For the 3rd Friday in a row, I was able to pull of a Friday Dirt To Work River Ramble. It is so unbelievably great that I can ride this valley into work and even more great than I get to ride to work with many of my friends (and coworkers). It makes what I do (for work) so meaningful. I mean really, we love bikes and we make bikes to make this kind of stuff possible. This week had Ben and Benton from Salsa, Peter Hall from Foundry, Joe Meiser of QBP product design, Adam Sholtes from Surly and myself. What a kick ass group of folks. Seriously.

That said, the pace was a bit higher than normal as our gear masher and leg destroyer Joe Meiser showed up on his stupid light carbon Beargrease. Seriously, that guy can punish you.  He wasn’t even trying, but we all followed and had a great time.   There were a few new downed trees and go arounds, but the trail is demanding due to soft sand and so unbelievably fun. I cannot wait until next Friday. I’ll be leaving from the same spot and I think I am going to try to carry my full bikepacking gear as I plan and train for my November desert ramble tour that I am doing.

I only took my camera out once on the way to work as we worked pretty hard to get into work at a reasonable time. On the way home, I was cooked and had some cramping issues. It was hot and I worked pretty darn hard as I am not in the best physical condition I have ever been in. We also made one stop just minutes from the end of the trail for a quick beer stop at the car, one of my favorite places on the river bottoms.  All in all a complete and total blast.

Until next week. Will be leaving Sibley House in St.Paul at 7:00AM.  Join us if you wish.