After getting home from the ride in Dillon, I met some friends in Boulder for a drink at the Walnut Brewery. After arriving late due to a 30-minute detour on Highway 93 (yuck!), I was pleased to see Patrick and Jeff, some of my best friends from CU. Patrick and I practically lived in each others' apartments in Creekside, while Jeff and I both deposited many hours in the Pain Bank that is Triathlon. John Bergman also attended; he was the first kid we met when we moved to Colorado eight years ago, and we've continued to be friends ever since. Wow, guess that's the longest-running friendship I've got. Cheers!


Patrick, John, Nick, Jeff.

After a little while, we made some calls, and were able to wrangle Monica and Matt Arnold into the bar too. Matt was this year's tri team president, and a great guy.




It was really great to see some of the guys again, and just yak about old times. When I told Matt how much the ride to Vail Pass (see below) made me miss Colorado, he asked me something rather odd.

Matt Arnold: "Did you eat the dirt?"
Judge Nick: "What?"

MA: "When you moved away. You know, the Chief Niwot thing."
JN: "I have no idea what you're talking about."

MA: "Chief Niwot said that, because of the beauty of this place, if you leave without taking a piece of it with you, you will forever have a need to return. He said you have to eat a fistful of dirt to rid yourself of that deficiency."

For my part, I don't mind returning every once in a while. I think I'll lay off the dirt for now :-)