Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2017 i 5280 Magazine

[ FROM THE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR ] Human Kind(ness) A lthough rarely at the top of any list of the most respected professions, journalism has recently been denigrated in a way that is unprecedented in the 17 years I’ve been in the industry. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump referred to the “fake news media” as “the enemy of the American people” in a tweet that surely would have appalled First Amendment father Thomas Jefferson. Even if Trump was being hyperbolic, his pronouncement compelled me to share a little bit about how senior staff writer Robert Sanchez’s heartrending feature about opioid addiction came together over the past few months (“Sometimes You Have To Build A Wall Around Your Heart,” page 108). Part of an editor’s job is to sense a writer’s…

Even veteran outdoorsmen don’t know all the how-tos of wilderness survival. Brush up on your knowledge with The Great Outdoors: A User’s Guide, penned by Denverite Brendan Leonard. This new, encyclopedic handbook answers important questions such as, “How do I navigate a whiteout?” and “Can I drink my own urine in an emergency situation?” through a cheeky Q&A format. You’ll also find valuable info about adventure-specific gear, a glossary of outdoor terms, and lists of mustdo activities around the globe—like 10 mountains to climb that don’t require ropes or crampons. (Longs Peak is number one!) Plus, the waterproof cover means summer’s toad-strangling thunderstorms won’t ruin your guide to survival.…

Mary Louise Lee, a longtime R&B and jazz vocalist and Denver native, will perform as part of the Harmony Street Concert Series at the Blair-Caldwell African- American Research Library on April 8. “In the early ’80s, when I was eight, my mother took me to see Dreamgirls at the Denver Auditorium Arena [which has since been turned into the Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex]. I had never seen a show like it, especially with an all African- American cast. The music, oh—it was so exhilarating. I wanted to be Deena Jones, the main character in Dreamgirls, one day. Everybody just loved her, and she sang so prettily and wore beautiful costumes. Leaving there, I said, ‘I want to be a dreamgirl.’ “…

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THE COLORADO ROCKIES’ first bench-clearing brawl broke out on May 12, 1993, after a San Francisco Giants reliever plunked left fielder Jerald Clark on the elbow. Clark, who had already been beaned earlier in the game, didn’t charge the mound so much as stroll leisurely toward it. He wasn’t angry, he said later; just curious as to why the Giants were treating him like a bull’s-eye. In fact, the dispute seemed like it would resolve itself peacefully— until San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds took offense to something and started swinging. In the resulting melee, Rockies starting pitcher Butch Henry, whom the Giants had knocked around for seven runs that day, got trapped at the bottom of a scrum and a cleat clipped his right thumb, causing a gash that required…

[ Travel ] PANA : This app collects your travel data (e.g., flight info and hotel reservations) in one place, so you don’t have to toggle between multiple outlets. TRIP 30 : Designed for business travelers, Trip30 tells you where you need to go and when you need to leave to get to your cross-town meeting. [ Romance ] ] LUVBYRD : Strictly for love-starved outdoor enthusiasts, LuvByrd connects singles who would rather climb Eldorado Canyon than Netflix and chill. SITTER.ME : When preserving date night depends on finding somebody to watch the kids, download this app. It’s like Uber, but for babysitters (relax, they’re screened). [ Sharing ] BILLGO : This app automatically splits the charges, so you don’t have to bug your deadbeat roommate for her share of…

5280: Foundry Group has played a huge part in the emergence of the local tech scene. What’s Foundry’s role going to be in the future? Seth Levine: We’re not generational at Foundry. We’ve agreed to that. Eventually Foundry will go away. New leaders will step up, like Chris Marks. [Marks is the managing partner at Blue Note Ventures, an investment firm whose portfolio includes mostly local startups.] Does the local tech community have a weakness? There is a bit of a perception that companies get to a certain stage and they get bought. Boulder’s SketchUp [a 17-year-old 3-D modeling software company] was acquired by Google in 2006. Gnip [a nine-year-old Boulder startup that measures consumer sentiment for companies by analyzing tweets] sold to Twitter in 2014. Companies like LogRhythm, SendGrid,…

