I wrangled Kelly from Fairbanks into going along.  She rode the Monkey, electing to not jump into the deep end on a fixie.  Besides being a smart and fun person, she doesn’t like beer, and I convinced her that just recompence for use of my bike was her beer tokens.  1554 is just the best.

We met and chatted with Matt and Mike.  They’re Seattleites on a massive tour.  You can see their photos here.  Matt’s on a touring Pugsley, full gears, H-bars, ergons, Paul Thumbies, racks, fenders, Epic Designs framebag.  A full on rig.  Mike had a 26″ drop bar’d Bruce Gordon mountain touring frame with similar kit.  We chatted bikes, racing, camping, pack rafting (Matt owns two Alpackas) and whatnot.  Kelly did a good job pretending to not be bored when we got too far along.

I rode home in the dark, a bit drunk, tired, content.  Fell asleep easily, and slept well.