Unfamiliar with where I could safely stealth camp in Denver, I arranged a Warm Showers host in the southeastern portion of the city, which meant I had to cross through the city center. I had time to kill, so I stopped at the first brewery I saw, called Goldspot Brewing. Nothing there particularly blew me away, but it was definitely tasty, and I enjoyed talking with the bartender and a few patrons about my trip and the bike touring that everyone else had done. Apparently, in Denver, it's a safe assumption that everyone you meet has done some amount of bike touring.
I met my host Angela at her apartment. She has to be the coolest person I've met in a while. Originally from Bavaria, she has toured the Great Divide and had experience with triathalons and other bike events. She cooked me a hearty spaghetti dinner with salad and a good Bavarian-style hefeweisen from Prost, and said I was welcome to stay as long as I liked. She left me the key to her apartment and the fob to enter the building, and asked that I slid it all back under the door if I chose to leave the next day.
I went to sleep on a nice air mattress seven stories above Denver with a pleasantly full stomach and considerably happier heart. At some point on the bike path today, I just became intensely happy for no apparent reason, and that feeling never really went away. The prairie dogs were hilarious, the flowers beautiful, the climbs pleasant, and the downhills even better. Maybe it's a little bit of insanity, but I chose to embrace it, whistling at the prairie dogs and singing whatever pieces of songs I could remember. I've never been good with lyrics, but for once, it didn't particularly matter.
Here are some pictures from the Boulder -> Denver trail, along with the Denver skyline:
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