WIRED Cities: Boulder

ALPHA

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Weight in tons of the C-130, which pulls 2 G’s during shows.

DAYMON GARDNER

ALPHA GEEK FEARLESS FLIER

THE BLUE ANGELS GET A BOLD NEW PERFORMER

BEFORE SHE ENROLLED in the Naval Academy, Katie Higgins considered becoming a nun. But she comes from a family of military pilots, including her father and both grandfathers—so the pull of aviation was strong. Now the 28-year-old Marine captain is the first woman to fly with the elite Blue Angels aerobatics squadron during shows. ¶ Higgins trained to fly C-130s, the US military’s workhorse cargo plane, then deployed to Afghanistan and Uganda. But growing up, she had always admired the Blue Angels, so with a little encouragement from the team’s head C-130 pilot, she applied. Now Higgins pilots the Angels’ support plane, an older C-130 dubbed Fat Albert. ¶ Her main duty is shuttling the squadron’s 35,000 pounds of equipment and 40 crewmembers. But during air shows, she flies an eight-and-a-half-minute solo. It’s a crowd favorite. Higgins executes “flat pass” flyovers at 50 feet, simulates tactical landings, does nosedives, and slams the propellers into reverse—the C-130 can famously stop very, very short. When she touches the plane down, she pops a wheelie and taxis backward. And at 24 years old, Fat Albert isn’t exactly new; the C-130s Higgins flew for the Marines were fresher, with more advanced gear. Though Higgins is the first woman to fly during a Blue Angels show, the squad has had female officers for 46 years—19 other women serve on the team. “They’re all setting such a great example for a future generation of women who are considering technical fields,” Higgins says. ¶ Besides wheelies, she’s trained in aerial refueling, deliveries, and, most challenging of all, close air support to protect forces on the ground. So maybe it’s no surprise that Higgins hopes to get back overseas. “It’s an extremely versatile aircraft,” Higgins says. “I’m not pigeonholed into one mission.” For now, though, she flies with the Angels 300 days a year. —Lydia Belanger

GOOGLE BUILT A SATELLITE CAMPUS HERE IN 2006. // LOCATED IN “THE NAPA VALLEY OF BEER,” BOULDER IS HOME TO 22 BREWERIES. // BOULDER’S TALLEST FLATIRON (IT’S A ROCK FORMATION, NOT A BUILDING) SOARS TO 7,628 FEET. // THE SECOND AMERICAN ASTRONAUT IN ORBIT, SCOTT CARPENTER, GREW UP HERE.

WIRED CITIES BOLT FOR BOULDER

ATOMIC CLOCKS AND IRON MEN

Do

Rent an e-bike from local favorite Optibike and ride around the city’s 52 miles of multiuse paths. Greet the Ironman champs at the finish line at Pearl Street Mall. Contemplate the power of cesium: The NIST-F2 atomic clock, which opened last year, operates out of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Boulder campus. Take advantage of legalization with a limousine cannabis tour by Green Tripz, featuring intel on smoke shops and the best places to satisfy the munchies, like Cheba Hut or Boulder Baked.

The recently opened Highway 93 underpass connects the prairie trails to the east with the foothill trails to the west.

“My post–Ironman 2014 meal was a Rueben’s

Burger Bistro’s buffalo meat burger with sweet potato fries. I also love their boneless buffalo wings. (All- white-meat chicken balls—no bones!)”

— Laura Bennett, professional triathlete It’s easy to dismiss Boulder as a granola- sprinkled idyll, and it is a healthy kind of place: Triathletes flock here during the first week of August to compete in Ironman Boulder, a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and 26.2-mile run past creeks and parks on the Boulder Creek Trail. But look closely and you’ll see a city on the verge of transformation. Thanks largely to startup accelerator Techstars, it is home to more than a hundred startups. From its gold-mining days to its rep as a hippie haven, Boulder has championed discovery, and its entrepreneurship scene underscores what residents already know: Boulder is a city of the future. —Alessandra Ram

See

I. M. Pei designed the

National Center for Atmospheric

Research, nestled at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, to complement the surrounding rocks. CU-

Boulder’s Heritage

Center houses a 1,200-pound Lego model campus, featuring a tree- climbing bear and the Foucault pendulum at the university’s Gamow Tower. Tour the robotically operated Celestial

Seasonings tea fac-

tory. Catch a Jenny Lewis show at the Fox Theatre, hailed by music snobs for its stereo four-way line array system.

Eat

Swing by the Cup for some banana bread, but secure your seat before the startup crowd moves in. The Bitter Bar, Bramble & Hare, and T-Zero Lounge in the St. Julien hotel all serve up craft cocktails and local beers. Or bike from brewery to brewery until you can’t bike no more (at least not safely). And if you can manage to change out of your spandex, head to Oak at Fourteenth for locally sourced white asparagus and short ribs.