A couple of winters ago we started going for mountain bike rides on Thursday’s at night. This guy was one of ring leaders and has become the unofficial CEO of the T.I.T.S. crew. They were affectionately dubbed T.I.T.S rides, which originally meant, Today Is Thursday, Sweet. Throughout the season we would name each ride something different, but keep the acronym T.I.T.S. Most of the time we start and end rides at Iron Works, a brewpub in Lakewood that is the start or finish of the Pint-to-Pint and home of my all-time favorite beer, Scottish Export.

I’ve been slacking on riding with the T.I.T.S. crew for a season or two now, but I’ve vowed to get back into it this year and, although today isn’t Thursday, tonight was the first ride back! I also have heard a rumor for a couple of weeks that the Scottish Export would be back at Ironworks after a long hiatus!

After all of the build up, there was no Scottish. I begged the owner to give me an early taste but was unsuccessful in my efforts. It might be ready on Friday though! I settled for IPA and some bike riding.

It was great to get back on the bike despite feeling a little off the back. Hopefully my riding strength and fitness come back to me quickly. I’m not use to being the sweep or many people beating me up the hill, but I’ll have to take that for now. Oh and the hike-a-bike sections on this ride were definitely not an advantage.

We just did one climb of Green Mountain and descended Box O Rox, then hit the traverse back to the parking lot and the road down to Ironworks. It was a beautifully warm night and I was completely overdressed, but I can only hope that mother nature gives us more evenings like this for riding.