Happy daylight savings. I woke up at 5 but it was kinda 4, right? It was beautiful, crisp, Sunday morning. My objective was to ride to University Hills Bikesource for the launch of the new Epic 8 and Epic Evo. The route was ambitious, like my longest one day ride ambitious. 152 miles with 12k feet of climbing, going up to an elevation of 9k. I was feeling real confident, arriving in Estes in the AM, able to tuck into some mediocre B&G at a local diner. Taking 36 out of town I checked off the climb pretty easily, deferring the turn to Allenspark and descending down to Lyons for a hang with David. After a hang I carried on and headed 7, bound for Ward. The climb from Lyons to Ward is alot, to the tune of 3,500'. And the ascent doesn't stop for 35 miles. This was by far the hardest part of the day but it was espcially beautiful once I turned on to 72, taking me through the town of Raymond. By the time I made it to Ward, I realized that I wasn't going to make it on time to the event. I hopped on the blower to see when Jason was planning to leave his house in Boulder for the event in South Denver. Our schedules lined up perfectly so after a fantasticly timed BM at the port of potty in Ward, i bombed Left Hand Canyon into 55* F and boogied across north Boulder to make it to Jason's house. Emmett, Jason's son, had a lemonade stand. Tasty. Boom, bam, pow, we're at the event right on time. The entire route will be achievable next time if I don't lolly gag in Estes and cut Lyons out of the route. No regrets this time, it was great to see DK, but this route added a ton of climbing to the route. Next time I'll cut over to Allenspark to stay high. Riding with my stye named Anna. A heart breaker.