they would break me like they broke Dan. Luckily we were able to borrow a set of slicks from our host. After a salmon salad lunch and more procrastination and last minute packing we set of at a civilized 1 pm for the ride from Denver to Colorado Springs. The first 10 miles or so were on a nice but winding bike path. It was pretty hot and muggy but that was dispelled by the gust front from an approaching storm cell. The majority of the rain slipped behind us and we were treated to a cooling sprinkle and strong tailwind.

Sam got an instant flat when something (glass?) sliced his sidewall. We stopped and replaced the tube and slacklined on a chain that was across the convenient driveway there. We also watched the next approaching storm cell complete with lightning show. While pumping the tube up it blew out again. It turns out the slice was large enough to allow the inner tube to pop under high pressure. We braced the sidewall with a Raw Rev wrapper and patched the tube. Then we were on our way again.

By now we were on 83 heading south. Some of the time it had a decent shoulder, and sometimes the shoulder was a white line and a dropoff. Then the rain hit. This time it was large cold drops. Soon we were pretty wet and chilled. Chelsey was smart enough to put on her rain coat, but the rest of us just kept pedaling. After what seemed a long time, the rain eased off and we began to warm up again, especially as we headed up a rather long and persistent hill. It seemed to go forever and I was quite thankful that I didn't have the trailer. At the top of the hill we were on a expansive high grassy plateau. Chelsey was quite a ways up ahead of us by now and us men were grumbling about giving her more weight. There was another large storm cell in front of us, and I thought it would slide off to our left. I was wrong. It started out gently, but soon large icy drops were pounding us. It was coming down hard enough to cover the road with water and the spray soaked the last dry spot on my belly and got my glasses covered. Did I mention it was cold? It was. Eventually it slacked off and while not exactly warm, we weren't so chilled. We had come 55 or so miles now, and my hands and butt were not so happy with me. There was another storm cell off to our right, so we put on some warmer clothes (leg warmers, raingear...) That kept the rain more than spritzing us. Then we hit some long downhills and Chelsey disappeared in front of us. (grumble grumble) in trying to catch up my thighs started to burn for the first time. Sam and Jason took pity on me and rather than keeping up with her blistering pace they hung back with me (or so they claimed).


When we passed a megachurch and could see the Air Force Academy we needed to pull out the atlas to navigate. This is also where Sam's tire started leaking again. Every 10 minutes we had to stop to pump it up again. This interval seemed to decrease with time.

Due to some laziness (to avoid a large detour) we got onto I-25 for a few exits. That was an interesting experience. Cars had been blowing by at 65 mph for much of the day, but 75 or 80 is a different level. The edge was wide enough that it wasn't too terrifying except the on and off ramps. Those were bad. At least it was downhill so we were cruising along over 20 mph. In fact road debris thrown up by the trailer hit me in the leg and the face. I backed off another 30 feet. After a few scary bits we were all happy to get off the highway.

Now we were on the final stretch, but we still had to stop to pump up Sam's tire a few more times. Finally we were biking through neighborhoods and just as it was starting to get dark, we got to our destination. A lovely old house with room to spread things out to dry, food, company, and an enthusiastic dog...

I don't think it was the farthest I ever bicycled in a day, but it was with a load, and it was the longest I had bicycled in an afternoon and I was very glad to get off my bicycle. I was pleased my homemade rack system worked.

YES Tour Day 17 at SpotAdventures

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Jason here - We are all super pleased to have Tom with us, as he neatly filled the holes in the team since Daniel left to take care of his knee. Tom is an incredibly talented photographer (as was Daniel), an amazing climber, slackliner, and an amazing sufferer. I am looking forward to strapping the BOB trailer to him as we go up and over Monarch pass in a few days....I just have to be careful to keep him at least semi-healthy till then.

Yes Tour videos

Here are two brand new videos - the first is the YES tour trailer and day 1-12, the second is a compilation of the first three cities and events (Aspen, Steamboat and Boulder). Please watch them both and let us know what you think!

