Photos by Kevin Scott Batchelor
Cognoscenti offers guided, catered and supported road tours through the mountains surrounding Boulder, Colorado. As a preview for what the team offers, photographer Kevin Scott Batchelor tagged along for a shakedown of sorts. Check out the story below. For more information on Cognoscenti and how you could win a free package, along with a $500 travel voucher, head to over to their Dream Tour site.
It’s a hot and surprisingly sticky late summer morning, in Boulder, CO. The group has been out for the better part of three hours and we’re very thankfully nearing our lunch stop. We zig zag through the quiet neighborhood, a right turn, a left, another right and that’s when I hear Will Frischkorn shout “this is the next game on section, right?!” It is. Before we know it, he’s attacked and in an instant, disappears up the steep, smoldering asphalt ascent.
I guess that’s what it looks like when a former Tour de France caliber racer attacks. Robbie Ventura tries to respond, but it’s too late. Will’s been retired for a few years now, and doesn’t really ride nearly as much as he used to, but speed like that dies slowly. A few turns of the pedal later, we arrived to our picnic spot and Will served us lunch. Welcome to Boulder’s Cognoscenti tour.
Over the next few days, I was lucky enough to witness some incredible riding and moral victories from riders of widely varying skill levels. Tired and flailing up the stubborn wall-like pitch, one of the guests appeared to be on death’s door. Oh never mind, as if on cue, a gentle push, courtesy of Christian Vande Velde, eases the pain.
Seeing the camaraderie between the crew was really inspiring. When we were on the bikes together, it didn’t matter if you were a guy that’s spent a career sniffing grand tour podiums, or a weekend warrior chasing personal fitness goals. We conquered the terrain as a group.
I am nowhere near fast enough to ride and photograph these guys at the same time. Hell, under normal circumstances, I am not fast enough to ride with these guys, at all… but these weren’t normal circumstances and that was fine by me.
