The Super-Eldo Commute. The idea for this trip was for @dannygilbert23 and I to pack our bikes up with camping & climbing gear, pedal from our doorsteps, climb the Diamond on Longs Peak, the Cynical Pinnacle in the South Platte, Kindergarten Rock in the Garden of the Gods, something in Castlewood Canyon, and eventually conclude with the Yellow Spur in Eldorado Canyon, our home crag. In normal life, Danny and I often ride our bikes the 9-ish miles to Eldo where we’ve each climbed the Yellow Spur 170-ish times, so the name is a bit of a joke. There are almost infinite variations/permutations one could make to a trip like this in CO’s Front Range, but these are the routes we picked. All classic, all moderate multi-pitch (save Castlewood), all tall. Our favorite stuff. Five days, 380-ish miles—Danny just had to be home by Tuesday evening for his daughter’s volleyball game. It was an inquiry into the practicality of a long bike tour carrying climbing gear. —— On day three, Danny and I woke up slowly, the day after the Diamond, tucked behind the backstop of a ballfield next to Nederland High, his alma mater. I was sore. The Diamond is an alpine big wall and even a route dubbed “Casual” always leaves some dents. Two different stops in town for coffee & eggs & pastries finally got us on the road. A 70mi day filled with 8000’ of hills—Gamble, OMG, Little Bear, Conifer—tested our ability to pedal our laden rigs when fighting gravity. We were heartened to find that doing so was sustainable, just a little slower than normal. After a sidewalk picnic dinner in Conifer, we descended into the South Platte. I’m always astounded how just a minute or two after dropping off Highway 285, the madness & clamor of the Front Range metro area falls away and one is left with the striking beauty, silence, and mystifying remoteness of the South Platte’s narrow roads and towering crags. It was Danny’s first time in the region, and we rolled past Foxton with just enough remaining daylight to catch a couple views of the next morning’s daybreak objective—the Cynical Pinnacle in the Cathedral Spires.