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Brian Guy

Web Developer, Writer, Dad, Aspiring Adventurer

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Roadside Emissions Testing Colorado

February 20, 2019 by Brian Nelson 1 Comment

In Colorado, most vehicles have to pass an emissions inspection prior to being able to renew license plates. Going to the actual emissions inspection stations is a pain and can be time consuming, especially, if you can’t plan around weekends, lunch breaks, and standard work hours.

Fortunately, there is a way to skip emissions testing in Colorado at the emissions testing locations.

Check out my review of Credit Sesame.

Rapid Screen

There is a way to test your emissions without going to the emissions testing place. Simply drive past a Rapid Screen station twice in the year before your license plates are due and get a passing score.

roadside emissions test van rapidscreen
An example of a Rapid Screen roadside emissions test van.

There are two catches. First, you have to have both passing scores at least 60 days before your license plates are due. That means you have to be thinking about emissions BEFORE the notice for license plate renewal shows up in the mail. The second catch is that you have to actually drive past one of the Rapid Screen locations to get tested. Depending upon where you live and drive, this might happen for you automatically. For others, you may never drive past a remote, roadside emissions testing van without deliberately doing so.

Fortunately, the location of the Rapid Screen test locations is not a secret. You can look them up on the RapidScreen section of the Air Care Colorado website. It tells you not only where the stations will be this week, but the following week as well. If it’s still 60 days or more until your license plates expire, you should look up where the stations are and plan to drive past one or more a few times.

Remember, you need two passing scores, and sometimes things can interfere with your scores, such as wind, other cars, or other factors beyond your control. So, make sure to drive by one more than just two times to take into account any problematic tests.

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: colorado, emissions, license plates

Skiing at 40

January 7, 2019 by Brian Nelson Leave a Comment

I used to ski a lot. We’d get 50 day seasons easy back in college. We always talked about taking a year off and getting a 100 day season, but I never did.

Of course, this was back when it really snowed in Colorado. I mean, REALLY snowed. Bases at Wolf Creek well over 100″. A solid 50+ inches in Summit County by January. Man, those were the days. Whether it’s global warming, or just a drought (it’s both), we don’t really get ski seasons like that any more.

ski loveland luv sticker

Anyway, I haven’t skied much in the last 10 years. No particular reason, just adult life comes with a lot more opportunities, and without the student discount, the season pass really costs A LOT of money, like trip to Vegas money for the me and my wife.

Fast forward, and I have kids, and they want to ski. So, we grab some rentals and take some lessons. The older one is down and picks it up pretty well. The younger? Not so much.

So, here we are again, a few more years later and a snowboard lesson, and it looks like the kids are in, which means we’re in. No need to worry about season passes though. With school and activities, and sports, and… and… and… there’s no way we’ll get up to the mountains more than once or twice a month. At that price, we’re better off grabbing other discounts like the 4-Pack at Loveland Ski Area.

The 4-Pack from Loveland is one of the best ski deals in Colorado because it’s just four discounted lift tickets. Use them any way you want, any time you want, including mixing and matching who uses them. So, if it turns out it’s just me and one of the kids, or all four of us, or whatever, we just keep using these until we run out.

At a lot of other areas, the four packs are person specific, as in I have to use my four tickets, and each of them has to use their four tickets, and so on. That’s a lot of being pretty sure about how often, and where you want to ski.

Anyway, I’m sore today, which has never been a problem in the past. Part of it is being older, but a lot of it is being out of shape, which is something I should be working on anyway. One more motivation, eh?

If I can swing it, we’ll ride the Ski Train up to Winter Park this year. That’s always a fun deal when you get the chance. I’ll have to see if it fits into the schedule and isn’t already sold out, and won’t cost as much as going to DisneyWorld….

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: colorado, ski, skiing

Rockies 5K NOW!

April 18, 2018 by Brian Nelson Leave a Comment

I just found out about the Rockies 5K, a 5K race that ends with you getting to run a lap on the warning track at Coors Field.

This is about all kinds of awesome, except there is just one problem. I’m not a runner. I’m not in shape, and the thing is in like 12 days. I just found out about it, so there at least this isn’t my usual problem of procrastinating. This my other problem of randomly deciding I want to do cool stuff, without having a good way to do said cool stuff.

This whole thing is happening so fast that I’ve already been working on it for 3 days, but this is the first post, and I have like daily posts in my head, so I’ll have to backdate them.  In the meantime I have to improvise my own 13 Day Couch to 5K program. I’m behind because I did have my usual procrastination problem with my taxes which I just finished a few hours ago.

I guess I could have had an extra day because of a glitch at the IRS, but I found out about that too late. It’s just as well, I need to run tomorrow… probably twice.

Realistically, I should just wait until next year, and I might. We’ll see how these next 10 days go.

The good news is that I’m not some sort of “check with your doctor before starting an exercise program” out of shape. I mean, I’m 45 and haven’t run, worked out, or seen the inside of a gym (unless you count belaying my kids at the climbing gym) in months, but I stand most of the day at my job, I’m not THAT overweight, and I am a an absolute master at carbo-loading.

So, let’s do this thing. I’ll try and catch up here, and I’ve set the alarm for 6:00 am tomorrow. Yikes!

Downloaded Runkeeper so I can see how far I can already run.

And besides, how cool would this be?

rockies 5k run on the field

Actually, for next year, I’ll try and get fast, then it wouldn’t be so crowded.

Wish me luck.

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: colorado, colorado rockies, cool stuff, denver, exercise, running, sports

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