ENGAGEMENT Organizations and events, both formal and casual, must bring members of the startup ecosystem together. Ask any local tech entrepreneur what most defines the area’s startup culture, and chances are he’ll rave about mentorship. “It’s all about giving first and not expecting anything in return,” says Isaac Saldana, co-founder of Denverbased SendGrid. That sort of engagement can best be witnessed inside Denver and Boulder’s collection of startup accelerators: businesses that provide guidance and capital in exchange for a piece of equity. The past few years have witnessed an explosion of local accelerators, but the most successful one in Colorado is Techstars, a 13-week cram session for startups. To illustrate how productive Techstars—co-founded 10 years ago by a number of Boulder entrepreneurs—has been is as easy as following the money.…

1. My typical Sunday morning consists of… ■ a. Recovering from Saturday’s long run. ■ b. A walk around City Park and the Henhouse Scramble at Olive & Finch. ■ c. Runners Roost’s 8 a.m. run club. ■ d. Staring at the back of my eyelids. I prefer to pass those first few hours of the day in bed—and the next few on the couch. 2. I know what Body Glide is—and I use it. ■ a. True ■ b. False (See “What They Don’t Tell You” on page 101) 3. When did you last replace your running shoes? ■ a. I don’t so much replace as rotate new ones into my collection of 20 or so. ■ b. Within the past six months. ■ c. Ummm…last year? I think?…

IF YOU: Have Overpronation Issues TRY: A stability shoe like the Brooks Adrenaline GTS or Asics GT-2000 BECAUSE: Stability shoes have firmer foam on the medial side, which can help prevent your ankle from rolling inward (aka overpronating). IF YOU: Have Plantar Fasciitis TRY: A shoe with a stiff midsole and forefoot, such as the New Balance 860v6 or Saucony Guide (make sure there’s room for the insert your doc will likely fit you with) BECAUSE: Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the band of tissue that runs from your heel to your toes. Shoes with stiff midsoles and forefeet provide extra cushioning and can help prevent the big toe from bending back too much (dorsiflexion) and further stretching the plantar fascia. IF YOU: Have Flat, Flexible Feet TRY: Motion-control shoes…

1908 Silverton miner Neil McQuieg establishes the foundations of what will become—in 1978—the Kendall Mountain Run when he runs to the top of the 13,066-foot peak on a bet. 1956 Monte Wolford wins the inaugural Pikes Peak Marathon in a time of 5:39:58. 1964 Even before all of America becomes obsessed with recreational road running, Denver debuts the Denver Marathon (later known as the Mile High Marathon and the Mayor’s Cup Marathon). 1972 Boulder resident Frank Shorter wins gold in the marathon at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He’ll take home silver in the 1976 Games in Montreal. 1977 Rick Trujillo wins his fifth consecutive Pikes Peak Marathon. 1979 Roughly 2,700 runners join the inaugural BolderBoulder. (In 2017, more than 50,000 are expected to run the 10K.) The nowrenowned running club…

160 Steps Per Minute “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers “To The Light” by Paper Bird “Americana” by Rose Hill Drive 180 Steps Per Minute “Cured of Youth” by Tennis “Little House” by the Fray “Wrestling Israel” by Flobots 200 Steps Per Minute “Vegas” by Tennis “If I” by Flobots “I Don’t Mind” by Paper Bird…

1 No new anything. Race day is not the day to try out new sneakers. And the night before is definitely not the time to check out that new Indian joint. Stick to what you know. 2 Keep it casual. Most races offer race packet pickup on the days before, so all you have to worry about the morning of is finding parking. Which reminds us: Give yourself at least an hour before race time to get parked, checked in, and warmed up—and make one last trip to the porta-potty. 3 Rein it in for the first mile. You’re going to get a surge of adrenaline when you cross the starting line. Fight the temptation to turn that into a faster pace. The first mile—essentially your warmup— should be your…

ARTS & EXHIBITS APRIL 1-15 Basic Pictures: Joseph Coniff Admire the painting-meets-photography works of Denver artist Joseph Coniff, who works with household writing tools such as Sharpies, pens, and pencils to make sketches. Then he uses software to enlarge, zoom, crop, and recompose the images to produce the base that he paints over for his final product. Through this unique process, Coniff creates striking abstract works that incorporate shades of black, white, and yellow. Tue-Fri noon-6 p.m.; Sat noon-5 p.m. Rule Gallery, 530 Santa Fe Dr., 303-800-6776, rule gallery.com. Free. Visit josephconiff.com. APRIL 7-MAY 13 Animalia Embark on a safari of sorts at this diverse exhibit, which features both emerging and established photographers, including Don Wolfe and Sarah Corbin. The images—in vibrant colors as well as neutral tones—depict wild and…

