It was the first Saturday in November, 2020. I was up early and made a big breakfast, fed and walked The Cartel™, and was ready to leave by 9am. I ran over a dead squirrel just as I left my house. I pedaled toward my destination, a calm contentment sweeping over me as I spun through the neighborhoods waving and saying good morning to everyone I saw. The headwind was terrible, so I hucked a curb.

When I arrived at the meeting spot after 35 minutes of pedaling, I found out that Joe Biden had been called by several major news networks to be the next President of the United States of America, and my old watering hole Ironworks had been completely gutted since the owner took off in the middle of the night with all the cash and hasn’t been heard of since.

Ironworks is dead. Long live Ironworks!

These days, I generally don’t carry a full hydration backpack when I ride. Between carrying tools and water on the bike and a smaller, more comfortable fanny pack style pack I can generally carry everything I need, even for pretty long rides. This was the setup on the 47 for 47 ride, and it worked well. But the Pint-to-Pint? Well… that’s different. There’s more to carry!

With the small but mighty crew assembled and properly hydrated, we were ready to get to pedaling. L-R is Joe, Kristen, Ian, Hirsch, and myself. Pizza and donuts jersey! Hawaiian shirts!

Shaka brah.

Peace n’ chicken grease.

Always gotta have a snack stop at the top of Zorro.

Moar snacks.

Lubes crushing the Dakota rock slab alt line.

The Canadan rolls the rock face. Super committing, not for the feint of heart. I never mustered the courage to ride this line before it was permanently chained off.

Dakota Ridge South aka Dr. S is not a necessary addition to a ride of this magnitude, but that didn’t stop us. There’s a few tight squeezers up there.

Pretty good place for a view.

And a(nother) snack.

Moar squeezin’.

Get it!

Got it!

Good!

Hirsch and tinned fish go together like carrots and mustard.

Somewhere in Red Rocks/Mathews Winters.

After Red Rocks and Mathews Winters, we kept pedaling and headed towards Rattlesnake aka Wrigley’s Ridge aka Tin Cup. It’s a lot like Dakota Ridge, but even more janky.

Climbing Apex got steep, real steep. I walked some things. A lot of things, actually.

Fred joined at the top of Chimney for a beverage. Actually, he probably brought the beverages, we were likely running pretty low by this point.

We congratulated a couple getting wedding pictures taken.

Chimney is super fun to descend, even with a bunch of people hiking on it.

Golden City Brewery is super fancy now.

Super troopers, these two.

It was late by the time I started pedaling back towards my house. A full belly and a calm mind, I don’t remember much of the ride but I know I saw a fox on the way home.