NAME: Dawn
LOCATION: Denver, CO
OCCUPATION: Category Essentials Trainer at an Outdoor Retailer Near You

Where do you live and what’s it like riding in your city?

I live in beautiful downtown Denver, Colorado. Through the heart of the city and on up to Boulder, Ft. Collins, Golden and other cities, we are fortunate enough to have a network of riverside trails for those times when one needs to ride for hours without stopping... when it’s free of ice I’ll get in 150 miles or so a week. Lots of the trails are below street level so it’s really the best of two worlds—the urban-ness of factories, subdivisions and railroad bridges, highway underpasses, the wildlife that follow the rivers, the wino camps and around it all, the smell of river and smog...
It’s sweet.

Why do you love riding in the city?

It sometimes inspires me to write, usually just a brief haiku or two in my MySpace blog. When I thought of submitting to your mag, I found the following entry written after one of those rides where I just got tired of being rained on. Jeez. It was really warm out but it had poured off and on for hours and I was getting wrinkly.

Rainy Day Ride, South Platte, Spring ‘07

So after quite some time under various dripping railroad bridges, I am finally bored with the rain and I look up and see golden arches. I roll into the Mickey D’s, covered with train grease, river mud, wino pee and goose poo, helmet dripping down the back of my neck and onto the counter, bike making puddles on the floor. It is fucking pouring out still, as can be seen through all the large windows. I place my order. The guy looks at me and says, “For here, or to go?”

Check out www.myspace.com/ultradawn