TERRY RATZLAFF Photographer When he shoots, Denver photographer Terry Ratzlaff tries to bring attention to the oft-overlooked aspects of a scene. For him, that tends to mean highlighting the more unsavory elements of life, making Ratzlaff an ideal candidate to shoot this issue’s feature about heroin addiction in Colorado (“Sometimes You Have To Build A Wall Around Your Heart,” page 108). “I strive to capture the darkness of reality, either its visual darkness or its darker mental states,” Ratzlaff says. “This story empathizes with the latter: the negative habits that make up addiction.” His work has been featured in Newsweek, the Financial Times, and the New York Times. GEORGIA ALEXIA BENJOU Fashion Editor Lately, high-fashion designers seem to be looking backward for inspiration, specifically to the 1980s. “Innerwear as outerwear,…

Until recently, American researchers hoping to study marijuana could only get the plant from one place: the University of Mississippi. But thanks to a 2014 relaxation of federal law, institutions of higher learning can now grow their own hemp, a variety of cannabis with a very low level of THC—i.e., it doesn’t get you high—for research purposes. And, of course, Colorado schools are at the forefront of this movement. In fact, Colorado State University-Pueblo’s 10-monthold Institute of Cannabis Research (ICR) is the only university program to focus on cannabis research that goes beyond medicinal purposes. The institute will host the country’s first academic conference covering cannabis from April 28 to 30, but here’s a look at what they’ve already been working on. 1 GREEN MANUFACTURING The plastic-wood composite used in 3-D…

Finally, there’s a ski shell that’s high-tech and high-fashion. Since most of us only get about 80 vacation hours a year, the last thing anyone wants to do is waste them trying to locate an obscure trailhead or secret fishing spot. Hinterlands, a nine-month-old site and app for curated adventures, gets that. By connecting you to knowledgeable local guides—like, say, Aspen native Jared Hollinger, a second-generation fly-fisherman—the service ensures you spend your time exploring instead of arguing with your GPS. Just pick an activity, location, and/or date, and the site or app will produce a list of excursions that match your criteria. When it launched in August, Hinterlands focused on the area near Aspen but has since expanded to the wilderness around nine Colorado towns—among them Buena Vista and Ouray—with…

GEAR CLOSET A ztech Mountain’s Independence Shell jacket looks like high fashion ripped from the pages of GQ. In fact, the Aspen brand has been featured in a host of national style bibles, including Esquire, Town & Country, and, yes, even Gentlemen’s Quarterly. Don’t let the company’s inclusion in glossy fashion magazines fool you, though. Co-founded in 2013 by Colorado native and former Louis Vuitton employee Heifara Rutgers, Aztech handles itself as admirably on the slopes—it’s actually designed to thrive in powder—as on the fashion-conscious streets of New York City. Rutgers employs some of the most high-tech and expensive fabrics in the world, including a microscopic membrane of cork, ensuring the Independence Shell remains both breathable and highly insulating. Impressed? Skier Bode Miller was. In September, the two-time alpine World…

TWISTED SISTER YOGA This Denver company knows where to go for ohm-mazing settings: Winter Park’s Lazy RB Ranch will be the site of Twisted Sister’s annual Women’s Ganja Yoga and Spa Retreat from May 19 to 21 ($550 to $675). WOMEN’S WILDERNESS Spend five days (May 10 to 14) in the backcountry near Moab, Utah, connecting with both nature and your fellow beginner backpackers ($675). VELA ADVENTURES On April 30, learn to rock climb in a supportive and safe environment at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs; afterward, enjoy a gourmet picnic lunch among the sandstone formations.…

