"Oh Great Beaver in the Sky, save us," I thought as the small blue pick-up truck swerved into the on coming lane, the lane I was riding in, with a tuckered out Masinga behind me.
I had just enough time to yell, "oh shit," snatch the brakes, and start to retreat towards the gravel, when the truck returned to its lane and drove away. Shaking with adrenaline I hopped back on the road and tried to convince myself that dude had just had a momentary seizure and he wasn't really trying to murder us.
Oh, hey, welcome back to the Brewery 100 2014 Ride Recap. As you already know from parts 1 and 2, this is a drama-filled adventure through the front country of Colorado. Well, okay, maybe not. The Brewery 100 was fun, it was a good ride, but it was a bit of a snoozer last year. Which is why I am getting around to recapping it a whole 13 months later.
But, I am sweetening the pot. Yes, in the midst of all this recounting there are brief interludes of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style shenanigans. Enjoy!
Steven and the Mayor were off in the distance, balls contest continuing. But they seemed happy, so on we rode towards Berthoud, and the City Star Brewery.
The Smiths paused at the left turn into Berthoud and we all rode into town together. We parked the bikes outside and rolled into the joint. City Star has some interesting brews, a jalapeno something or other, and they usually have live music of some sort. They also have a very large and comfortable bathroom, which one might want after a long bike ride.
And very responsibly and with much dignity we each sampled a few brews and then ordered our single pint. We retreated to our table to enjoy our beverages.
Then, someone, perhaps the Mayor, got a wild idea. Let's try a different route home! You may remember from previous Brewery 100's that the route home from Berthoud is often littered with lost beavers and lost dignity as the amount of beer goes up and the navigational skills goes down. But this other route looked promising and with less goofing around once we got to Longmont.
Narrative Break for Shenanigans Part 7
You and your teammates take a look at the Google map and consider an alternative route for the end of the day. It looks promising, but it is untried. Do you:
A) Skip it. Today is not the day for route finding.
B) Go for it! We are all smart, educated folks. We can handle a new route.
C) Call a friend who knows the area well and get a second opinion.
D) Grab the phone and drop it in a pint of 2 Shooter Amber--we don't need no stinking phones or maps! Let's Wheelmen it home!
And the answer?! Well we chose B! Which was pretty daring considering this Brewery 100. We decided to go a bit to the east and then head north. And, the result? Glorious! The new route took us down a quiet road, past adorable farms and countryside. Clouds came in and cooled everything off a bit as we entered late evening and the miles ticked away.
And, then, we noticed a precipitous change in road conditions:
Gravel.
