In the last two weeks there was the Denver Marathon and the Chicago Marathon. Last weekend I flew out to the Windy City to do the latter, tempted by the promise of a flat and fast 26.2-mile course, a stunning skyline, and 1.5 million spectators to cheer the 40,000 runners on.

Apparently, many other Fort Collinsers had the same idea. According to the results, there were 16 of us (12 men, 4 women) who completed the race with elapsed times between 2:53 and 5:57. (I finished in 3:22.) Not bad for a city of its size that is about 1,000 miles away from Chicago!

In the Denver race, there were even more people from Fort Collins: 33, including 22 men and 11 women. Their times similarly ranged from 2:55-5:57. Congrats to all!

The New York Marathon is in just another week. I wonder how many of us will be at that one (not me). What a fit town!

More good news for the Rocky Mountain State! Using data maintained by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an organization called CalorieLab has concluded that — once again — Colorado has (by far) the lowest percentage of obese people in the nation with just 16.9% of its citizens being classified as ticking time-bombs of lard. Hooray!

Well, I suppose that is the good news. The bad news is that every single state in the union are suffering from ever-expanding girths except for Nevada, which posted a trivial 0.1% decline in the three-year obesity average versus last year’s numbers. Furthermore, it is probable that even us Coloradoans look a little, um, wide compared to those in, say, France or Vietnam. Or virtually any other country in the world for that matter, except for maybe Canada, the U.K., and Germany…

Then again, things could be worse. For example, look at Mississippi, which won the title of “most obese state in the nation” for the second year in a row. In fact, if you live in the Magnolia state, there is greater than a two-in-three chance that you are FAT! Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn would feel extremely out of place there among the sumo-types nowadays…

I have to admit that how we Americans are continually getting fatter and fatter is a great mystery to me. In this age of the Information Superhighway, with literally entire bookcases at Barnes and Noble devoted to diet and healthy living, is there any human being in this country who can honestly claim that he does not know that being obese (usually technically defined as having a body fat index of over 30 but is more easily identifiable as having a big blubber-belly or blubber-butt) poses all sorts of health risks and is, in general, not aesthetically attractive? Or that soft drinks, french fries, and anything with trans-fats, hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, refined sugar, or white flour are not good for the body and very often lead to weight issues? That fresh vegetables and fruits are largely preferable to potato chips and candy? That a moderate amount of exercise is largely beneficial for health and staving off excess pounds?

The other day I decided to get out of bed a bit early (3:45 am) and ride my bicycle all day.  Quite literally (200 miles...)

What possessed me to do such a thing, you might ask.  It wasn't just a case of being unable to count sheep to fall asleep, or having too much caffeine the night before.  Actually, there were three reasons: 1) every year since 1996 I have ridden a double century and still needed to do one this year to continue that streak, 2) I was eager to check out the Colorado fall colors that had been exploding out of the trees as of late, and 3) it sounded like a much better idea than, say, working.

So I embarked on a rather unimaginative -- but very beautiful -- route up to just a few miles from the Wyoming state line, down to Timnath, back up towards Wyoming, down to the Horsetooth Reservoir and Carter Lake, and back home again.  My bike -- loaded with food and water -- weighed 35.4 lbs. before leaving the house, but as most of the journey was flat with just enough short-but-steep climbs to keep me honest, the heft was not a problem.

In fact, the list of Things Gone Wrong is surprisingly short considering that the ride was entirely self-supported and I did not even have a clear idea of the route I was going to take until the night before.

The first issue had to deal with the ambient temperature.  During the first few hours before the sun woke up, the thermometer on my handlebars read a hand-numbing 35 degrees.  This was about as comfortable as sitting inside a freezer, so in order to distract myself between the teeth chattering, I began muttering to my bike in Spanish.  Phrases I distinctly remember mumbling include hace frío (it is cold), hace MUCHO frío, (it is VERY cold), and quisiera que el sol se levante pronto (I would like the sun to rise soon). Also: ¡necesito ir al baño!  (I need to go to the bathroom!)

The second issue had to do with my lights.  They worked brilliantly in the morning, but after sunset they started flickering like a candle in the wind.  Fortunately, this did not result in getting hit by an unsuspecting vehicle or careening into a ditch.

Otherwise, the ride was super enjoyable and indeed better than working even if I accomplished little more than burning (according to a metabolically all-knowing friend) approximately 10,400 calories and snapping some photos of the beautiful Northern Colorado scenery.  Speaking of which, enjoy the pics below.