Wheat Ridge, CO Outdoor Activities

The Urban Assault Ride challenges cyclists to speed from obstacle course to obstacle course across their city during eco-friendly scavenger hunts that benefit local charities. Teams draft a road map to try to thwart the competition and be the first to complete the race, pausing at a series of checkpoints, where they must surmount such active roadblocks as slip 'n' slides, bike jousting, and reciting the Iliad in Pig Latin. The first team to conquer each challenge and cross the finish line is declared the victor, but all participants celebrate their efforts at a lively after-party stocked with snacks, beer, nonalcoholic drinks, and prizes.

Designed by adrenaline junkies specifically for Speed Raceway, each eco-friendly electric XLR8R kart can thrust racers at speeds nearing 50 mph through Speed Raceway's quarter-mile track. With 2 inches between you and the track below, the karts revolutionize the wind-resistant, frictional foundations of modern physics, proving once and for all that all physics is theoretical, especially gravity. Each 12-lap contest pits white-knuckled drivers against one another, and the entire field against a smug, unrelenting clock. Soon, licensed members can view an online database of their best times anytime, anywhere, and always in the presence of a disbelieving trackside crush.

With the help of Shakespeare Golf, bunker-dwelling wedge-wielders and rough-slashing excursionists can finally bring balance to their game without the use of a 15-foot tightrope-walking pole. As a former Nationwide Tour professional, Greg Shakespeare draws on more than 30 years of steady-handed golf expertise to iron out swing kinks with the devastating energy efficiency of a solar-powered steamroller. By working with scores of current pro and amateur players alike, Greg has developed an efficient instruction regimen that molds loose-swinging players into taut, ball-launching bazookas. Students will benefit from effective practice drills that help them uncover their own game-changing swing, plus a video analysis that lets them see for themselves exactly what point in their follow-through elicits a sad trombone sound. Finally, instruction on proper practice methods and the psychology of golf will help ensure continued success, as well as nurture the ability to psych out opponents with casual quips about their outfits.

Derby was reborn in the early 2000s as a ferociously fun sport. Nearly all modern leagues are composed of female, DIY-spirited bands of punky costumed, vicious-monikered rascals who shove each other on traditional quad roller skates. The Rocky Mountain Rollergirls, Denver's original all-women flat-track roller derby league, is operated by the more than 40 skaters who makeup its six teams: home teams Red Ridin' Hoods, Sugar Kill Gang, Dooms Daisies, Kill Scouts, and traveling teams, Fight Club and the Contenders. These fearless athletes leave bouts with sprained shoulders, bruises, and hematomas, which is nothing compared to the competitors' pain (the ladies took home second place in the 2009 Women’s Flat Track Derby Association regional tournament and fourth in the national tournament).

The Denver Outlaws joined Major League Lacrosse as an expansion team in 2006, immediately staking out their territory with a Western Conference title and a trip to the league championship. In the years since, they have never once missed the playoffs, even when something good was on TV. From their inception, the Outlaws have marauded the league record books, setting attendance records in their inaugural season and improving from there, with recent Fourth of July games drawing more than 30,000 fans to Sports Authority Field at Mile High. This year’s Independence Day game continues the tradition of fireworks exploding over the field and a wave of apple pie filling flooding the parking lot.