Yogaslackers bring enCOURAGEment to Denver Childrens Hospital

Chelsey Here:
My anxious feelings woke me up early this morning. I meditated for a while, trying to coax myself back to bed. I finally fell back asleep after succumbing to my hunger pains for some of Sam's cookies. After eating two cookies and a glass of milk I finally fell back to sleep. Becky woke us up with homemade pumpkin and blackberry scones. By 8:30am we had our mats out in her back yard. We had a beautiful, fun practice in the company of Becky, her son Zane, her daughter Peyton, and two more friends of theirs. We had a fun warm up and then ended with some juicy, deep partner stretches. By 10:45 we were refreshed, fed and ready to go share our energy with the children at the Denver Children's Hospital. We were greeted yet again by Laurel, Ivy and Margie. Jessie, Tyler and their mom also made a guest appearance. The girls are all talented climbers competing in the national circuit, and have become amazing young YogaSlackers as well. With the girls help, we were able to put on quite a show in the middle of the atrium. Some children, their families and nurses were able to come watch. 2 hours later we were taking some of the nurses up into the air, giving them much needed therapeutic inverted massages. The girls passed out joy, hope and courage coins, while the moms passed out care beads to all of the passing nurses.
After our Demo, Sam and I taught a short and sweet yoga class... our third yoga class for the day! At 2, we were lead up to the children's oncology unit. I had a mixture of excitement and nervousness inside me as we rode the elevator up to the 7th floor. I must admit I am still digesting this whole experience. Jason, Sam and I were all more than overjoyed to be able to meet the children and have them pick their Beads of Courage from our hands. These beads have been through a lot, and have cultivated so much good, healing and loving energy. One in particular had been with Sam for the last 6 months... up and down Mt Rainier, down miles and miles of rivers and up countless climbs. Sure enough, that was the first bead to be picked by three little girls. They were waiting down in the atrium for their sister who was getting a bone marrow transplant. We gave all most all of our YES Tour beads away to the kids on the unit. John Cary, a fourteen year old boy was super stoked to receive our beads. We were in turn honored for him to have our beads. He hiked up and over the Continental Divide with a tumor wrapped around his heart. Now that is strength. We had fun swapping adventure stories, and told him to come join our team once he was feeling better;) We met lots of parents as well and were able to give them a bead of courage. The parents love being apart of the program as it helps them cope with their child's illness in a lot of the same ways.



After a long day at the hospital we rode 5 miles back to our safe house. Becky was cutting fresh strawberries and making guacamole when we walked through the door. We had not eaten anything all day so coming home to her fresh, home cooked meals are beyond words. We greatly appreciate them!
After we nourished ourselves on almonds and strawberries... and of course cookies.. we were off to the pool again for some more food and good conversation. We were in good company with Becky, her family and their family friends. While feasting over a delicious meal of salmon, salad, strawberries and kiwis Becky, her friend and I reminisced about our favorite clothes. Every girl has those few articles of clothing that they absolutely loved and just cannot let go of even though it is down to it's last threads. It was so fun talking to a clothes designer who just gets it. I am for sure going to send her my mojo wonderwoman tank.... you never know... It could come back! We biked home on full bellies, feeling very grateful and alive. Tonight we will most likely be up late editing and packing up for our ride to Colorado Springs!

Day 15: Becky's grand adventure

From YES tour Day 14-15

Jason here:

In Denver we are lucky enough to be hosted by Becky Prater, one of the founders of Beckons Organic - a beautiful yoga inspired organic clothing company. We first met Becky at the Estes Park Yoga Conference (or some similar venue) and became fast friends. Chelsey had also been wearing a Beckons top for years on the river, but had lost it sometime earlier this year. So we were in good company.

After amazing waffles for breakfast, Chelsey was invited to look through the racks of clothes and pick out a few things. She was in heaven, trying on all the beautiful tops and skirts and dresses...I still don't think she has decided on what she wants.

We spent the early afternoon at a local pool, swimming and practicing yoga and Acro, until a huge rainstorm came in. The pool closed, and the five of us (Becky and her daughter, Peyton were with us) rode home in the cold rain. That evening Becky rode with us again (in the rain again) into OMtime studio for a benefit class that Shannon Paige Schneider was teaching for our cause. We arrived a few minutes late and soaked, but excited for Shannon's magic. She did not disappoint.

At the end of class, we were all connected through a big web of touch when she turned the floor over to us. We kept the energy really connected, and transitioned seamlessly into AcroYoga therapeutics. Choosing 3 volunteers, Sam Chelsey and I demoed by way of flying total newcomers in 5 minute massage flows. When those three were done, we took three more up. As the night went on, it turned into a jam, and we taught people to base, and fly more advanced moves, spotting when necessary. Shannon has some really strong students and it was amazing to see what some of them could do.

Despite knowing us for several years, Becky had never had the nerve to fly, but that night she flew on each of us in turn, culminating in some inverted acrobatic moves.

We were also re-united with Mercedes (the girl who led us down from Estes Park - see YES tour day 9) and got to thank her again with some great flight time. An impressive yogini, we actually didn't even recognize her until we'd spent most of the evening together.

Playtime lasted until 10PM we headed home. It had been a long day, and Becky had already ridden further than she had in a long while, and overcome her AcroYoga fear in a big way. To top it off, on the way home she crashed her bike when a car didn't see us crossing the street (we had the right of way, but didn't have light on). She went down in a perfect skid on her right side, and has a nice little road rash. She took it like a champ, and we were all much more careful on the way home.

To celebrate our great day and survival of the night, Sam baked a double batch of chocolate chip cookies. It was another late night, as we all stayed up long enough to sample the various batches.