Dani Hedlund published her first fantasy/sci-finovel, Threads of Deception, when she was only 18. Don’t let her early success fool you, though. Dozens of editors, agents, and publishers never responded to the Elbert native’s submissions. “There were so many times that I sat in a dark room, staring at my computer screen, thinking, ‘Maybe I should become an accountant to make my mom happy,’ ” Hedlund says. So in 2007, two years after Threads hit Barnes & Noble’s shelves, Hedlund started Tethered by Letters, a Denver nonprofit that mentors writers by holding free workshops and showcasing their work in its literary journal, F(r)iction. Support the organization’s efforts by attending its April 7 gala ($150) at Baldoria on the Water in Lakewood. You could say no, but haven’t these writers suffered…

Coy Webb, co-owner of Rosedale’s eight-monthold City & Country Deli & Sausage Company, learned the art of pickling from his grandmother. But Grandma couldn’t possibly have imagined the creative condiments— Smoky Cracked Bourbon Mustard, Pickled Hell Fire veggies, Hoppy IPA pickles—that now share space in Webb’s deli with smoked meats, fromscratch sausages, and well-crafted sandwiches. “Pickling is a way of preserving the harvest that I’m afraid is being lost,” Webb says, “so we pickle vegetables and make our own mustards to carry on those traditions, keeping in mind that our products also need to be current.” Case in point: Webb’s banh mi pickles. Rice wine vinegar and mirin give golden beets, daikon, and carrots a welcome tang, and togarashi, a Japanese spice blend, brings the heat. Webb suggests making a…

For tent-pitching Coloradans, the phrase “campfire dessert” is synonymous with the s’more, that simple sweet of just three ingredients, a stick, and fire. Owners Gonzalo “Gonzo” Jimenez and David Lewis of Miette et Chocolat (which opened its first brick-and-mortar location in the Stanley Marketplace this past December) were inspired by the classic to create this slightly more complex beauty. Named the Flatirons Entremet, after Boulder’s famous rock formations, the $46 treat serves up to eight people. Here’s a peek into how they put it together. The Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St., Aurora, 303-658-0861, mietteetchocolat.com 1 MOUNTAIN MAJESTY Jimenez crowns the creation with batons of Italian dry meringue, candied hazelnuts, edible gold leaf, and jagged pieces of Miette et Chocolat’s caramelized white, dark, and milk chocolates to mimic the jutting shapes…

ONLINE AT 5280.COM/HIGHEREDUCATIONGUIDE COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY The State of Progress This is your invitation to join a family, expand your comfort zone, change your mind, make your mark on the world. This is your invitation to become a Ram. Our state is Colorado, but Rams rise on a global scale. We unite in Fort Collins, where our diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences strengthen our community. True to our land-grant beginnings, we’re focused on practical solutions for today and tomorrow. Welcome to the State of Progress. UNDERGRADUATE APPLICATION DATE: February 1, 2018 (for fall 2018) STUDENT/FACULTY RATIO: 17:1 UNDERGRADUATE RESIDENT TUITION: $8,716 GRADUATION RATE: 76.6% JOB PLACEMENT RATE: 84% within six months www.colostate.edu 900 Oval Dr., Fort Collins, CO 80523 Facebook: facebook.com/coloradostateuniversity Twitter: @ColoradoStateU SANS TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE The Best. Made Better.…

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Without risk-tolerant, big-idea-generating founders, there’d be no startups. And with no startups, there’d be no innovation, no venture capitalists, and no “feeders,” as Feld calls the multitude of businesses and entities supported by the startup community. TECH IN COLORADO WHO: Scott McNealy COMPANY: Wayin FOUNDED: 2011 HEADQUARTERS: Denver ORIGINS: The co-founder of a little Silicon Valley company called Sun Microsystems, McNealy launched image-collecting website Wayin here because of California’s “anti-biz” climate, he says. Translation? Taxes are crazy high there. PIVOT: Wayin, intended to be a Pinterest-like destination online, couldn’t compete with Pinterest. So McNealy, originally the startup’s chairman, stepped in as CEO in 2015. Because Wayin had raised roughly $30 million by that point, McNealy was able to recast the existing technology. Now, instead of connecting social media users,…

