Gathering of the Tribe

Back in what feels like about a million years ago, chat rooms were a big thing.  It's where you went when you needed information on whatever sport or hobby you were into, life advice (which is scary to think about in retrospect), or just camaraderie.  I was lucky enough to find my way to one where I was able to tick all of those boxes and make some long lasting friendships.  Like many things, bicyclegroup.com went the way of the dodo.  Fortunately, the relationships have been more enduring.

Last weekend, some friends that I met from the site, Robin and Luke rolled into town with the intention of getting a ride and a couple of beers.  They're taking an extended trip to the AZ to get the best of riding in Phoenix, Sedona and Tucson.  So far, the weather has been less than ideal but fortunately the weather on Sunday was spectacular.  

When it comes to ride plans, it's hard to beat Brown's Ranch, so we all agreed to meet at the main lot.  Given the fact that Coop lives right up the road, he was definitely down for the action as well.  Gravel bikes came out.  Coop killed it on his single speed.  I got dropped a lot.  We managed to get a pretty solid loop in showing a lot of the best of Brown's. 
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It's an assumed that when you have a great ride, a few post ride beverages should follow.  Especially since we were celebrating a birthday.  Definitely not the first time a cooler was packed for a trip to Brown's.  

We followed that up with a couple beers and some food at a new to me place called the Loco Patron in North Scottsdale.  Good vibes.  Looking forward to seeing if we can't all get together a couple more times before Luke and Robin's time in Arizona ends.  Below is a link to my Strava numbers in case anyone wants to geek out on how slow I am.