YES Tour Day 15 at SpotAdventures

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Day 14 - a new math equation

Jason here:

Ok here it is. It has been a while since I actively did a lot of computation (since I was a physicist actually), but I think the math is sound.

x miles of riding + y rock climbs - t bagels for food + m quarts of chocolate milk / z people = k

Now to take this further, take the answer from the previous equation (k) and put it into this equation: k + i miles at w hours into the day = a

So lets define the variables:
x = 21, y= 27, t = 1, m =2, z = 3, i = 20, and w = 22

Doing the computations, we arrive at the answer for k = really tired yogaslackers.
If we input this solution into the second equation we find our solution for a = super exhausted starved and somewhat irritable yogaslackers.


It was actually a beautiful day, with a great ride to Golden, Colorado where we met fellow Yoga Slacker and yogi supreme asana master Scott Turpin. Scott is an amazing yoga teacher, slackliner, climber and budding Mt. bike racer. Together the 4 of us hike up to North Table Mountain and spent the afternoon climbing. We didn't have a guidebook, so we just got on whatever looked good, trying to rack up as many climbs as we could. Turns out that we climbed the gamut from 5.8 to 5.11d. We onsighted everything except for the 11d, but we all agreed that the 11b. 11d, and a certain hard 5.9 were the best.

Repacking our gear, we then headed into Denver, managing to get lost and turn a 1 hour bike ride into a 2.5 hour ride. We'd eaten almost nothing (we often get excited and forget to eat when we are climbing) and by 10pm we were riding through downtown D-town, drooling over the smells coming from everywhere.

By 10:30, mercifully, we'd found the Becky's house. She welcomed us in, immediately put delicious food in front of us and therefore saved us to slack another day.
YES tour Day 14 at SpotAdventures

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Day 10-13 Recovery Play Time!

Miles: 25
Handstands: 20 each
Sun Salutations: 20
Pitches of Rock: 1

Chelsey Here:
We spent this past beautiful soltice weekend in Boulder playing with the locals at OM Time studio and The Prana Store. Thanks to a friend of ours, we had a beautiful place to stay just a few blocks from Pearl street. Our legs greatly appreciated how central the house was to all of our needs! On Thursday we slept in, ate a delicious BIG breakfast thanks to Andrea and Alex's left overs in the fridge and Jason's amazing ability to whip up something from nothing. We spent the day recovering, catching up on our emails and eating as much as possible. Our friends Andrew and Erin took us out to lunch at Crepes A la Cart, which was quite the treat!! Andrew is quite the character, he has broken over 42 bones in his body (if you count cranial bones) and has more near death stories than you could ever imagine. That night we went to OM time to see if we could get in on a yoga class. Shannon graciously let us in to her class. It was perfect. The whole class was centered on hearts and hips. After riding 90 miles the night before our chests, shoulders and hips thanked Shannon greatly for her beautiful class. It was.... serendipitous. That night we did our acro training complete with V-ups till your abs explode, belly to the wall hand stands, jedi squares... and lots more.

The next day we had two workshops at The Prana Store. Ivy, Laural, Maddy and Jaime were all there eager to learn some new tricks! We had all played together at one time or another, so we were able to kick it up a notch. With in an hour we were popping them in to throne and back to bird! On our lunch brake we walked up and down Pearl Street doing handstands, hand to hand and arm balances on anything we could find. At 3:30pm we were back at Prana teaching a slackline workshop to the girls and more eager folks including our friends Kate, Joe and Larkin who are all trying to make slacklining legal in Boulder! Yeah! We taught them what we could. Everybody was amazing on the slackline, just eating up and doing what ever we could throw at them. Kate and I both got lotus on the slackline at the same time. I was stoked! That night we got a surprise visit from our friends Rachel, Goose (Rachel's dog) and Kiara. The day couldn't have ended any better- it was complete with lots of laughing, Sam's special chocolate chip cookies and of course some play time!

On the morning of the Solstice With the beats of my new favorite band Barefoot Truth in the background, I had a fun invigorating practice of my own on the front porch. In the heat of the day we went back to Om Time to teach another Acro Workshop. It was a small intimate group. We had a fun, hard warm up followed by two hours of fun acro play! Andrew and Erin treated us again by taking us out to the movies that night. The boys saw Star Trek while I went with Andrew and Erin to the Proposal (I was in the mood for a chick flick). Late into the night Jason worked on our YES tour movie, while Sam and I packed up and got ready for our departure!
YES Tour Day 10-12 Boulder Adventures at SpotAdventures

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Day 9: an escort service and an all nighter

Miles: 88
Handstands: 10 each
Average speed: 5 mph
Top Speed: 45.5 mph

Jason here:
This was the big day. - Up and over the highest paved road in North America. After a breakfast of oatmeal (left over from the 2XtM expedition 17 months ago!)
The first few miles were pretty flat, and then the climbing began in earnest. Sam and I switched bikes so that he could take a turn at pulling the trailer. I was so happy to be free of it!