INCLUSIVITY A startup community must (proactively) welcome all comers. If the recent past is any indicator, Silicon Valley seems about as inclusive as the Illuminati (which Apple CEO Tim Cook probably controls anyway). Since July 2015, the U.S. government has filed discrimination lawsuits against Google, a software company called Palantir Technologies, and Oracle. The charges, respectively: ageism, racism, and paying white men more than people of color and women. It’s no wonder, then, that Jacqueline Ros was concerned the tech scene wouldn’t welcome her. “You hear stories about all the barriers to entry for women,” says 26-year-old Ros, co-founder and CEO of Denver’s Revolar. Fortunately, the Denver-Boulder startup scene seems to be more accommodating than its California counterpart— or, at least, it has been for Ros. Ros’ company rose out…

5K ▶ To go from zero to 5K, you will need about two months to prepare. ▶ Pull yourself off the sofa three times a week. ▶ Start by simply alternating between walking and running for about 30 minutes, decreasing the time you walk each week. ▶ Every week, transition one of your 30-minute run/walks into a three-mile run/walk, until you’re doing three miles three times a week. ▶ Gradually increase the mileage of one run a week until you are doing five miles once a week. 10K ▶ If you can already handle a 5K, give yourself another six weeks or so to get properly geared up for a 10K. ▶ Hit the road (or trail) for three miles three times a week, every other day. ▶ Each week,…

FASTER IS BETTER Maybe for sprinters. Longer, slower training runs actually develop endurance better than high-intensity training, according to Dr. Iñigo San Millán, director for sports performance at the University of Colorado Sports Medicine and Performance Center. He should know; he’s worked with world-class athletes around the globe (including Tour de France winners), using a scientific approach to building endurance. “We’re targeting mitochondria because they are the key to everything,” he says. “They preserve glycogen and burn lactate.” Both of those things are crucial to improving your fitness. The real-world application? You can improve your mitochondria by doing longer runs (at least an hour) at very specific heart rates— usually well below your max heart rate. YOU CAN’T OVERHYDRATE DURING A LONG RACE Au contraire. If you overconsume water to…

SCOTT JUREK If you want the occasional vegan recipe to go along with your training tips, Scott Jurek is your guy. An ultrarunning legend and best-selling author (Eat and Run), Jurek cultivates a beautiful and informative Insta-stream from his Boulder base. RUN THE EDGE Olympic marathoner and Boulder resident Adam Goucher launched this website (and Instagram feed) with fellow runner Tim Catalano following their 2011 book by the same name. The goal: motivation and training through community support and virtual challenges. ROOTS RUNNING PROJECT This Boulder-based running group trains Olympic hopefuls and other elites like Alia Gray, Margaret Connelly, and the mustachioed marathon sensation Noah Droddy. If Roots’ inspirational and beautifully shot Instagram feed doesn’t get you off the couch, nothing will.…

LET SOMEONE ELSE DO THE WORK Life hack #732: While not all insurance carriers cover massages, many Flexible Spending Account programs reimburse them as medical expenses. So make regular visits to somewhere that specializes in massage for athletes, such as SS Performance Massage or White Lotus Therapeutics, where Mercuria Running coach Jenni Nettik sends many of her runners. STRETCH IT OUT Running and yoga complement each other so well that there’s a group devoted to doing both (Denver Running and Yoga Club). Consider a Yin class at your favorite yoga studio or the Freyja Project. Yin doesn’t recruit your muscles to do the work. Rather, long-held poses stretch your connective tissue and present an opportunity for micro meditations (so your brain gets a break from running all the time, too).…

Stacy was sorry. The 9 a.m. meeting on Tuesday had turned into a 10 a.m. meeting on Friday, which became a 9 a.m. meeting on Monday. Stacy answered the phone each time, and each time, she apologized. “Something came up,” she’d say. She had to walk her dogs. She slept too late. She forgot. “Heroin users aren’t the most punctual,” her daughter jokes. Stacy Pettersen was receiving methadone treatment at a clinic a few miles from her government-subsidized apartment in Englewood. The dosing was still off, and she’d begun vomiting and feeling the intense agony of withdrawal. It had been more than a month since she last used heroin, the longest she’d gone without since she’d first tried the drug five years earlier. Despite pain so terrible she considered killing…

