Ear to the ground

“They have a name for that now. It’s called a ‘thrisis.’”

– A Durango woman commenting on the newest phenomenon of the late-thirties female life crisis

The Leadville lottery

Two lucky Durangoans have a last-minute chance to line up alongside Lance Armstrong. A pair of entries to the Leadville 100, which sold out via lottery in January, has been made available to benefit Durango’s Trails 2000 and Gunnison Trails.

Interested riders should visit www.trails2000.org and register on the home page. A donation to the trails advocacy groups is highly encouraged (riders don’t want to take on the Leadville 100 with karmic baggage). The winners will be chosen randomly, and donations will be split 50/50 between the groups and go toward buffing singletrack in Durango and Gunnison. In addition to entry into the sold-out race, the winners will attend a private coffee with Mountain Bike Hall of Famers Travis Brown and Dave Wiens.

The Leadville Trail 100 MTB was first run in 1994, is one of the oldest endurance mountain bike races in the country and has attracted talent and interest from across the globe. Between 2003- 08, Wiens won the race each year and held off Floyd Landis, of Tour de France infamy, by just 2 minutes in 2007. Last year, Lance Armstrong recruited a team of riders and returned to dethrone Wiens and set a new course record.

The 2010 Leadville 100 is scheduled for Sat., Aug. 14. Armstrong, Wiens, Levi Leipheimer, Travis Brown, Matt Shriver and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski will all be at the starting line to contest the win and shoot for another course record.

Gunnar in Paris

A local shutter is capturing international attention. Durango photographer Gunnar Conrad was recently honored by the 2010 Prix de la Photographie, Paris (Px3). The Px3 is Europe’s largest and most prestigious photographic competition with entries from more than 85 countries and judging by 16 of the world’s top editors, curators and gallerists. Conrad was one of only a couple of photographers to win multiple awards.

Conrad’s “Colorado Snow Flurry,” a series of three images shot at Andrews Lake, was awarded a second prize in the Nature category and third prize in the Abstract Fine Art category. His image “Yellowstone – Twenty Years After the Fires,” won a third prize in the Nature category.

This is Conrad’s fourth major international honor in as many years, including his 2007 first place in The International Photography Awards. That award was for a series of photographs of Hovenweep National Monument.

Conrad’s images can be seen at www.gunnarconrad.com