We climbed for hours. The temperature dropped, the wind picked up. At times it was hard to stay on the road. We stopped at an overlook an did some acrobatics on the edge of the cliffs, much to the dismay of the onlookers. At one point a woman got out of her car and walked up to Chelsey, who’d just finished doing bakasana (crow pose) on the edge.

“I don’t mean any disrespect,” she said animatedly, “but I would beat you senseless if you were my daughter!” She looked up to the park ranger for re-inforcement.

The park ranger smiled. “The National Park Service has no rule against stupidity”, he said plainly.


He did however make us stop moments later when a van pulled up and a group of kids got out. “If they see you all doing that, one of them is gonna try it, and then we’ll all be in trouble…”

The air got thinner, and our legs weaker. By 4 PM we were almost to the top. The final ascent was super exposed, and to make matters even more difficult, we had a 30 mph headwind. It was slow going.

We’d planned for our stay at the top to be short, but it was so beautiful that we ended up practicing a bit, doing more handstands, and Chelsey and I performed a bit for the other tourists.

It was hard to leave, but the promise of 25 miles of downhill beckoned.
We put on wind-breakers, and took off. On the way down we broke our trip spped record, maxing out at 45.5 mph. What took us 5 hours to climb, took us less than an hour to go down.

We’d planned to end the day by staying in Estes Park, but the shock of going from the remote mountains into a tourist filled mountain town was too much. We milled about in town for an hour or so, trying to find a free place to camp – all to no avail.

We debated going all the way to Boulder (another 35 miles) but knew that the road down out of Estes was steep, narrow, and really treacherous for bikers at night.

As the sun set, we were milling about just outside of town still not sure what to do. A car pulled over, and a woman asked if we were OK. We explained our dilemma, and she seemed to understand completely. She even offered to drive around and check out possible free (dirtbag) camping options. When that didn’t pan out, she suggested that she escort us down the canyon, driving behind us with her hazard lights on.

It really was one of those moments. This woman’s kind actions single-handedly embodied kindness, understanding, and a willingness to help.

20 miles later, safely out of the canyon, she parted ways with us with a friendly wave. We hope that we’ll have the opportunity to thank her somehow! (email us if you read this by chance!)

YES Tour Day 9 at SpotAdventures

Map created by SpotAdventures:GPS Geotagging


The last 15 miles to Boulder seemed endless. It was surreal. Time stretched. Our sensitivity to the aches and pains of the cumulative days of effort intensified. Muscle memory kept the legs moving. The promise of a warm bed waiting in Boulder was our caffeine.

It was after midnight when we arrived at the little house on Grove Street.

Day 8: Rude Awakening

Miles: 68
Rock climbs: 1
Handstands: 8

Chelsey here:
We woke up from a sound, deep sleep to car doors slamming and children laughing…. Not what we were expecting. Sam and I shot up out of bed simultaneously, realizing that what we were hearing wasn’t a dream. Jason was the last to wake, not believing Sam or I when we said that there was someone outside. Sam and I gave Jason up as bait- telling him he looked the best out of all of us. Jason got dressed in his cleanest dirty clothes and bravely went outside while Sam and I prayed they didn’t have shotguns. After all, we were in the wild west! We had put our bikes in the barn the night before so they must have been pretty surprised when this long- haired grizzed out guy appeared out of nowhere.

The two women and two little boys turned out to be really nice and even invited us into the house for some water. After packing up our bikes and watching the boys hunt ground squirrels we were off towards Rand in hopes of a café with some eggs.
10 miles later we were in Rand, which was unfortunately totally dead. There was no diner, and the one store was closed. We did however find an old fashioned coke machine which was extremely exciting for us… it’s the little things that keep us going.



After a breakfast of granola and Raw Rev bars in the parking lot, we were on our way to cross the Continental Divide for the second time in two days. On our way up to the top of the pass we met our first fellow bike tourer, Trey. He had biked all they way from San Antonio and was on his way to Vancouver. We exchanged bike and food tactics. He gave us some home baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, in return we gave him some Raw Rev bars and U-hydration tablets. I wish the world worked like this all the time, the bartering and trading system is where it’s at! Spread the love!

At the top of the pass we did some handstands and acroyoga counterbalances to get the blood flowing in other areas of our bodies. On the way down from the top of the pass we, spotted an amazing climbing area. Jason went to check it out while Sam and I waited for the report. There was a rope and anchors, but no bolts that we could see. Jason scrambled up the face in his bike shoes until his instincts told him to come down. We all agreed to come back in a few months and put up some routes if no one else had yet because of how awesome it looked. There was at least 20 climbs ranging from 5.8- 5.11 in a beautiful area!
We peddled on down the hill scouting out the rock features up high and rapids down low. We got to Granby just before the local café closed. The women there were extremely nice and they gave us 8 banana muffins and two breakfast burritos. We gladly scarfed them down while we caught up on our blogs and recharged our batteries. After we were fully recharged, we headed up the hill to Grand Lakes. By the time we got there, there was no campsites to be had… so we pedaled on past the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park. A few miles later we found a picnic area with a prominent no camping sign. Exhausted and ready to sleep, we pushed our bikes deep into the woods. It was our first night using our new Hillberg tunnel tent, and we were overjoyed by its design and roominess. The fly and vestibule were green so we felt safe and camoflauged when the rangers made their final rounds. I fell asleep with a bit of anxiety knowing what the next day had in store for us.