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 5280 is proud to support Project Angel Heart’s Dining Out For Life event. It’s a day for our community to come together and support Coloradans fighting HIV/AIDS! In a single day, 250 exclusive restaurants in the Denver-Boulder area will donate 25 percent of sales to Project Angel Heart, an organization that provides nutritious, life-sustaining meals to those fighting a variety of life-threatening illnesses, including HIV/AIDS. On this day, an estimated 80,000 people will dine out in support of this cause. We encourage you to be one of them. LEARN MORE ABOUT SOME OF THE PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS IN THE FOLLOWING SECTION AND HELP RAISE MORE THAN $300,000 FOR PROJECT ANGEL HEART. DiningOutForLifeDenver.org #DOFLDEN projectangelheart projectangelheart projectangelheart 5280’s GUIDE TO DINING OUT FOR LIFE JOIN US ON THURSDAY,…

PROMOTIONS | EVENTS | SPONSORSHIPS Taste of Vail SPONSORED APRIL 5–9 Vail. Taste of Vail is an epic food and wine festival held in Vail, Colorado. The event promotes the Vail lifestyle through food, wine, and skiing! Signature events and seminars fall throughout a five-day event. Come enjoy the Taste of Vail this spring! Information and tickets at tasteofvail.com. Tethered By Letters’ Second Annual Novel Gala SPONSORED A P R I L 7 Baldoria on the Water, Lakewood. Tethered by Letters is a nonprofit that believes in the power of storytelling. On April 7, we are hosting our second annual NOVEL fundraising gala. Proceeds will support our education and community initiatives, boosting excitement about art and literature and increasing literacy rates in Colorado. Information and tickets at tetheredbyletters.com/gala. 5280 Pet…

Low home inventory has made the competition tough for many homebuyers. Luckily, through Coldwell Banker’s listing alerts, you can find out about available homes for sale once they come on the market, helping you to get a head start on the competition. ColdwellBankerHomes.com — it’s where life takes off. Auburn | El Dorado Hills | Elk Grove | Fair Oaks | Folsom | Placerville | Roseville | Sacramento Tahoe City | Truckee | West Sacramento COLORADOHOMES.COM CB-179 ©2017 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker®, Previews® and Previews International® are registered trademarks licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Owned by a Subsidiary of NRT LLC. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor sales associates and are not…

BIKE AROUND TOWN Every dollar spent on B-Cycle passes (options range from $9 per day to $135 per year) goes toward funding the nonprofit, which aims to reduce pollution and road congestion. OWN YOUR OWN CAR Rather than advertising just Colorado’s mountain majesty on your license plate, you can choose to promote a nonprofit too: 36 organizations, including the Foundation of Colorado State Parks and Flight for Life Colorado, offer custom plates. GRAB YOUR MORNING COFFEE If you buy your cup of joe from Five Points’ Purple Door Coffee, you’re supporting a nonprofit that employs homeless young adults as part of a 12-month program to help them move toward a more stable lifestyle. Since 2013, 18 employees have transitioned out of homelessness as a result of the project. TAKE A…

Billy Barr can’t predict the weather, but he can tell you all about its past. Watch out, sunshine: Wind may soon unseat you as Colorado’s favorite climatic element. Last month, Xcel Energy began construction on the Eastern Plains of its long-anticipated $1 billion Rush Creek Wind Project, which, when completed in late 2018, will be the largest wind farm in the state. Together, hundreds of turbines—Denmark’s Vestas plans to manufacture them in Pueblo, Brighton, and Windsor—could power more than 300,000 Centennial State homes, offsetting one million tons of carbon emissions each year. Spanning Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson, and Lincoln counties—where gusts in April, Colorado’s windiest month, can eclipse 65 mph— Rush Creek won’t just be big; the facility also will be Xcel’s most efficient wind farm in Colorado. Translation:…

The University of Denver’s chances of winning the Frozen Four, the NCAA hockey championship. (The team was ranked first in national polls at press time.) Denver Department of Public Works director Jose Cornejo’s upcoming retirement, which is likely to speed up the creation of a new department for transportation planning. How Colorado pharmacists—not just doctors—can now prescribe birth control pills. Whether you’re more excited about the Princess Bride’s Cary Elwes or NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! crew coming to the Mile High City. Your picks for the names of Commerce City’s rec centers (one under construction, one to be renovated in 2018); the city is accepting submissions through April.…

