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Camaraderie, beer tie these bicyclists together

Biked 426 miles to town

Bicycling brewers from some of Colorado’s most prominent craft breweries arrived in Durango on Friday after a 426-mile ride over several mountain passes.

Most of them were only a little worse for the wear.

“I’m just glad to be here drinking Mexican Logger and eating chips and salsa,” said Adam Avery, founder and president of Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder, as he relaxed at Ska Brewing Co.

The sixth annual ride started at Avery Brewing on Monday. The cyclists arrived at Ska around 5 p.m. Friday. In between, the brewers stopped in Breckenridge, Buena Vista, Crested Butte and Ouray before arriving in Durango.

The riders averaged 85 miles per day for the five days.

“I’m so glad that’s done,” said Dave Thibodeau, Ska’s president and co-founder.

Ska had new beers available for the arriving cyclists, as well as beers from all the participating breweries. Fourteen brewers completed the entire tour.

This year’s ride was a little rougher than in the past – two riders sought medical treatment after high-speed crashes. One brewer from Boulder went home after wrecking on Loveland Pass. An Avery brewer, John Young, was in a sling after separating his shoulder in a wreck Friday.

Young said the tour’s highlight was riding through heavy rain Thursday between Ridgway and Ouray. “It was raining cats and dogs, and we just to had to go for it,” he said.

Besides gaining scrapes and saddle soreness, the brewers talked shop and imbibed at breweries along the route.

For the brewers, camaraderie is part of the appeal of the long group ride. Although they’re competitors, the brewers said they get along because of mutual respect.

“None of us are like real businessmen,” Avery said. “We’re homebrewers who figured out how to do our hobby and make money doing it.”

Jeff Brown, president of Boulder Beer, rode the full route for the second time. He was the oldest rider at 59.

“Fitness levels were up a notch this year, so it was a fast group,” he said.

The brewing bicyclists may be on to something – beer and strenuous exercise may not be so bad together as it might first appear, a local physician said.

Alcohol is very easily metabolized, said Dr. Bruce Andrea of the Durango Performance Center.

He emphasized that moderation is important, and if drinkers don’t exercise, the alcohol quickly turns to fat.

“For an athlete in training, one beer, maybe a glass of wine, it might be a good balance of calories,” he said.

cslothower@durangoherald.com



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