Remember the Brewery 100: The Enhanced Version Part 4

As far as the eye could see the new alternative route was gravel! Mayday mayday! What would we do with these little stick bikes on gravel?!

What the heck is going on? What is this blog about? Well its a several part blog about a ride I did more than a year ago that wasn't that exciting, but I feel like I should blog about it anyway. Okay? And to jazz it up, I turned it into a choose-your-own adventure style narrative. Read the other parts if you needed filled in. Geez. 

Narrative Break for Shenanigans Part 8 
The alternative route changes from concrete to gravel. Everyone is tired and drunk and doesn't know how far this gravel goes or if it gets any worse. We still have 15 miles and 2 breweries to hit. Do you: 
A) Get out the map and see if there are any sensible back tracking options.
B) Turn around. There's no point in crashing or ruining a wheel. 
C) Go for it, with caution! This is an adventure, or something....
D) Big ring. Hammer down. Hell bent for leather. Let's fuck some shit up, yo! 

And the answer?! C! This also was pretty exciting for this Brewery 100. We went for it. The Mayor and I took the point position while Masinga and Steven did the beaver sweeper. Poor Masinga. I don't think the idea of another 12 miles on gravel sat well with her first-century experience, but she hung in there like a trooper.

See the cool thing is about doing something kind of insane, like riding the last 12 miles of a boozey century on gravel is that later, you have something to brag about. Boom! Brag points.

And off we went. It really wasn't that bad. The gravel in Colorado is nice tiny gravel and it is pretty hard packed. It reminded me of how much fun a bit of off road can be.

Soon enough we hit hard pack again and arrived in the city of Longmont. We wove our way through the streets until we found the downtown-ish area and popped into the Pump House for a beverage and a snack. We sat. We ordered snacks. We threatened to eat some crusty old onion rings left behind at the next table. We chatted. It was nice.

Then, we got back on our bikes and rode on! On! To Oskar Blues. And, we arrived! All in one piece. No bumps, bruises, or crashes! It was lovely.

Masinga completed her first century. Not even completed! Crushed! And drank a bunch of beer! Boom.

Check out that happy beaver!

And it was still light outside when we arrived.

Steven and the Mayor stash bikes. 

Inside we ordered food and drinks and celebrated our accomplishment! We had ridden our bikes. We had visited 6 breweries. We had sustained no injuries, drunkenness or arguments. In fact, I even judiciously ordered substantially less food than I normally do because I never finish it. 

Huzzah! Another Brewery 100 in the books. 

And yet, I couldn't help but feel like something was missing...do I just crave chaos and mayhem? Do I need that aspect to make a bike ride feel real? Perhaps. 

But now I feel like I have seen both sides of the spectrum, from the blood and guts of 2013 to the quiet, sensible riding of 2014. Can the beavers find a place in between? 

Note: we have yet to complete the Brewery 100 for 2015. Both the Mayor and Steven got fancy new jobs and the Mayor went to Asia for May and June. We pushed the date back to Labor Day, and we are hoping we can recruit some fresh meat to join us this year (Too Much? Pokey? The Walkie-Talkies?). Stay tuned little beavers!