While developing products for what was then Adidas-Salomon and Pearl Izumi, CJ Riggins never once worked on a piece for women who wear size 16 or larger. “The consensus among high-end brands is that plus-size women aren’t active, which is ridiculous,” Riggins says. She plans to correct that blunder with Rsport, a premium performance wear company that produces apparel for women sizes 10 through 34 (dubbed “6X”). Riggins, based in Lafayette, designed her line specifically for full figures by making areas of friction (between the thighs, under the arms) seam-free while also tapping leading fabric innovators like Boulder’s 37.5 Technology to help control core body temperature. The startup launched on March 31 with six products, including a tank top ($34), capris ($84), and a fleece jacket ($86). Beginning this summer,…

Colorado Ballet prima ballerina Maria Mosina takes her final bow. Before the Colorado Rockies were a glimmer in Major League Baseball’s eye—heck, before MLB was even a thing—these guys ruled the Colorado baseball scene. Well, not these guys exactly, but men in the same kind of baggy uniforms. The Colorado Vintage Base Ball Association adheres to the style of the sport played in the 1860s, when the first organized team sprang up in the Colorado Territory. Today, 80 players on four squads pay tribute to Centennial State history by following antiquated rules, dressing up, and adopting 19th-century team names, such as the Denver Blue Stockings. “It’s Civil War re-enactment for baseball fans,” says commissioner Tim Stabbe. The CVBBA will celebrate its 25th opening day on April 1 (six days before…

A contentious cut of pork is popping up on menus all over town. PAGE 52 With a craft brewery opening about every other week in Colorado— seriously, 46 started pouring in 2016 alone—newcomers need to distinguish themselves by offering more than just good beer. At nine-month-old Banded Oak Brewing Co. on Broadway, that special something comes from the barrels you see here: Instead of aging its brews in whiskey barrels, Banded Oak opts for French oak Cabernet barrels from Napa Valley’s iconic Grace Family Vineyards. “Whiskey-aged beers can knock your socks off,” says cofounder and owner Will Curtin, who previously managed Great Divide Brewing Co.’s Arapahoe Street taproom. Wine barrels lend more complex flavors, according to brewer Chris Kirk, also formerly of Great Divide, because they are toasted on the…

In the age of eclectic, pancultural, farm-to-table, New American, rootsy-sophisticated, locally and globally sourced cooking, inconsistency and lack of focus are the industry’s bugbears. As a restaurant crams multiple cuisines and techniques onto one menu, challenges pop up like fourteeners in the backcountry. That was what happened at Avelina during chef John Broening’s six-month tenure, which ended two days before this issue went to press. Broening’s departure turned this review into a postmortem concerning the perils of ambitious launches in Denver. As I write, I don’t know whether Avelina’s owners intend to use their chef ’s exit to rethink their restaurant, but its wobbly performance out of the gate is a cautionary tale. Eclecticism is just as hard to pull off as any other style—maybe even harder. After Avelina’s launch…

Want to know the surest way to annoy a local techie? Dare to compare the Front Range to a certain money-soaked, ITfocused region an hour south of San Francisco. “Silicon Valley is Silicon Valley,” says Paul Berberian, the CEO of Sphero, a robotics company in Boulder. “It’s a totally diff erent environment out there.” (That’s a diplomatic reaction. During a recent panel assembled by the state to discuss startup communities, the moderator threatened to defecate on the audience’s lawns if they used the S-word to describe Colorado. He was kidding…we think.) Nevertheless, just about everyone—from the Denver Business Journal to the New York Times—has channeled Silicon Valley when talking about the eruption of tech startups in the Mile High City and the Boulder bubble. Berberian is correct, though: We’re not…

Colfax Marathon (May 21) The Mile High City’s only in-town marathon traces 26.2 gritty miles from City Park to Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium, through Lakewood, and back. If you don’t have time to get yourself in shape for 26.2 miles by May, no worries: The relay race lets you break this bad boy down into five legs. Colorado Marathon (May 7) Over 15 percent of racers who take on this beautiful, fast course through Poudre Canyon into Old Town Fort Collins qualify for Boston. (Hint: That may be because you drop more than 1,000 feet in elevation from start to finish.) Boulder Backroads Marathon and Half (October 1) Few Colorado marathons rival the Boulder Backroads in terms of beauty, and even fewer match its swag bag, which…