Note: we do not condone camping illegally but we are very conscious that $30 saved on a campsite, or $25 saved on food is money that will go towards the kids and Beads of Courage. We have limited ourselves (since the beginning) to a $10 a day group budget – only $3.33 each! Good thing we have lots of friends, and lots of luck.
Thanks again to: Eastern Essence, Raw Rev, U-hydration, and all of our generous in-town hosts!

YES Tour Day 8 at SpotAdventures

Map created by SpotAdventures:GPS Geotagging

I'm getting over the hill (Yes Tour day 7)

(Yesterdays Totals: bike miles 20, river miles 20)

Miles: 46
Offroad miles (total to this point): 41
Handstands (to date) : 27 each


We were pretty lazy wen we woke up. The morning rapidly passed into afternoon as we ate a wonderful oatmeal for breakfast and leisurely packed. When Keith insisted that we eat before we head off, we couldn't say no. The lunch conversation was so interesting, we found 2 PM coming and going as we learned about the history of American money. Keith had bills that were 150 years old!

Finally, we mounted our bikes amidst a late afternoon shower and headed away from Steamboat and up into the mountains toward Rabbit Ears pass. The rain, fog and sunshine battled it out for space in the sky while we battled our way up the 10 mile climb to the Continental Divide at 9500 feet.

The temperatures dropped as we gained altitude, and by the time we reached the top we were shivering. I could barely do a handstand to commemorate the end of the steep climbing.

We raced down the other side, chasing the last of the sun. It was a melancholy evening as we were all missing Daniel. As the sun set, we opted not to go to a friend's cabin that had been offered (it was down a dirt road, 1000 ft of climbing, and miles out of the way). Instead, we continued on county road 28, until it turned to dirt.

YES Tour Day 7 at SpotAdventures

Map created by SpotAdventures:GPS Geotagging

Out of water, we rode on until coming to a little ranch house. We investigated it, found a water spigot still working and a little tiny guest cabin open. We debated our options, and in the end, decided to sleep on the floor. Even being in the cabin was like stepping back 50 -100 years, shortwave radio and all. My mother would have been in heaven!

After an hearty dinner of Eastern Essence Indian food, we curled up in our sleeping bags, and quick and heavy sleep came.

Rest (in Peace) day 6

Sunday - the day of rest. For us that meant a lazy morning of weighing our options. We mapped our route to Boulder, trying to stay on remote roads and yet hopefully avoid the dreaded mud of our last "remote road" choices.

We did some yoga, ate more icecream, and discussed Dan's knee. But since rest is not something that we do very well, we only made it till about 2 PM.

Then we loaded up one of the trailers, and pedaled down to the Yampa River. Since we only brought 2 boats, we decided to do a bike shuttle and all get turns.

The run was about 5 miles, and mostly just really fun class II, with lots of play waves. We'd forgot the life jackets back at the house, so we played it pretty conservative, but it was stiff great fun.

On the bike shuttle, Dan's knee was still killing him, so we figured out a way to carry all our boats, and three of us on one bike. It was quite a site as we rode through town. Should make the bike hills tomorrow seem easier!

While we were in town, we stopped by Orange Peel Bikes, so Sam could get a new pedal (his right eggbeater style pedal had broken a few days before). He explained our mission, and within minutes walked out of the shop with a new Shimano pedal and cleat, free of charge. For us that just means a little more money gets to go to Beads of Courage! Thanks to the guys at Orange Peel!
On a bittersweet note, Dan decided to heed the advice of his body and the various doctor's he'd consulted, and end his physical involvement in the Tour. So we spent the rest of the afternoon resorting gear, and trying to figure out how to carry everything with just one trailer. Should be interesting.

It was really sad to see Dan go. We've had a lot of adventures together, and I know that we will have a lot more - so we are all happy to have him go and get healthy. He'll continue to help us with his web/tech skills through the Tour.

Dan has always been the powerhouse of the racing team. Young, unstoppable, always optimistic, big enough to carry the heavy stuff. It feels a bit like we are three hobbits that have lost our Gandalf.

Yes Tour Day 5: Playtime and Decision time

Jason again:

Miles ridden - 10
Handstands - 1
AcroYoga - Lots and Lots

We got to sleep in today. Worked on the computer. Answered emails. Ate muffins for breakfast. Played with the dog. The morning passed quickly with a multitude of coffee, tea, milk, granola and easy yoga.

As we headed into town for our workshops, Dan still could not pedal with his left leg. After we were about halfway there, he decided to head back to the house and sit out the workshop in hopes of better recovering for the days ahead. So just as in Aspen, we ended up at the workshop with three.


