Super-Eldo Commute, Day 4: Cynical Pinnacle & Garden of the Gods —— Being Labor Day weekend, we were a little concerned we’d be racing other parties to the base of the route, so we set our alarms early enough to wake us in the dark and were hiking by first light. An unfounded concern, as it would turn out, but the early start was still fortuitous as the Cynical Pinnacle is south-facing and heats up quickly. The Center Route—while moderate at 9+ —is glorious. Sustained crack climbing that we don’t have in the immediate Boulder area. It was @dannygilbert23 ‘s first time on the route and he swarmed up it with enthusiasm. There was some slight stress on the rappel descent as at first our 6mm tag line wouldn’t pull our 36m lead line, and then on the last rap we had to extend our tag with every extra sling and cam on our harnesses. The riding in the South Platte is as superlative as the climbing, which is good, because we had miles to cover. More than 70mi, in fact, to reach CO Spgs. As the afternoon transitioned into evening, we climbed up to Rampart Range Rd and decided that we might as well dispatch of our Garden of the Gods formation—Kindergarten Rock—that night, too, so as to be able to camp outside of the city. The warm summit of Kindergarten gave stupendous nighttime views of both the sparkling city lights and Pikes Peak’s towering eastern aspect, but we didn’t linger long before pedaling another dozen miles and bedding down for the night in a dewy meadow on the northern outskirts of the city.