A month ago today.

It is always a great idea to live in the moment, but have you ever taken a break and thought to yourself, "What was I doing a month ago?"


Well, I had that thought this afternoon and it dawned on me that I was riding my bike up the highest paved road in America, Mount Evans. How cool is that!


July 14th was my brothers birthday. He had set the goal early in the year to ride his bike in the Triple Bypass promoted by Team Evergreen, which happened to fall on his birthday. Although his intentions throughout the year were good, the responsibilities of work and family kept him from reaching his optimum fitness. He didn't feel as though he was ready to tackle such a major ride.


Still wanting to challenge himself on the bike he gave me a call. I didn't have anything planned and a couple minutes of chatting and we had made plans to ride Mount Evans on our mountain bikes. This way he would still be able to challenging himself, but without having to ride 120 miles to do it.

The morning of the 14th was spent climbing the 14er on our mountain bikes and I had an absolutely great time. Not just because I was riding such a challenging mountain, but also because I saw my brother revisit his roots in cycling.


My brother was a hard core rider back in the 80s and 90s when mountain biking first made the scene. I remember he would let me borrow his Specialized Rock Hopper in the early 90s after he upgraded and bought a StumpJumper. Man those bikes were cool. There was no suspension back then and my brother had clipless pedals, which I was always jealous of when I strapped myself into toe clips. We would ride up and down Horsetooth Mountain several times a week since it was just across the street from where we lived at the time.


The years have passed and neither one of us ride as much as we used to, but a month ago today, we both enjoyed the company of the other as we did years ago while riding Horestooth. What a great day.


*Picture: My brother cruising towards the summit of Mount Evans.