Map created by SpotAdventures:GPS GeotaggingThe Steamboat Yoga Center was beautiful, with the Yampa river running straight outside the big glass window. We were pleasantly surprised to find the studio full of people. After an introduction and brief explanation of the YES tour and Beads of Courage, we asked all the participants- "What takes courage for you in your life?"

Chelsey, Sam and I taught a wonderful class, and were really touched by the way that the mostly new crowd embraced all of the elements of the AcroYoga practice. Many people worked through some fear or instability, but by the end the whole group was really connected and flying each other in forward flying therapeutics.

We ended the workshop with a demo and a heart opening chant. We passed our samples of RawRev bars, and U-hydration tablets, and I was happy to know that my bike would be at least a pound lighter on the next leg.

The three of us were now starving (wishing we'd saved at least a bar or two for ourselves), but headed straight for Toots park to give a slackline demo. Somehow we seem to get too excited to eat when we are sharing our passions. Luckily, our host Keith showed up at the park, and after learning the basics of standing on the line, he invited us to hurry home for dinner (wonderful stirfry). No need to ask us twice. We stuck around for a bit longer, teaching a few more people the basics and then rode home on tired legs.

Dinner was great, and hearing the story of how our hosts Katie and Keith met hilarious. For dessert we were spoiled with ice cream, fresh strawberries, and chocolate syrup. Sam was in heaven.

As we did the dishes, Dan dropped a bomb. After consulting several people in the health field by phone, he was pretty certain that he had serious tendonitis of the MCL. Bad news. We are discussing our options tonight.

Keep Dan (and his knee) in your thoughts. Tomorrow we will stay in Steamboat, maybe climbing, or paddling the Yampa, but mostly figuring out what comes next. Any budding YogaSlackers out there looking for something to do this summer? We may have a heavy trailer that needs pullin'....

Yes Tour Day 4: Full steam to Steamboat

Jason here with the day 4 totals

Miles: 55

Offroad miles (to-date): 42

Sun Salutes: 10

Handstands: 3

Mud fights: too many

I am not going to lie. Today really, really sucked. Or at least the middle of it.

It started out beautiful with a late morning yoga practice on the lawn near the tiny town church. None of us were really prepared for the mixture of pain and pleasure brought on by a full yoga practice after the days of hard biking. We had a leisurely breakfast too, of mint tea mixed with oatmeal. No one was really paying attention to the time, just listening to the flow of our bodies and breath.

Eventually though we stopped listening enough to get on our bikes again, and I was really suprised to hear that it was already noon! We were not worried though, as it was only 55 miles to our next stop - Steamboat Springs.

Climbing up and over County Road 3 we made good progress until we passed a sign (similar to the one we saw yesterday) that essentially stated that the road was unmaintained for the next 9 miles. Within minutes the road deteriorated. We still had over 1000 ft to climb, and the road just got worse. The moist clay stuck everywhere forcing us to stop and clean off our wheels constantly. Our pace dropped to less than 1 mph. At 4 PM we were only 8 miles from where we'd started the day. Rain was threatening. Dan's knee had given out.

The only thing that kept us going was the promise of spaghetti and a hot tub waiting in Steamboat.

As most things go, things eventually got better. After a final super steep climb (probably the steepest grade possible with all that gear) we crested the pass and saw miles of dry farm road stretching down into the valley. We stopped and redistributed some of Dan's weight, and pressed on. Fueled by Raw Rev bars, chocolate milk, and slightly caffeinated Kona Cola Nuun we made it by 8:30.

A wonderful dinner with hosts Katie and Keith Giglio followed by a soak in the hot tub saw us completely sated.

Our workshop here does not start until 2 PM so we have a nice easy morning....

