Brevet New World

One of my favorite local shops, Yawp Cyclery, hosts a mixed terrain Brevet every year. I saw the event approaching and figured, why not! I’ve never done a Brevet before. And it did not disappoint! Great people, great course, and some cool bikes. 

The Course

The ride circles Denver for 200km. The course is a mix of bike trails, pavement, gravel, and even a little light singletrack. I’d say less than 10% of the ride was on shared roads with cars. Even at that, most of the roads had bike lanes. The ride definitely reminded me how lucky I am to have access to this kind of stuff. 

The Equipment

I decided to take the new Rando prototype with the utility bars on this one. I’ll admit I was a little nervous about making it under the 13 hour time limit for this one. I spent a lot of time looking at my phone navigating when preriding the course and had a hard time keeping pace with that. So I decided to take out the fastest bike I’ve got. Not to mention, it’s a Brevet! Gotta bring the rando. 

I’m a fan of the utility bars. I didn’t need to completely load them for this ride, but I still think they were the right choice. I’m most comfortable handling the bike with flat bars, especially on the mentioned light singletrack sections. The rack was a great spot to quickly stash a jacket, and provided a decent aero position for some of the windier sections. 

Besides that, I used a couple Bluelug feed bags, and a Roadrunner framebag. All overstuffed with tools and nutrition. Rice balls, dried fruit, and a bagel sandwich. 

The Ride

Good company and cool bikes! I met some nice folks along the way and we ended up riding together. 

Edgy photoshoot at the railroad tracks

Good gravel, weird suburban development

I wore my Falkor shirt. RIP buddy.  

The Results

I may have overprepared a bit. Ended up finishing with four hours to spare. BUT it was nice to not have to check the phone constantly during the ride. Preriding the course to get to know the turns was super fun! I’ve got a better mental map of the area now and discovered a bunch of fun trails I would have never known about. 

My partner surprised me at the finish with a fresh loaf of bread and a Klondike bar!

Maybe I’ll try to do it slower next time. Take more photos, eat more food, drink more coffee. Thank you Levi and Yawp for putting on this awesome ride. Can’t wait to do it again next year!