Super-Eldo Commute Day 5, last day! CO Spgs to Boulder, Castlewood & Eldorado Canyons —— After bivying post-midnight, we woke up starving & haggard. Nothing a leisurely trip to the donut shop in Monument couldn’t fix. The trail from there to Larkspur was new-to-me doubletrack and a pleasant surprise despite the headwind. Midday gravel miles to Castlewood Canyon were desperately hot & thirsty, but the quick 40’ lap of “Hot Fudge” was fortuitously in the shade, providing unexpected respite from the sun-blasted pedaling. After the now-requisite afternoon potato chips & ice cream bars in Franktown, we entered the Cherry Creek bike path and enjoyed 40mi of continuously car-free riding into +98F downtown Denver. What a gift! With the sun setting and nearly 100mi already in our legs I think we would’ve both been happy calling it a day at that point, but home was so close and we only had the familiar pitches of Eldo’s Yellow Spur left to dispatch. Into the night it is. Danny & I are no longer truly young men and the second late night in a row proved testing. Even with over 300 laps of YS between us, neither of us had ever started up its six pitches at 10pm before. Reaching the summit felt like a celebration of a partnership I cherish, the coronation of an adventure mode I’d long been curious about—human-powered, self-supported climb-touring—and confirmation that silly, contrived adventures with seemingly no purpose or importance to anyone else are still the source of some of the most meaningful experiences in my life. A worthy reminder.