Yes Tour Day 3: Mountain Man Crossing

Chelsey here (feeling much better!) reporting on Day 3
Miles: 50
Sun Salutations: 5
Handstands: 5
The day started off with all of us well rested and eager to go.. I still had a fussy stomach, but nothing that could stop us. After loading up on oatmeal and mate, we were off to our next destination. We knew we were in for a pretty big morning. We were going over Cottonwood Pass, a pretty steep climb and mostly farm roads. What we weren't all that aware of was how muddy it was going to be! At the top of the pass, we were greeted with a foot of wet, soggy mud. The kind of mud that likes to cake itself onto your tires, making you immobile. Dan has a pair of knobby mountain bike tires, they worked great at cleaning up all the mud. He paved the way for my bike which was real nice. Thanks Dan. Jason had a great time bonding with the BOB trailer and the mud he had to drag it for a good long time. Luckily, when you go up for a long time, you go down for a long time.. at the end of our fun mud times, we were greeted with a long fun stretch of downhill! By the time we got to Gypsum (the town at the other side of the pass) the boys looked awesome. They were coated in mud. Their faces looked like they had gotten some new strand of the Chicken Pox. Instead of red dots, it was brown dots. I came out of the deal miraculously clean! I only had one brown smudge on my face. That is a first, usually I come out the dirtiest!
In Gypsum we parked our bikes in front of a supermarket. While Dan and Jason went in and answered the workers many questions about where they had been, Sam and I did some yoga in the parking lot. After a lunch of peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches and a Java Juice mocha, we were on our very happy way towards Steamboat Springs. We were told to not take the road we were about to take by some locals due to muddy conditions. We learned our lesson earlier, so we opted for the easier, drier route (or so we thought).
We road along the Colorado River for the next 4 hours. It was gorgeous. The rain washed all of the mud off of our bikes and then two rainbows came out framing the river and mountains perfectly. Our ride ended in Burns at a little place called Mountain Man Crossing. It was an old bridge across a tributary river which served great as our pad for the night! On the other side of the bridge we found a nice warm lit post office. We made us of it by cooking up an awesome Indian meal and watching a movie courtesy of Dan's computer. That night I had my best sleep yet. We fell asleep to the sounds of river underneath us.

Check out the map of this leg

YES Tour Day 2

Day two (miles: 57) started somewhat poorly for a few of us.

Chelsey spent most of the night throwing up, which kept Jason up most of the night too. Dan and Sam too were kept up by the downstairs tenet playing Dance Dance revolution all night long.

Not much sleep for anyone - except Sam who could sleep through war.

We all discussed Chelsey's ilness and thought it best for her to stay behind and go to the doctor. Sounded good until she called in and was told that her insurance had been canceled. So instead she decided to stay in bed and try to get better with nothing but a good day of sleep.

The rest of headed the 30 miles into Aspen on a beautiful bike path. It was slightly uphill all the way, but we made it with 15 minutes to spare. Just enough time for a coffee!

We spent the next 6 hours teaching and practicing slackline yoga at the Aspen Athletic Club. Host Jeremy had a great set-up and we stuck it out through the rain, hail and precious moments of sunshine. We were visited by about 30 people over the course of our stay, and greatly enjoyed the company. Can't remember any of their names, but we did get some great pictures. Some of them were really good slackers, and it wasn't long before we had them performing some difficult asanas (poses) on the line.

Luckily the ride back was slightly downhill, so we pace-lined at about 30 mph all the way until the final climb back to the house. That climb was tough though, 3 miles of about a 10% grade, not to fun at the end of the day.

Chelsey and our hosts Todd and Jenny had a great meal waiting though, and we swapped river stories as we ate. Now we are off to a much needed sleep. Tomorrow we load back up the trailers and head toward Steamboat Springs, via the 20 miles of dirt over Cottonwood Pass.

I must have been sleeping when Sam and Chelsey planned this part.

YES tour day 1 (kinda)

Jason reporting:

Ok - just to keep us honest, I think we will start our blogs with an update on the statistics of the trip so far. This was our first serious say of travel on the bike, but officially the tour kicked off on the 4th, with the start of the Teva Games, so some of our stats start then.

YES Tour Day 1 at SpotAdventures

Miles 72
Handstands (each): 3
Sun Salutes (each): 4
Climbing pitches: 0
Whitewater miles (cumulative): 33
Trail run/hike miles (Cumulative): 7
Single track (cumulative): 12




I probably left stuff out, but this is a good start. We left Rachel's house about 9:30 AM and stopped biking at about 9:30 PM. Long, long day. After our 24 hour delay/late start, we changed our route to a longer, but less steep road to Aspen. It was a GOOD decision.

As is par for the course, none of us had ever even used a BOB trailer or paniers before. The first 10 or so miles saw Dan and I (pulling the trailers) fighting crazy wobbles and realizing that the weight distribution on our bikes was way off.

It turns out that Dan and I were both carrying 100% of our weight. His set up was 190lbs, mine was 135lbs. It was brutal - kinda like towing a really lame teammate during an adventure race.

We stopped a few times, trespassed through a closed section of trail, did yoga on the concrete in front of a bank, and handstands in the middle of the road (to the consternation of oncoming drivers).

The end of the day saw us doing a horrible 3 mile climb up to a beautiful house (belonging to river guide friends of Chelsey - she seems to know EVERYONE in Coloradoo). The climb was almost too much, and had me regurgitating bits of dinner into my mouth...gross, I know.

Tomorrow we ride into Aspen, teach slacklining, and then ride back to here....my butt is already sore.

