Vague Idea Racing: Duwango Tango Mancation '16: Days 3 and 4

The night beforehand prolly set us back a bit. Late wake up and greeted by Bacon Western coffee and bacon (natch) tho.

Matt was going to take us up to Raider's Ridge the proper way, not the way we went two years ago on Mancation '14. The Skyline trail was pretty sweet and the ridge itself was as technically challenging as ever.

I was reminded that I prefer rigid 29" over front squished 27.5+esque on this kinda trail. So much chunk and stuff. Off the ridge, Matt led us down Snake Charmer on the way out. Then I didn't regret the suspension as much. Much buenos.

Matt had Hermosa Tours work responsibilities and had to head back into town, so Bill Nye and I wandered over into Horse Gulch to get some more out of our day... at least as much as our depleted heads could handle.

At the top of Telegraph, I considered going down Anasazi. Bill Nye considered a nap until I got back up. I decided to put it off until another day.

We headed elsewhere together.

Once again, we ran into Travis Brown. Once again, he was going up what we were going down. Hmmmmm.... okay.

We hit the bottom of all the riding for the day, and we headed back into town. While riding up the Animas River Trail (a sweet greenway through most of the city), I spied a BMX track with no rules other than "wear a helmet."

After sucking at that, it was brocery shopping, liquor store, find food. Letting the chips fall where they may, we ended up in Moe's Starlight Lounge for dinner. They looked at us funny when we asked about things like "food" and "menu." Assumed that was a good sign tho.

The next morning's wake up was none too easy, but it had to be done. We needed to be on time for a Hermosa Tours shuttle up to the Hermosa Creek trail. I've never done it before, despite hearing good things and its looming iconic status. None to impressive when you look at the profile of the ride, but Matt still promised that it would be a pretty full day.

When you start out this high and this far away from town? Yeah. Should be okay.

By and far one of the prettiest rides I've done in Colorado. Less big views and more just shit your pants NATURE.

Some of this tho:

There was about a nine mile ride back into town, and I had a $20 bill on me in my Tülbag, so we stopped at the liquor store on the way back in... and I got carded. For real. No ID. No sale. Fortunately, Bill Nye is a grown ass man, and he carries his ID. Hooray, posties!

Cleaned up and pre-gamed, we headed to Gazpachos and met Matt and the guy who drove us up that morning (whose name I'd remember if not for killing brain cells with him) for Mexican and $2 drafts, then over to the Balcony Bar and Grill...

You gotta admit, not a bad sunset... even for a cynical dickhead like me.

Then there was some other bar where all the staff was getting drunk and then back to the hotel. I haven't got my credit card bill yet, but I'm pretty sure we had a great time.

BTW: Mancations with Bill Nye are almost always a gentle drift from one liquid state to another.