It pains me to admit this, but I am a slow runner. Others might say that to be modest, but I mean it. I’m the lady moving along at such a plodding pace that drivers slow to verify I’m not stroking out midstride. When I ran the four-mile Loveland Sweetheart Classic five years ago, I was passed by almost everyone. That’s the story of nearly all of the races I have ever entered. Most other athletic endeavors have a self-sorting mechanism. (People like me don’t get invited to join Ultimate Frisbee leagues, for example.) But not so in running. I can plunk down the $130 entry fee just as well as the six-minute milers. I will never finish in the top half of my age group, much less actually win…

The first time I went for a run when visiting my parents in Cornelius, Oregon—elevation: 179 feet—after moving to Denver, I thought my watch was broken. I’d smoked my standard per-mile pace by close to two minutes. The source of my newfound superpower—and yours—has nothing to do with a cape or radioactive spider, though. It has everything to do with a hormone called erythropoietin, or EPO. (If that sounds familiar, it’s probably because synthetic EPO was one of the key substances in the Tour de France doping scandal in the early 2000s.) When your body registers a lack of oxygen, EPO triggers the production of more red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the muscles. So when you train—or just live—at elevation, you produce more red blood cells, says Dr.…

I’M LOOKING FOR…A COMMUNITY Rocky Mountain Road Runners One of Denver’s oldest and largest road-running clubs, RMRR hosts races on the first Sunday of every month. The locations and distances vary, but your $35 annual membership gains you entry to all 12 and—if you’re up for it— RMRR’s Wednesday night track workouts. Denver Trail Runners DTR doesn’t like to be called a club—there are no dues and no waivers to sign. Organized by volunteers, this group meets Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings (check the Facebook page for locations) for 60- to 90-minute trail runs, typically in the foothills. Pace groups set out together and regroup at major trail junctions—so don’t call DTR’s events races, either. Achilles International Founded in New York in 1983 by the first amputee to run the…

“Consistency and patience can take you far. Being consistent with running, weights, rehab, massage, sleep, food, and hydration all adds up. Every day is important.” Emma Coburn, 26, Crested Butte Recent achievement: Set an American record of 9:07.63 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to win a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games “Be lean and mean, but also be healthy. There is a fine balance between fast and healthy.” Andy Wacker, 28, Boulder Recent achievements: 2015 U.S. 50K trail champion; 2016 U.S. trail half-marathon champion “When nature calls, as a last resort, it’s better to lose a sock than risk using an unknown leaf.” Joe Gray, 33, Colorado Springs Recent achievement: 2016 World Mountain Running champion “It is very easy to wear too much. Arm sleeves with two shirts, gloves,…

Cover photo: Drew Carlson. View from Platform at Union Station. FIND THIS SECTION ONLINE AT 5280SCENE.COM The face of DENVER LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS DESIGNS BY SUNDOWN DESIGNSBYSUNDOWN.COM | (303) 789-4400 4501 S. SANTA FE DR., ENGLEWOOD, CO 80110 Three decades ago, Littleton native Michael Hommel, graduated from Colorado State University (CSU) and shortly thereafter founded Designs By Sundown. Upon graduation, he began his business out of his parents’ garage. With the help of two college friends, they began installing landscapes in the newly formed Highlands Ranch community. His fledgling business blossomed as satisfied clients kept referring “Sundown” to neighbors and friends. Michael has never looked back. Firmly rooted in the community, Designs By Sundown is Denver’s premier landscape architecture, construction and maintenance firm, specializing in high-end residential projects and commercial properties,…

SYMBOL KEY NEW Indicates a restaurant featured in 5280 for the first time (though not necessarily a restaurant that has just opened). 25 BEST Indicates inclusion in our annual list of Denver’s best restaurants, released each October. These selections are at the discretion of 5280 editors and critics and are subject to change. PRICE KEY (Average Entrée) $ under $10 $$ $11 to $15 $$$ $16 to $25 $$$$ $26 and higher A 12 at Madison $$ Congress Park / American With a menu offering 18 small plates meant for sharing (plus one large format plate meant to feed two to four people), Jeff Osaka’s new iteration of his celebrated restaurant is ideal for dining with a group. Don’t miss the radicchio salad with anchovy dressing or the veal sweetbreads…