YES Tour Day 0

Well its Monday and in true slacker style... we decided to postpone our launch:)

We started out the day a 6am trying to sort all our stuff into piles Biking, Stay in Car and meet us at the Telluride Yoga Festival. Our goal was to leave Rachael's house (YogaSlackers Safe House #44) by noon. At 2pm we discovered that Jason and Daniel had put their rear racks on bassakwards and by 4pm we might have been able to hit the road but 2 out of the 3 cars were dead so after Daniel cleverly rolled his into the middle of the street to block traffic while Rachael now also blocking traffic jump started it... Jason and I pushed Chelsey down a hill in hopes of bump starting it... the PLC had no problems:)

Now the convoy to the parking garage...upon returning to SH#44 at 5:15 leaving less then 3 hours of light for our 50 mile ride we opted to head to the spa with Rachael. She taught a great 1.5 hour class. Which helped us get out of the stress of planing a 42 day whirlwind bike tour and focus on why we were doing it. Chelsey and I were feeling the race from the day before and we were looking forward to the hot tub, sauna and hot showers to rejuvenate...

We had to make a few amendments to the plan but we should be on our way to Aspen by 8am tomorrow...

Fun at the Teva Games

Team YogaSlackers

Down River Sprint Jason Magness 22:37.2 (In his PackRaft)
Mountain Bike Scott Turpin 2:08:50.0(First ever Race, 1st time on a bike in 8 months)
Mountain Run Chelsey Gribbon 1:21:44.0 (Avg Grade 10%)
Road Bike Hill Climb Sam Salwei 44:20.9 ( on his Mtn Bike)

We'd been brought to the Teva games by prAna to teach slackline yoga, acroyoga, and generally have a presence.  We'd just finished a 30 hr adventure race style trip with Stephen Regenold of the New York Times just hours before the games started.  On a whim of sorts, we asked if we could get a comped entry into the GNC Mountain Challenge.  

When the answer was "yes", we were all a bit mortified.  Like when you ask for something jokingly or sarcastically and then end up with it.  (Like when I asked for an elephant for christmas and then spent the next year cleaning up 25 pound terds)

So one of us was commited to racing each event.  As a further fun, we decided to all enter our weakest event.  Daniel Staudigel was sick, so we roped our friend and fellow yogaslacker extrordinaire, Scott Turpin, to race with us.   He'dnever raced before, and hadn't been on his bike in8 months - so he was the natural candidate for the Mountain bike.  We slated Sam for the 9.8 mile road bike hill climb, which would put him up against the likes of Lance Armstrong in an intense time trial format.  To make things more fun, he'd ride his mountain bike.  Chelsey signed up for the 10k trail run, largely regarded as the hardest 10k on the circuit - going strait up the Vail ski hill 3 times....

I was left with the DownRiver sprint - racing 4 miles down a class II/III river.  Most competitors had to drop off their boats the night before to get transported to the race start, I showed up with my packraft in my backpack, blew it up, put on my inflatable PFD and sidled up to the start line. 

Needless to say, none of us won our respective fields.  But we had a great time, and couldn't help getting super competetive, despite the limitations.  

In addition to our racing, we spent 8 hours a day slacklining and performing Acrobatics.  

Do we get to rest now?

Ummm.....no, that was all yesterday, and today we leave on our YES tour - biking with all our gear to Leadville (all uphill) and then climbing to the highest point in the state (Mt. ELbert - 14,400).  Just another day as a slacker.

Slackers take on the NBA

Team Member Sam Salwei reporting,

Directly after the Rainier Expedition (read about it in WEND Magazine) I headed down to Eugene, OR to visit one of the slackers more organized friends Kathryn Joyce. Kathryn has played a major role in linking YogaSlackers efforts to build environmental awareness with Action developing the 2XtM windsock project as well as grant writing and other daunting logistical tasks.

I was very excited for this opertunity... here is an excerpt from Kathryn's email...

Northwest Youth Corps OutDoor School is an alternative high school that serves under privileged youth that have not been successful in the public education system. The school centers on outdoor skills and environmental conservation.

This year I have been working with a very special group of students in a yoga/meditation class. This group has elected to learn breathing exercises, meditation practices, and yoga flows to support their mental and physical well being. Since being introduced to the art of slacklining by Sam Salwei of the yogaslackers three years ago, I have integrated it into my meditation and yoga practice in a meaningful way. I began incorporating slacklining into the school's curriculum to challenge the students and give them a fun tool to increase their balance and focus. Not only my yoga class, but many of the students have developed an interest in slacklining. We are always carrying a line out into the field for a camp activity.

Recently I met a professional basketball player who offered to do a pro-bono speaking engagement at our school. I expected excitement, seeing as we seldom have the budget for such an event; but instead the students told me it would be "way cooler" to have a "professional" slackliner visit the school. After spending what I can only imagine to be countless hours watching You Tube videos, they asked if I could get the yogaslackers to visit the school and slackline with them.

I talked to Sam about my students and what they were doing and he scheduled time to visit Eugene and slack with them. The students had a blast watching Sam slackline and I have rarely seen my wild bunch behave so well as they listened to Sam instruct them. It's a gift to see my students inspired by a group that makes their own opportunities and incorporates environmental ethics
into all aspects of life.

I hade a blast teaching the kids and the YogaSlackers look forward building a comprehensive criculum around the lessions of the "line"